My initial impression of the Bynum & Rheinecker for Juan Dominguez trade is a good one. Bynum might be a useful bench player, and has some value, but there was just no place for him. I'm happy that he had himself a nice spring and possibly put himself on the radar of some of the other teams out there.

Rheinecker only managed 45 innings last year in Sacramento, so I assume he was injured. His ERA (1.77) looks really nice, but it hides six unearned runs and it looks like he got really-hit lucky. His H/9 for his high-minors career prior to last year was in the 10.5 to 11.0 range. That dropped to just 5.72 last year with no concomitant increase in his strikeout rate (the k/9, in fact, dropped). He's the kind of guy that could have 50 good innings in the majors at some point, or 15 awful ones, and that'll determine whether someone pays him bucks to be a bad bullpen guy for 3-4 years. Rheinecker is a Southwest Missouri State alumnus, where it appears that he was a teammate of Ryan Howard. Bill Mueller also went there.

Juan Dominguez is a 26-year old Dominican swingman. He appeared in 22 games for the Rangers last year, starting 10. His strikeout rate was mediocre (5.76 per nine), his walk rate kind of high (3.20 per nine), and his home-run rate also sort of bad (1.41 per nine). He pitched at three levels last year, and while his AA numbers were predictably good (a 25-year old with prior major league experience ought to dominate AA), his AAA rate stats were right in line with his major league numbers. He could be a mediocre reliever for years on a lesser team, but don't expect him to crack the A's bullpen unless a rash of owies attacks.

Technorati: Juan Dominguez, Oakland A's, Freddy Bynum, John Rheinecker, mediocre relievers.