Buy Low/Sell High July 10th (Adam Jones/David Murphy)

Buy Low: Adam Jones

Key Stats:

Pitcher:	BABIP	K/BB	PTO%	qERA	ERA Dif	P/IP	FIP
Hitter:	BABIP	P/PA	BB/SO	GB/FB	HR/FB
2008	0.289	3.76	0.22	1.500	5.41%
2007	0.250	3.89	0.19	1.700	20.00%
2006	0.217	3.83	0.09	2.364	9.09%

Adam was the prize in the Bedard trade and he has been said to have the talent for a long time. He’s continuing his growth as evidenced by his increasing batting eye and his BABIP. Also I see that his HR/FB is far below any rate he has shown previously. In the past month is OPS is above .860 so the talent is coming out. If you are in a keeper league, he is one of those players that you might want to target for next year and beyond.

Jones, Adam CF BAL for Rauch, Jon RP WAS

Jones, Adam CF BAL for DeJesus, David CF KC

Jones, Adam CF BAL for Butler, Billy DH KC and Escobar, Alcides SS MIL

Sell High: David Murphy

Key Stats: 

Pitcher:	BABIP	K/BB	PTO%	qERA	ERA Dif	P/IP	FIP
Hitter:	BABIP	P/PA	BB/SO	GB/FB	HR/FB
2008	0.267	3.82	0.34	1.369	14.29%
2007	0.343	3.92	0.35	1.900	10.00%
2006	0.211	3.88	1.00	1.800	20.00%

It’s not that David isn’t a good hitter, it’s that he’s not a great hitter. The problem that I don’t like is his GB/FB ratio, decreased batting eye, and also the lineup around him. For the stuff that he can control, his eye and GB/FB ratio are a little concerning. They tend to trend back towards the career mean and if that’s the case then there will be less FB and less HR as a result. If the batting eye decreases, the player is swinging at the first good pitch he sees. Eventually the pitcher adjusts to it and won’t be throwing first pitch strikes. On the side that the player can’t control, Josh Hamilton, Milton Bradley, and Ian Kinsler are all having career years right now. If they start to tail off, Murphy’s counting stat production will most likely decrease as well.

Murphy, David RF TEX and Tulowitzki, Troy SS COL for Verlander, Justin SP DET (I assume that the new owner knew of his injury)

Hollimon, Michael SS DET and Murphy, David RF TEX and
Walden, Jordan SP ANA for Dye, Jermaine RF CHW

Billingsley, Chad SP LA and Murphy, David RF TEX for Harang, Aaron SP CIN and Ortiz, David DH BOS