Royals Acquire Pena Jr.

[love_that_reefer]

Royals acquired shortstop Tony Pena Jr. from the Braves RHP Erik Cordier.
Just how many times is Royals GM Dayton Moore going to be able to get away with giving up young pitching for mediocre hitters? Actually, describing Pena as a mediocre hitter is too kind. Pena has a career .253/.285/.335 line in 2,308 minor league at-bats. He did take a step forward last year, batting .282/.312/.359 in 298 at-bats as a 25-year-old in Triple-A, but with no power or patience, that's the top level of his ability. He is a fine defender, but so is Andres Blanco. If the Royals really think Pena is better, then why have they been blowing the 40-man roster spot on Blanco for years? As much as the Royals do need to replace Angel Berroa, this still leaves them with the worst shortstop situation in baseball.

I don't know much about Pena Jr. except that I saw him playing good defense last year while with the Braves. Hopefully he will get the starting job at SS and do better than Berroa's .259 OBP. How do you keep a job after having a .259 OBP? He should also olay better defense than Berroa.

[awefullspellare]

Oh man Berroa had a .259 OBP? Send him down to Omaha, see if it helps him at all. Angel Sanchez should be ready in '08, so hopefully he's a bit better.282 with 105 runs in AA last year.

[realmofotalk]

Erik Cordier may or may not be a future major league pitcher, but Dayton Moore is foolish for taking a chance just to acquire a middle infielder who couldn't hit water if he fell off a boat.

[DravenX]

Dayton Moore is foolish for taking a chance just to acquire a middle infielder who couldn't hit water if he fell off a boat.

He is not the best middle infielder but I'm sure it's an upgrade for the Royals. I could just go in and play for them and it couldn't get any worse.

[realmofotalk]

Pena was a player whom John Schuerholz was going to cut anyway. For Moore to give up a player with much more upside than Pena is just irresponsible. IMO, Dayton Moore is following Chuck Lamar and Dean Taylor as ex-Braves front office assistants who make bad general managers.