After being in trade talks with quite a few teams for about a month, the Colorado Rockies finally traded Huston Street to the San Diego Padres. The Padres recently lost closer Heath Bell to the Miami Marlins, who overpaid for the star closer. The Padres will have to pay $7.5 million of Street’s $8 million salary, and this deal was a much-needed salary dump for the Rockies. They will find their closer, and all the Padres needed to give up to find a closer of their own was a player to be named. I like the deal for both teams, because all closers are overpaid; it’s really the same logic I used when talking about the Mets deal with Frank Francisco.
Huston Street is about a 1-1.3 WAR reliever, which means that the Padres did indeed overpay in terms of pure value. However, relievers of less quality only make slightly less money per year than Street, and teams are always willing to spend more than they should on closers at the trade deadline. These trades happen every year, such as the one involving Matt Capps two years ago and the trade involving former Padres set-up man Mike Adams last season. Teams spend big on closers, and the Padres just gave up an odd prospect for one.
Although Huston Street should be making $6 million in terms of WAR/$, he is actually given market value when comparing his contract to the ones given to other closers. Frank Francisco is an average closer, and he made $6 million compared to the $7.5 million that the Padres are paying the obviously better Street. The former A’s star excelled in that ballpark, and PETCO is even more friendly for pitchers. Street is a sure bet to excel in the traditional statistics, save the untouchable save.
Street strikes out about nine guys per nine in his career, and he has improved his control; this should lead to a walk rate under two per nine. He was extremely unlucky last season with an inflated HR/FB%, and that career-high .317 BABIP is going down for sure. Street had a 3.14 xFIP, but he also had the lowest WAR of his career with 0.5. He should be worth closer to 1.5 WAR than 0.5 WAR, and I could see him being worth a almost 1.5 WAR if all the pieces fall into place for him. Either way, this was a good move made by a team in desperate need for a closer. The rest of the relievers on their roster are definitely not closer-worthy.