Royals trade Graffanino to Red Sox

The KC Star is reporting that the Royals have traded Tony Graffanino to the Boston Red Sox for prospects.

What we lost:

T-Graf
   Age AVG OBP SLG
 2005 33 0.298 0.377 0.393
 Career  0.263 0.335 0.388

What we got:

Chip Ambres
  Level Age AVG OBP SLG
 A 20 0.231 0.343 0.366
 A 21 0.265 0.36 0.416
 A 22 0.236 0.323 0.365
 AA 23 0.258 0.376 0.439
 AA 24 0.241 0.352 0.449
 AAA 25 0.294 0.401 0.495

Juan Cedeno
 Level Age ERA K/9 WHIP
 Rk 18 4.19 6.7 1.56
 A 19 3.02 7.73 1.29
 A 20 4.64 5.83 1.54
 A 21 5.49 7.98 1.52

T-Graf has had a bit of a resurgence this year, getting a ton of playing time and responding with a career high in OBP. His batting average looks good and he's never been a power guy.

The prospects from Boston appear pretty standard issue to me. A young fireballer in Cedeno who has control issues. A speedy outfielder with low batting average numbers, but a steady improvement in power.

Assuming Graffanino can continue to hit 300/375/390, this should be a pretty good pick up for the Sox. He can replace Bellhorn defensively at second base and provide some decent on-base numbers in front of the power hitters in Boston's line up.

For the Royals, this is more of the same. Trading age and salary away to pick up some hope. Are Ambres's plate discipline and power increases for real? Will Cedeno find enough control to be Mike MacDougal early '03, or Mike MacDougal the rest of the time?

Tony always seemed like a good guy, so I'm happy he'll get to compete in meaningful baseball this season. Ambres and Cedeno can only hope for the chance in the future.