ROSTER MOVE:
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) August 21, 2012#Dbacks acquire SS Sean Jamieson from#Athletics in exchange for SS Stephen Drew.
Just when you thought it was safe to attend closed door meetings, Stephen Drew has been sent to the Oakland Athletics for A ball Shortstop Sean Jamieson. This puts an end to Drew's career with the D'Backs, who drafted him 15th overall in the 2004 draft. He was on the big club from 2006 until now, and had a career line of .266/.328/.436 with 72 career home runs. Stephen had been linked to Oakland before the non-waiver deadline, but no deal was done then.
As you may recall, Drew suffered a horrific ankle injury in July of last year against the Brewers that caused him to miss the rest of 2011 and a good portion of 2012. As you also may recall, Drew's recovery pace was quite famously questioned by Ken Kendrick this past June. He had a $10 Million option on the table for next season that didn't seem likely to be picked up.
Stephen was rusty coming off the injury this year, and never really seemed to pick it up, hitting only .193 in considerable time at Shortstop.
In his place, the Athletics sent over SS Sean Jamieson, who was Oakland's 17th round pick in 2011. He was playing most recently in Class A Burlington in the Midwest league, where he was hitting .234/.345/.379 with five home runs thus far. He does not appear in any A's related prospect lists that I've looked at (sample size: 2). He will report to South Bend.
On a more personal note: I wanna thank Stephen for everything he did for us in the time he was here, and I wish him the best in Oakland, which has become the "Island of misfit former D'Backs". A small sample of players we've sent to the East Bay in the past few years include:
Brett Anderson
Carlos Gonzalez
Conor Jackson
Brandon Allen
Jordan Norberto
Ryan Cook
Collin Cowgill
Jarrod Parker