Jon Rauch: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Posted by Mike Henderson on Sep. 4, 2009 at 5:05 AM
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Last Friday saw the conclusion of Nationals alumnus Jon Rauch's stay in the desert as he was traded by Arizona to the still-contending Minnesota Twins for a player to be named later.

Rauch, as a middle reliever for the D-Backs, saw his once-astounding strikeout-to-walk ratio diminish considerably in 2009 as he added a cut fastball to his repertoire.  Over the 2009 season, Rauch struck out 35 batters and issued 17 bases on balls, 57 hits, and a career-high six wild pitches over 54 1/3 innings on his way to a 2-2 record and 4.14 earned run average for the Snakes.  During his first three appearances for Minnesota, Rauch has logged two wins and a hold, allowing just two hits, a walk and no runs in three innings of work.

Acquired by Montreal along with reliever Gary "Tex" Majewski from the Chicago White Sox in August 2004 in exchange for then-declining (and now retired) veteran outfielder Carl Everett, Rauch spent most of his Expos / Nats career in middle relief, eventually becoming the setup man for closer Chad "Chief" Cordero and then inheriting the closer's job after Cordero succumbed to a season-ending muscle tear in April 2008.  Accruing a 2.98 ERA in 48 1/3 innings over 48 appearances, while logging 17 saves in 22 chances, made Rauch attractive enough to the then-contending Diamondbacks for the Nats to be able to fetch speedy infielder Emilio Bonifacio in return in a July 2008 trade.

That deal might have seemed underwhelming from a curly-W point of view, as Bonifacio accrued a batting line of .248 / .305 / .344 over 41 games for the 2008 Nats.  After the season, though, Washington went on to package Bonifacio along with pitching prospect Philip "P. J." Dean and infield prospect Jake Smolinski in a November 2008 trade to Florida -- applauded at the time by, among others, ESPN.com analyst Keith Law -- for left-handed starting pitcher Scott Olsen and outfielder Josh Willingham.

If the now-injured Olsen hasn't thus far particularly distinguished himself as a National, it's hard not to appreciate the contribution Willingham has made to the Nats' offense.  Meanwhile, Bonifacio has settled into a weak-hitting utility role for the Fish, while Smolinski has been honing his craft at low single-A Greensboro (where he was hit in the face by a pitch on August 4 but has been impressively productive since his return to action on August 20) and Dean has not pitched in 2009.

Much as the Nats' beleaguered bullpen might miss a Jon Rauch, we'd have to admit that July 2008 deal hasn't worked out so badly.  And if Olsen comes back healthy, it could prove to have been quite the coup.  We'll find out more in Spring 2010.