Was Trading Brandon Allen a Mistake?

 

In one of Kenny Williams’ lower profile moves from this season he dealt a young 1st base prospect, Brandon Allen, to the Diamondbacks for reliever Tony Pena. Since the trade Pena’s performances have been uninspiring, to say the least, and Brandon Allen has been destroying PCL pitching, resulting in a promotion to Arizona. So I find myself posing the question; was trading Brandon Allen a mistake?

 

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Basically I break down Allen's numbers when in Reno and try to explain why they are somewhat misleading also I give my thoughts on what I expect from Allen going forward.

The only reason I think it was is because we will be needing a power lefty in the future, and he fits that role. Thome will probably be around 1 more year at most.

Nicely written article Ozzie Ball. Everyone knows my views on it, especially in terms of value, but I still think Pena can be something for us when Coop works with him more.

Edited August 27, 200916 yr by SoxAce

Yes. I am convinced that Brandon can win a gold glove though.

Yes. I like Allen more than you (TS) do, but would've had no problem trading him (or any other prospect we have) for appropriate value, and I would not under any circumstances consider Tony Pena appropriate value. The deal looked bad at the time and now it looks even worse.

 

Also, what Brandon Allen does or does not do in the Majors from this point on is mostly irrelevant IMO as far as it concerns this trade. What matters is what value we got out of our asset, and if it's another 6th inning righty specialist ready to hit arbitration after the season, then we got absolutely hosed, even if Allen never gets another hit in the Majors.

Chris Young saids "hi!"

No doubt it was a mistake. Ranks right up there with the Red Sox trading Babe Ruth for cash.

Allen just hit his first ML homer

Allen just hit his first ML homer

 

ROY?

 

Edited August 28, 200916 yr by Jordan4life

Bleah.

Allen just hit his first ML homer

A 3-run shot no less.

He's also hitting .235. Chill out people.

Chris Young saids "hi!"

 

^^^^^^^^

He's also hitting .235. Chill out people.

He also has had only about 20 ML at bats.

Chris Young saids "hi!"

Chris Young was traded for major league talent (Vazquez), a starting pitcher that threw 200 innings for 3 years. I don't know what you call Tony Pena, but

major league talent doesn't come to mind. And he's a 50 inning guy.

No doubt it was a mistake. Ranks right up there with the Red Sox trading Babe Ruth for cash.

 

+1

 

Chris Young was traded for major league talent (Vazquez), a starting pitcher that threw 200 innings for 3 years. I don't know what you call Tony Pena, but

major league talent doesn't come to mind. And he's a 50 inning guy.

 

Der...Yeah! That's it!

 

A terrible mistake. Pathetic to deal a nice power hitting prospect for a freaking middle relief guy (who isn't any good anyway)

Since we don't have Brian Anderson any more, I guess this is the new thing to make 11 million threads about.

A terrible mistake. Pathetic to deal a nice power hitting prospect for a freaking middle relief guy (who isn't any good anyway)

Exactly, a major league organization needs to prioritize plus-positional talent over relief pitching. It’s a simple numbers game: Allen, ideally, plays every day of the week in innings 1-9; Pena gives you maybe 3-4 innings per week. Its’ easy to see who has more value to a ballclub. I imagine the D-Backs were thrilled when KW called to offer them this stinker of a deal. This almost reminds me of when we drafted Royce Ring back in the 2002 draft. It’s an absolutely absurd over-valuation of a relief pitcher.

Eh, we owed them for the Quentin deal. I'll take that tradeoff.

Chris Young was traded for major league talent (Vazquez), a starting pitcher that threw 200 innings for 3 years. I don't know what you call Tony Pena, but

major league talent doesn't come to mind. And he's a 50 inning guy.

 

My point is that we have no idea what Brandon Allen would be. Even if he started with a bang, he could fizzle out just as easily, and cost a franchise a hell of a money while they sit on a bust. At this time we just don't know.

Exactly, a major league organization needs to prioritize plus-positional talent over relief pitching. It’s a simple numbers game: Allen, ideally, plays every day of the week in innings 1-9; Pena gives you maybe 3-4 innings per week. Its’ easy to see who has more value to a ballclub. I imagine the D-Backs were thrilled when KW called to offer them this stinker of a deal. This almost reminds me of when we drafted Royce Ring back in the 2002 draft. It’s an absolutely absurd over-valuation of a relief pitcher.

 

That's such a short-sighted statement. Bullpen's win and lose championships for teams. What's the point in having a good closer if your pen sucks too much to get the game to him? Brandon Allen is a dime a dozen prospect (that's being a little harsh actually). He projects to be slightly above average at first base with decent power. It is not hard to find someone else to do the same thing. Not to mention we have Konerko still signed and two players with higher ceilings many people feel may eventually make their way over to 1B (Flowers, Viciedo).

Edited August 28, 200916 yr by ChiSox_Sonix

My point is that we have no idea what Brandon Allen would be. Even if he started with a bang, he could fizzle out just as easily, and cost a franchise a hell of a money while they sit on a bust. At this time we just don't know.

 

Duhhh, yes we do!

 

He's the second coming of Albert Pujols, silly.

Allen stroked that HR last night and did have 4 RBI but I think Ozzie ball did a great job summing up what you can project his offensive numbers to be and they aren't that special. Pena has the chance to be an upper echelon reliever and he has been over one season in his career.

 

Will he do it again, I don't freaking know, but 1st baseman that put up those sort of numbers aren't as valuable as we think they are (in terms of trade). I didn't like trading Allen cause he might do better than Ozzie projected but I think in general Ozzie's projections in the article look fairly accurate and realistic.

 

I wish BA the best of luck, but I'm not going to write off Tony Pena just yet.

Trading Allen wasn't a mistake(people are wayyyyyyy overrating him right now imo), trading him for Tony Pena was a mistake though.