Wednesday
27Aug2008
Sox Land Kotsay
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 01:51PM Sean Kennedy
The Red Sox have obtained center fielder Mark Kotsay from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for 20-year-old minor league outfielder Luis Sumoza of the Lowell Spinners.
Kotsay was acquired because he is a left-handed hitting outfielder who can fill in for JD Drew. The Sox left fielder was placed on the disabled list yesterday, after missing the previous six games, due to a herniated disc in his lower back.
The Sox are on the hook for the $1.5 million owed to the 32-year-old Kotsay, who will be a free agent at year's end.. The 11-year veteran waived his no trade clause to come to Boston.
A career .282 hitter, Kotsay is batting .289 with a .338 on-base percentage, six home runs and 37 RBIs in 344 plate appearances this season. While he gets on base at a reasonable clip, he's obviously a light hitter who won't make up for Drew's 19 homers and 64 RBI. Kotsay hit 17 homers with the Padres in 2002 and drove in 82 runs with Oakland in 2005, career bests. So his production won't come close to replacing that of Drew, who's been having an excellent year.
But the Sox were in a pinch and obviously have little faith in their in-house options, such as left-hitting outfielders Chris Carter, Joe Thuston and Jonathan Van Avery, or the right-handed Jason Lane. None possesses the Major League experience of Kotsay.
But Kotsay, like Drew, has suffered from his own back ailment this season. He missed all of June due to a lower back strain, but then appeared in 40 of the Braves' next 48 games. And he's been hot of late, posting an .856 on-base/slugging percentage in August, his best month of the season.
There's no doubt that Kotsay can hit, posting a career best .314 average with the A's in 2004, plus hitting .298 and .292 in other seasons. But what he doesn't bring to a lineup is thump. Other Sox players will have to step up in Drew's absence to pick up the offensive slack. Drew's 19 longballs are third on the team this season, and the departed Manny Ramirez was second with 20.
That's a power gap that needs to somehow be filled. But Mark Kotsay is not the man to do it. He will, however, provide a veteran presence, for whatever it's worth.
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