The D'backs just traded Bonifacio to the Nats for P Jon Rauch. I just got the text from KTAR.
Rauch, who took over as the Nats closer when Chad Cordero injured his shoulder in April, was 4-2 with a 2.98 ERA. The 29-year-old covered 17 of his 22 save opportunities. Rauch, who made $1.2 million this year, is set to make $2 million next season and there is a club option for 2010 at $2.9 million.
[Tidied up and promoted to the front page. Here are my thoughts on the deal. Jim]
This looks to me like we just got Qualls v2.0. Before you cringe, let me point out that by this, I mean Rauch is a decent quality [ERA+ of 127, 117 and 144 over the past three years] reliever, who throws a lot of innings and will be under our control for a relatively-long term.
In fact, he has the most innings in the majors of any "pure" reliever [90% or more of appearances in relief] since the start of 2006, and gives Arizona two of the top five:
- Jon Rauch: 227
- Aaron Heilman: 225.1
- Scott Proctor: 220.1
- Chad Qualls: 216.1
- Saul Rivera: 210
The trade also means Randy Johnson is no longer the tallest player on the roster: if you remember the recent Washington series, you'll likely recall Rauch, who is listed at 6'11" and 291 lbs...
Losing Bonifacio does remove one of the major possibilities as far as replacing Hudson goes. If we don't re-sign the O-Dawg, we are going to have either to trade for someone or make a major shift in position for someone currently occupying another spot. But, for the moment, it certainly strengthens our pen, at the cost of someone who was only a fringe player on the current roster.
