Lofton Traded and July Awards

This week I will analyze the Kenny Lofton trade and give my July awards.

On Friday, the Rangers traded Kenny Lofton to the Cleveland Indians for Max Ramirez.

Kenny Lofton – Even though Kenny Lofton did a good job for the Rangers this year, he was going to be gone after this season and since the Rangers are out of the race, he wasn’t going to do anything for the club. With the Indians he will be moved to left field and down to the two spot in the batting order.

Max Ramirez – This year with the Kinston Indians he hit .303 with 12 HR and 62 RBI’s. He’s in the top ten in his league in all of those stats including tied for third in RBI’s. He’s also tied for 1st in walks with Kala Kaaihue of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans with 53 and 2nd in OBP with a .418 on-base percentage. In 2006 he hit .292 with 13 HR and 63 RBI’s and going into last year had career minor league numbers of .311/21/125. So far he has made it into 2 minor-league all-star games and has been the Appalachian League player of the year twice. Max is a great hitting catcher who tends to hit the ball on the ground to the left (40.5% of the time this year) or in the air to center (19.1% of the time this year). He is only 22 years old. Max has incredible potential.

Evaluation:
We didn’t need Kenny at all and we got probably one of the best catching prospects in all of baseball for him. This is a great trade as this guy might be the next Victor Martinez someday. Victor is who I would compare him to.
Grade: A+

July Awards (these are the awards that would be given if the season ended today):

Rangers MVP: Michael Young: .300, 4 HR, 57 RBI: Michael is the only person on the team other than Marlon Byrd batting .300 and he’s also 2nd on the team in RBI’s.
Runner-up: Sammy Sosa

Rangers Cy Young: Eric Gagne: 2.16 ERA, 2-0, 16 SV, 29 K: Gagne has the most saves of anyone on the Rangers, the 2nd lowest ERA, 5th most strikeouts of Rangers relievers.
Runner-up: Ron Mahay

Rangers Rookie of the Year: Chris Stewart: .243, 0 HR, 3 RBI: Stewart is the only rookie who has played a decent amount of time this year.
Runner-up: Kevin Mahar

AL MVP: A-ROD NYY: .307, 35 HR, 102 RBI: A-ROD leads the league in HR and RBI, and is still batting over .300.
Runner-up: Magglio Ordonez DET

AL Cy Young: CC Sabathia CLE: 3.70 ERA, 13-5, 153.1 IP, 134 K: Sabathia has a good ERA, a great record, a great amount of innings pitched, and great strikeout numbers.
Runner-up: Fausto Carmona CLE

AL ROY: Hideki Okajima BOS: 0.89 ERA, 2-0, 50.2 IP, 43 K: Hideki has one of the best bullpen ERA’s in baseball and has good strikeout numbers.
Runner-up Dustin Pedrioa BOS

AL Manager of the Year: Eric Wedge, Cleveland, 60-43, .583
Runner-up: Mike Scioscia, Anaheim

NL MVP: Prince Fielder MIL: .283, 30 HR, 75 RBI: Prince leads the NL in homers and has a good average.
Runner-up: Ryan Howard PHI

NL Cy Young: Chris Young SD: 1.82 ERA, 9-3, 118.2 IP, 114 K: Chris leads all of baseball in ERA with a good record and good strikeout numbers.
Runner-up: Brad Penny LAD

NL ROY: Ryan Braun MIL: .356, 18 HR, 49 RBI: Braun has 18 HR in less than 60 games and has a great batting average and good RBI numbers.
Runner-up: Hunter Pence HOU

NL Manager Of the Year: Ned Yost, Milwaukee, 57-47, .538
Runner-up: Clint Hurdle, Colorado

Results of last week’s poll:
What do you think was the best player that the Rangers acquired via trade in 1996?
John Burkett – 60%
Mike Stanton – 33%
Damon Buford – 7%
Cory Bailey – 0%
Bryan Eversgerd – 0%
Dwayne Hosey -0%

Come back next week for an analysis of all the Rangers trades that will be made this week. Next week’s entry will probably be a little later than usual (probably on Monday the 6th).