LaTroy Hawkins Traded
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Bruce Levine of ESPN 1000 has just reported that LaTroy Hawkins has been traded to the San Francisco Giants for Jerome Williams and David Aardsma.
Updates to follow.
Update I: 11:45 A.M. I am not too familiar with either player the Cubs are receiving in return, but it looks like the Cubs are the early leaders "on-paper" with this trade. While Hawkins is a good pitcher, he needed a change of scenery. This trade should almost be filed under humanitarian acts for Jim Hendry.
Popping over to BBRef, Williams, age 23, has a 17-12 career record with a 3.77 ERA. He is a right handed starter that I'm penciling in to start for Prior while he's hurt, and then could take over Rusch's spot in the rotation.
David Aardsma, also 23 years old, made appearances in 11 games for the Giants last year, while posting a 6.75 ERA. Looking at his Baseball Cube page, Aardsma is a reliever with a 2.81 ERA in his 62 pre-2005 minor league appearances. In 2005, he has been converted to a starter and is pitching for the Norwich Navigators. He has a 6-2 record in 9 appearances (8 starts) with a 2.93 ERA. (David Aardsma on MinorLeagueBaseball.com)
Finally, looking at salary, USA Today lists Hawkins at $4.5 million... but I'm pretty sure that number includes a lot of bonus incentives. Jerome Williams is making $336,000, nearly the league minimum. Aardsma will also probably make about the same amount of money if he is placed on the major league roster (which I don't expect he will.)
Mostly Unrelated, Roberto Novoa is taking Prior's roster spot as Prior has been placed on the 15 day DL.
Posted by Byron at May 28, 2005 11:38 AM
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Given how bad Williams has struggled in triple-A this year, I'm guessing he won't see the mound at Wrigley for a while. Wellemeyer is the better rotation option. After him, Raul Valdez might be a good option.
I am a Cubs fan stranded in N. Calif. This trade is an absolute steal for the Cubs. Williams has has had a bad year this year (with the severe illness of his father in Hawaii and other problems) but last year he was positively lights out as a starter. Far better than his numbers. And Aardsma has been one of the highly touted prospects that the Giants have protected in prior trades. That Hendry was able to get him speaks volumes about the desperation of the Giants. We will see both of them in Wrigley within 2 years.
I love getting both players... but I'm hoping they give Williams a full physical, MRI on his shoulder and everything... find out if he needs to have surgery right now. If he does, maybe ask for some of the money back, but don't undo this trade. We'll miss Hawkins in a couple months when he's lights out in the 8th inning for the Giants while we still languish far behind the Cardinals, but just getting Aardsma in this trade makes it worth it. Anything Williams gives us is gravy and I'd be looking for that gravy in 2006.
Trading Latroy smelled very similar to what happened to Sammy. The difference is we got some pretty good pitchers in return.
Neither of these pitchers will be seen in Wrigley Field for quite some time.
Hopefully nobody doubted the deal after Latroys beautiful outing on June 1st against philly, giving up a pinch hit grand slam