Hello and Goodbye Sergio

by gondeee on Mar 11, 2008 9:28 PM EDT in Braves Minor League News

There were a lot of eyebrows raised when the Cincinnati Reds drafted Braves right-handed pitcher Sergio Valenzuela with the sixth pick in the Rule 5 draft this winter. Over at Baseball Prospectus, Kevin Goldstein said this at the time about the Reds' pick of Valenzuela:

6. Reds select RHP Sergio Valenzeula from the Braves. This pick is a joke right? Valenzuela pitched 72 innings this year, split between Atlanta's Low- and High-A teams. In those 72 innings, he gave up 102 hits while nearly walking (37) as many as he struck out (38). Sure, he's got plus velocity, but he's not fooling teams that have maybe, maybe three or [four] future big leaguers on them, so what makes you think he's going to suddenly have any chance in hell of getting an entire lineup full of big leaguers out?
Chances To Stick: Seriously, they really took Sergio Valenzuela?

Well, to no one's surprise (except maybe some now-fired Reds' scout), Cincinnati returned Sergio to the Braves, and the Braves accepted. Then as sort of a final F-you to the Reds, and to further reinforce the stupidity of the pick, the Braves traded Valenzuela to Monclova of the Mexican League for future considerations.

A.    Trading someone to the Mexican League is more like selling them into indentured servitude.
B.    Future considerations? We really need someone to describe what the hell this means. (Like when we traded Langerhans to Oakland last year and got nothing in return.)
C.    Sergio was so bad this spring (and by extension, the Reds were so wrong about him) that he never pitched in a regular game, and an intrasquad game yielded this result:

A total of 11 pitchers were used in the game and each pitched an inning, except right-hander Sergio Valenzuela. Valenzuela gave up six runs (three earned) and walked one in the fifth, which was stopped with two outs.

Wow, he was so bad they just went ahead and quit playing their scrimmage.

I don't know why I spend so much time on this nothing pitcher - it just kind of makes me laugh a little.

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doesnt future considerations mean there was some sort of provision set to decide what we get in return? I.e. langerhans played in 100 games, we get X or hit 50 home runs, we get Z...I assume if he didnt meet any of the terms, we get nothing?

Thats how i understand it, but i could be wrong...

by Doghnut on Mar 11, 2008 10:07 PM EDT reply actions