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Sunday, August 16, 2009

The Rangers win the Teixeira trade

Posted by John Beamer
As a Braves fan I was deeply concerned when among the cadre of prospects traded to bring Mark Teixeira to Turner Field was Neftali Feliz. At the time Feliz was a 19 year old flame thrower with a toasty fastball but suspect command. However, he had that whiff of something special about him. And although Salty was the centerpiece of the trade many Braves fans feared that losing Feliz was a longer term blow to the organisation.

Last night against the Red Sox I had a chance to see Feliz in action for the first time. Suffice to say he looks like he knows what he's doing. His K/9 is over 16 and his ERA is a lowly 1.04.

Okay, we're in the land of small sample size — the guy has only hurled 8 innings. On early evidence he throws hard, has a couple of pitches and has good command.

Here is what he has thrown so far (speed in parentheses):
FB   72.7% (98.1 mph)
CB   17.2% (81.4mph)
CU   10.1%(88.9mph)

When he was in the minors he got by on his fastball — his curve and change were so-so pitches. In his recent dominance against the Sox his curve looked like it was close to a plus pitch although the change still needs a little work.

If he can master the change there is no reason why Feliz can't be a number 1 or 2 starter. Watch this space.



John is an unashamed glory supporter having followed the Atlanta Braves since 1991. He blogs the Braves at Chop-n-Change. He welcomes comments, criticisms and suggestions via e-mail


Comments

Nick Steiner said...

His fastball movement is also ridiculous.

Posted 08/16  at  05:48 PM
Ytse said...

Good golly, not to mention Elvis Andrus. All so we could end up with LaRoche at first again.

Posted 08/16  at  06:52 PM
Rod said...

So you *just now* declared the Rangers the winner of that trade?  I think it was a clear win as soon as ATL flipped Tex for Casey K.  Who’s now A LaRoche redoux.  Nuff said.

Posted 08/16  at  08:49 PM
Clown College said...

Geesh everyone knew at the time of the trade who won and it wasn’t even close.

No reason he can’t be a #1 or #2 ?  Are you joking ?

There’s no doubt he will be a #1, and possibly #1 in all of MLB.

Posted 08/16  at  09:40 PM
Oscar said...

“There’s no doubt he will be a #1, and possibly #1 in all of MLB.”

That’s certainly not true. TINSTAAPP

Posted 08/16  at  10:10 PM
John Beamer said...

Clown - not true. Had Teix helped the Braves to the postseason and WS in his first year the equation would have tilted more in the Braves’ favor.

Rod - you’re right. Probably should have thought of a better title for the post. Had Feliz turned out a bust then you could argue that this was a fair trade for the Braves to have made at the time ...

As for Andrus the Braves had quite a bit of depth at SS. Escobar is probably a better player and has a few pre-arb years left. They’d have ended up flipping Andrus at some stage I suspect.

Posted 08/16  at  10:23 PM
Richard in Dallas said...

@ John Beamer - Texas had plenty of depth at SS, starting with perennial AllStar Mike Young.  For a talent like Andrus, you MAKE ROOM!  It seems to be working pretty well for the Rangers so far…

Posted 08/17  at  12:35 PM
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