Anibal/Sowers for Halladay

Second trade up for discussion. This one has Ozzie trading Jeremy Sowers and Anibal Sánchez to Sonic for Roy Halladay. At first blush this looks a lot like the previous trade but to less extremes. But it is eerily similar.

No one made a fuss about this one though that I can remember. First lets look at everyones stats from 2006

• Sanchez. 633 points in 114.1 IP for a excellent P/IP of 5.54. Anibal had GREAT numbers and was only 22. He issued 46 BB which was a little high but maintained a low 1.19 WHIP. A VERY promising young SP.
• Sowers. 441 points in 88.1 IP for very good 5.00 P/IP. He was 23 so very young. He didn't have a lot of K's (35) but you would expect that from a lefty. He kept his walk rate down which would indicate good control which would be essential for him. These were both rising stars.
• Halladay. He had an excellent 2006. 1160 points in 220 IP for a 5.20 P/IP. Of course he benefited from a lot of IP. Halladay hasn't been free from injury so there was some risk there. For two years in a row he pitched 239 and 266 innings. A TON! You can see the next two years he paid for it. That gets us to 2006, maybe if he keeps his IP reasonable he can stay healthy. Maybe. What surprised me about Halladay was his age. I thouht he was older but only 29.

I can't tell you their health at the time of the trade. Anibal would eventually have major shoulder trouble and is out for the season. Another Girardi victim? Sowers has been terrible this year. Again, I don't know if health is involved but he is in the minors. Subsequently they have both been dropped from Sonic's roster and are out there for the taking. Anibal must have been demoted because he isn't on the DL. And since he doesn't rank as a rookie anymore he can't be kept on the roster. Both Sowers and Sanchez could be good pickups if they turn it around but the fact remains that they didn't help Sonic at all.

Halladay has 529 points in 97.1 IP. P/IP of 5.44. He is having another great year.

Looking back at the trade when it happened, it looked like Sonic set himself up for a long time. Two very good young pitchers (better than the ones Mud traded for Smoltz) for a very good older pitcher. He had the advantage of 2 for 1 plus Halladay has been injury prone. A slam dunk. Boy did it ever turn out different. This has been a slam dunk for Ozzie and we don't have to wait to figure it out. It is already over since Sonic has dropped them both. If Halladay goes on to his projection of 1110 this trade has been super for Ozzie.

I would have done it. If I was in Sonic's shoes, I would have JUMPED at this trade. How did Ozzie know? Again, I don't follow the whole league as well as I should so some things may have been public knowledge, but still.

Grade: (as of now)

• Sonic F
  
• Ozzie A+