The Giants just traded Kevin Frandsen to the Red Sox for cash or a player to be named later … in other words, for nothing except that they don’t have to pay his salary. Frandsen isn’t a star, isn’t great, he’s a 25th-guy-on-the-roster kind of player. He is not worthless, but there was no room for him on the Giants roster.
Rob Neyer gets at it:
Now, you might reasonably be asking yourself (or Brian Sabean) why a talent-rich team like the Red Sox would be interested in a player who's apparently unwanted by a (relatively) talent-poor team like the Giants.
The answer, I think, is that the Red Sox look at whole players rather than half-players.
Kevin Frandsen isn't considered by anyone an every-day player in the major leagues. … he's been labeled a utility guy, and with cause.
But he's a utility guy who can hit. Not a lot. … But a little. … He can play some shortstop, some second base, even a little outfield.
Frandsen was run out of San Francisco because he's not much of a fielder. He's been brought to Boston because, as utility players go, he's a pretty good hitter.
Who's right about Frandsen? I've got my opinion, which is heavily influenced by the standings these last five years. As we saw this morning, though, the Giants are engaged in a search for Emmanuel Burriss's (temporary) replacement ... and yet they just traded a perfectly adequate replacement to the Red Sox for three sacks of baseline chalk and four pouches of Big League Chew.
I must be missing something.
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