Trade-a-holics Not-so-anonymous

[agrudez]

This piece will look at all trades consummated both during the offseason and in-season thus far with a particular interest in the macro-level perspective of the teams whom have done the most participating in this market. For reference, the first trade considered will be the HSV-BRK deal on real-life 9/8 and the last trade will be the HSV-LV deal on real-life 10/15.

During that time span there have been 19 trades executed with 38 participants. The breakout of those participants is as follows:
HSV/MAD – 6
LOU/LV – 4
Indy/YS/HI/AC/CAR – 2
BRK/CGY/GRE/NO/BIR/VAN/CAL/MTL – 1

So we’ll make the cut-off for the article on the top 4 addicts – HSV, MAD, LOU and LV. Congratulations to the rest of you - please maintain your 10 step program to avoid being lumped in with the degenerates on the next go around.
PS. I’m only going to list players of actual consequence, linking every 1 star AAAA scrub in the entirety of these deals would physically pain me.

Madison
It shouldn’t come as a terrible surprise that the team with the worst record in the league (35-60) didn’t feel a terrible amount of affinity for his players. It may be worth noting, though, that 10/8 was a particularly hard day on Chris with 3 deals with 3 separate teams (BIR, LOU and HSV) all consummated rapid fire. His sponsor must have been out of town… poor guy. As the deadline approaches I’m sure his insatiable itch will flare back up again, but without much ammo left in the gun, I’m not sure he’ll be able to find a willing (by any definition) participant.

Out:
SP Allen Kennedy
C Peter McClure
1B Bruce Wayne

In:
Mark Rose’s contract
C Mario Ornelas
SP Chris Dougherty
SP Donald Foster
CF Toyoaki Mizuno

Overview
Having not had much talent to shop, it shouldn’t be terribly surprising that the Wolves didn’t get much talent back. I think Ornelas and Mizuno both could be sneaky solid ML starters and Foster and Dougherty are decent middle relief prospects, but none of them are going to right the ship in Madison. Conversely, Mark Rose’s dead money may be the final bit of cargo that sinks it in port. On the other end, Wayne and Kennedy were both just rentals and dumping McClure was probably a net gain even if they had done it for free (not that he isn’t a nice player, but he wasn’t doing anything to help MAD and his salary was big) – even if he was simply replaced by a worse player with a longer contract. All in all, I feel like this was a whole lot of nothing – with an emphasis on whole lot.

Huntsville
After spending the offseason making cocky polls and a majority of the in-season calculating his team’s offensive BABIP while crying in the corner, the Phantoms sit 2 games over .500, 12 games back in the division and in the middle, at present, of a relatively heated 3-team race for the 2 JL WC slots. Needless to say, the paper has not quite translated to the field yet, so it makes sense that (entering the year with the #1 prospect pool in the league) that a trade junkie like HSV’s GM would be high (pun intended) on this list.

Out:
1B Bartolo Melendez
RP Afredo Chavez
CF Toyoaki Mizuno
SP Donald Foster
CF Alfredo Gonzalez
SP Jesus Vargas
2B Deion Jordan
1B Jorge Valencia
SP Natsume Tsuchiya
SP Jose Garcia

In:
1B Bartolo Melendez’s ghost
1B Fernando Moreno
OF Doug Kendall
C Peter McClure
SS Antonio Sanchez
SP Alejandro Ramos

Overview:
Well, after the whimper that was the encapsulation of MAD’s dealings, this set of deals definitely provides some true ‘bang’ (for better or for worse for the Phantoms). There are some solid young MLers and prospects listed in the out window – Garcia, Tsuchiya, Jordan, Gonzalez and Chavez, most notably, that the team will miss – and it has already begun to show in their prospect pool ranking dropping from 1st to 4th, but they maintained their “Big 5” through it and came out with some solid ML talent to work with. The flipping of Melendez’s ghost into Moreno, the buy-low proposition of McClure (made possible by the team’s payroll flexibility) and the acquisition and extension of Ramos are big time “gets” that have considerably added to their team’s already impressive paper roster… if not their on-field product.

Lousiville
Another team, like Madison, finding themselves at the bottom of the standings. Unlike the Wolves; however, who knew they were going to be terrible (at least if they were being honest with themselves), the Sluggers ’23 season has to have come as a bit of a surprise for Genius. Nevertheless; however, at a certain point it becomes prudent to accept reality and sell all your best pieces for scraps just ‘cause. *PM to Stu… hey, is Sunshine available?*

Out:
SP Gabriel Campos
CF Kal El

In:
SS (is that what he is calling himself?) Patrick Lue
1B Jorge Caballero

Overview:
Again, unlike MAD, since LOU actually had good pieces and was simply under-achieving, they were able to acquire actually good pieces in their mini sell-off. Of course, in 4 trades I only found 2 players returning worth mentioning, so… take that for what it’s worth. On the flip side, El and Campos were on the wrong side of 30 (even if just barely in the former’s case) and on big money deals, so it made sense to move on – even if it was for whatever they could get.

Las Vegas
The Hustlers must be pretty depressed right now sitting 1 game under .500 – especially after some idiot got their hopes up about a 100+ win season – which is still not a mathematically impossibility, btw… go LV! Which is why it makes sense that they find themselves on this list as they try to “shake it up” heading into the stretch – with the two most recent deals in the league, no less.

Out:
SP Chris Dougherty
RP Chris Adams
SP Alex Lopez
1B Fernando Moreno

In:
1B Bruce Wayne
RP Luis Tiant
1B Bartolo Melendez
RP Alfredo Chavez

Overview:
The Hustlers proclaimed their desire to set their bullpen ablaze with the entirety of their staff inside and less than 12 hours later they had a new closer AND setup man. The price may have been pretty heavy in at least one – if not both – of those cases, but it can’t be argued they didn’t get better. Not in terms of their debilitating addiction of course. That got worse. Just wanted to make that clear.

[recte44]

Tiant not going to close for me.

[recte44]

I'm not only the president, I'm also a client.

[7teen]

Fair assessment of the Wolves trades to this point. I told another GM in a PM that I wasn't really in the position to acquire any ground breaking prospects. But I shipped off a bunch of free agent contracts and guys I signed this off-season for some young, organizational depth. If none of the guys stick, then it's a wash anyway. But if some of the guys stick (Ornelas or Toyoaki for instance) then I have something for the future. My farm system was (and to a certain degree still is) bare but I'm searching for some guys that may provide some role playing relief until I can acquire the players that will be great (likely coming in the ammy draft and rule 6 draft).