Wednesday, February 09, 2005

farnsie gone!

well, so much for our bar circuit report -- kyle farnsworth (and a player to be named) is traded to the tigers for midseason callup righthanded reliever roberto novoa and class a'ers infielder scott moore and speedy outfielder bo flowers.

the tigers landed magglio the other day, and farnsie looks to be another move to build a bullpen around new acquisition troy percival, where he can move into estaban yan's old spot. less pressure for farnsie, one would suspect, with both percival and urbina in place. someone is sure to show sleepy the way to greektown in the next few days, but perhaps the more limited selection of ballpark pubs will help improve performance. comerica park will help him keep it in the yard as well.

novoa is a 24 y/o 6-foot-5 dominican righty who looked very good at double-a erie in 2004 as a reliever and was brought up with the late-season roster expansion. he is projected to be a decent major-league reliever, and was considered something of a hot prospect by the tigers. but this is also definitely a case of buying high.

moore was the 8th overall pick of the 2002 draft and played 2004 at lakeland in the class a florida state league, where he hit just .223 over 391 at-bats, popping a respectable 14 homers from the left side. like many 20-year-old hitters with a bit of pop, he has a discipline problem -- 125 K last year, obp of .322. novoa is something a typical reliever, but moore would be the potential upside in this trade. something of a fallen star in the tiger system for his difficulty in adapting to pro ball, the kid is just 20 and was considered just last year to be part of the tigers' "infield of the future" at third base. time will tell....

flowers was a 2002 fifth-rounder with little pop and 16 stolen bases in 25 attempts in 246 at-bats in the class a new york penn league. he's considered to be top-shelf talent, but still years from the majors.

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