Doing some digging on Marcus McBeth and I'm really bullish on this guy. He's 26 years old, but since he only recently converted to pitching you have to figure that his arm is still pretty young. And I'm loving the strikeout rates even if his control does give me a little pause.
Krivsky is tough to figure out, because I like many of his moves, but then he'll do things like the Trade or signing Rheal Cormier and make me just not know.
Here are some McBeth links:
JinAz doesn't share my optimism on the deal:
But having said all that, I'm not feeling very good about this trade. First, Denorfia is hurt and out for the season. Assuming he comes back from it--and admittedly, there is a risk that he won't, though Tommy John surgery is almost becoming routine, and moreover, he is not a pitcher and can play with a weaker arm than before the injury--we are dealing Denorfia at a moment when his stock is about as low as it gets.
I thought this too, but now I'm not so sure after reading that the deal was almost done in spring training. It wouldn't surprise me if this deal isn't pretty similar to the one that was nearly completed then, making the selling low point moot. But we'll obviously never know if (or how much) the return from Oakland dropped after Deno's injury.
Here's an interesting article that talks about McBeth's conversion from a centerfielder to pitcher:
In the Arizona heat, all by himself, McBeth was instructed on how to toss the ball long distances.That's all he did for weeks in monotonous drills the A's swear by. "We were building arm strength. ... Stretching his arm like a big rubber band," Romanick said.
The A's put no timetable on McBeth's development. Romanick often worked with him one-on-one, painstakingly perfecting his mechanics, delivery, arm motion, release point -- even his on-field posture.
"Marcus was like a sponge," Romanick said. "Whatever you gave him, he would process. He had a great capacity to learn." [...]
"He's got a Johan Santana-type changeup," said Romanick, quite the compliment considering the devastating changeup thrown by the reigning A.L. Cy Young Award winner.
Scouts and coaches often resort to hyperbole, but still, that's a hell of a compliment there.
The offense is still the problem here, but who knows? The Reds might be able to hang out for awhile at the .500 level if they can get the bullpen turned around, and I think the Salmon/Cormier move plus this trade could go a little ways towards making that happen.