The 2040 TWIT Deadline Special: Now With More Commentary!

By | 2020-09-09

Hello friends and welcome back to this year’s final installment of This Week in Trades. It’s been quite the ride with some big names changing hands and then a very quiet run up to the actual deadline. Joining me this week is none other than the angriest man alive, Chros, and a new contender to that title, the honorable Dr. Moshe Finkelstein III. We’ve got a lot to get through so we’re going to kick it into high gear and see what shakes out.

HOLCF George Runnalls (A)HOUDH Javier Seco

I needed a DH vs RHP, Seco is not having a great year but has shown success in the past and is still under team control for a couple more years. Runnalls is a young guy who could be great or very average. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Seco will be a nice platoon bat that Cheese got for very little. Runnalls looks like he’d be a solid 4th OFer, but shouldn’t be starting on a good team.

This is a clear win for Mayor McCheese. Seco is having a down year, but in classic McCheese fashion he gave away nothing to get an actual player in return. I am fairly certain he is doing the opposite of Nova.

FTW2041 FTW 5th RoundMISS3B Orlando Velasquez

OV has continued to be good enough to play on winning teams in some sort of role while striking out oh so very much. This is the first of 2 deals Scooter made for guys on the tail end of their careers that could be a nice pickup or make us question his sanity. But a 5th is fine value.

Velasquez is a nice backup who will poison your clubhouse. Worth a 5th though.

This is so inconsequential that it should not even be listed on the Twat.

LVSP Nam-Shik KwakHOU2041 HOU 1st Round
2041 HOU 2nd Round
2041 HOU 5th round

Kwak has all the markings of a pitcher on the verge of breaking out. If he’s going to do it he needs to do it soon though. I like the gamble from Houston though because it could pay off big. He’s still under team control for cheap and can probably be resigned to a very friendly 3L contract.

Vegas got a fair deal for a pitcher who hasn’t broken out yet. I’m a fan of Kwak though, and it looks like he’s starting to pitch to his potential. At worst he should be a solid 2 or 3.

At this point this is a fairly fair deal. Vegas needs to rebuild and Houston gets a potential Ace. Kwak is starting to put it all together and could be big for the next 5 or so years for Houston. If Vegas actually drafts well, then it is fair. Likely will end up in Houstons favor unless he decides to break his new toy.

NVSP Gerald Orlebar
$1,7100,000
MONRP Bob Christison
SS Cedric Dumas (R)

Orlebar has taken quite the trip since leaving Buffalo last year. He never quite got comfortable in Montana despite his big extension and then was not a great fit in Cleveland either before being dumped off to NoVa. Now he returns to Montana to attempt to rediscover his old self.

Orly Bear makes his second trip to Panda Park, and he is not happy. Maybe it’s time for him to come home to Buffalo. NV gets a decent reliever and Orly’s contract completely off their books.

Orlebar is the most popular girl at the Rainbow party. He is being hot potatoed and David continues to unload his entire team out of boredom.

LIRF Juan Santangel (ML)
CF Daniel Page (AA)
RF Omar Luoa (A)
1B Julian Lemur (A)
3B Kenny Benson (R)
LF Dan Webb (R)
NASHSP Craig Fitzgerald (100%)
3B Mark Toope (100%)

Now this is a deadline deal. Toope is arguably one of the top young hitters that can actually play in the field and will make one helluva 1-2 punch combined with JVC in the Long Island lineup. Fitzgerald is a solid starter that fills a need for the Lighthouse. They do give up quite a package though. Santangel is a guy that can slot into the lineup and provide solid defense and an ok bat. Luoa and Lemur are both potentially big bats but lack a bit of defense. I think Daniel Page is probably the sleeper in this trade because if he figures out how to swing the stick he’s going to be a fixture in CF for a long time.

What a blockbuster. Fred got a nice haul here. Santangel is solid, Luoa and Lemur can be middle of the order hitters, and Page is a future gold glove winner if he can hit enough to stay in the lineup. JVC and Toope might be the best 1-2 punch in the league now. I like Fitz, but he hasn’t really put together a good season yet so it’s hard to quantify his value. If Fitz can realize his potential, Long Island suddenly looks like a major contender. As is, they’re clearly the favorite to win the promo playoffs.

