As first reported by Greg Schaum of 610 Sports last night, Daniel Gutierrez has been traded to the Texas Rangers for two prospects.
I know this is going to stun you, but Daniel Gutierrez was not drafted by Dayton Moore.
And now he's gone. Lots of discussion (thanks to Royals Nation for posting this as it broke) of this trade already of course and there isn't much for me to add. D-Gut (just made that up) was one of the more intriguing prospects in the system for awhile and now he's been replaced by catcher Manuel Pina and outfielder Tim Smith.
This is what Dayton does, he trades pitchers for position players. He's done it from day one with the Howell-Gathright trade and he hasn't slowed down. In fact, considering the Crisp-Ramirez, Jacobs-Nunez, and Betancourt-Cortes trades we've recently seen, he's now doing it more than ever. Sure, it's very 1990s-early 200s Braves, but how many times did one of those coveted Atlanta arms turn into anything for the other team?
The trade can be viewed as a "severing ties" kind of move, given that D-Gut has had some minor off-the-field issues and that he apparently miffed the team in a bizarre series of events earlier this year involving Scott Boras (ZOMG!!! THE DEVIL!!!111) and his rehabbing plans. Maybe. But like the similar Cortes trade, this might also be a case of Dayton using a perceived asset to fill a hole, build depth, etc. Or both. Perhaps Moore see's enough from other pitchers in the system to flip D-Gut (and, ok, even if I'm not trying to be bitchy, we can all admit it is easier to part ways with someone who isn't your guy, just human nature).
The timing does seem curious, but again, with minor league transactions, it's like 1985 for fans, we know a little about whats going on, but not nearly enough. I don't know nearly enough about the players the Royals got back, but I do think that even a Moore partisan would admit this is a case of selling low (again) or borderline bailing on a guy for all kinds of "message sending" reasons.
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