So all of this started when I saw that Jose Mendez was upgraded for contact and power in the player development report, and it got me thinking about how under-utilized Pat Moyer was, playing mostly only against lefties despite being a 35-40 HR guy if he were playing every day. So I decided to shop Moyer, figuring I could just bring Mendez back up as a RH-hitting 4th OF who's also a better fielder than Moyer.
Of course the funny thing was that in the process of shopping Moyer I cooked up 3 deals and ironically none of them ended up involving Moyer. Two were made and the third was offered to the other GM who wanted to think about it (although I'm guessing he turns it down since the "make it work" guys were all at least 2-3 star players). Here's the first of the completed deals, and the biggest for now:
Dorminy is one of the most dominant relievers in the game this side of Kikuo Kawase and like Kawase he's equally adept at putting away lefties as well as righties. Minnesota was willing to deal him as he's already making $6M+, and stands to get about 9.5 in arbitration next year. The price was very reasonable for me, as Reece had pitched his way out of my favor and was never going to get it back with his 45 control despite very good stuff, and Boatman is as slick a fielder as they come but just can't hit, meaning I was never going to use him as a regular. Estepp is a long shot to amount to anything.
To make room for Dorminy, I'm optioning Jesus Morales to Durham. He really doesn't deserve it (2.93 ERA, 16/51 BB/K ratio in 46 IP, only 4 HR allowed) but he was one of the few pitchers in the pen with options. I briefly entertained the though of sending down Ken Neil, but that would leave me with only two lefties and Neil owes us some good innings after the bad ones. Dorminy will take over the 8th inning from Ken Burgess and Neil, who would alternate depending on batter-handedness and now will do so in the 7th. I don't see keeping Dorminy next year at nearly $10M so he will likely get flipped for a prospect this winter.
This led to another deal:
I'm really not sure what the problem is with Recinos as the Mets were literally giving him away, which is what they did here as Boersma was a minor league free agent we signed playing in complex ball. I mean, look at Recinos:
This is the profile of a massive (which he is at 6'5", 220) slugging first baseman who should hit 40 doubles, 30-35 homers, and draw 90-100 walks a season. And while he's a lefty hitter his ratings splits are not that bad against lefty pitching. If you want to nitpick, he's probably a .250-.260 hitter (who cares when you draw 100 walks?), he's a mediocre defensive 1B (also who cares?) and he takes up a 40-man roster spot and the Mets started his clock this year by calling him up and using him as a pinch-hitter the last few weeks. But he isn't a clubhouse cancer so I'm baffled, but happy. He'll go to Durham and help out our organizational depth at the position which is somewhat weak (unless I want to convert one of my good-hitting but lousy-fielding OF prospects).
As for the potential third deal, it involves pitching and it involves the Cubs and I'll leave it there for now.