Welcome back to the TRADE DEADLINE edition of This Week in Trades. This is my favorite time of year and I am sad I didn’t get an invite to the dance. This has left me bitter and therefore the only reasonable thing to do is bring in the foremost expert on bitter and rage I know, Chros to help evaluate all of the trades we didn’t get to make. At least there are a lot of them. I’m sure we’ll eventually declare winners/losers but for now you can form your own opinions. I personally look forward to watching heads in New Orleans explode when Talia quintuples his offensive output from the season after a week in Mississippi. Enough preamble, onto the deals!
| FTW | 2040 FTW 2nd Round | NV | SP Noe Toepfer |
Davey wouldn’t trade me Noe when he was hot stuff before injuries and then he wouldn’t trade me Noe now because he’s mean. That being said I’ve been a long time No Toes fan and hope he can stay healthy. If he does, it’s a steal. If he doesn’t it’s an acceptable gamble.
Eh… based on what I got for Orly Bear, I think Noe could have fetched a late 1st. I guess it doesn’t help that he’s having a terrible season so I can’t fault Davey too much here.
| LI | RF Nate Edwards (AA) 2040 LI 3rd Round | NV | LF Manuel Carmona (100%) |
Carmona has had a resurgence for the Rainbow Angel Kitties this year but his hot start is cooling off and I think he’s being sold high. Good for Davey. LI gets another DH who may or may not see an improvement in the SL.
Long Island gets Carmona for not much at all, adding another quality bat for a bench player and a 3rd. Good deal for them as they fight to remain in the SL.
| MISS | $1,500,000 | NO | 2B Guy Toussaint (AAA) |
Mississppi buys a questionable 2B to play in the outfield. He could be a decent 3L player but I’m not sure if it was worth even this little money. This feels like it could’ve been a giveaway if Beau had nudge him enough due to Guy being owed another $3,000,000 give or take minimum.
Probably didn’t have to give this much cash for Toussaint, even if it’s only 1.5m. He’s had brief flashes of success as a starter but Chase probably would have been happy to just get rid of the salary. Meh, both the cost and salary are low enough to not lose sleep over
| VAN | 3B Shiki Sanu (AAA) | ACKC | 2040 ACKC 5th Round $500,000 |
One man’s trash is another man’s pedestrian 3B.
Not even sure if Sanu should be a starter. Maybe the 8th or 9th guy on a good team. He was sitting in Vancouver’s AAA so getting anything for him is a good deal.
| MON | RP Jorge Villanueva | BUF | 1B Tony Randolph (AA) CF Scot Roberts (A) |
This is fine. Former Shredder prospect Tony Randolph is making his way around the league and I’m sure this isn’t his first Montana stop.
Can’t argue too much about adding a good reliever for free. He’s 100% retained so I’ll only have to pay his 1.2m buyout after next year. Adds some depth and bolsters my middle relief. Don’t like Roberts much, but I liked Randolph. I was playing him at SS hoping he improves there. If he does, he can possibly start as a more offensive minded SS without being a butcher defensively. However if his rating at SS doesn’t improve, he’s a utility guy.
| MON | CF Jon Huband | HOU | CF Jose Pinto 3B Jesse Garrett (AAA) 2B Luke Crawford (A) 1B Jorge Esparza (R) |
All I’m going to say is this was not worth the Portland 1st round pick. Moving on…
Looking at this trade individually, Panda got a lot of quantity for a 4th OFer. Esparza and Crawford can hit a bit but look more like bench players. Garrett has solid OF ratings, and good power and eye potential. His contact and strikeouts will be a problem though, and Pander needs to hope those are improved in order for Garrett to be a starter.
| MON | 2B Melito Baez C Woong Byeon (AA) SP Nick Rollins (AA) | NV | 2B Nick Harper (AA) |
Moving on and just skipping right past this one too.
Don’t care for Byeon or Rollins at all, so I’ll look at this as Baez for Harper. Baez had performed pretty well for the Panders, but probably doesn’t figure into their long term plans. He was having a great offensive year but was a butcher defensively. Harper looks like a utility guy to me. Dumping that contract serves the Panders well.
| MON | SP Sergio Tacuri (AA) RP De Dion-Bouton (A) | PC | C Tom Dickinson (100%) |
Still don’t understand what is going on in Montana. All of these trades to compete and if anything the team has gotten worse. Now 7 games back of 11th place at the time of writing. The best news for the Pandas is they can’t trade anymore this season now that the deadline has passed.
