Diaz Acquired and Simon Traded

Last week, the Rangers made two trades. I will analyze each of these trades below.

Trade #1: On August 30th, the Rangers acquired OF Victor Diaz from the New York Mets for Minor League C Mike Nickeas.

Victor Diaz:

In 2001, he started his MiLB career with the GCL Dodgers.

GCL Dodgers:
53 games, 195 AB, 3 HR, 31 RBI, .354 AVG, .414 OBP, .533 SLG

In 2002, Diaz played with single-A South Georgia and the double-A Jacksonville Suns.

South Georgia:
91 games, 349 AB, 10 HR, 58 RBI, .350 AVG, .407 OBP, .521 SLG
Jacksonville Suns:
42 games, 152 AB, 4 HR, 24 RBI, .211 AVG, .258 OBP, .336 SLG

In 2003, Victor was traded to the Mets organization and he did great with the double-A Binghamton Mets.

Jacksonville Suns:
85 games, 316 AB, 10 HR, 55 RBI, .291 AVG, .353 OBP, .462 SLG
Binghamton Mets:
45 games, 175 AB, 6 HR, 23 RBI, .354 AVG, .382 OBP, .520 SLG

In 2004, he was called up to the MLB for the very first time.

Norfolk Tides (triple-A):
141 games, 528 AB, 24 HR, 94 RBI, .292 AVG, .332 OBP, .491 SLG
New York Mets:
15 games, 51 AB, 3 HR, 8 RBI, .294 AVG, .321 OBP, .529 SLG

Most of his career MLB games came in 2005, mostly due to an injury by Mike Cameron.

Norfolk Tides:
42 games, 170 AB, 10 HR, 34 RBI, .300 AVG, .353 OBP, .541 SLG
New York Mets:
89 games, 280 AB, 12 HR, 38 RBI, .257 AVG, .329 OBP, .468 SLG

In 2006, Victor was back in the minors for most of the season and had an OBP of less than .300 with the Tides.

Norfolk Tides:
103 games, 379 AB, 8 HR, 38 RBI, .224 AVG, .276 OBP, .330 SLG
New York Mets:
6 games, 11 AB, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .182 AVG, .182 OBP, .273 SLG


Mike Nickeas:

In 1984, Mike’s dad Mark played with the Dallas Sidekicks. He scored a goal in the team’s first win and led the team in blocked shots.

In 2004, Mike played with short-season-A Spokane and had his best year yet, mainly because of June and July.

Spokane Indians:
62 games, 233 AB, 10 HR, 55 RBI, .288 AVG, .384 OBP, .494 SLG
In June, Mike had a .378 AVG and in July he had a .323 AVG.

In 2005, Mike was called up to Frisco.
Frisco Roughriders:
68 games, 242 AB, 5 HR, 24 RBI, .202 AVG, .263 OBP, .302 SLG
AZL Rangers:
6 games, 21 AB, 1 HR, 6 RBI, .286 AVG, .400 OBP, .476 SLG

In 2006, he had a decent year.

Bakersfield Blaze:
17 games, 64 AB, 0 HR, 6 RBI, .297 AVG, .395 OBP, .359 SLG
Frisco Roughriders:
39 games, 113 AB, 2 HR, 15 RBI, .248 AVG, .382 OBP, .363 SLG

Trade Evaluation:
I don’t think either of them will do much in the majors, but Mike works with pitchers really well. I think Diaz’s future in this organization is to be part of a future trade. He will probably be evaluated by the Rangers in major league spring training next year, and he could possibly make the 2006 team as a backup outfielder. I think Nickeas’ role in the Mets organization will be to help the Mets’ minor league pitchers reach their potential.
Grade: B-


Trade #2: On September 1st, the Rangers traded Triple-A 1B Randall Simon to the Philadelphia Phillies for cash.

Randall Simon:
Randall is known to me as the guy who hit the bratwurst at Miller Park.
In 2006 his stats for the triple-A Redhawks after being acquired late in the season were:
19 games, 63 AB, 1 HR, 7 RBI. .317 AVG, .389 OBP, .444 SLG

Simon has played parts of 8 years in the majors, with Atlanta, Detroit, the Cubs, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, and Philadelphia. His career stats are:
522 games, 1595 AB, 49 HR, 237 RBI, .284 AVG, .321 OBP, .424 SLG

Trade Evaluation:
If Randall is to ever be in the MLB again it would be as a back-up DH or back-up 1B. But it’s better than cash.
Grade: C-

Come back next week for an interview with Jamey Newberg.