By Ben Nicholson-Smith [July 31, 2012 at 9:28am CST]
The Rangers officially acquired a former Rookie of the Year today, getting
catcher Geovany Soto and cash from the Cubs for minor league pitcher Jake
Brigham and a player to be named later or cash.
Soto, 29, has a .195/.278/.345 batting line in 194 plate appearances this
year. The 2008 NL Rookie of the Year earns $4.3MM in 2012 and is on track to
go to arbitration for the third time this offseason. However, he could be
non-tendered given his salary. The Mets also had interest in trading for Soto.
The move led to the Rangers designating catcher Yorvit Torrealba for
assignment. If Soto's production improves, Texas will have an in-house
alternative to Mike Napoli when he hits free agency this offseason.
Otherwise, the Rangers could non-tender Soto and let him test the free agent
market a year early.
Brigham, a 24-year-old right-hander, had been pitching at Double-A Frisco. He
has a 4.28 ERA with 8.4 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 124 innings over the course of 21
starts this year. Brigham is a fringe arm, Ben Badler of Baseball America
writes (on Twitter). ESPN's Keith Law says he has "a plus fastball and power
breaking ball but lacks the command and the third pitch to start."
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported that a trade would take place and
Tim Brown of Yahoo first reported that the Rangers acquired Soto. Photo
courtesy of US Presswire/Benny Sieu.
大意：Geovany Soto <=====> Jake Brigham + PTBNL or Cash