There have been three trades of really good relievers this offseason. The Reds acquired Sean Marshall, the Red Sox acquired Andrew Bailey (and another player) and the Blue Jays acquired Sergio Santos. Lets look more in depth at each trade:
Reds acquire Sean Marshall for Travis Wood, Dave Sappelt and Ronald Torreyes
The Reds get one season of Marshall and traded 4+ years of each of their guys. Marshall is undeniably a stud relief pitcher. Over the last two seasons he has thrown 150.1 innings with a 2.45 ERA, a 4 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio and a 1.10 WHIP. That is about as dominant of a reliever as there has been in baseball over that time period. What they gave up was potential. No one in the group has really shown anything over the long haul in the Majors, though all have had different levels of success in the minors and Wood does have one good season in the Majors under his belt. Wood and Sappelt though can help out a Major League team in April 2012, in some role (rotation/bullpen for Wood or starting or back up outfielder for Sappelt). Torreyes is a bit of a wild card as a guy with an elite skillset (contact rate), but a lack of projection and size that leaves a lot of questions that will surely follow him all the way up the ladder and make him prove himself all of the way up.
Blue Jays acquire Sergio Santos for Nestor Molina
The Blue Jays got three seasons of Santos with three more potential years on team options. He is has had two very good seasons with the White Sox, combining for 115 innings with a 3.29 ERA, 2.7 strikeouts to walk ratio and a 1.30 WHIP. He is signed very cheaply for the next three seasons, but gets $22M over the next three option years if they are picked up. The White Sox got Nestor Molina, who is coming off of just an incredible minor league season where he posted a 2.21 ERA with 148 strikeouts and 16 walks in 130.1 innings. His numbers are much better than his projection though, as he projects more as a middle of the rotation to back end type of guy with an average fastball (with plus command of it), though one place I saw had it above-average, average slider and below average change up. The Blue Jays got a stud reliever for 3-6 years for solid potential who has yet to throw 30 innings in AA.
Red Sox acquire Andrew Bailey (and Ryan Sweeney) for Josh Reddick, Raul Alcantara and Miles Head.
Bailey, like the other two guys is a stud reliever. He has a 2.07 ERA in three Major League seasons. He has three seasons left before reaching free agency. The A’s got a somewhat proven Major Leaguer in Josh Reddick (278 PA with the Red Sox in ’11 with a .280/.327/.457 line) and some potential. Alcantara is an 18 year old who hasn’t made it out of rookie ball. He has a good arm, but has a lot of work to do still. Head has plenty of power potential, but has a ways to go still. The Red Sox also got Ryan Sweeney back in the deal, who is a 4th outfielder type who gets on base but has very little power.
Overall
The Reds got the least amount of years in their trade, by far. If they didn’t give up the best package, it certainly isn’t that far from being the best package given up. The Blue Jays did an absolutely great job acquiring Sergio Santos for what they did. I would give the Blue Jays a B+ on their trade (there is always a chance that one source had it right with his above average fastball velocity and his plus command of that pitch turns him into a #2 type of starter), while the Red Sox deal would probably garner a B- on their deal (Reddick is a good piece to give up, but they did acquire two proven Major Leaguers with 2 (Sweeney) and 3 (Bailey) years left on their contracts and I would give the Reds a D+ for their deal (they acquired the best reliever of the bunch, but gave up a comparable deal as the Red Sox for just one season of just one player).
That is my take. What about you guys?