Jack Torrance - contributing reporter
Mixing things up a bit this season, going to do this team by team rather than trade by trade. If a team traded away a player it received in a deal, they are not listed. Only starting players and ending roster is noted. Hindsight is 20/20, while it will be a few seasons before we know how well these deals worked out for both teams, let's go ahead and take a look back at a few deals that were made this season, and there were many of them this year - 25 to be exact.
Traders:
- 8 - Atlanta, Salt Lake City
- 5 - Huntington, Tacoma
- 3 - Helena, Vancouver
- 2 - Chicago, Colorado Springs, Hartford, Houston, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, Montreal, New Orleans, Oklahoma City
- 1 - Anaheim, Boston, Dover, Philadelphia, Tokyo, Washington DC
All grades are just for this season alone, with the understanding that looking back in 4-5 seasons that grades could drastically change with prospects or one year rentals that didn't end in a championship or extended playoff run.
Anaheim (76-86) exchanged a FA to be starting pitcher for a cheaper COF whose capable of having a 15/15 season with a positive defensively. Saves money and adds to the everyday lineup, I'll take it. Combs though lacking power has still been slotted into the cleanup role for Anaheim. The grade changes slightly depending on Amaro's willingness to resign and at what cost. He was having a career year and has a sub 4 era in over 180 starts. Though that whip says he relies on his defense a fair amount to get him out of jambs.
Traded: Edgar Amaro
Received: Tim Combs
Grade - B+
Atlanta (114-48) - Typical trading season. Any player on this roster should know to rent in Atlanta versus buying. Most players don't last more than 4-5 seasons tops and Batman wasn't the exception. Just goes to show that Joke is really running the team here! And should be no surprise but they came out $10M in the positive with cash from other teams. Poor Tony Lim, Atlanta can't decide if he's coming or going; in the end they keep him as the outsider of a Cy Young rotation. Hard to give the team anything less than an A grade given the World Series win and continual build for future seasons.
Traded: $2M, Adam West, Geronimo Trinidad, Chuck Herndon, Henry Wieland, Reynaldo Vasquez, Yimi Aceves, Jorge Sosa, Diory Rojas
Received: $12.1M, David Peterson, Miguel Romero, Dan Hernandez, Scott Stokes, Orel Acosta, Tony Lim, Eugene Smalling
Grade - A
Augusta (60-102) - No trades
Grade - N/A
Austin (64-98) - No trades, but maybe time for a shake up in Austin. Gotta keep things weird afterall!
Grade - N/A
Boston (77-85) - The Blog is still based in New Orleans and will forever be a fan of Juancito Martin and we'll give him all the credit for leading Boston to secure a wildcard berth this season even if it was surrounded by a solid core. Will be interesting to see what he does for the final year of his contract, S59. Will he resign with Boston or look to go elsehwere? English was hard to give up I'm sure, but Martin's .362 average through 351 games probably helped. Power hitters who will hit 25-30 HR on a .250-.260 average are a dime a dozen; just as Dover.
Traded: Hick English
Received: Juancito Martin
Grade - A
Buffalo (86-76) - No trades, one has to wonder if a trade would have helped them from being swept in the first round of the playoffs.
Grade - N/A
Charleston (66-96) - No trades, but not really a surprise; this team doesn't often pick up the phone.
Grade - X
Chicago (81-81) - Technically their first trade was $5M to OKC for nothing as the Crowe deal feel through but when it was resent the money wasn't included. Free $5M for OKC! Vernon turned out an MVP caliber season but that's not what Chicago wanted either.
Traded: $10M, Alton Drew, Shea Crowe
Received: Brad Vernon, Russell Price, Ken Simas, Emilio Molina, Ben Mann
Grade - F
Colorado Springs (x-x) - Continued their rebuild, funny enough the only player still playing is Willie Pena, current backstop for the Loins.
Traded: $1.5M, Chad Reynolds, Sterling Stutes
Received: $0.3M, Yan Manzannillo, Willie Pena
Grade - B+
Columbus (93-69) - No trades and was still the 3rd best record in the NL.
Grade - N/A
Dover (63-99) - With a big move, Dover picked up a few ML ready pieces but little did it do them as they lose nearly 100 games. Rincon was flat out bad in 26 starts, Estrada committed A LOT of errors at short and Ni is your standard Dover hitter - 20-30 HR on a below .270 average.
Traded: Duke Omogrosso
Received: $5M, Dellin Rincon, Vic Estrada, Damion Ni
Grade - C-
Hartford (103-59) - Carrera filled a hole at SS while Clippard tried to fill a hole in the bullepn. Some experts argue Clippard single handily ruin Hartford's playoff run in s 58 after throwing in 4 of their 5 games for a total of 4 2/3 innings, giving up 6 late inning runs on 11 hits and 3 walks. Nobody could have predicted he'd fall apart so still a good move.
