Late Friday night the Julian Javelina made a somewhat surprising trade, sending slugging young outfielder Dayan Viciedo, short stop Brandon Crawford and starting pitcher Jason Vargas to the Michigan Miracles in exchange for middle infielder Jed Lowrie and outfielders Nate McLouth and Jeff Francoeur. The move, which sends Viciedo's 2-year contract to Michigan, was done to fill specific needs for the Javelina.
Viciedo, a 25-year old outfielder coming off of a 25-homer season, spent the majority of the first five weeks of the season on the disabled list nursing an oblique injury. At the time of his injury he was hitting .235 with 2 homers, 7 RBI, 1 walk and 17 strike outs. The Javelina drafted him in the 6th round of the recent free agent draft and was expecting big things, but ultimately decided he was more valuable in trade given their current needs.
"Dayan is an exciting young player with plenty of upside," said GM Jamie Hoyle. "We still see big things for him, but we had some needs we needed to fill and found a good fit. We wish him well in Michigan."
The trade came down to an opportunity to fill some glaring needs for the Javelina. First and foremost, the team saw an opportunity to add a player who could help stabilize second base in Aaron Hill's absence. Lowrie, 29, is eligible at both second and short and sported a .303/.393/.455 slash line with 19 runs, 3 homers, 17 runs batted in and 19 walks at the time of the trade and should prove a solid source of walks, runs and runs batted in. He will fill in for Aaron Hill and is expected to move to short once Hill is healthy.
In addition, the team lacked speed. Enter Nate McLouth who, at 31, appears to have been reborn since landing in Baltimore last season. McLouth was hitting .301/.392/.460 with 28 runs, 3 home runs, 10 runs batted in and 17 walks at the time of the move. McLouth should provide some much needed speed while also contributing healthy walk and run totals for a team in need of all three.
"The bottom line is, we found ourselves in the unenviable position of needing to shake things up five weeks into the season," explained Hoyle. "Jed and Nate should hit enough home runs to off-set the loss of Dayan's power while making us deeper and more dynamic in terms of walks, runs and steals. It was really a no-brainer."
Viciedo, a 25-year old outfielder coming off of a 25-homer season, spent the majority of the first five weeks of the season on the disabled list nursing an oblique injury. At the time of his injury he was hitting .235 with 2 homers, 7 RBI, 1 walk and 17 strike outs. The Javelina drafted him in the 6th round of the recent free agent draft and was expecting big things, but ultimately decided he was more valuable in trade given their current needs.
"Dayan is an exciting young player with plenty of upside," said GM Jamie Hoyle. "We still see big things for him, but we had some needs we needed to fill and found a good fit. We wish him well in Michigan."
The trade came down to an opportunity to fill some glaring needs for the Javelina. First and foremost, the team saw an opportunity to add a player who could help stabilize second base in Aaron Hill's absence. Lowrie, 29, is eligible at both second and short and sported a .303/.393/.455 slash line with 19 runs, 3 homers, 17 runs batted in and 19 walks at the time of the trade and should prove a solid source of walks, runs and runs batted in. He will fill in for Aaron Hill and is expected to move to short once Hill is healthy.
In addition, the team lacked speed. Enter Nate McLouth who, at 31, appears to have been reborn since landing in Baltimore last season. McLouth was hitting .301/.392/.460 with 28 runs, 3 home runs, 10 runs batted in and 17 walks at the time of the move. McLouth should provide some much needed speed while also contributing healthy walk and run totals for a team in need of all three.
"The bottom line is, we found ourselves in the unenviable position of needing to shake things up five weeks into the season," explained Hoyle. "Jed and Nate should hit enough home runs to off-set the loss of Dayan's power while making us deeper and more dynamic in terms of walks, runs and steals. It was really a no-brainer."
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