It's inevitable every year. There are trade deadline moves that immediately move the needle for their teams. There are moves that are under the radar and helpful without being completely huge for baseball. There are moves that fulfill a need without being flashy, and there are moves that do something minor while being very flashy. And then...there are the moves made because so much publicity has arisen around trade deadline week, and every team feels pressured to contribute in some way, regardless of whether or not they actually need to. And when you're working to please someone other than yourself, you can make some really boneheaded moves.
That's what this post is gonna cover today. Some moves that, on paper, don't really make all that much sense, and may have been pretty shiny at the time but will fade very quickly. In the past, teams have made this list by going all in when they really shouldn't have, or making a move that it becomes very clear they will regret, or helping the other side more than you're helping yourself. There's a lot of stuff like that in here.
We're gonna start off with one I kinda get. And move into the land of the stupefying.
Okay. So on paper, this is good because it brings a surefire, ripe power hitter with contact perks to Yankee stadium, and like Heliot Ramos, Garcia's the exact kind of hitter this roster needs more of. The other night he hit his 24th home run of the season, far and away his most in a season since coming up in 2020. The way he went from a singles-heavy, extra part infield type to an incredible power hitter with genuine spark...that spoke volumes. Us getting him, I still think that's a good move. The issue is now we have three third baseman, one of whom is a defensive boon [or is at least average]. For right now, yes it makes sense because Stanton's still out and Rice can DH, plus Goldschmidt can face lefties. People are going to start coming back. And if we have a lineup where Bellinger, Judge and Stanton are all active, that means Ben Rice, Luis Garcia Jr. and Heliot Ramos will all need to be in the lineup, and that means Goldschmidt, Spencer Jones, Jasson Dominguez and Trent Grisham will become even less valuable. It's a clog is what it is. The Yanks should have honestly shopped Grisham. Because now, even though it PACKS the lineup, it makes long-term sustainability a lot shakier with so many great choices for so few positions. So yeah, a move that looks cool, but doesn't make as much sense as it should.
Like the Garcia deal, on paper it works. Zeferjahn's a terrific relief piece with some untouchable stuff, the Cubs need relief help, it all fits. Giving up Ballesteros, especially after how great he was in April and how much potential he has, is a little suspect. I still think he had promise with this team, and while he did go cold, resulting in the demotion, the Cubs still could have done something with him. Then again they were also shopping Matt Shaw before he got hurt, so who knows. Ballesteros in Anaheim, a lot like Nacho Alvarez in Anaheim, could be a fun development, and he could get to some of the work he was going to get to in Chicago there. So short term, good for the Cubs. Long term...I don't know. Josh Fields was a good short term choice for the Dodgers, but then Yordan Alvarez wasn't worth it.
-Braxton Garrett to the Cubs, 2 prospects to the Marlins.
Speaking of Cubs moves:
Here's the deal. Because the Cubs made some very nice moves to help the rotation, they got Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes, that's very good. Braxton Garrett...hm. So Braxton Garrett struggled on a come up with the Marlins in the early 2020s, found his stuff over two seasons in 2022 and 2023, got hurt midway through the 2024 season, missed all of 2025, made 2 starts this year and got lit up, but has a 2.90 ERA in Jacksonville and has been kept there since mid-May due to Janson Junk, Ryan Gusto and Tyler Phillips being better choices I suppose. And...this is the guy the Cubs would rather start games for them than Jameson Taillon. I mean, there is evidence that Garrett is back, but I feel like if he was back they wouldn't make Tyler Phillips a starter again to keep him down. So...it's mostly the lack of MLB success in recent years that makes me wonder if this is going to work. But...I suppose we'll see how he does down the stretch. Obviously the Marlins aren't suffering, Junk and Gusto have been fine I suppose.
