Weekly Hit Ground Ball: Braves banish Escobar and warmly greet Gonzalez

Who would have though that veteran shortstop Alex Gonzalez would become such a hero? 

The 33 year old spent the first half of the season swatting homers at an uncharacteristically rapid rate for the Toronto Blue Jays, earning some rare headlines in the process. Then he was traded to the Atlanta Braves this past Wednesday and given a welcome fit for a king, reportedly being “greeted with a standing ovation from his Braves teammates” on his arrival on Thursday and getting cheered to the rafters by the Turner Field crowd. 

Gonzalez would be forgiven for feeling a little embarrassed by all the new-found attention he’s been receiving lately, particularly as his warm reception in Atlanta was as much about the feelings against the player he has replaced than the feelings towards him. 

Never has a player made veteran manager Bobby Cox scratch his head quite so regularly as Yunel Escobar.  The young Cuban has built up a reputation as being a talented but frustrating player, capable of going from the sublime to the ridiculous within the same inning.  A spectacular fielding play could be followed by a lazy error, a great piece of hitting could be undone by a mental error when running the bases.  Escobar is now into his fourth Major League season and after endless attempts to get across their point, using both carrot and stick, the Braves have decided that he isn’t going to listen to them.  They traded him to the Blue Jays for the dependable Gonzalez as part of a five-player deal.  

When Bobby Cox described Gonzalez’s qualities, you didn’t need to be a genius to work out the subtext to what he was saying:

“He comes to play” – unlike Escobar

“He’s got no problems” – unlike Escobar

“He plays like a pro” – unlike Escobar

“The players like him” – unlike Escobar

Cox could have just answered the question of “what do you like about Gonzalez” by saying “he’s not Escobar” and had done with it.  In fact, from the outside it looks like the situation had reached the point where Cox would have preferred to send anyone out there other than his young Cuban (Mr Bean, the Queen, BP’s Chief Exec …). 

What is most interesting about Cox’s comments is that while they partly relate to Gonzalez’s ability on the field, more than anything they are about his attitude and the way he conducts himself.  Escobar has a casual, some would say arrogant, manner about him that also affects his play at times and the view coming out of the Braves’ camp (which might not be entirely accurate, of course) is that he rubs up his teammates the wrong way.  That in itself is an annoyance rather than a major problem, there are plenty of successful teams in sports history containing players that couldn’t stand the sight of each other, but it becomes a sticking point when the player in question doesn’t produce.

Escobar has had a poor first half to the season, the Braves are in first place in the NL East despite this and General Manager Frank Wren decided that Escobar was a distraction that could knock the team off their course of giving Cox one last play-off run before he retires at the end of the season.  When you look at the statistics, that would seem a rash move.

Career prior to 2010
Gonzalez: .247/.294/.395 with an average of 10 homers
Escobar: .301/.375/.426 with an average of 10 homers.

2010 prior to trade
Gonzalez: .259/.296/.497 with 17 homers (age 33)
Escobar: .238/.334/.284  with 0 homers (age 27)

Escobar has been a superior hitter to Gonzalez prior to this season and it’s interesting to note that even while going homer-less so far this year, the former Brave has a higher on-base percentage than his replacement.  Escobar’s track record suggests he’ll improve in the second half, whereas Gonzalez’s home run heroics to date look more like a first-half flash-in-the-pan (see: Raul Ibanez, 2009).  If so, and if we call their fielding displays at shortstop a dead heat, the Braves probably won’t be much better off in terms of performance for making the switch.

The intangible benefits they will gain, in terms of clubhouse chemistry and keeping Bobby Cox’s blood pressure under greater control, are the unknown quantity when evaluating the deal.  As with Escobar’s position with the Braves, it will all come down to performance.  So long as Gonzalez does a decent job and the team makes it to October, those intangibles will seem all important.

Regardless of whether they really turn out to be a factor or not.

Good deal for Toronto

For all his alleged problems, the Blue Jays must have been delighted to make this deal for Escobar.  They’ve picked up a talented young player at a premium position, under contract until the end of 2013, with a big point to prove and with the hope that a change in scenery will bring a change in approach from the player. 

Who’s next?

The Gonzalez-Escobar swap is a good indication of the sort of deals that we can expect up to the 31 July non-waiver trade deadline.

Now that Cliff Lee has been traded, there doesn’t appear to be many impact players on the market.  Roy Oswalt would be a difference maker, but the money left on his contract and Astros’ owner Drayton McLane’s apparent aversion to letting go of his best veteran players makes it a 50-50 call as to whether he will leave the Astros after all.  Adam Dunn could certainly provide some power to a contending team (White Sox, perhaps?) if the Nationals decide to trade the free-agent-to-be and there’s always the possibility that someone might go all out and trade for Prince Fielder.

More likely we’ll be discussing trades involving players who don’t capture the headlines or light up box scores on a regular basis: position players like Dan Uggla, Jose Guillen and David DeJesus, starters like Ted Lilly and Fausto Carmona, and relievers like Kerry Wood, Octavio Dotel and Kevin Gregg.  They might not have fans jumping up and down with excitement, but in some ways that makes this trading period all the more interesting.