Rays trade Abreu for Meloan
July 2nd, 2009 | by Jason Collette |
Abreu traded to Indians
Earlier today, the Rays traded Winston Abreu to the Indians for Jonathan Meloan. A few days ago,the Rays designated Winston Abreu for assignment when Chad Bradford was activated and that action necessitated this trade. Despite a very successful stint in Durham, Abreu fell victim of a numbers game in the Tampa bullpen and was let go in favor of keeping hardly-used pinch hitter extraordinaire Joe Dillon. Despite some early season struggles, most notably the epic meltdown in Cleveland on May 25th, the Rays bullpen has really turned things around this season which made the need to keep Abreu around less important than the need to justify trading Adam Kennedy to the Oakland A’s.
Abreu was added as a free agent to the Rays organization after pitching in Japan last season. Prior to pitching overseas, Abreu had brief cups of coffee with the Orioles and the Nationals in 2006 and 2007 after spending the previous twelve seasons in the minor leagues. At Durham, Abreu served in the closer role for the Bulls and was 3-0 with a 1.41 ERA and 10 saves in 23 games. In 32 innings of work, he struck out 49 batters while allowing only 24 baserunners. While the Rays never really gave Abreu a fair chance, the Indians will be more than happy to let him work in their pen. The Indians have the worst team ERA in baseball at 5.37 and the team has blown as many saves as they have converted this year. Kerry Wood is firmly entrenched as the team’s closer – unless the Indians are able to trade his contract before this trade deadline. If Wood were to be traded, the closer role would be wide open since nobody on the roster has done much to demand the job.
This deal was good for the Rays for the fact they gain a player in Jonathan Meloan who can be sent to the minor leagues. Meloan came to the Indians along with uber-prospect Carlos Santana in the Casey Blake deal with the Dodgers last season. Meloan was a starting pitcher in college his final two years at Arizona but scouts suggested moving him to the bullpen due to his delivery. From 2005 to 2007, that suggestion was terrific as Meloan dominated minor league hitters in a relief role striking out 236 batters in just 157 innings. Inexplicably, the Dodgers then turned Meloan into a starting pitcher for the 2008 season in the launching pad that is Cashman Field in Las Vegas and Meloan struggled mightily with a 4.97 ERA and 60 walks in 105 innings. The Indians put Meloan back into a relief role this year in AAA Columbus but he has given up more hits than innings pitched and his strikeout rate is down to 7.6.
The fact the Rays were able to turn a 32 year old journeyman reliever into a 24 year old reliever that was once ranked 8th overall in a very talented Dodgers farm system by Baseball America in 2008 is a good move in and of itself. Abreu may very well turn into a profitable pitcher for the Indians because they can afford him an opportunity to shed the AAAA label while the Rays bullpen simply had too much talent at this time to grant Abreu that chance. Meanwhile, Meloan can stay in AAA and try to recapture some of his form from the 2007 season when he was recognized as one of the top relief prospects in all of baseball.
By Tommy on Jul 2, 2009
Any time you can turn a 32 year old non roster invitee with two appearances in the majors this year into a younger arm with big upside and six years of team control it’s a good thing.