Towers made shrewd trade shipping out Reynolds
Jun 1, 2011, 12:21 AM | Updated: 2:08 am
PHOENIX – When Kevin Towers took over as general manager for the Arizona Diamondbacks, one of his first moves was sending out fan favorite third baseman Mark Reynolds for relievers David Hernandez and Kam Mickolio.
The move wasn’t popular with the fans at the time considering Reynolds had been one of the team’s biggest run producers in the past few years.
Nobody in Arizona is regretting that decision now.
David Hernandez has been spectacular in helping revamp Arizona’s bullpen into the team’s biggest strength while Reynolds has fallen on hard times in Baltimore hitting only .198 with seven home runs.
“I checked with the Orioles about this and they considered sending him to the minor leagues to get this stuff figured out. That’s how poorly he was going,” said ESPN analyst Tim Kurkjian on the Sports 620 KTAR’s Gambo and Ash show on Tuesday.
The analyst believes Reynolds is putting too much pressure on himself with his new team.
“When you switch leagues and put some pressure on a guy we need you to do a little bit more here, I think it’s gotten to him,” said Kurkjian.