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December 13, 2007
Broussard Acquired
Texas traded infielder TIM HULETT JR. to Seattle for 1B BEN BROUSSARD.
So why bother trading a quasi-prospect like Hulett if Texas isn’t competing in 2008? Well, that sort of thinking can become too reductive; Texas does have to field a team next year. Broussard has a Major League bat, albeit a limited one, and could provide twenty homers as the fat side of a 1B platoon with Chris Shelton for $4.5 million or so (the righty Shelton has a reverse split but still surpasses Broussard against lefties). Fond as I am of Hulett, he projects as a 5th infielder on his best day and 6th on the rest.
It’s a nice little trade, though one that drives home the organization’s honest but depressingly modest expectations for next season. It also firmly situates Jarrod Saltalamacchia behind the plate (in Oklahoma, if not Texas) and preemptively quashes Nate Gold’s Spring Training dreams of breaking camp with the big boys.
Posted by Lucas at December 13, 2007 08:25 AM