Traded: Don Sano, Geraldo Gonzalez
Received: $2M, Felipe Carrera, Arthur Clippard
Grade - B
Helena (98-64) - James struggled in his first and only year in Helena, with an average a solid 40 points below his career average and a slugging percentage below .400 for the first time in his career. The deal made sense but unfortunately didn't quite pan out as they had hoped. Amaro on the other hand was a great add that finished the last 17 starts with Helena to the tune of a 1.16 whip and 3.04 era. Duran sadly performed morel like James than Amaro out of the bullpen, a 1.45 whip and 4.55 era.
Traded: $5M, Juan Romero, Jumbo Baustisa, Tomas Benitez, Tim Combs
Received: Nefi James, Kevin Duran, Edgar Amaro
Grade - B-
Houston (105-57) - In what feels like a first, Houston and Atlanta become trade partners. Houston dealing from pitching depth to acquire a catcher reliever. The key was Herndon who stat wise had a bit of a down year but still slugged over .500. Their second deal was all about clearly ~$2M from the Houston payroll; which has seen Sterling Stutes retire after his 79 games with Houston.
Traded: $4.3M, Tony Lim, Kevin Duran, Willie Pena
Received: $1.5M, Chuck Herndon, Henry Wieland, Sterling Statues
Grade - B+
Huntington (122-40) - Finished the season with the top record and by 10 games over #2 Atlanta. Quite a few of these deals were about extending their playoff window by trading ML talent for prospects who are a year or two out.
Traded: $7.5M, Bey Bell, JR Gragg, Miguel Romero, Albert Doubront, Dan Hernandez, Jeremi Diaz, Renyel Henriquez, Elmer Buss, Antonio Hoffman
Received: Ed Blevins, Adam West, Jacob Cheng, Duke Omogrosso
Grade - A
Jacksonville (76-86) - Both Espinosa and Trinidad were nice adds and hit nearly .300. Espinosa even resigned a 4 year deal to further the value; hopefully he can continue hitting well in Jacksonville. Now let's see if the team can continue building and make that push for the playoffs!
Traded: Reymond Osoria, David Peterson, Frank Mullen
Received: $3M, Geronimo Trinidad, Luis Espinosa
Grade - A+
Mexico City (77-85) - No trades. We are Year 6 of ownership and their rebuild after taking over the Franchise from SenorPloppie in S53; surely we'll start seeing that record turn around in the toughest division in Cobbfather, the AL South. Having power houses Houston and Huntington has to be a lot to deal with.
Grade - N/A
Milwaukee (66-96) - In a win now move, the Metronomes moved prospect Cheng who likely sees a trade or promotion this season in Huntington for 20 HR / .280 hitter Diaz and starter Henriquez; who might actually be better suited for long relief. But then in a second deal sent prospect Acosta to the defending champion Expos for prospect Aceves who should see a promotion this season as a starting pitcher plus 1B prospect Sosa who likely starts at 1B this season and finally Osoria who hasn't been great in relief but we'll see what the pitching coaches can do in Milwaukee with him.
Traded: Jacob Cheng, Orel Acosta
Received: Jeremi Diaz, Renyel Henriquez, Yimi Aceves, Jorge Sosa, Reymond Osoria
Grade - B
Minnesota (68-94) - No trades. The team still finished 2nd in the division but 17 games worse than last season, that really says something about this division of rebuilders. If Milwaukee's S58 acquire players can continue to take a step forward we'll likely see Minnesota move down to 3rd in the division for the first time since S53. Minnesota didn't add much in the office so likely saving money for spending elsewhere.
Grade - N/A
Montreal (70-92) - Blevins was a free agent to be dealing, while Barker was a prospect for prospect + ML + money swap. Barker was decent out of CF, no positive plays but no real errors or negative plays either. He hit near .280 with almost 20 steals over 120 games / 250 at-bats. Gragg on the other hand helped the team in other ways....by moving up S59's draft order with that 1.59 whip and 6.48 era.
Traded: Ed Blevins, Dale Barker
Received: $1M, Bey Bell, JR Gragg, Rafael Chavez, Victor Olivares
Grade - A
New Orleans (101-61) - Some funny shakes ups out of New Orleans, the owner must have been visiting Bourbon Street one after and decide to deal with his new best friend in Salt Lake City. Mormons and Cajuns, who would have thought. NOHD reaquires Josh Hunt after dealing him last year in exchange for Quevedo; who at 32 is going to start seeing his speed drop; which will start hurting his average as well as he's not great versus righties. They also dealt Giancarlo Gutierrez while acquiring Dale Barker who SLC had received from Montreal. I'll say I don't like the deals but they still ended up winning the NL; so Ploppie has to know something this blog writer doesn't.
Traded: Javier Quevedo, Giancarlo Gutierrez, Tracy Adkins, David Corbin
Received: Josh Hunt, Flash Eveland, Dale Baker, Trenidad Sanchez
Grade - B+
New York (41-121) - Nobody worth rostering on this ML squad and they just started their rebuild, so I wouldn't expect them to start acquiring talent for another 7-8 seasons unless it's prospect upgrades.
