Red Sox/Padres Trade

In my efforts to report on as many trades as possible throughout this hectic baseball off season, while at the same time trying to finish my scouting reports on free agents, some reviews of trades are being written late.

When I do have the time to review the trades though, and subsequently give my opinions, I have to try and rank each trade in my mind as to which is the most significant, and review them first.

While this Red Sox/Padres trade is, in fact, a significant trade, I had it ranked below other trades that happened in approximately the same time period; such as all of the Oakland A's trades.

This "lower" ranking led to the review of this trade getting pushed back behind the reviews of trades that I deemed "more significant."

Now though, the Red Sox/Padres trade, which occurred on December 21, 2004, is up for my review.

In the trade the Boston Red Sox acquired 31 year-old RH OF Jay Payton, 27 year-old LH utility IF Ramon Vazquez, 21 year-old minor league RHP Dave Pauley, and $2.65 million from the San Diego Padres in exchange for 32-year-old LH OF Dave Roberts.

Here is a look at each of the involved players 2004, and career translated statistics:

***For minor-leaguer Dave Pauley, un-translated statistics will be presented because translated statistics for him were unavailable***

Red Sox receive:

Jay Payton:

2004: .265/.332/.378, .251 EqA (Un-translated statistics of 8 HR, 56/43 (1.30/1) K/BB)

Career: .282/.331/.439, .262 EqA {Career K/BB of 305/164 (1.86/1)}

Ramon Vazquez:

2004: Only 52 Games .245/.308/.327, .222 EqA (Un-translated Statistics of 1 HR, 24/11 (2.18/1) K/BB)

Career: .276/.347/.359, .254 EqA, {Career K/BB of 194/108 (1.80/1)}

Dave Pauley:

2004 (Single A): 4.17 ERA, 9.1 H/9—0.5 HR/9—3.9 BB/9—7.5 K/9

Minor-League Career: 3.97 ERA, 9.3 H/9—0.5 HR/9—3.0 BB/9—7.7 K/9


Padres receive:

Dave Roberts:

2004: .245/.329/.366, .271 EqA—reason for high EqA is tremendous SB/CS of 38/3 (93%), {Un-translated statistics of 4 HR, 31/28 (1.10/1) K/BB}

Career: .263/.338/.349, .260 EqA—again, reason for league-average EqA is career SB/CS of 135/32 (81%)—{Career K/BB of 158/141 (1.12/1)}

The best player involved in this deal is Payton, by a slim margin over Roberts. Looking at this trade from this perspective, it would be obvious that the Red Sox got the better end of this trade. While receiving the best player in the deal, they are also receiving two other players, and $2.65 million dollars.

If you’re like me, you’re saying to yourself, “the Padres must have done this deal to save money….right?”

To see if this is true, here is a look at the financial side of this deal.

Jay Payton is signed through 2005 with an option for 2006. In 2005 Payton is due to make $3.5 million. In 2006 he is guaranteed $500,000, with a $4 million option to make a total salary of $4.5 million 2006, if his option were picked up.

Now, I must take the $2.65 million that the Padres are giving the Red Sox next season and use that towards the payment of Payton’s 2005 salary. After the subtraction, the Red Sox end up paying Payton $850,000 in 2005 ($3.5 million 2005 salary minus $2.65 million paid by Padres).

As for Ramon Vazquez, he is arbitration-eligible for 2005. With his 2004 salary being $340,000, I don’t see him getting that much of a raise for 2005 with the numbers he put up in 2004.

For the sake of figuring out how each team made out financially in this deal, I’ll say Vazquez will make $500,000 in 2005.

For Pauley, I will not even add him onto the Red Sox payroll since he will stay in the minor leagues, for now. He will be making a minor-league salary anyways, and not count against the Red Sox’s Major League payroll.

On the Padres end, Roberts, like Vazquez, is also arbitration-eligible for 2005. He has recently been signed to a 1 year, $1.35 million deal by the Padres.

Using the numbers specified we see that the Red Sox are paying a total of $1.35 million for the services of Payton and Vazquez in 2005 ($850,000 that the Red Sox will pay Payton, plus estimated figure of $500,000 due to Vazquez in 2005).

Coincidentally, that is the exact amount of money that the Padres are paying Robert’s in 2005.

In the end, the money breaks down as even.

I do not think I have to break this trade down any further to show that the Red Sox ripped the Padres off in this deal.

The Red Sox got the best player in the deal in Payton, and on top of that, received the 27 year-old Vazquez, who carries a good career OBP, and a young pitching prospect in Pauley.

All this, while breaking out even in the money aspect of the trade!

Even if Pauley is a bust, the Red Sox still robbed the Padres in this deal.

I am forced to believe, after the breakdown of this trade, that the Padres were so distraught after Payton’s sub-par 2004 (see numbers above), and wanted a stolen-base threat so bad, that they were willing to get ripped off.

The Padres will begin 2005 with Robert’s as their leadoff man, and their starting CF.

As for the Red Sox, they will use Payton in a “fourth outfielder” role, filling in for any starting outfielder when they need a rest. Vazquez, essentially, will be backup at 2B and SS for the Red Sox, and possibly at the infield corners.

This Red Sox ripped the Padres off in this deal. I think the Padres put too way much emphasis on stolen bases, and took Payton’s sub-par 2004 too seriously. Due to these misjudgments, the Padres got the very, very short end of this deal.

Thank you for reading.

Frank Bundy III

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions, please do not hesitate to email me at frnkbndy@yahoo.com.