This is quite the deal. Will be interesting to see how it develops over the season. LI got the pitching help it desperately needed.

MONSP Scott Alexander (A)
LF Maurice Wrightson (R)
SP Georg Stengel (R)
SEASP Ton Jobse
$6,370,000

The whiplash in Seattle has to have most of the fans in neck braces. After making a huge trade for Jobse and Kroening in order to make a playoff push the team died and is now abandoning the remaining contracts. Wrightson has big power potential and Alexander looks likea future 4th or 5th starter on a so-so team but the biggest win in this trade is not having to pay him 52 million over the next 3 seasons.

Looks fair to me. Jobse is an ace in the 3L, maybe not in the SL or PL given that average movement and control. Wrightson looks like a major power bat and the other two pieces are decent.

Honestly if you slapped the Houston logo on Seattle this would be expected. A team that had high hopes and now has completely given up on life…not that life has any point and fake baseball won’t matter once we are all dead. At least Tuna got to go to the lake…

BOS2041 BOS 5th RoundP76NaNomi Lojore (AAA)

I’d be very surprised if Lojore does much of anything of value for Boston. This feels like a filler guy to just help them coast to the title, I guess? I’d be surprised if he sticks around with the big league team once the playoffs start.

Lojore is an ok long reliever.

Lojore will play in like 20 games and get a ring. This trade and Lojore will be forgotten in 2 months time… and it will be like this never happened. This trade gets -1/5 stars.

HOLDH Javier Seco
SP Stanford McCain
C Carlos Gabriel
2041 HOL 3rd Round
SEALF Johan Kroening
C Bastian Pieterse

Part 2 of Seattle giving up on promotion was unloading more salary and picking up some role players. Kroening coming to Hollywood means our true DH returns to his life of leisure and the defense in LF improves significantly. If he returns to even a portion of his 2035-2039 form it may even give us a chance to sneak into the ToC. On paper this is arguably the most potent offense I’ve put together but it hasn’t clicked yet. Seco gets another shot at the 3L, McCain gets a chance to prove he’s still got it, and Pieterse gets a chance to impress the 2041 free agency market vs PL pitching.

Cheese turns the 4th OFer he traded for Seco into Kroening and one of the better hitting catchers in the league. Seattle also gets a lefty specialist and two throw ins. Another gift for Cheese, what else is new?

Again…Mayor McCheese swindled another owner giving him talent that will continue to help the Shredders exist in the doledrums of the PL. This franchise seems to be destined to live in the pergatory of irrelevance dispite McCheeses attempts to salvage some sort of self respect. This season is so bad for his ego that he might start eating bread again.

HOL3B Guillermo CossSTL2041 STL 3rd Round

Coss quickly ran out of places to play for me but still has some gas in the tank and a sweet team option for next year if Scooter likes what he sees.

Coss should be better than how he’s currently performing. A 3rd for him might be a steal if/when he bounces back.

One man’s trash is another persons trash…except the French Fleur De Fucks gave up a pick for it. Most people, especially those from St Louis should know that dumpster diving is free.

CLESP Ken Richmond (AA)
P/LF Ruby Rhod (AAA)
2B Ethan Duffy (AA)
MIF Axel Ruschmeyer (AAA)
SS Xiao-Gang Qing (R)
SEA3B Meester Gobbles-Rooster

Part 3 of the Seattle hard reverse. Gobbles-Rooster is a big bat who should be able to serve the Browns well on their quest for SL gold. The cost was certainly high though. I expect we’ll see Axel Ruschmeyer starting for Seattle before the end of the season and for many more years to come until he gets traded inexplicibly. Ken Richmond looks like he could be a very strong arm mid-rotation or out of the ‘pen. Duffy could put up some serious hitting numbers for a 2B while playing just enough defense to not get fired. I like this deal more for Cleveland, I think, but it could easily go the other way in a few years.

