I think it is safe to say that enough time has passed since the May 8th for us to accurately assess whether or not we won on the trade that sent journeyman infielder Adam Kennedy to the Oakland Athletics for utility infielder Joe Dillon.
Let me preface the following statistics by saying, I think Kennedy should have been on our opening day 25 man roster. You can read about it here in the archives.
Anyway, on to the stats, because well, they pretty much speak for themselves:
Since his debut with the Athletics, Kennedy is batting .283 with 8 dingers and 41 RBI’s in 311 plate appearances. Kennedy has a .344 on base percentage, and has played first, second, third and right field for the Athletics. Talk about versatility.
Dillon, since his debut with the Rays is batting .276 with one home run, and 2 RBI’s in 29 at bats. Dillon has not played in a game since July 21st, and only had 6 plate appearances in the entire month of July.
If the team could place “Professional Bench Rider” next to his name in the programs, he might get more notoriaty than being listed as an infielder.
All I am saying is this may go down as one of the worst trades we have seen the Rays make under Andrew Friedman‘s guidance. While Kennedy certainly would not have gotten the same playing time in Tampa as he is in Oakland, it would be hard to imagine him doing WORSE than Dillon. Plus, Kennedy could play more positions and has a ton of stretch run playoff experience.
What’s done is done, and dwelling on the past never helps your future, but sometimes it is nice to think about what COULD have been.
Thomas Gemkow is the editor-in-chief of TampaBayRaysFan.com. Founded in January of 2009, TampaBayRaysFan.com is a compilation of all the best of the Rays, from across the web. The website can be followed on Twitter
