Earlier today, the news broke that the Astros traded infielder Jeff Keppinger to the Giants for minor league pitchers Henry Sosa and Jason Stoffel, both Double-A righties.
Keppinger’s a valuable player, so one would hope Houston got something of value in return for him. Let’s look at Sosa and Stoffel to gauge their value.
Sosa once ranked quite high on the Giants’ prospect list, but his stock has taken a hit. Once a Futures Game participant in 2007, he struggled to get many whiffs in 2009-10 and was ultimately moved to relief in Triple-A this season. He responded with a 10.41 ERA in 23 innings.
Given that he’s nearly 26, Sosa would thus seem to be a poor choice to acquire. But he was moved back to the rotation in Double-A after his Triple-A failure, and responded with a 36/8 K/BB in 40 1/3 innings. And, to be fair, the high Triple-A ERA is somewhat mitigated by the fact that his FIP was a more reasonable 5.90, it was a small sample, and the PCL is playing especially hitter-friendly this season.
That, combined with good velocity and raw stuff, makes Sosa still a somewhat interesting player, but let’s be real: he turns 26 this month and has yet to figure out Triple-A, let alone the big leagues.
What of Stoffel, then? He’s much younger, at 22, and he’s pitching solidly in Double-A, with a 3.98 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 31 2/3 innings. But he’s also walked 16 and doesn’t boast top-end stuff, with a solid but unspectacular fastball/curveball combination.
Overall, the chances are pretty high that either Sosa or Stoffel wears an Astros uniform at some point, but neither pitcher seems like a sure thing as a serious contributor, and neither seems like relief ace material. It seems a bit underwhelming of a return, but I’ll take a deeper look at the trade as whole later on, over at Call to the Pen.