The trading deadline is at 3:00 PM this afternoon and rumors are still flying regarding where Octavio Dotel might go. Here's a brief rundown of the possibilities:
To Atlanta for right-handed starting pitcher Kyle Davies (age 23). I don't really understand this one. Davies is 14-21 with a 6.15 ERA in his career with a 1.71 WHIP. Opponents have hit .292 against him. He's having another bad season this year. If this is all we can get for Dotel, I say keep him.
To Seattle for outfielder Wladimir Balentien (age 23). Balentien, a slugger who has played in the 2006 and 2007 Futures Game, has put up impressive numbers at the minor league level. This season at Tacoma he has 23 HR, 74 RBI, 14 SB and he's hitting .306 with a .933 OPS. He draws a lot of walks but he also strikes out a lot (160 times in 2005), however his strikeouts do seem to be dropping. Who knows whether all of this success would translate to the major league level, but this deal makes more sense than the one for Davies in my opinion.
To the Dodgers for Chin-Lung Hu (age 23), a minor league shortstop who hits for average (.300 in five seasons), has a good career OBP (.348), and who steals the occasional base (72 in his career). He played in the 2007 Futures Game and ever since he was promoted to Las Vegas this season he's been on fire, hitting .382. He makes more errors than I'd like to see (22 in 116 games in 2005 while playing A-ball at Vero Beach) and at this point, I'm not all that sure that he's up upgrade over Tony Pena, but if one of them could move to second base, he may be worth trading for.
To Cleveland for outfielder Franklin Gutierrez (age 24) or possibly outfielder Ben Francisco (age 25). Gutierrez has shown a little pop in 48 games with Cleveland this season (7 HR, 16 RBI). Frankly his minor league stats don't impress me much, but maybe he's just starting to come into his own. Francisco has shown a little power at the minor league level (17 HR, 59 RBI in 2006 for Buffalo), but I don't think he's worth trading for Dotel.
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