Grade - N/A
Oklahoma City (98-64) - Technically their first gift, errr.....trade was sending nothing to Chicago for a cool $5M in the first Crowe failed deal. They deal was made again to send all players back but the money wasn't re-exchanged - WINNING in OKC. They were eventually able to work out the money and get Crowe's bags packed for OKC. Crowe struggled a bit in the pitchers' haven of OKC; but we'll see what he does in his first full season in OKC this year which is also the final year of his max contract. Wil OKC decide to resign him? He struggled but you still have to do this deal if you are a contending team and can get him for this cheap.
Traded: Rob Webster, Ken Simas, Emilio Molina, Ben Mann
Received: $10M, Bryant Grimsley, Shea Crowe
Grade - A+
Philadelphia (96-66) - We keep waiting for Philly to enter a rebuild but every year we think it's going to happen they surprise and they take the division; which is what happened S58. That said, we aren't quite sure which is the easiest division to win in Cobbfather, the AL North or the NL South. Webster saw time all over the diamond but overall was successful even with a .220 batting average. Grimsley in a pitcher's park did much better than his rookie season (2.47 to 7.71 era / 1.10 to 1.90 whip).
Traded: Bryant Grimsley
Received: Rob Webster
Grade - B
Pittsburgh (55-107) - Unable to offload any of their ML talent to speed up their rebuild has people in Pittsburgh using a few choice Yinzer words. With another solid year for Brian Fukudome. Or even Hugh McMillan but the hope is he gets moved in S59 along with Nicholas Cornely and Jordany Solarte. The latter might be tougher to move given the lack of production at the plate and down year he had.
Grade - C
Salem (86-76) - A trade of two players under 25. Silverio was promoted to the major league bullpen with absolutely zero success.
Traded: Max Alfonseca
Received: Fausto SIlverio
Grade - D
Salt Lake City (86-76) - With mini gone, someone has to challenge Atlanta for most trades in a season! These are some crazy times in SLC, after acquiring former #2 pick Juancito Martin last season, he's already been shipped out while having a down year, he also traded for and traded Alton Drew because the season wasn't going the way the franchise thought. Once we figure out if this team is all in or starting a rebuild, we'll be sure to let the readers know.
Traded: $4M, Martin Yang, Fu-Te Shibata, Alex Holmes, Russell Price, Luis Espinosa, Juancito Martin, Rafael Chavez, Victor Olivares, Paco Garces, Josh Hunt, Flash Eveland, Trenidad Sanchez
Received: Frank Mullen, Hick English, David Cisco, Javier Quevedo, Giancarlo Gutierrez, Tracy Adkins, David Corbin
Grade - B
Santa Fe (74-88) - In a rare Santa Fe trade, they picked two pitchers. The downside, Hoffman is now a FA after finishing the season in Santa Fe and Buss was just selected in the Rule 5 draft by Atlanta. So Santa Fe has nothing to show for trading Estrada; minus clearing his contract for S59.
Traded: $2.2M, Rico Estrada
Received: Elmer Buss, Antonio Hoffman
Grade - D
Tacoma (67-95) - Tacoma trades with Atlanta just as much as the Mormons do the Drinkers. The owner seemed to have mixed feelings on Tony Lim and ultimately traded him back to Atlanta for a separate package. Not sure about giving up Stokes and Smalling for what, basically Duobront - everyone else they acquired as either retired or signed elsewhere.
Traded: $0.6M, Felipe Carrera, Yan Manzannillo, Scott Stokes, Eugene Smalling
Received: $2M, Don Sano, Chad Reynolds, Reynaldo Vasquez, Tomas Benitez, Albert Doubront, Diory Rojas
Grade - D
Tokyo (89-73) - Working on a playoff push with a high dollar team, they acquired Alton Drew from SLC and he pitched pretty well; 1.35 whip and a 3.89 era. Sadly he ended up resigning with the Book of Mormons this season. Was the price tag of Dave Cisco worth it? Let's see if another season or two when Cisco is called up.
Traded: Dave Cisco
Received: $5M, Alton Drew, Paco Garces
Grade - A
Vancouver (75-87) - Rumors have it, an outside source that Vancouver hired really messed these deals up and were immediately fired. No word if that was true or not but the blog feels the Canucks could have gotten a bit more for the trio of players. They ended up picking up quantity over quality.
Traded: $7M, Brad Vernon, Nefi James, Arthur Clippard
Received: Martin Yang, Fu-Te Shibata, Alex Holmes, Juan Romero, Jumbo Baustista, Gerardo Gonzalez
Grade - C
Washington DC (74-88) - Alfonseca has more than any man should have of speed and a fair amount of power; but can he turn that into getting on base? We'll see if he gets promoted this season or not but don't hold your breathe. These Nationals are not competing anytime soon.
Traded: Fausto Silverio
Received: Max Alfonseca
Grade - X
That about does it for S58's trades.