Saturday, July 23, 2005

MLB: Orioles trade Ponson to Padres, Burnett deal off

UPDATE: Apparently the article on ESPN was a tease, because they have now updated it with information that Phil Nevin has a limited no-trade clause and has not yet accepted the deal. Baltimore is on his list of no-trade teams. Stay tuned.

After much shopping, with speculation of Sidney Ponson going to Texas and Tampa Bay, the right-hander has been shipped to San Diego in a trade for 1B Phil Nevin, ESPN reported.

According to ESPN, Ponson (7-8, 6.04 ERA) turned down a trade to Tampa Bay that would have sent reliever Trever Miller to the O's.

ESPN also said that this deal meant that the talks with Florida for A.J. Burnett have been "shelved," and the Marlins will now talk to the White Sox, Red Sox and Blue Jays instead. ESPN is also stating that the Orioles are shifting their attention to Jeff Weaver.

Ponson is making $8.5 million this year, while Nevin (who is 34) is making almost $9.5 million, so the deal is strange on a monetary standpoint.

But Nevin, who bats right-handed, will likely platoon with lefty-batting Rafael Palmeiro at first base. Nevin is only batting .262 this year with a .713 OPS, and his OPS only improves slightly against left-handed pitching (.730). However, Nevin's career OPS is .827, and in 2004 it was .860, so there is no pattern of decline.

Also, PETCO Park in San Diego (which opened in 2004) is a pitcher's park, so Nevin may find some better numbers in Baltimore. He currently has nine homers and 47 RBIs, but he showed in 2001 that he has power, hitting 41 homers and knocking in 126 runs.

The pitcher's park factor, obviously, should also work in Ponson's favor.

Ponson was supposed to start for the Orioles in their game at Tampa Bay tonight, and there is no word on who will replace him.

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