[BirdWatcher]

There have been some pretty interesting trades already in the off season and this is certainly one of the most interesting.

The L.A. Spinners, coming off their recent 7-game World Series loss to Jacksonville, trade away two young players to get veteran shortstop Alvin Delgado from the rebuilding Milwaukee Cadets.



This move has many around the WPK scratching their heads.
First of all, the Spinners already have a talented young shortstop in Jeremy Jones, the MVP of the recently concluded World Series. They also have another youngster, Bill Street, who may not have the hit tool to be a WPK starter but who provides them with a tremendous defensive backup at the position.
Secondly, the Spinners are old and getting older. The starting pitching rotation, as good as it is, has only one player under 30 (Kerry Krieg) with ace Jose Santos turning 36 in the upcoming season, and #2 guy Jason Wilson turning 35. Their #5 starter, Juan Soto, will turn 42 this off season. Among their position players, their 2 biggest stars, Travis Johnson and Jesus Hernandez, are 35 and 32 respectively. Second baseman William Lara will turn 30 mid-season. Bench player Rigby Muckenfuss is 30 and backup infielder Shigetsugo Nakasone is 34 (and fragile.) The 37-year old Delgado is a 4-time All-Star and 1-time Silver Slugger and is still a decent player who put up 2.9 WAR in 1973. But that is down from 5.1 in 1972 and 5.3 in 1973 and clearly things are not trending well for the aging player.


In addition, one of the players traded to the Milwaukee Cadets for Delgado is a young reliever- Antonio Gonzalez- who has the potential to become one of the finest closers in the game. The Spinners bullpen was not a strength this season, though they do have a few other young relievers (Yu-bao Tong and Shouta Hori) who also have the potential for future dominance but many feel at least that the Spinners could have, and should have, gotten a younger player back in any trade of Gonzalez.


It is certainly possible that the Spinners see their window of opportunity to win a championship with their current roster as closing quickly and they hope that Delgado has enough left in the tank to help them reach the summit this coming season.

Whether the trade ends up being worth it for L.A. or not, it certainly seems like a good deal for the rebuilding Cadets.