The Rangers win the Teixeira trade

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.


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Nick Steiner
14 years ago

His fastball movement is also ridiculous.

Ytse
14 years ago

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

Clown College
14 years ago

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.

Oscar
14 years ago

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

That’s certainly not true. TINSTAAPP

John Beamer
14 years ago

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.

Richard in Dallas
14 years ago

@ 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…

Rod
14 years ago

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.