Maddux Trade Completed

The Padres have named the two players to be named later for the Maddux trade, and it turns out we'll be losing pitcher Michael Watt and Eduardo Perez for that five ERA Maddux dropped on us.

Losing Perez isn't going to mean too much, he's a 23 year old who split time between A and high A this year with an OPS in the .760 range while he struck out a lot, he's your basic organizational filler.

Watt's the big loss here, he was a second round pick in 2007 and pitched for the Ogden Raptors this year. Watt and 79 strike outs and 21 walks in 80 innings, but was a bit unlucky and ended the year with a 4.35 ERA. According to Paul DePodesta, Watt already has an above average change and scouts love his makeup. Statistically, Watt seems pretty similar to Blake Johnson, who we gave up in the Odalis Perez trade. Johnson has been pretty uninspiring during his age 23 season in AA, so it's not as though Watt is a sure thing, but he was someone we were willing to give almost 400 thosand dollars to out of high school so there was obviously something we saw in him.

In the end, it seems like another classic Ned move, give up something of potential value for nothing, then wonder how we end up starting Angel Berroa most of the year. It's a tad depressing.