The Dodgers have a history of poaching oft-injured starters from the Royals at the trade deadline and then not even using them. This happened with Homer Bailey. It happened with Danny Duffy. And now it's happening with Kris Bubic, who is still injured [second one in a row to feature an injured guy], and will not immediately factor into the Dodgers' rotation. KEEP IN MIND. The Dodgers already have Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Gavin Stone on the 60. And now they have Bubic there. In addition to Shohei Ohtani, who isn't really pitching right now. THEY...DO NOT NEED ANOTHER INJURED STARTER. They barely even need another STARTER, Eric Lauer, Roki Sasaki, Justin Wrobleski and now Tarik Skubal have been FINE filling in for the big guys. You're gonna have like 5 good starters stuck doing spot relief jobs, which...seemed to work fine last year, but...it just felt like a 'hat on a hat' kind of move. Getting Bubic in addition to Skubal because they could.
-Josh Smith to the Blue Jays, Adam Macko and 1 prospect to the Rangers
-Jose Soriano to the Blue Jays, Arjun Nimmala and 2 prospects to the Angels.
-Spencer Arrighetti to the Blue Jays, Daulton Varsho to the Astros.
Okay cool, now we get into the 'what the hell are you doing??' moves. The Rangers got a new catcher days before the deadline, lost a ton of games, then started losing and decided they were gonna shop Eovaldi, Gore and deGrom, none of whom actually got dealt. But they did deal Josh Smith, a very good infield piece in the midst of a very bad season, and someone who I think could have continued to aid the Rangers as a depth/fill-in guy, even with Josh Jung, Jake Burger and Ezequiel Duran all doing their jobs. I do think the Jays adding Josh Smith as another 'uncommon man' for the infield contact strategy is ultimately a good idea, and Smith will find a nice niche in Toronto, but...neither teams needed to make this move because the Jays didn't need to buy and the Rangers didn't need to sell. So this benefits the Jays but I don't even know if they needed to even do it.
AND ON THAT SAME SUBJECT,
So like...the Blue Jays aren't competing this year. They're below .500, they're in last, and they've won less than the Orioles, who sold more. But they still made numerous moves at the deadline TO BUY...and also to sell. So I have no idea what they accomplished, and why. Jose Soriano is a fantastic starting piece with a high ceiling in the midst of a great season. I do not see the point of him going from one last place team to another. Someone like the Cubs or the Phillies or the White Sox or the Braves could have gotten him and it'd have made more sense. But the Jays dealing one of their biggest prospects for Soriano, maybe it makes more sense if the Jays are better next year, which...will they be? Who knows. But at the moment, it feels like the Jays are trying to fall upward. They're trying to still be a good team with good pieces without actually winning the games necessary to be a good team. Highly illogical.
It gets worse.
-Spencer Arrighetti to the Blue Jays, Daulton Varsho to the Astros.
This one broke me. Why would EITHER TEAM AGREE TO THIS?? Like, okay...the Astros are currently in first place in the AL West. I can comfortably say 'by default', because the Mariners are the better team, they just aren't winning games right now. The Astros are 3 games above .500 and are trying to hold onto this momentum as tightly as possible, knowing they have a weaker core than usual, an older core, and a lot of untested pieces. So...why the hell do they give away Spencer Arrighetti? Why? I don't understand it. Arrighetti is a young, talented pitcher with a high K rate who had some excellent starts for them this year. Without him, the Astros' rotation reads Hunter Brown, Peter Lambert, Hayden Wesneski, Ronel Blanco, Cristian Javier. Four of them have been hurt for the majority of this season, two of them are still struggling to come back from their injuries, and the one with the most pressure is the guy who was pitching in Japan last year. I would rather have Spencer Arrighetti in this rotation than a hurt Javier or Blanco. But the Astros thought that the key to helping out the crowded, fractured rotation was dealing the youngest guy there, and one of the few people in the rotation to not really get hurt this year. And they dealt him for Daulton Varsho, who's a good piece with offensive perks and a great center field arm but isn't complete. Astros fans, when the news came out, were slamming this deal, saying they traded a great arm for 'another Jake Meyers'. Varsho may help, but this is Jesus Sanchez thinking again, a minor move that distracts from the fact that the problems that needed to be solved are still there, and now worse. If the Astros make the playoffs, it'll be in spite of boneheaded decisions like this, and solely because nobody could stop them.
So yeah. The usual amount of shenanigans. Let's see how many of these simply make more sense as we go.
No comments:
Post a Comment