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Team acquires INF Cliff Pennington and INF Yordy Cabrera from @athletics for OF Chris Young @cy24_7 and cash considerations
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) October 20, 2012
Team acquires RHP Heath Bell and cash considerations from @marlins for Yordy Cabrera
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) October 20, 2012
The wheels of the off-season have begun turning. Chris Young, the previous holder of the longest tenured Diamondback, has been sent to occasional trade partner Oakland for INF Cliff Pennington and INF Prospect Yordy Cabrera. In the blink of an eye, Cabrera was then sent to Miami for RP Heath Bell.
I'll let you get your "HOLY CRAPS" out of the way now.
First the people the D'Backs received. Pennington has been Oakland's de-facto starting Shortstop since 2010. He was moved to Second Base late this season for their playoff run when the team acquired Stephen Drew. Unfortunately, his 2012 season was his worst at the plate yet, with a .215/.278/.311 in 125 games. There is an above-average chance that he is Arizona's starting Shortstop in 2013.
Heath Bell, as you probably recall, was the longtime closer for the Padres. Last off-season he signed a 3 year/$27 million deal with the Marlins and promptly stunk up the joint with a 5.09 ERA while in limbo between being and not being the Marlins' closer.
Obviously I am not in KT's head, but I would imagine he feels that both Pennington and Bell are bounce-back candidates. We shall see what the machinations of the off-season bring us.