LITTLE ROCK — The Los Angeles Angels landed one of Major League Baseball’s most sought after pitchers Friday, and significantly altered the Arkansas Travelers’ starting rotation in the process.
Four days before baseball’s nonwaiver trade deadline, the Angels acquired 2009 AL Cy Yo u n g Award winner Zack Greinke from the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday in exchange for shortstop Jean Segura and right-handed minor-league pitchers Johnny Hellweg and Ariel Pena.
Hellweg and Pena had played the entire season at Class AA Arkansas, making a combined 40 starts for a Travelers pitching staff with a 3.83 ERA, third-best in the Texas League, before Friday’s games.
Segura was having his best professional season, having been selected to the Texas League All-Star team and the MLB Futures Game while hitting .294 with 7home runs and 33 stolen bases with the Travs. He was promoted to the Angels last week and went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts in his debut Tuesday.
All three players were assigned to Milwaukee’s Class AA team in Huntsville, Ala., in the Southern League.
By acquiring Greinke, who was 9-3 with a 3.44 ERA in 21 starts for Milwaukee, the Angels bolstered a starting rotation that has struggled other than All-Stars Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson.
Weaver is 13-1 with a 2.26 ERA and Wilson is 9-6 with a 2.89 ERA. But Dan Haren has a 4.76 ERA while dealing with a back injury and Ervin Santana has a 6.00 ERA.
“Obviously we’re excited to acquire a guy like Zack Greinke - Cy Young Award, All-Star,” Angels General Manager Jerry Dipoto told the Orange County (Calif.) Register on Friday. “It’s a quality major-league pitcher at a time when they’re difficult to find and to access. We’re giving up a fair amount to get him in here.”
Greinke, who is in the final year of a four-year contract he signed the year before he won the Cy Young with the Kansas City Royals, was scheduled to pitch Sunday for the Brewers but said Friday he thinks he’ll start for the Angels that day against Tampa Bay.
“It should be fun. They are a great team,” Greinke said Friday in Milwaukee. “After the first month of the season, they have been one of the best teams in baseball. There is a lot of talent there. A lot of great players. The pitching staff will be pretty incredible.”
The trade was one of the few major deals struck near baseball’s nonwaiver trade deadline, which is Tuesday, in recent years that involved a Travelers player.
In 2008, the Angels acquired first baseman Mark Teixeira from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for Travelers pitcher Stephen Marek and Casey Kotchman. In 2000, the last year of the Travelers’ affiliation with the St. Louis Cardinals, Jack Wilson was sent to the Pittsburgh Pirates for pitcher Jason Christianson.
Though Travelers General Manager Pete Laven approaches each July knowing roster change is possible, he can’t remember such turnover in one move in his 12 years with the club.
“I’ve been in the game 20 years and I’ve been with teams where one player has been dealt in one of these deadline deals,” Laven said. “But never two from one team, let alone three. It’s a little jarring to our team, but we understand it’s part of the business.”
The most change will be felt within the starting rotation, one of few strengths for the Travs this season. Hellweg was scheduled to start Sunday for the Travs and Pena was scheduled to start Monday to complete a four-game series at Tulsa.
The Travs received right-hander Jarrett Grube on Friday, who signed with the Angels after he was released by Class AAA Tacoma on July 12, but starters for Sunday and Monday have not yet been announced. Grube was 0-5 with a 9.26 ERA in 16 appearances for the Seattle Mariners’ affiliate.
Pena, ranked by Baseball America as the Angels’ ninth-best prospect, was named a Texas League All-Star earlier this month, competed in the Futures Game and his 111 strikeouts are tied for second in the Texas League.
Though Hellweg, the Angels’ fourth best prospect, had lost a team-high 10 games and walked 60 batters, he had lowered his ERA from 4.48 on May 10 to 3.12 before his last outing, during which he allowed 4 runs on 4 hits in 1 1/3 innings Wednesday.
“Some guys will step up. We still have a shot at the second-half title,” Laven said. “Those were our top three prospects. But we’ve had a couple of other guys playing well.” Information for this article was contributed by The Associated Press.
CUBS
Garza still out
CHICAGO - Chicago Cubs pitcher Matt Garza won’t pitch again before Tuesday’s trade deadline after a magnetic resonance imaging revealed a slight fluid buildup in his right triceps area.
Garza left his last start after three innings at St. Louis on Saturday when he experienced cramps. The Cubs decided to give Garza an extra couple of days rest before he underwent the MRI.
Cubs Manager Dale Sveum said the results of the MRI “came back real clean” and if Garza is able to complete his throwing program without difficulty over the next few days, the right hander could return late next week.
Sports, Pages 19 on 07/28/2012