Quote:
Originally Posted by siberian khatru
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/royal...ay-real-price/
The Nationals acquired Scott Hairston for low-level pitching prospect Ivan Pineyro.
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However, to get Maxwell, the Royals gave up Kyle Smith, who Marc Hulet rated as their #10 prospect heading into the season. Smith has been excellent in high-A Wilmington this year, and is probably not far away from being ready for Double-A. He’s undersized, but the stuff and the results are there, and the Astros are clearly not shy about taking chances on short dudes who can play.
Smith isn’t any kind of elite prospect and might turn out to be nothing in the long run...
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This is the kind of thing that annoys be about sportswriting.
What exactly is Kyle Smith if not a low-level pitching prospect? Why is Pineyro the throwaway line whereas Smith is a huge loss?
Smith is a 20 yr old kid that's pitching well in high A right now. Pineyro is 21 yr old kid that is also pitching well in high A right now, but actually has a little size and projectability.
The Nationals gave up a guy that's very very similar to Smith, but with fewer innings under his belt at high A. And Hairston is older, more expensive and under team control for less time. He's also not the defender that Maxwell is.
I'm not saying that this justifies the Royals move but what I am saying is that the market for a legitimate plus defensive OFer and lefty mauler was much higher than this author suggests. Sure, guys like that would ideally be found in FA, but that didn't happen so now you have to actually give up something to get one.
It's just a silly article. Should Moore have made the move at all? Well that's a fair question - are the Royals really a platoon RFer away from challenging for the division/WC? But did Moore truly overpay? No, he really didn't.