Blue Jays Acquire Hillenbrand

On January 12, 2005 the Arizona Diamondbacks traded 29-year-old 1B/3B Shea Hillenbrand to the Blue Jays in exchange for 25 year old pitching prospect Adam Peterson.

With the Diamondbacks recent acquisitions of 3B Troy Glaus and RF Shawn Green, the only position left for Hillenbrand to play, if he were to stay in Arizona, was 1B. The Diamondbacks decided to go with a cheaper alternative at that position, and chose the 24-year-old Chad Tracy, making Hillenbrand expendable.

On the other end of the trade, the Blue Jays were in need of a first basemen because their former first basemen, Carlos Delgado, was not offered arbitration, leaving a huge hole at that position.

Since the Blue Jays already have a fulltime third basemen in newly acquired 31-year-old Corey Koskie, Hillenbrand will play either 1B or DH. He will split time between these two positions with Blue Jays former third basemen Eric Hinske, who is also forced to change positions because of the acquisition of Koskie.

Here is a look at the players both teams are receiving in the deal. Translated and actual statistics will be presented.

***For Peterson, only actual statistics will be presented, because translated ones were not available.***

Blue Jays receive:

Shea Hillenbrand

(Stats presented as: AB, AVG/OBP/SLG—OPS, HR, RBI, K/BB)

2004 (Actual Stats): 562 AB, .310/.348/.464--.812 OPS, 15 HR, 80 RBI, 49/24 K/BB

2004 (Translated Stats): .299/.338/.447--.269 EqA

Career (Actual Stats): 2179 AB, .288/.322/.448--.770 OPS, 65 HR, 274 RBI, 275/86 K/BB

Career (Translated Stats): .286/.323/.449--.263 EqA


Diamondbacks receive:

Adam Peterson:

2004 (AA): 28 IP, 2.54 ERA, 6.4 H/9—0.3 HR/9—3.2 BB/9—12.1 K/9

2004 (AAA): 21 IP, 12.86 ERA, 16.3 H/9—2.6 HR/9—6.9 BB/9—8.1 K/9

2004 (MLB): 3 IP, 16.87 ERA, 7 Hits—1 HR—3 BB—2 K

Career (Minor League): 140 IP, 4.23 ERA, 8.4 H/9—0.8 HR/9—3.5 BB/9—8.5 K/9

Is this a joke? The Blue Jays get a very solid player in exchange for a below average minor-leaguer, who has gotten worse every level he has gone up? Did the Blue Jays really rip the Diamondbacks off this bad?

Let’s look at the money side of the deal before answering the preceding questions.

Peterson, as a minor leaguer, will make the league minimum. Hillenbrand, on the other hand, is due for arbitration in 2005. Knowing that he made $2.6 million in 2005, and accounting for the good season he had in 2004, I’m going to guess that arbitration grants him around $4 million in 2005.

After seeing the financial aspect of this deal, the Diamondbacks still got robbed. I do understand that Hillenbrand had to go (see position scenarios above), and that the Diamondbacks save a good amount of money in this deal, but they could have gotten much better player(s) in exchange for him than Peterson.

Peterson (25) is past the age where he is considered a prospect, doesn’t have very good career numbers throughout his minor league career, and has played his worst baseball at the highest levels.

On top of all this, paying only $4 million for Hillenbrand is a pretty good bargain for the Blue Jays.

Blue Jays general manager J.P. Riccardi deserves a huge “pat on the back” for completing this deal. He saw a team that had no room for a good player not making a huge amount of money, and then went and got him for an underachieving, older, minor leaguer.

Way to go Blue Jays.

Thank you for reading.

Frank Bundy III

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