Long time ago, before the Surf Dawgs moved to San Diego, they were known as the Eugene Emeralds. Team owner John Moores decided to move his franchise from Eugene to San Diego after one year. Moores, a San Diegan, did not feel like flying to Eugene to watch a home game. So as any billionaire would do, he brought the team back home. In 2014, Eugene Emeralds traded for an infielder named Ian Kinsler. Kinsler was acquired from Bowling Green in exchanged for P Tyler Megill and OF Dayan Viciedo. Megill is still part of Bowling Green’s organization while Viciedo have moved on and now plays for Boston.
Kinsler hit pretty well in his first year in Eugene hitting .265/.322/.515 with 6 HR and 19 ribbies in 36 games. Kinsler did not last in Eugene, however. At the end of the 2014 season, Kinsler was drafted by Altoona–now Boston–in the expansion draft (round 15, pick 3). Fast forward to 2017, the former Emerald is now a Surf Dawg.
The Dawgs acquired 2B Ian Kinsler and SS Jose Aleman from Boston in exchange for C Devin Mesoraco and INF Matt Carpenter. The 35-year-old Kinsler is hitting .271/.353/.433 with 8 home runs and 42 runs batted in for Boston this year. When asked why they made a move on Kinsler, according to sources, the team wanted more production at second base but at the same time, the team didn’t want to give up their top prospects as the team is still replenishing talents down in the farm. If this is true, then acquiring Kinsler make sense. However, not everyone is on board with this move. Some says that this move is too risky financially and they believe that this a panic move.
“I feel like we can do better at second base. I hate to say it, but none of our current infielders convinced me that we don’t need another second baseman.” Dawgs GM Tim Imasa said to press.
Who can blame him though? Let’s take a look at the players below:
2B Matt Carpenter – .228/.315/.320 in CBL.
INF Sam Gallagher – .192/.318/.347 in CBL.
2B/OF Eddie Rosario – .160/.222/.280 in CBL.
Carpenter has been on the team since the inaugural season. He already proved to everyone that he can hit. So to have this kind of numbers after the All Star break is concerning. Gallagher was acquired through free agency last off season. Dawgs hoped that he can at least push the infielders to play better, but Gallagher himself is not able to hit over at least .200. Lastly, Rosario. It is a bit unfair to judge his performance at this point due to a small sample size, but the team cannot wait for him to hit. The team needs production now.
To sum it up, I think the Dawgs made a good, but expensive trade. Kinsler has a player option this off-season for $15 million. He can easily execute that option to stay in San Diego and get paid handsomely. As for Boston, it’s a win-win and win for them to my estimation. They definitely save money for Kinsler ($14 mil this year and potentially $15 mil next year), a change of scenery might work for Carpenter and Mesoraco and they did not give up their number one prospect in this whole process.
With all that being said, we still don’t know which catcher is going to replace Mesoraco in CBL? You have Chase Vallot who is hitting .283 with 20 home runs and 56 runs batted in in Triple-A. Or they can go defensive here by calling up Jorge Alfaro who is having a hard time hitting in Triple-A but very good defensive catcher. Moreover, Alfaro is already on the 40-man roster. Dawgs can definitely go either way here as their current starting pitcher is starting to play well ever since he took the starting job from Mesoraco. The 35-year old Jeff Burns is currently hitting .264/.340/.400.
