Trade Digest, Volume 5

The Jackson Mississippi Moonshiners trade Harold Nixon to the Boston Beer Bellies for Noel Abad. 

I’m pretty sure someone lost a bet and this trade is the result.



The Cincinnati Red Stockings trade Tony Leonard and cash to the Jackson Mississippi Moonshiners for Alfonso Tomas and Saul Santos



I expressed objections to this trade on the principle of it being a cash transfer, but beyond that I actually think its pretty creative for both sides.  Tony Leonard and Saul Santos are equally worthless so it’s really Alfonso Tomas for cash.  For Cincinnati it’s a really cheap price to get legit ML’er in Tomas.  He’s better cast as a utility guy, but can start.  $700,000?  Sign me up.  For the Mississippi Moonshiners they get the cash they need for a guy who was a luxury to them.  Good deal for both sides.



The Columbus Buckeyes trade Morgan Mullens and cash to the Milwaukee Chedda for Howard West

A couple of DITR’s swapped for each other.  Mullens is a middle-aged middle reliever who has never started a game, but could spot start if needed.  He is best served as a set up B, but he’s good, flexible one who would be welcome on nearly every roster in the league.  Howard West is middle-aged shortstop.  He’s stuck as a utility man as he lacks the bat or elite glove to justify starting, but he’s a ML’er.  I don’t know either team well enough to know if this swap of 23^rd best guy on each rosters make sense of both teams, but they are very similar in value and it seems fair for both sides.



The Jacksonville Fake ID’s swap Sean Cameron and BC Querecuto to Honolulu Luau Dawgs for Vic Campos



Cameron is a 29-year old RF’er with an all-star game and a gold glove at 1B on his resume.  He’s a 30/30 power and speed guy.  He has elite speed and contact, but struggles against left handed pitching.  Overall, he’s above average starting right fielder on a reasonable contract.  The gem of this deal and the reason I may completely regret it is Querecuto.  The 4^th pick in last season’s draft he is currently completely dominating low A ball as a 19-year old and is showing terrific development.  He projects to being a 180-inning starter with #1 stuff.  Not quite a HoF’er due to the innings limit, but terrific.  Unfortunately, he’s 3 years away from contributing to an elite team and the Fake ID’s want to win their second consecutive title now.

Vic Campos is a 27-year old second baseman or centerfielder with ELITE range and a terrific glove (4 gold gloves).  A 3-time all-star he doesn’t quite have the same bat though he is not totally unfortunate.  He’s a 20/20 power speed guy, but can struggle to get on base and strikes out a lot. 

This a strong deal for Honolulu.  Any time you can add #1/#2 starter at 19 years old you have to do it and to get another potentially tradable piece is terrific.  For Jacksonville this is a high risk, high reward deal.  It solves their biggest issue (outfield defense), but at what price?  If they never win another World Series and Querecuto wins a Cy Young it’s a failure.  If they win two more it’s a great deal.