I like this deal for Cleveland a bit more, but Seattle gets a decent haul here. Duffy looks like he’ll be great at the top of the lineup, Ruschmeyer looks like a decent hitting/great fielding SS, and Richmond looks ok. They got 3 or 4 pieces who can help in a few years.

I like this trade for Cleveland. The Gobbledy Gooker is a solid bat who should help out Cleveland. Granted this trade does not matter, and Cleveland will flame out of the PL again. Existance is pain and after another attempt at the PL, Grogg will finally let us know if it is better to burn out or fade away.

CHSSS Moriz Ayushiev
2041 CHS 4th Round
2041 CHS 5th Round
$1,660,000
MONRP Ieyoshi Asai

Panda does love long shots. And in 10 months, maybe this one won’t bite him in the ass. The injury feels like a nail in Ayushiev’s coffin to me but there’s always a chance for the comeback story.

Asai sucks, I’d rather take the chance on Ayushiev.

Asai is bad, and this trade is pretty irrelevant.

HOUCF Martin Talia
$800,000
MONLF Urs van Munster
2041 CHS 4th Round
2041 CHS 5th Round

Man, Talia has been something. After bashing his way out of Phoenix he floundered in New Orleans long enough to get traded to Mississippi last year where he blasted the 3L. So naturally he gets a nice contract from another 3L team to…bat .185 and generally infuriate. He will get a shot to redeem himself in Panda Park. van Munster has been a big disappointment for the Pandas since coming over in 2039. I’m not sure he’s anything more than trade filler at this point.

Talia looks like he’s just about cooked. Munster also is bad.

Panda Park should work out well for Talia…if he can actually hit the ball. Van Munster can’t really hit the ball either… Can a change of scenery salvage the careers of these also rans? Does it matter? Will anyone remember these guys were still playing in 2040?

SMRP Dave Hamilton (AA)
SP Miguel Nunez (AA)
OAKSP Faisal bin Nabeel

Nabeel’s still got it and can slot into SM’s rotation nicely. He is getting old though and still costs 12m/year. Nunez looks like he’ll be a solid backend starter in the future. I don’t love the return for Nabeel but at the deadline with salary baggage sometimes you just take what you can get.

Nabeel is solid. Hamilton is terrible but Nunez can be a solid lefty/backend starter.

SM got a solid pitcher in Nabeel. Not sure if OAK got a great return, but it does have potential.

CLERP Jessie Young (AAA)TOL2041 TOL 5th Round

Young should help Toledo fill in for injuries in the rotation.

There is no player named Jesse Young in the game and I don’t care enough to investigate further, sorry. (Ed. note: there was no i in the trade post and it was not corrected until after this tantrum. When offered a chance to update this, Chros responded with “don’t care, keep my comment, its an irrelevant trade.)

Could this be more irrelevant than the Boston trade? At least Lojore will get a ring. Young is stuck having to hear his owner say bees non stop like Oprah. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES. We get it

HOLRP WyDale CurryFTW2041 FTW 3rd Round

WyDale and I have had a love-hate relationship for the past 8 seasons. I hope he gets the help he needs in Fort Worth but I’m happy to be getting on that rollercoaster of emotions.

Solid pickup by FTW, Curry is still a good MR, possibly good enough to be a setup guy in the SL despite the bad movement.

Cheese continues to get midround picks he will use to draft mediocre players he will use as trade bait for other teams decent players. This guy turned Seco into a player and Houston got Cheesed. I wonder what terrible player Cheese will turn this 3rd rounder into, and which team will be duped into trading for him.

VANCL Sjaak Bonne (60%)NO2041 DC 3rd Round

The mighty Bonne gets unloaded fairly cheap, but Dave gets something and NO adds to their bullpen medley trying to solve their 10th ranked PL bullpen issues.

Bonne is good and the return is a bit light, but guess you might as well get something with his deal expiring.

I am happy that Dave got something, and Tbud will get BP help.

And that’s it everyone! Thanks for joining us for our second season. If anyone has interest in joining the cast or crew in Season 3 where we discover who the father really is, please reach out to me in Slack!