The Kansas City Jayhawks trade Xander Oliva and Guillermo Valdes to the Boston Beer Bellies for Benny Montanez
This trade makes a lot of sense for Kansas City and isn’t bad for Boston either. Oliva is low end starter or an excellent backup at 1B/LF and Valdes is excellent backup CF/2B. Both are ML players, but low end ML’ers. Montanez is a step above either and is a middle-of-the-road starting 2B/CF. I like him better at 2B, but he’s fine at either. He would be an elite defensive LF, but lacks the bat. The oldest and most expensive of the 3, he’s still only 25. Since Boston is in a soft rebuild after making the playoffs 3 of the last 4 seasons, this deal makes sense even I probably would not have done it. Why pay Montanez big money next season and after if he will not be contributing to anything special.
The Chicago Orphans trade Clayton Brooks and cash to the Jacksonville Fake ID’s for Gustavo Urbina, Albert Kelley, and Al File.
This trade is about money on both sides. The players don’t really matter all that much. Chicago is awful and needs to fully commit to a rebuild instead of just being mediocre. Moving off of Brooks saves them 5.6 million off of next season’s payroll for had lost his starting spot and been sent down to AAA. For Jacksonville this deal freed up enough cash to sign their first round draft pick. As they will likely start into the free agent market by next year this probably be their last top 35 pick for a while. Further, they are in that transition where their scouting budget is decreasing each year so this is probably their last chance to add a potential ML player through the draft for quite a while. 5.6 mil of salary for next season is a stiff price to pay, but top may believe he can give away Brooks next year if he pays half the salary thereby bringing the actual cost to 2.8 million.
In terms of players, Brooks is a defensively flexible back up. A usable piece, but better served as a backup. Urbina is the oldest player in the deal, but is a cheap, decent reliever who has struggled this season, but has a 4.11 era over his career. Again, a usable piece. File is a youngish guy who also has the stuff to be at the back end of a ML bullpen, but is probably better served as the injury replacement. Kelly is not a ML prospect.
The Montgomery Scotts trade Darin Gil and R.A. Reese to the Boston Beer Bellies for Zeke Sears
This is a terrific move for the Scotts. Already one the best teams in the league, they add one of the top 10 relief arms in Hobbs (and maybe top 5). The is the kind of deal World Series Champions make. His contract is very reasonable, and expires just when he will probably start his serious decline. The timing of the deal makes sense for Boston too, any older and the haircut they would have had take on his value would have been much steeper. In Gil they get an above average bat outfielder capable of playing all 3 OF positions with no service time. If played at LF he could make an all-star game or two. At right or center, probably not so much. Reese is a little bit more of a lottery ticket. He’s probably a back-of-the-bullpen guy, but does appear to be a surefire ML’er. I nice move for both sides. Just winners here.
The Jackson Mississippi Moonshiners trade Keith Jones to the Columbus Buckeyes for William Lui
The rare minor leaguer for minor leaguer swap. The Buckeyes get the better player in Jones, who already hits like a legit ML’er, but is limited to being a DH. Jackson trades a guy they clearly felt they would not be able to use for a Lui, who projects to be a decent to strong Long A. I love the deal for Columbus and understand it for Jackson. I probably would have held onto Jones for a little longer hoping to be able to use him as a piece in a bigger deal
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