Angels Acquire Alberto Callaspo

[MrMarlinPride]

Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star is reporting (via Twitter) that infielder Alberto Callaspo has been dealt from the Royals to the Angels in exchange for right-hander Sean O'Sullivan and minor league left-hander Will Smith.

 

Callaspo has a modest .275/.308/.410 line in 373 plate appearances this season, though that still represents a big upgrade over the .411 OPS of Brandon Wood, who has seen most of the action for the Halos at third base. Callaspo was originally signed by the Angels as a free agent in 2001, and spent four years in the club's system before being dealt to Arizona for Jason Bulger in 2006. With Callaspo now in L.A., it potentially opens up a spot at third base for Mike Moustakas should the Royals want to give their top prospect a look over the last two months of the season. Moustakas has an OPS of 1.067 in 326 plate appearances at Double-A and Triple-A this season.

 

 

O'Sullivan, 22, has spent most of his year at Triple-A Salt Lake City, where he has posted a 4.76 ERA in 15 starts. A third-round pick in the 2005 amateur draft, O'Sullivan was the Angels' organizational pitcher of the year in 2007 and has a 5.15 ERA in 17 career major league games (11 of them starts).

 

The Royals rejected a previous offer for Callaspo two days ago that consisted of O'Sullivan and "a fringe prospect," so presumably K.C. was more attracted to Smith, a seventh-round pick in the 2008 amateur draft. Smith has a 4.24 ERA and a 3.47 K/BB ratio in 55 games (52 of them starts) in the Los Angeles minor league system, though his numbers have worsened this season as he's been elevated from high-A ball to Triple-A.

 

 

 

They got what they were looking for, a decent hitting 3rd baseman but that's one less team that we can trade Cantu to.