Season 45 Trade Thoughts, volume 1

The Jacksonville Fake ID’s trade Tony Arias to the New Orleans Voodoo for Julio Cano, Quinn Lewis, and cash.

A typical “makes sense for both sides trade.  Arias is the best and youngest arm in the deal, but is also a low innings starter.  Cano is almost as good can go much deeper into the game, but is old and expensive.  Lewis a decent ML relief arm with low service time, but not a needle mover.  So why did Jacksonville do it?  Because they have washed out the playoffs each of the last two years because of inadequate starting pitching.  Cano fills a very specific need and immediately becomes their game 1 starting pitcher (I’m just going to assume the Fake ID’s make the playoffs).  For the Voodoo you have to love the deal.  Any time you get the best player and free up a ton of cap space for years you have to call it a win.



The Philadelphia Erffdoggs trade Brandon Francoeur to the Pittsburgh Dream Eaters for Alex Sanchez

Ironically, I write about this all Pennsylvania trade on my way to Pennsylvania (have no worries, I’ll be back in Alaska soon).  This is trade that clearly accomplishes exactly what both sides hoped it would.  Sanchez is an excellent short innings reliever, 100% capable of closing.  I would expect an ERA in the 2.80-3.10 range in a typical environment.  Francoeur is an aspiring second baseman, still just 19 who can hit.  I have my doubts that he will ever be a league average glove at 2B, but will be above average at LF.  Doesn’t matter though, because he’s going to hit.  At 2B he’ll be a perineal threat to win the silver slugger and at LF he will exceed league average.  On balance I like the trade for Pittsburgh better than Philly, but both got exactly what they wanted.





The Columbus Buckeyes trade Ahmad Gibson to the Philadelphia Erffdoggs for Bud Watson and cash.

A fair, but fairly meh trade.  The Buckeyes add a 4^th starter to the end of their rotation or perhaps a solid long reliever.  The Erffdoggs pick up borderline catcher with a solid bat.  Gibson is probably better as a DH, but at DH he’s no longer a plus bat and at catcher he is a plus bat, but is a minus glove.  He’s reasonably young and still may improve enough to make the position question answerable. Totally logical trade, but not a needle mover.



The Austin Apocalypse trade Francis Verrett and Jesus Guapo to the Boston Beer Bellies for Phil Kim

Not going to lie, I kicked the tires on Phil Kim myself.  While completely positionless and low durability, he can hit for days and is a terrific bat off the bench/DH when you need him.  Smart NL teams looking to win the world series often have guys like Kim just to play DH for them in the world series and in interleague games.  For an AL team his durability is a real liability, but not for an NL team.

Boston got a lottery ticket for Kim, which is fine for a limited guy like Kim (plus clear 4 mil of cap room).  Guapo is a DITR who already is a Long B kind of guy.  With 2 more years in the minors he could be a 3^rd starter.  At 22 and with being a DITR the improvement is unpredictable, which is why I often trade away guys like Guapo, but if you figure Kim is all he gave up then a 50/50 shot at 3^rd starter is a pretty good deal.  At worst he’s a ML’er albeit a Long A kind of guy.  Verrett is unlikely to ever play a meaningful ML game.