As we reach the trading deadline, I swung a couple of deals, one decent-sized, one minor. First the decent-sized one:
Traded 18-year old minor league RHP Jeremy Holston and 22-year old minor league LF Danny Ruiz to the Chicago White Sox, getting 28-year old LHP Jim Golunski in return.
Golunski is one of the best LH relievers in baseball and I had been eyeing him awhile. The White Sox are out of contention so they were willing to move him, and Holston was the main enticement. Holston was our 6th round pick last season and has potential to be a league-average starting pitcher, although my scouts are a bit less enthused than OSA. Ruiz made the deal work, and he's a nothing-special OF prospect whom the scouts don't like a lot. So what are we getting in Golunski? Check it out:
We didn't need another lefty in the pen as Mike Wherry, Bob Sirna and Billy Hoyte are all just fine. But Golunski is better than all 3, and is the closest thing to a left-handed Kikuo Kawase out there. And he's only arb-eligible for the first next time year, projected to make $1.5M so quite inexpensive. To make room on the 40-man, I swung this deal:
Traded 23-year old minor league RHP Raymher Costa to the Washington Nationals, getting 24-year old minor league RHP Jim George in return.
Adios Raymher Costa, king of the BB/K ratios but also a big-time server of gopher balls. Regular readers of this thread will know how intrigued I was by him, but his stint in the majors showed the 25 movement was always going to be a real problem for him, especially playing in a hitter's paradise like Publix Park. I think I did well in return, getting George who is a top-notch relief prospect and probably is good enough to pitch in an MLB pen right now. But he was only drafted in 2033 (Washington's 2nd-round pick) so he doesn't have to go on the 40-man nor is he eligible for Rule 5 so he'll be stashed in the minors for the foreseeable future. Also to make room on the active roster for Golunski,
Dusty Cross has been optioned to AAA Durham.