This just in, the Rays have traded ground-balling RHP reliever, Burke Badenhop, to the Brewers for 20 year-old OF, Raul Mondesi Jr. Tampa Bay tendered Burke’s contract just last night, presumably with this move in mind. Badenhop is expected to make $1.6MM following arbitration.
As we mentioned earlier, the Rays were/are in the market for an outfielder. It is unclear whether the Rays view Mondesi as an outfield candidate for 2013, or if he is a prospect that needs to be groomed. In either case, Mondesi posted a .231 BA/.282 OBP/.374 SLG line with five homers and eight steals in 298 plate appearances in Rookie ball this summer. By virtue of Mondesi needing to work on his base running skills, (exemplified by this) I’d imagine that the Rays are still in the market for an outfielder in the short-term.
This move opens the door to questions surrounding whomever may be taking Badenhop’s place in the pen. Will they now re-sign JP Howell? Does this open the door for Cesar Ramos or Brandon Gomes?
This is a comment I left on the baseballmusings.com site. I think they’re applicable to this piece as well:
“The Rays may not expect him to be a star, but he needs to show he at least can be a competent hitter.” …And a competent base runner too! I think that the Brewers may have done better in this trade, at least in the short term. This is like the Jaso/Leuke trade, but worse. I can think of at least four players that should go (Niemann being one) the way of the buffalo. A) Why not try to put together a package deal? B) Even at only $1.6 MM, you can’t tell me that the Brewers couldn’t deal at least a prospect. Mondesi didn’t even crack the top 30!