The Athletics have traded outfielder Eric Patterson to the Red Sox for minor league lefty Fabian Williamson, according to the team's official Twitter feed. Patterson had been designated for assignment earlier this week.
The Red Sox just lost Dustin Pedroia for as much as six weeks with a fracture in his foot, and the 27-year-old Patterson has considerable experience playing second base. He's a career .224/.301/.340 hitter in 378 big league plate appearances, and is capable of playing all three outfield positions in addition to the keystone spot.
Boston originally acquired Williamson from the Mariners for David Aardsma last January. The 21-year-old has a 3.72 ERA with a 5.5 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 this season, playing for the team's High-A affiliate.
P W
I hope this isn’t to replace pedroia at 2b…its the al east not nl east
chaifetz10
Uh, I would say it is. Patterson was a great 2B prospect with the Cubs before getting traded to the A’s. Just be happy you didn’t get Aaron Miles instead.
VoteForPrado
You act like the NL East is a tee ball league.
elmedius 2
interesting you would word it that way since the nl east also boast some pretty decent 2B in utley, uggla and prado. true pedroia, cano, zobrist, roberts, and hill are all quite impressive… i just wouldnt consider the nl east a weak division as far as 2B goes.
P W
Didnt really mean it specifically at 2b…kinda meant that in the nl east you can get a replacement like Patterson if your 2b goes down and youll be fine(like the phillies with rollins), not the same story in the al east.
BoSoxSam
Personally, I’d prefer to see the Sox go low on this one. I would hate to see them trade some valuable prospects for a rental; a six week rental no less. This is the same reason I’m hesitant about trading for a rental outfielder, especially someone like Dejesus. I’d like to see any serious trades be made to improve the bullpen depth before Epstein starts collecting rental players.
ReverendBlack
Sssstrongly agree. Suck it up and roll the dice. With the second half staff like the Sox have, there’s almost always a chance.
Blub Blub Blub
Are you kidding? It’s either Patterson or Bill Hall. I’m thrilled that it’s going to be Patterson.
elmedius 2
hmmm.. well im glad he bats left…nice counter to hall…
oh and that 2 of his 6 career hr were hit at fenway interestingly enough.
heres how he looks at the fen:
mlb.mlb.com/stats/individual_player_hitting_chart.…
here’s his hitting chart for his new home field.
04Forever
in the fabled words of Charlie Brown, “UGHHHHHH!”. The only good thing that comes out of this move is that it costed nothing. This doesnt mean he will start at second, it means Bill Hall is
CaptainCharisma
So why “UGHHHHHHH!”?
He’s helping to fill in for Pedroia and has potential to be solid until he gets back. You can’t do much else right now… second basemen don’t grow on trees and it’s not like they had someone waiting in the wings to promote.
It’s not like we unloaded Buchholz for him.
Jayson Miller
Yeah this guy sucks, terrible defensively, noodle arm aka johnny damon. He destroys AAA pitching, but looks clueless at the mlb level. The patterson brother are the biggest waste of talent baseball family. More than likely for depth, be happy he doesnt play much
ReverendBlack
An even-handed analysis if ever there was one
sacu
“The patterson brother are the biggest waste of talent baseball family.”
Hey BayAsFan, we know we were fighting with the Patterson bros for least talented family in baseball; thanks for voting them the worst.
Signed,
The Hariston brothers
notin
This Nix brothers have them both beat hands down…
User 4245925809
Williamson probably reached his peak at High A where he will be effective, though might do fair at AA, the guy just has no “oomph” on his FB and little control period, spelling out problems at levels where batters are patient a tad more.
Does give a clue that teams must be wanting something for nothing when it comes to overpaid guys like Ankiel, Nady, or even guys like Crisp getting grossly overpaid. At least no harm cutting this guy loose (or sending down if has options left) when the others start coming back from the DL.
Agreed with above on finding somebody to stick at 2b other than Hall for a couple of weeks, just having Hall’s bat alone in the lineup is bad enough, but his glove as well for the next 2 weeks is going to be really brutal.
dawgpaddlez
havent watched hall at all recently but saw him live a couple of times back in 07 i believe and was a fan of his versatility around those seasons too..i remember him playing short and third and having a pretty decent to above average glove…is that no longer the case? granted i may have just benefited from seeing him make a few highlight reel incredible plays at the time
elmedius 2
personally most of my issue with hall is his 33% or so strikeout to at bat ratio.
the rest of it leans heavily on watching him take weird routes and missing stuff in LF (although i have to hand it to him, he hasnt run into beltre and broken any ribs)
not a big fan of him at short either, but honestly dont think ive watched him at second this year.
elmedius 2
hmmm. career wise hall has played 110 games at 2nd.. 448/467 tc.. at .959 or so.
patterson has played in 32 games at 2nd.. 128/134 tc at about .955
pedroia is a career .990 fielder… so theres that. without trying to dig out halls/pattersons uzr etc specifically at 2nd:
id say the sox are probably looking at a good play or two they dont get to range wise per week, less rythm with scutaro on plays at the bag, and of course a decreased comfort level regarding youk and scuts range… on top of an extra error here and there.
and then theres offense… eh.
Cyyoung
After reading the article, I keep thinking of Aardsma, always liked that guy. Had a hell of an arm. Tito would use him one day then skip a week of pitching him. I dont trust 1 arm in that bullpen. I’ll go further unless that Bullpen turns it around it will be their demise. Dont go by one game last night.