I like this move for the Pandas if he’s trying to contend next year. Good hitting catchers are hard to find. Tacuri looks decent but will be hurt by that bad 3rd pitch. Obviously everything depends on whether or not Dickinson can be extended.
| MON | SP David Buchanan | MISS | $500,000 |
<squinting emoji>
Turning nothing into something. Maybe Buch will talk extension on a contender.
| PC | RP Joe Khokar $2,670,000 | OAK | SP Dylan Grandjean (A) 2040 OAK 3rd Round 2040 OAK 4th Round |
Oakland is going to be paying Joe Khokar a lot of money for a lot of years but if he stays healthy and at his level of game this will work out. Otherwise that contract is going to be very uncomfortable in a few years.
lol Oakland steals an elite closer for garbage.
| NV | SP Yan van der Meijden (AA) RP Terry Lesage (A) SP Darren Henry (R) | CLE | 3B Richard Trevithicc SP Gerald Orlebar |
I don’t like it for Grogg and I think all of his earlier highway robbery caught up with his conscience. Orlebar may have been signed to a very not great contract and Thicc may not have exploded onto the scene like we all expected but this feels like a very very low return for two currently above average players with upside, one making league minimum.
I don’t like the return Cleveland got. I have to assume that has to do with dumping Orlebar’s contract, but I wouldn’t use a player like Trevithicc to do so. Meijden looks like a solid 3rd starter. Lesage has a 3 control and Henry has a 4 movement – I’d want more than that when trading Trevithicc. Anyway, hahahaha I can’t wait for Orlebar to ruin NoVa’s clubhouse. I really look forward to that email next season.
| MON | 3B Jesse Garrett (AA) SP Larry Henderson (A) | TOL | SP Jose Ruiz $3,000,000 |
See previous Montana comments.
Ruiz is a good mid-rotation starter in the 3L that is signed long term and makes little to no money. Henderson is crap and Panda flips Garrett here, probably a wise choice because I don’t see that contract/K rate improving much. I’m a fan of this move for the Panders.
| STL | DH Dean Jackson SP Mei Zhao (AAA) | MISS | 2B Joel Iyiegbuniwe (AAA) 2040 MISS 2nd Round $1,500,000 |
Beau is all in and has a shiny new DH. If he doesn’t win the 3L he’ll be as bad as that time Buffalo didn’t win the SL and Hollywood didn’t win the PL.
Looks like an even deal for me in this swap of young studs. Iyiegbuniwe provides a bit less power, but a better eye, speed, and defense. Zhao and that 2nd rounder cancel out.
| NO | CF Martin Talia (100%) RP Ewan Atwood (AAA) | MISS | SS Jorge Munoz (A) RF Niek Bendt (R) |
New Orleans hates Martin Talia because they didn’t look at just how hitter friendly Longnix Island’s park was to power hitters. I think he bounces back and has a great 2nd half then resigns at the 3L discount to give Beau a solid OF in the SL next year.
Talia has been god awful, and neither Munoz or Bendt excite me. Maybe Talia bounces back in the 3L. Atwood looks like a nice pickup though as a righty specialist.
| HOU | CF Bud Mullins (R) 2040 HOU 4th Round | TOL | SP Marvin Martin |
Tinker tinker tinker, Houston is riding hot hands to try to secure promotion. Good luck to you, Sir Tyler!
Martin somehow puts up decent numbers but he would get smashed outside of the 3L. Fair trade for both sides in that I like nobody in this deal
| MON | RP Bill Glenn (AA) | MISS | DH Javier Sanchez (100%) $1,500,000 |
See previous Montana comments.
Glenn looks like he could be a nice middle relief option down the road, and Sanchez will be 36 next year. Don’t think this deal makes sense for Montana, even if he wants to contend next season.
| STL | STL 2040 2nd Round STL 2040 3rd Round | NV | $12,000,000 |
Might be a bit high but Davey would rather throw money at Scooter than to the end of year commissioner party.
Fair deal, I guess? Seems like a lot for a 2nd and 3rd rounder but I suppose the 2nd rounder is basically a late 1st.
| BOS | SP Ingo Abresch (AAA) RP Miguel Rodriguez (AAA) | TB | LF Joe Aller (100%) SS Juan Lugo (A) 2040 TB 3rd Round |
This just looks like straight up abusive relationship levels of bad to me. My scout says Lugo is a future many GG winning SS that can hit. I wouldn’t have traded him for those two castoff pitchers if Boston had included a 1st round pick much less giving up Aller for free and a 3rd round pick as well. I hope it works out for ThunderScoots but this just seems like a bad idea all the way around.
Yikes. I like Lugo a lot, despite the 1 eye. Abresch looks like a long reliever to me and Rodriguez looks like an OK middle innings guy. Not a great return for what looks like a stud prospect.
| STL | LF Bobby Norris (A) CF Allan Callejo (R) | PC | SP Ernesto Lopez 2040 PC 3rd Round 2040 OAK 4th Round $1,000,000 |
I think Lopez has a nice upside and is still under team control. I don’t hate this deal if he continues to improve and grows into a solid SP. Norris and Callejo could both be big bats but I think it’s a good gamble.
I feel like a package with Norris and Callejo could have brought back an ace, rather than a mid-rotation guy like Lopez.