Good Trade: Bad Trade

In this new feature I'm going to look back at the trades Royals GM Dayton Moore has made since he took the reins from Allard Barid and pronounce a team the winner of said trade.

06-20-2006: Dayton Moore after only three weeks on the job pulled the trigger on his first trade sending lefty J.P. Howell to the Devil Rays for outfielder Joey Gathright and infielder Fernando Cortez.

J.P. Howell was taken by the Royals with the 31st overall pick in the 2004 draft and was pitching for the Royals by June of 2005. Howell picked up a win in his first Major League start allowing 1 run on on 4 hits in 5 innings, he also struck out 8 in an 8-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Howell made 14 more starts that year finishing with a 3-5 record and 6.19 ERA.

Howell started 2006 in AAA Omaha going 3-2 in 8 starts and on June 20th was traded the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in exchange for a speedy yet underachieving outfielder named Joey Gathright and a light hitting infielder named Fernando Cortez.

Joey Gathright was drafted in the 32nd round (949th overall) of the 2001 draft by the Rays. Gathright moved through the Rays minor leagues fairly well and by 2004 had gotten his first taste of big league action hitting .250 in 52 AB's.Gathright had a successful 2005 season splitting time between AAA Durham and Tampa Bay hitting .276 and 20 SB's for the parent club and had earned the starting center fielder job going into 2006. Fate wasn't kind to Gathright however, and by June 6th the outfielder was hitting .201 and was optioned back to Durham the next day.

Fernando Cortez was drafted in the 9th round (259th overall) of the 2001 draft by the Rays. Cortez moved rather slowly through the system until 2005 when he started the year in AA and by the end of the year he was with Tampa where he hit .077 in only 13 AB's. Cortez opened 2006 in AAA Durham before being included in the trade.

Reaction then: I had mixed feelings about the trade from the beginning, and it wasn't because I thought J.P. Howell had Ace written all over him, but because the Royals pitching was so terrible (5.65 ERA in 2006). In addition the Royals outfield seemed pretty crowded at the time; DeJesus was proving to be very solid, Brown was cheap and putting up good numbers and Teahen was expected to move to the outfield.

Gathright in turn had been bad in 2006 and despite all his speed he still had to get on base (which he wasn't doing). Cortez for his part couldn't hit a lick and wasn't to hot with the glove either.

Reaction now: J.P. Howell struggled as a starter last year going 1-6 with a 7.59 ERA in 10 starts and couldn't seem to get it together. The Rays moved him to the bullpen this year were he has performed much better (3.52 ERA). Looking at the Royals staff as it is now there seems to be no chance he would be on the 25 man roster and would still be struggling in Omaha.

Gathright struggled initially in 2006 but last year lead the Royals with a .307 AVG and .371 OBP in limited AB's. This year Gathright is off to a solid start hitting .269 with 7 stolen bases. From the Rays perspective their outfield seems to be pretty solid with Crawford and Upton.

Cortez saw brief action in 2007 with the Royals hitting .286 in 14 AB's and is now in the White Sox organization.

Winner: I think the nod has to be slightly in the Royals corner as Gathright has been more productive to date than Howell. That said, Howell is still 2 years younger and if his early success in the bullpen holds up he could still be valuable.