Any Tampa Bay fans?

My Padres traded Forsythe and three prospects to you for Torres (I likey) and a guy named Hahn. What can you tell me about Hahn?

Thanks

btw, Forsythe is better than last year's stats. much better. Fact is he suffered from plantar fasciitis and the Padres brought him back too soon. Anyways, the injury took away much of his Spring training. Forsythe is a good hitter and versatile fielder.

My Padres traded Forsythe and three prospects to you for Torres (I likey) and a guy named Hahn. What can you tell me about Hahn?

Thanks

btw, Forsythe is better than last year's stats. much better. Fact is he suffered from plantar fasciitis and the Padres brought him back too soon. Anyways, the injury took away much of his Spring training. Forsythe is a good hitter and versatile fielder.

I'm a Giants fan, but I've long admired the Rays and their organization from afar. Hahn throws in the mid-90s and had a 2.14 ERA at high A this year. So, getting him along with Torres--a fairly hard-throwing lefty who has already proved himself well in the majors--is a pretty good get for Forsythe who (with all due respect to your guy) has a low offensive ceiling and has mediocre range at shortstop. None of the three prospects the Padres sent over were among their top 30 prospects (from last year), so none of them are likely to tip the balance to Tampa Bay. So, you should be stoked about this trade, as well as rejoice (as I am) that the Dodgers didn't get Tanaka.

Hell, I'm a Dodger fan and I'M rejoicing that the Dodgers didn't get Tanaka!

If the Dodgers had gotten Tanaka, we would have been looking at a couple years of Dodger dominance followed by a complete inability to sign any free agents. As a Yankee fan, I sort of feel like that's what the case would be for the Yanks in the future (except that they're the Yankees and they spend regardless); the richest FA contract for a RHP goes to a guy who's never throwing an inning in MLB. Too much of his low ERA came from not allowing HRs. On the other hand, maybe with that splitter he's the SP version of Uehara.

As for that trade, having seen Torres throw several innings vs. the Yanks last year, I'm kind of shocked Tampa gave him up. The guy was flat out unhittable at times last year. In his first 34 innings, he gave up 10 hits and 1 run! A lefty with that kind of stuff is worth more, in my opinion, than a decent contact hitting middle infielder. Then again, Tampa's the team that turned Jeff Keppinger, Casey Kotchman, and James Loney into .300 hitters.

I have to agree with you on the Dodger dominance part. If the Dodgers had gotten Tanaka, they would easily have had the best front four in baseball...even if Tanaka turns out to be no better than Ryu. As a Giants fan who is gonna have to watch the Giants send out Lincecum and Vogelsong, I am very, very relieved. I doubt, however, that it would have kept the Dodgers from signing future free agents; they have a monster tv deal, and their owners' pockets are very, very deep. I'm sure it would not have hampered them that severely.

I also agree with you on Torres. Why trade away a hard-throwing lefty who has already proven himself as an outstanding reliever and could be a solid starter for a utility player who doesn't play a strong shortstop? The only thing that keeps me from calling it a steal for the Padres is the Rays (particularly Andrew Friedman) are very, very smart; they rarely make a bad deal and usually get the better of their trading partners (e.g. Archer and Hak-ju Lee for Garza). So they may see something in Forsythe, Boxberger, or one of the three prospects that no one else sees yet.

Fair enough; Magic and Co. seem to be committed to spending for those Dodgers. Makes me wonder sometimes why they bother negotiating contracts if they're just gonna spend a limitless amount anyway. I'm surprised that as a Giants fan you're down on Lincecum. I really think he'll adjust to his lack of velocity over the next couple years. That slider still bites pretty sharply.

You know, I love Timmy. He gave Giants fans the two most beautifully pitched seasons we've seen since Marichal in his heyday. But his production the last two years have shown (his no-hitter aside) that he is really a mediocre pitcher without that electric fastball he used to be able to produce with that violent-torque delivery. He does have an excellent slider, and I would love to see him pull a Frank Tanana and morph into a dominating no-heat starter, but I'm not holding my breath. I have more faith that Matt Cain will revert to his old form since he never had Lincecum's dominant fastball and didn't suffer a significant drop in velocity last year.

I have to agree with you on the Dodger dominance part. If the Dodgers had gotten Tanaka, they would easily have had the best front four in baseball...even if Tanaka turns out to be no better than Ryu. As a Giants fan who is gonna have to watch the Giants send out Lincecum and Vogelsong, I am very, very relieved. I doubt, however, that it would have kept the Dodgers from signing future free agents; they have a monster tv deal, and their owners' pockets are very, very deep. I'm sure it would not have hampered them that severely.

I also agree with you on Torres. Why trade away a hard-throwing lefty who has already proven himself as an outstanding reliever and could be a solid starter for a utility player who doesn't play a strong shortstop? The only thing that keeps me from calling it a steal for the Padres is the Rays (particularly Andrew Friedman) are very, very smart; they rarely make a bad deal and usually get the better of their trading partners (e.g. Archer and Hak-ju Lee for Garza). So they may see something in Forsythe, Boxberger, or one of the three prospects that no one else sees yet.

I wonder if this deal wasn't, at least in part, made to keep Forsythe away from the Yankees. If you watch Forsythe play he has a good power swing. Last year he was battling a bad knee first and later in Spring Training the plantar fasciitis. If he's 100% I think many will be surprised to see his doubles and HRs.

I don't think Lincecum will ever be what he was again, but I base my prediction off the fact that his drop in velocity was accompanied by a rise in walks (not a good combination...). I think that came from adjusting to losing the flexibility for that unique delivery. If his velocity stays put now, I would expect those walks to keep dropping like they did last year, and he still doesn't give up many hits, so even with the increase in HRs caused by the mediocre fastball, I could see him getting back to being a mid-3s ERA guy.