DeJesus to the A's

The Oakland Athletics have acquired OF David DeJesus from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for RHP Vin Mazzaro and LHP Justin Marks.

DeJesus, who will turn 31 on December 20th, had a nice but injury shortened season for the Royals in 2010, hitting .318 with 23 doubles, 5 homers, 37 RBI, and a .384 OBP in 91 games. He injured his thumb during a 10-4 loss to the Yankees on June 22nd and had to undergo surgery. DeJesus had his best season in '08, when he hit .307 with 25 doubles, 12 homers, 73 RBI, 11 steals, and a .366 OBP in 135 games. He hit .281 with 28 doubles, 13 homers, 71 RBI, 9 triples, and a .347 OBP in 144 games. Defensively, DeJesus has not made an error since '08. His 15.3 Ultimate Zone Rating was second in the majors in '09 to Carl Crawford, but was negative 0.1 in '10. He is not a great player, but he can be a solid contributor on a good team.

Mazzaro has been very inconsistent both at the major league and minor league levels. Mazzaro, a 3rd round pick, went 9-9 at Low-A his first pro season in '06, but posted a 5.05 ERA. He then went 9-12 with a 5.33 ERA at High-A in '07. But then, Mazzaro had an incredible season in '08, 15-6 with a 2.74 ERA between Double-A and Triple-A. 2-2 with a 2.38 ERA in 9 starts and a relief appearance in '09 at Triple-A, Mazzaro was promoted to the majors where he went 4-9 with a 5.32 ERA in 17 starts. In '10, Mazzaro started out at Triple-A again, where he went 3-1 with a 3.13 ERA in 6 starts and a relief appearance, before being recalled to the majors. Mazzaro went 6-8 for the A's in '10, with a 4.27 ERA in 18 starts and 6 relief appearances. He was 6-3 with a 3.45 ERA on June 24th, but went just 0-6 with a 5.37 ERA the rest of the season. Keep in mind that Mazzaro isn't your average 24 year old fireballer. Mazzaro has posted just a 6.8 K/9 in the minors and a 5.8 K/9 in the majors. That wouldn't be that bad, but he doesn't have great control either. He has a 3.7 career BB/9, and his career K/BB ratio is just 1.55. If the Royals can somehow fix Mazzaro's control, he could be a good back of the rotation starter.

Marks is a lefty strikeout machine, but at least to this point in his career, he has not been effective. A 2009 3rd round pick, Marks had the worst pro debut I've ever seen that same season, pitching in 1 game at Rookie ball, a start, and giving up 6 runs in 0.0 IP for an infinity ERA. Yeah, infinity. Well, from there Marks could only be better. Not that he was that good in '10- he went 6-13 with a 4.87 ERA in 24 starts and a relief appearance between Low-A and High-A. The only reasons Marks has any value is because he struck out 136 batters in 129.1 IP in '10, good for a 9.5 K/9, and he posted a 2.78 K/BB ratio. If the Royals can somehow fix him, he could be a great pitcher. How many lefty starters strike out over a batter per inning?

The Royals are in a rebuilding mode, and had no need for DeJesus. They decided to trade him for 2 pitchers that need help, but certainly have potentially. The Royals are taking the gamble that Mazzaro and Marks will pan out. But, they wouldn't have done this trade if they didn't think they could fix them.