Baseball in Fort Wayne

Here’s an interesting one. The Oakland A’s acquired Kevin Kousmanoff and former Fort Wayne Wizard Eric Sogard for former Padre Scott Hairston and Aaron Cunningham.

Sogard is seen as a Todd Walker type hitter that lacks range defensively but is gap-hitter with great contact rates.

Sogard, a former second round pick out of Arizona State, hit .253 with two home runs and 15 RBI in 22 games with the Wizards in 2007. He should fit in well with Oakland becuase he does not strike out a lot. In 2008, with Lake Elsinore, Sogard struck out just 62 times in 536 at-bats.  Last season, Sogard hit .293 with Double-A San Antonio and wiffed just 47 times in 457 at–bats.

Sogard, a second baseman, was idling on the Padres’ depth chart behind another former Wizard, Matt Antonelli, who held the position at Triple-A Portland. Somewhat ironically, Kevin Kousmanoff was originally acquired by San Diego in a 2006 trade for former Padres second baseman Josh Barfield.

The trade should also see former Wizard Chase Headley return to third base. As Friar Forecast points out:

With Chase Headley on the roster, the Padres had two third baseman, but were forcing one (Headley) to masquerade as a left-fielder.  Not surprisingly, Headley’s fielding was a major liability and zapped much of his value.  In the minors, Headley was considered an average fielding third baseman, and in the majors Headley has shown to be no worse than an average hitter.  In replacing Kouz with Headley at third, the Padres essentially break even.

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