Update: The Astros have chosen 19-year-old OF Domingo Santana as the player to be named later to complete the Hunter Pence trade that took place the day before the July 31 trade deadline. Santana was the 15th best prospect in the Phillies’ organization prior to the season according to Baseball Prospectus.

Santana was hitting .269/.345/.434 with seven HR’s and 29 doubles in 391 PA’s for Single-A Lakewood in 2011.

Original Post, 7/30/11:  Where my friend works is short on good looking women. I am not going to reveal the name of this anti-Playboy Mansion, but trust me when I tell you, I am not lying.

Now there are some good looking women at this company and we joke that an eight at this company is a normal five on the streets of New York City. This same joke can apply to this year’s trade market and the courting of Houston Astros OF Hunter Pence.

With Carlos Beltran off the board, Pence became the most sought after hitter on the market. Due to the lack of other hitters on the market, Pence went from a five to an eight in a matter of days.

When it comes to the Philadelphia Phillies, they don’t date fives. They date eights. And because Pence was suddenly an eight, they just had to have him no matter what.

The Phillies acquired Pence for 1B Jonathan Singleton, RHP Jarred Cosart, RHP Josh Zeid, and a player to be named later. Pence will be under team control until 2013.

This was an awful lot to give up for Pence.

Pence was dubbed “The face of the Astros franchise,” which is pretty much the equivalent of dubbing Nate McLouth the face of the Pittsburgh Pirates franchise back in the late-2000′s. There’s a huge difference between being the face of the franchise and being the face of the franchise by default.

Pence is a good player. Over the past three and a half seasons, Pence has averaged a .285/.335/.470 slash line with 22 HR’s and 12 SB’s. His 13.4 WAR over that time is good for 16th amongst all major league outfielders. He will certainly help a Phillies’ right field situation that ranks 27th in baseball with a 0.0 WAR and have hit a combined .239/.326/.365 slash line with 11 HR’s on the season.

Pence will also help the Phillies against left-handed pitching. The Phillies rank 27th in baseball with a .661 OPS against left-handed pitching and Pence’s .781 OPS against lefties will help.

However, Pence isn’t a difference maker in a lineup. He’s a complementary piece, much like how Aaron Rowand was a complementary piece for the Phillies a couple of years ago. A team shouldn’t trade away super prospects for a complementary piece and that’s what the Phillies did.

Singleton is a sweet swinging, left-handed 1B/OF, who was hitting .282/.386/.411 with nine HR’s in 378 PA’s at High-A Clearwater in 2011. Keith Law had him as the 27th best prospect in baseball prior to the 2011 season and Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus says “Singleton is a classic bat-only player, but it could be one hell of a bat.”

Cosart, is a right-handed, power pitcher, who was ranked as the 34th best prospect by Keith Law prior to the season. Goldstein says of Cosart “He has equal possibilities of turning into an ace as he does a shutdown closer, or simply never living up to expectations.”

In two and a half minor league seasons, Cosart has a 3.67 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 2.9 BB/9, and 8.0 K/9 in 203.2 innings. Like Singleton, Cosart was playing at High-A Clearwater in 2011.

Zeid is a 24-year-old right-handed pitcher, who has excelled since being move from the starting rotation to the bullpen. He could be in the Astros’ bullpen next season as a seventh/eighth inning bridge to Mark Melancon.

The Phillies are in clear win now mode. Over the past couple of years, the Phillies have traded away prospects for superstars like Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Roy Oswalt.

However, those guys were eights on any team. They weren’t fives.

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By The Baseball Index