Yeah, so the initial wave of fear and loathing has passed, and Astros fans seem to be generally bummed while Reds fans are pleasantly surprised.
But what do the stats say?
It took Drew Sutton a year to figure out Double-A, when his first year (2007), Sutton posted a .269/.351/.388 line with 9HR/53RBI. In 2008, back in Corpus, Sutton hit .317/.408/.523 with 20HR/69RBI.
2007 saw an 86K:57BB ratio (1.51), with a 98K:76BB in 2008 (1.29).
Keppinger, as has oft-been mentioned, doesn't have too much pop in his bat - 38 homers in 3072 professional at-bats. However, in all of those at-bats Keppinger has struck out 189 times. And he's an upgrade defensively from Sutton. So do I like it? I'm not sure yet, but I'm at least willing to make peace with the fact that the Astros traded a prospect who hasn't shown he can hit at Triple-A (where Sutton is headed for Cincinnati) for a guy who has proved he'll provide plate discipline at a Major League level - and at 28, is still young.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
