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Art Deco · 07-22-2022, 07:26 PM

Like Michael Corleone at the end of The Godfather, today I settled all family business with three almost simultaneous trades. If not for our spate of injuries to key players like Dong-hwan Kim and Jackson Baumeister, I would have been content to be quiet at the deadline. But even though we're running away with the AL East and won't need much help to secure it, these deals are to help us win in the playoffs when we get there. (Spoiler alert: none of them involve Jose Ramirez. I just couldn't suspend disbelief enough to figure Milwaukee would trade him in the thick of a pennant race even if he is a free agent after the season and they have him on the block. We'll see if the AI deals him elsewhere.)

I'll start with the least of them first, a Rays reunion:

Welcome home Aaron Fletcher! The lefty, who pitched for us from 2022-25 and won a couple of rings, has been one of the game's top closers the last 2 2/3 years with Washington, Houston and Seattle as he's saved 115 games in that span. He'll go back to the role he filled for us the first time around as a setup man and will be an upgrade over Jose Crespo. Fletcher, like the next two players we're acquiring, is a free agent at year's end. The price was Gutierrez, a decent infield prospect whom we acquired from the Cincinnati in the same deal last year that brought us Baumeister. I was more excited about him last year as he's gone from a B/B+ prospect to more of a B-/C+ guy.

Deal #2:

(I forgot to capture a screenshot of the trade initiation on the Fletcher deal but rest assured my AGM liked it.)

Adios Jose Crespo. Acquired around this time last year the power lefty never really fit in, had a disastrous playoff and then was pretty bad this regular season with a 5.54 ERA (albeit with a decent 11/44 BB/K ratio in 37 innings). In return (with Ayala, a C- prospect at best) we get one of the league's top starters - when healthy - in Luis Severino. Of course the "when healthy" does a lot of heavy lifting here as Severino is currently not healthy, out two more weeks with a herniated disc. And he's also rated as "wrecked". But when he does pitch he will pitch very well (9-4, 2.46 this season with 2.8 WAR in only 91 IP) and we really don't need him until the playoffs. So we'll baby him with a rehab assignment and limit his September starts so we can pencil him in behind Hays and Prosecky in the playoff rotation. As great as Robinson Ortiz has been (when healthy also), he hasn't proven he can hold up under a starter's workload and I'm unwilling to leave the team's playoff fate in the hands of Panzini, Cecconi and Cedeno.

The third deal:

This one was necessitated by the injury to The Donger as we needed an impact bat to replace him. The 37-year-old longtime former Met McNeil isn't really a LF (although he's rated 55 there) but he will take Kim's spot in the batting order, either playing LF, DHing or playing some 1B or 2B as he remains versatile and at least a 50 at each of those positions. But his best position is his bat, as he's a pure .300 hitter with great gap power and moderate HR power. He was hitting 301/380/490 this year with 11 HR and that's right in line with his career 314/376/489 numbers so we know what we're getting. While Kim has more power, McNeil's .870 OPS is slightly better than Kim's .861 since joining us. Andrew Greckel will get a little more PT in LF as a result. Meanwhile the guy we're sending to Texas, Gabe Grundstrom, is a soft-tossing righty control specialist (12 walks in 100 IP at AA Montgomery) who has poor-to-mediocre 40 stuff but could pitch in the bigs as a 5th starter as long as he has a good defense behind him. He has advanced quickly after being drafted in the 8th round in 2027 as he's the prototypical high-floor, (very) low-ceiling type.

07-22-2022, 07:26 PM	#753
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 8,124	Tradepalooza! Like Michael Corleone at the end of The Godfather, today I settled all family business with three almost simultaneous trades. If not for our spate of injuries to key players like Dong-hwan Kim and Jackson Baumeister, I would have been content to be quiet at the deadline. But even though we're running away with the AL East and won't need much help to secure it, these deals are to help us win in the playoffs when we get there. (Spoiler alert: none of them involve Jose Ramirez. I just couldn't suspend disbelief enough to figure Milwaukee would trade him in the thick of a pennant race even if he is a free agent after the season and they have him on the block. We'll see if the AI deals him elsewhere.) I'll start with the least of them first, a Rays reunion: Welcome home Aaron Fletcher! The lefty, who pitched for us from 2022-25 and won a couple of rings, has been one of the game's top closers the last 2 2/3 years with Washington, Houston and Seattle as he's saved 115 games in that span. He'll go back to the role he filled for us the first time around as a setup man and will be an upgrade over Jose Crespo. Fletcher, like the next two players we're acquiring, is a free agent at year's end. The price was Gutierrez, a decent infield prospect whom we acquired from the Cincinnati in the same deal last year that brought us Baumeister. I was more excited about him last year as he's gone from a B/B+ prospect to more of a B-/C+ guy. Deal #2: (I forgot to capture a screenshot of the trade initiation on the Fletcher deal but rest assured my AGM liked it.) Adios Jose Crespo. Acquired around this time last year the power lefty never really fit in, had a disastrous playoff and then was pretty bad this regular season with a 5.54 ERA (albeit with a decent 11/44 BB/K ratio in 37 innings). In return (with Ayala, a C- prospect at best) we get one of the league's top starters - when healthy - in Luis Severino. Of course the "when healthy" does a lot of heavy lifting here as Severino is currently not healthy, out two more weeks with a herniated disc. And he's also rated as "wrecked". But when he does pitch he will pitch very well (9-4, 2.46 this season with 2.8 WAR in only 91 IP) and we really don't need him until the playoffs. So we'll baby him with a rehab assignment and limit his September starts so we can pencil him in behind Hays and Prosecky in the playoff rotation. As great as Robinson Ortiz has been (when healthy also), he hasn't proven he can hold up under a starter's workload and I'm unwilling to leave the team's playoff fate in the hands of Panzini, Cecconi and Cedeno. The third deal: This one was necessitated by the injury to The Donger as we needed an impact bat to replace him. The 37-year-old longtime former Met McNeil isn't really a LF (although he's rated 55 there) but he will take Kim's spot in the batting order, either playing LF, DHing or playing some 1B or 2B as he remains versatile and at least a 50 at each of those positions. But his best position is his bat, as he's a pure .300 hitter with great gap power and moderate HR power. He was hitting 301/380/490 this year with 11 HR and that's right in line with his career 314/376/489 numbers so we know what we're getting. While Kim has more power, McNeil's .870 OPS is slightly better than Kim's .861 since joining us. Andrew Greckel will get a little more PT in LF as a result. Meanwhile the guy we're sending to Texas, Gabe Grundstrom, is a soft-tossing righty control specialist (12 walks in 100 IP at AA Montgomery) who has poor-to-mediocre 40 stuff but could pitch in the bigs as a 5th starter as long as he has a good defense behind him. He has advanced quickly after being drafted in the 8th round in 2027 as he's the prototypical high-floor, (very) low-ceiling type. Last edited by Art Deco; 07-22-2022 at 07:44 PM.