TOT - Braves Ship Betemit Away

In a deal that still confuses me, the Braves sent Betemit to the Dodgers for a weaker version of Betemit and a bad reliever

Transaction of Today...July 28, 2006 - The Los Angeles Dodgers traded Willy Aybar, Danys Baez and cash to the Atlanta Braves for Wilson Betemit.

It was a strange deal as the well-under .500 Braves traded off a 24-year-old former super prospect who was also having one of his best statistical seasons for a slightly younger replacement, a soon-to-be free agent, and some cash to cover the latter’s contract. But the Braves of 2006 were a bit of a weird team.

A switch-hitter out of the Dominican Republic, the Braves signed Betemit prior to his 15th birthday rather than after his 16th birthday, a fact that would lead to a $100K fine and a lawsuit by Betemit in effort to get his contract voided. The lawsuit was dropped and the Braves and Betemit came to a new agreement, allowing the star prospect to continue with the organization.

And continue, he did. By the 2000 season, he landed in the Top 100 prospects list according to Baseball America after hitting .321/.383/.463 in Danville. He'd continue to progress up the charts, reaching the #8 status after a 2001 season split between Myrtle Beach (high-A) and Greenville (Double-A) in which Betemit slashed .305/.349/.449 with 34 doubles, 12 homers, and 14 steals. Comparisons to Derek Jeter were floated around. He ended 2001 in the majors, going 0-for-3 with two walks.

His numbers would fall a bit in '02-'03 as International League pitching took advantage of a kid who didn't turn 22 until after the 2003 campaign. But he found himself in '04, hitting .278/.336/.466 and getting back to the majors.

But after probably being pushed to the majors a little too quickly in '01 and then struggling for a few seasons in Richmond, Betemit was now out-of-options and had to stick around in 2005. He didn't get the press many of the other Baby Braves did, but did hit .305/.359/.435 over 274 PA while cycling between second, short, and third base as needed. He didn't start a playoff game, but did pick up a base hit in a 10-5 loss during Game 1 of the 2005 NLDS.

That brings us to 2006. There was some thought that Betemit might be tabbed as Rafael Furcal's replacement with the latter headed to free agency. However, the prevailing belief was that Betemit could handle shortstop, his natural position, but only sparingly. His best fit was likely third base instead and Jones was a long way from his retirement. The Braves ultimately acquired Edgar Renteria to replace Furcal, leaving Betemit as an infield supersub.

The plan worked well. Giles and Renteria were largely healthy during the year with both playing over 140 games, but Jones would miss time in April. Betemit would also fill in when Giles missed a week in mid-July and when Renteria missed some time that overlapped some with Jones in April.

Betemit wasn't just a body who could play three positions - he was productive. In his first start of the year, spelling Jones during a Wednesday game in LA, Betemit delivered a pair of hits including a two-run homer off former Brave, Odalis Perez, to help the Braves win 9-8. A week later, starting after Jones hit the IL, Betemit delivered a three-hit performance with a trio of doubles and a pair of ribbies. On April 23, starting a shortstop, he went 2-for-4 with an 8th-inning three-run shot off Washington's Gary Majewski for a 3-1 win.

One of his best offensive performances came during a stretch where the Braves won six consecutive games and scored 73 runs in the process. On July 17, he started at second base and went 4-for-6 with two singles, a double, a homer, and 5 driven in.

Not only was Betemit productive, he played almost every game regardless of whether he started or not. Only twice did he miss two consecutive games and out of 102 games to open the year, he played in 88 of them. He even played three innings at third base on July 28, going 0-for-1 with a walk. His triple slash was sitting at .281/.344/.497. Later that day, the Braves completed a deal to send Betemit to the Dodgers.

Again, it was a strange choice. With their 6-4 loss to the Mets in Betemit's final game in the system, the Braves fell to 48-54. They were in third place in the NL East, 13 games behind the Mets, and trailing the Reds by 6.5 games in the Wild Card. The Streak looked dead in the water so why trade one of their younger players especially with Giles struggling at the plate and Jones having just tweaked something on a groundout (which is why Betemit entered for his final Braves game)?

Listen, I'm sure John Schuerholz and Frank Wren had their reasons for this deal, but it didn't make sense to me then and it still is kind of dumb to me now. Betemit was still a year away from arbitration and, while the hope was Baez could help a dumpster fire of a middle relief situation the Braves had, the Braves weren't that good of a team in 2006 and should have just accepted that rather than salvage a season with the players they had along with now Aybar, Baez, and Bob Wickman who had been acquired a week earlier from the Brewers.

Nevertheless, let's dive into what the Braves got. Let's start with Baez. The Braves middle relief definitely had questions. Oscar Villarreal had earned the name The Vulture by having a 3.61 ERA but a 4.83 FIP, leading to many runs he inherited scoring. The Braves would then retake the lead and Villy would get a win. He finished 9-1 on the year so, uh, yay. Ken Ray, along with Jorge Sosa, tried to replace Chris Reitsma as closer after the latter pitched a bit too much like Chris Reitsma. Neither were good fits and Sosa had already failed as a starter earlier in the year. Chad Paronto and Macay McBride were the closest thing the team had to decent relievers ahead of the addition of Wickman, who excelled in 2006 before notably flaming out the following year.

