Baseball America PCL Top 20 / Trayvon Robinson?
BA released their Pacific Coast League Top 20's today. Gordon made it in at #6, which was cool, seems like the guys ahead of him are future potential stars. No one else made it, so no mention of Trayvon Robinson or Jerry Sands. Maybe someone with access can tell us about anything interesting in the chat. But I wanted to take this as an opportunity to talk about the Trayvon Robinson trade.
First off, I am not a Colletti fan, I hated it when Depodesta was fired and replaced by Ned and his silly mustache. I have reacted with visceral disgust every time he trades a young prospect I like. And I liked Trayvon. He was local, had a cool name, and most importantly Logan White answered my question on a chat way back when Trayvon was drafted and said that Trayvon was part of his attempt to bring more speed into the system.
The reason I'm saying all this is because I have to defend Ned here. It hurts to write that, btw. Trayvon has a fairly high profile for a prospect. As you know, he has legit speed, hit, glove, and power tools. At his best, like in 2010, he is a dynamic lead-off threat coupling average, walks, and gap power with an eye to get on base and legs to make things happen once he gets on. He was a solid and improving outfielder who can at least be average in center. That's a good/B+/plus prospect in my book. Unfortunately, Trayvon has some negatives - especially when (as it appears) he falls in love with the long ball. Trayvon strikes out a ton for a speedy, top of the lineup hitter. But as I watched him in AAA (and I followed most of the games), it was clear that he was selling-out for power in a way that was working in Albequerque. He stopped walking in the early part of the year, but was striking out a ton and every extra base hit was a homerun (almost). FWIW, I don't think this is who Trayvon is, or what would lead him to success in the majors. He was traded to Seattle sent straight to the majors, and struggled to translate his "Albequerque" approach. This is my long-winded way of saying - maybe he was a tad overvalued. Maybe more.
So Ned traded Trayvon Robinson, and overrated prospect, for Tim Federowicz. "Fed" is catch-and-throw catcher with some unrealized offensive tools. He's too old to think his offense will have serious impact, but given that NL catchers collectively hit .250/.320/.388 this season, it's not a stretch to think he could be an average everday catcher by late 2012. Despite this, Federowicz has never made any prospect noise. If a likely, soon-to-be everyday catcher is getting no attention - it's safe to say he's undervalued.
Does it get anymore "moneyball" than to trade an overvalued prospect for an undervalued prospect?
Getting back to the BA PCL list, can we take this as a sign that Trayvon's projections have dimmed? If Trayvon's stock has dropped, did Ned trade him at or near the peak of his value? I'm interested to hear any scouts, or other qualified persons, opinion of Trayvon. What is the likelihood of him growing into a starting OF on a good team?
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