TWIT Watches The Northern Virginia Tire Fire With Popcorn and Sunglasses

By | 2020-08-20

“When I say ‘FIRE’ you say ‘SALE’.” At least that’s how I imagine GM Davey of the Northern Virginia Rainbow Mermaids has been hyping up the players these last two weeks. Followed by a rousing rendition of the old Oprah giveaways “YOU GET A NEW HOME AND YOU GET A NEW HOME AND YOU GET A NEW HOME”. Somehow the players seem wildly ecstatic about this, I assume because they get to continue to play relevant fake baseball somewhere that doesn’t paint their lockers with rainbows and glitter. Anyway, welcome back to This Week In Trades! We snuck a week off in after the real vacation and boy do we have some catching up to do. Chros and I take on this disaster and hope you guys enjoyed it as much as Davey did.

HOUCF Mauro Jasso (AAA)
2041 HOU 3rd Round
2041 HOU 4th Round
NVSS Kjarten Einarsson

Even Dave broke his silence and called this trash. Einarsson is going to be a very productive shortstop in his career. And thus began the greatest firesale since Kerry tore down Buckhead in 2036.

As the GM who gave Jasso 23 million dollars and watched him bust in incredible fashion, I can confirm that he absolutely sucks and this deal is terrible.

SMSP Jing-quo Ts-ai (R)
C Sergio Davalos (A)
NVSP Ratko Davidovic

Davidovic gets traded for a future backup catcher and AAAA SP. Seems fitting.

Um… this is bad.

HOL3B Victor Bojorquez (AAA)
SP Nick Cole (AA)
2041 MISS 1st Round
NV3B Richard Trevithick

If Trevitick ever lives up to his ratings, this will be a steal. If he continues his trajectory of constant disappointment then it was worth the risk anyway. Cole was my favorite pitcher in my minors but he’s not going to front a rotation.

Of course Thicc starts raking when he lands in Hollywood. Don’t know how to feel about this. Thicc has been awful, but he’s still just 25. The prospects are not good. The 1st is worth something, I guess.

HOL2B Roger Cafffyn (AAA)CLERP Bob Shepard (AAA)

We’re just over here shifting deck chairs on the Titanic. Grogg picks up an emergency 2B and I pay less money this year.

Caffyn is a jerk but he’s a nice bench piece as long as he’s not pissed off.

MISS2041 MISS 2nd RoundNV3B Richard Jost

This is not the Jost of last year by a long shot. This is a gamble for Beau, taking on a big chunk of salary in hopes he returns to form.

Jost has been very bad but I’m surprised he wasn’t able to bring back more.

PORT2041 PORT 3rd Round
2041 PORT 4th Round
RP Maru Pao Pao (AAA)
NVCL Brewester Warble
$497,622

Warble has been the anchor of the NoVa bullpen since Davey stole him from DC for a song. Now he joins a very strong Portland bullpen and has Buck humming happy tunes whenever he ignores his rotation and admires his ‘pen.

Nice pickup by Portland here, Warble is a stud. Don’t like the return Nova got.

HOURP Gil Herrera (AAA)
RP Gregory Powers (AAA)
MONSP Kenny Aarnoutse

The Aarnoutse Montana experiment did not end well and the eject button was smashed. I expect we’ll see him return to form in a more favorable ballpark.

Aarnoutse has been terrible and Montana gets out from under that contract for a lesser return. The prospects aren’t much so this can be a great deal for Houston if he returns to form.

SEACL Wesley van Klaveren (AA)
2041 SEA 1st Round
2041 SEA 2nd Round
2041 SEA 3rd Round
2041 SEA 4th Round
2041 SEA 5th Round
NVLF Johan Kroening
SP Ton Jobse
$21,000,000

Tuna has been selling all season, so of course he goes and buys Kroening and Jobse. Makes total sense. This should help secure the Rocketeers a 3L playoff spot and Davey continues to accumulate draft picks at an alarming rate.

I’m not really a fan of Jobse, so I see this as mostly dumping his contract. Shedding that salary makes this deal much more fair.

OAKDH Eustacio TafallaNVRF Conor Gotaas

Space Unicorn returns to his home and will continue to do his thing, racking up record numbers of days on the IL.

So… NoVa sells off much of their roster to rebuild, then trades a good 24 y/o for an older player who never plays and makes 19m…. okay

OAKSP Kevin Nogilny (55%)
CL Joe Khokar
NORP Walt Mcpike (A)
SP Nick Joseph (R)
1B Desi Linares (R)
3B Roberto Berganza (R)

Nogilny has continued to be a strong pitcher for Oakland despite their other troubles. Khokar is one of Brian’s favorite former fish and another big arm in the bullpen. This feels like a salary dump from Oakland despite the retention as none of these specs blow my skirt up. A couple looks like future players but not players.

Really nice trade for NO here, huge boost to their pitching staff and I don’t really love any of those prospects. Linares and Berganza are ok.

OAKSP Elroy Quaid (100%)
RP Jeff Mahl (100%)
MONLF Norbert Ingalsbe (AAA)
1B Phillip White (AA)
1B Jorge Esparza (A)
3B Tim Dickson (A)
RF Sergio Estrada (R)
SP Mercedes Bvan (R)

Quaid has been not good, Panda Park may not treat him well. Mahl on the other hand has been solid. Oakland takes a gamble on a metric boatload of specs. Hopefully one or two them pan out but I’m not in love. My favorite is probably Mercedes Bvan but he may be mostly a backend starter in the future.

Ditto what Cheese said. Pandas pick up two solid pitchers that they don’t have to pay, and not a huge fan of any of the prospects they gave up.