pull down to refresh
0 sats \ 6 replies \ @grayruby 30 Jul 2024 \ on: Trade deadline grades: Taking stock of flurry of pre-deadline deals Stacker_Sports
It hasn’t been that exciting of a trade deadline. I was a bit surprised the Rays sold off so aggressively and that Chisholm got moved to the Yankees.
Trades for prospects unless you are getting the top prospects in the game are hard to judge. I take the trade the Jays made for Jose Berrios a few years back as an example. They sent prospects Austin Martin and Simeon Woods-Richardson to the Twins for Berrios. Up until this season that was looking like an A+ trade because Martin turned out to be a bust and Woods-Richardson was languishing in the minors but Woods-Richardson cracked the majors this year and has been good. So maybe the trade is a B+ now and a couple years from now if Woods-Richardson becomes an all star it will need to be reassessed again. So I think giving all the trades a C is just a way of saying who knows.
Yeah if we will see many big deals. Even the Giants with Snell are stuck because of his opt-out clause.
I will say the Chicago trade for the Ray's 3rd baseman surprised me. Chicago is in that odd place and I know that guy has arb years left but I thought Chicago had a surplus of infield with Wisdom and Hoerner at the MLB level and within their top 5 prospects they have another second and third baseman.
reply
So many teams are trying to buy and sell these days. Maybe that is what the Cubs are doing.
What do you think of the Kikuchi pick up? He can be really great for 4-5 innings but then usually falls off the map. Astros will probably make good use out of him down the stretch to help bolster the rotation and then flip him to the pen. Experts are saying they overpaid but last time they overpaid for a left handed starter from the Blue Jays they won a world series so good precedent at least.
reply
The stros are moving to a 6 man rotation and so he will fit in really well over Bloss who was a 2023 third-round pick. We needed a healthy arm that can go out there time and time again which is what you get with Kikuchi. Kikuchi has an absurdly low walk rate which is something that our starters have had issues with this year so I think that is a nice addition as well.
As far as what we gave away I have some mixed feelings over it. I like Bloss I mean we brought him up straight from double A to the majors when we were really hurting and so he has room to grow and I am fine with trading him away. The one that hurts Loperfido.... He has been just wild this year and has been a ridiculously good defensive outfielder (his catch a couple weeks ago should easily win catch of the year). Wagner hurts the most in my mind though. I thought that he would be taking Bregman's third base job next year.
I like Bregman but he's going to want $30 mil plus and he just isn't worth that amount of money. I would give him $20 mil but not the 30-40 mil he wants. I assume we are close to a first baseman trade because Loperfido also played first base and we have a guy in triple a Pedro Leon who was talked about as being a center piece for us in a trade so I am waiting to see what happens with him
reply
It definitely seems like a lot to give up for a guy on an expiring deal but maybe the Astros are confident they will be able to re-sign Kikuchi. He shouldn't be too expensive. He is so compelling because you usually don't see high 90s from the left side and he has a good slider but his other pitches tend to get hit around a lot. Astros are the masters of spin so I bet they see something with his breaking pitches they think can make him even more dynamic when paired with the high 90s fastball. I think he will do well for you guys. He was great at the beginning of the year but has struggled lately as they have been leaving him in too long with the beat up and frankly terrible bullpen the Jays have so some of his inflated ERA probably isn't his fault but he is a true 5 and dive guy. You don't want him facing a good team the 3rd time through. The other bonus is for some reason he pitches really well against the Yankees and in Yankee stadium which will be a likely playoff matchup for you guys and he will offer versatility coming out of the pen for a couple innings to bridge to your big guys at the end of the pen.
reply
Yeah I read somewhere his batting average of ball in play is something wild like 375 when the league average is closer to 300 which shows that with the Astros good defense it should help make up for it. I was a little surprised we didn't go after someone like how Grinkie was his last few years when all he did was eat innings ever 5 days
reply
The Blue Jays have the best outfield D in baseball so I don't think D behind him has been the issue. Although infield D could be better. He doesn't walk a ton of guys but he gets into a lot of deep counts. He will get ahead 0-2 or 1-2 and then start fiddling around with his secondary pitches and let the hitter back into at bat and see a lot of pitches and when things go sideways for him he tends to give up big innings. When he is on he will be great but if he isn't he will often give up big 4 or 5 run innings. I think that's where playing with a team with a better bullpen will help him. The Jays bullpen has been one of the worst in baseball so there was a lot of pressure to go deep in games and he just isn't that guy. If the Astros say be aggressive, attack the zone and give us 4-5 good innings I think he will thrive.
reply