Adding Baez was, for the Braves, hopefully a move that would help solidify the pen. A 2005 All-Star in Tampa Bay, he saved 71 games in two seasons with the Rays. The Dodgers acquired him as a Plan B in case Eric Gagne didn't return healthy. That happened, but Baez would struggle and lose the closer role to Takashi Saito - a future Brave as well.

Baez looked like he shook off the rust at first. He picked up five holds in his first seven games with the Braves. However, on August 22, he gave up four runs and looked off. He hit the IL and never returned, leading to eleven games with the Braves. He signed with the Orioles after the season. A little more about him in a moment.

As for Aybar, he was, in some ways, a lot like Betemit but to a lesser degree. The brother of future Brave, Erick, and uncle of Wander Franco, Willy was a 2B/3B switch-hitter with some good minor league numbers. He hit .326/.448/.454 in 26 games the previous year for his first taste of the bigs. The hit tool wasn't as noticeable in 43 games with the Dodgers in '06, but he was good at getting on base and had some pop. The hope was that Aybar would do most of what Betemit could. The problem was he was he was a worse defender than Betemit and, while he did have some pop, it wasn't nearly as much as Betemit. The fact was the Dodgers were trading Aybar because he was yet another player who couldn't handle the full-time third base job, a position they had searched for an answer for ever since Bill Mueller went down in May.

Aybar hit well in his 36 games with the Braves, going .313/.373/.391 with a homer and six doubles. But any kind of momentum would come crashing down the following spring when he was suspended after not showing up for either an injury rehabilitation meeting or even a meeting with Bobby Cox. His agent explained that he was struggling with alcohol (perhaps drugs) and Aybar landed in an alcohol rehabilitation center for three months during 2007. He wouldn't play a professional game during the season both because of rehab and a wrist injury. The Braves sent him packing to the Rays. Shortly thereafter, news came out that he had allegedly assaulted his wife, but that case would ultimately go away.

That allowed Aybar to become a useful bench player for the Rays over three years, hitting .246/.323/.392 with 28 homers over 300 games. Maybe his most memorable moments came in the 2008 ALCS against the Red Sox, where he went 8-for-19 with two homers. But after 2010, the Rays didn't bring him back. No one signed him, in fact. In May, we finally learned why - he had beat up his wife so badly that this time, she ended up in the ICU. He spent three months in jail. He would try to work his way back into baseball, playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic, a stint in the Mexican League, and even some time in the independent North American Baseball League. But none of that undid his horrible acts and Aybar's professional career was over.

Meanwhile, Betemit's career continued on. He'd be a deadline mover a year after joining the Dodgers as he was shipped to the Bronx. After languishing with the Yankees and then the White Sox, Betemit found himself a bit in Kansas City in 2010, posting a .889 OPS in 84 games. A .795 OPS followed split between the Royals and Tigers in 2011 and that landed him a free agent deal with the Orioles. He'd disappoint some, only hitting .261/322/.422 with a dozen homers. Struggles and injuries would follow in 2013 with the O's. He tried to make the Rays' roster in 2014, but spent the year struggling in Durham instead. The following year, he was busted for PED and given a 50-game suspension. He'd play a few more seasons - mostly in the Dominican winter leagues - but his major league career was over with a .267/.332/.442 slash and 75 homers.

There's one final twist to this deal and it involves Baez. After the 2006 season, the Braves offered arbitration to Baez as a Type A free agent. Baez declined arbitration, signing with the Orioles. That meant the Braves would get two additional selections in the 2007 draft - a supplemental first round pick and the Orioles' second round pick, the 69th overall selection. Pretty nice haul for a pitcher who worked eleven games for the Braves while the Dodgers paid the remainder of his $4 million salary.

With the 33rd overall pick, the Braves selected 3B Jon Gilmore. 36 picks later, they added right-hander Josh Fields. The latter wouldn't sign and fortunately, the Braves were able to select Freddie Freeman nine picks later. As for Gilmore, he spent just two summers in the Braves' system before being dealt to the White Sox in the Javier Vazquez trade. He never made it past Double-A.

That closes the door on a trade from seventeen years ago. It was a weird trade that still kind of doesn't make a lot of sense. In the end, the Braves didn't lose much. In fact, they gained a bit since they picked up Gilmore, who helped get them Vazquez. If you want to go a bit more down that thread, Vazquez's later trade to the Yankees brought in Arodys Vizcaino.

Nevertheless, what would have happened had the Braves not traded Betemit to the Dodgers? Would Gilmore be off the board when the 78th selection came? Maybe he was still there and the Braves select him and miss out on Freeman? Furthermore, would Betemit get a chance to replace Giles in 2008, a job that ultimately was won by Kelly Johnson? Would Betemit play a lot more shortstop as Renteria struggled with injuries instead of rookie Yunel Escobar? Hell, would Betemit have been a piece that went to the Rangers in the Mark Teixeira trade instead of perhaps Elvis Andrus?

Who knows? What we do know is that the Betemit for Aybar/Baez trade definitely didn't work out in the short-term for either team.

Previous TOTs

• Julian Tavarez

• Ben Sheets

• Rafael Furcal