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Art Deco · 11-26-2022, 11:11 PM

By no means am I writing off this season since the Rays still are firmly in a wild card and are still more than capable of winning the division. But I'm also not under any illusions a fourth straight trip to the World Series is guaranteed here and there's a lot I don't like about the team either.

So therefore I decided to shop free-agent-to-be James Hays since we played barely over .500 ball without him just like we've done with him this season and while it's a bit "galaxy brain" to think we can live without the best pitcher in baseball coming off 4 straight Cy Youngs and not miss him I'm also willing to hedge my bets and get something more than a draft pick for him given that this team a) is good enough to make the playoffs and b) probably not good enough to get one of the top 2 seeds and a bye. As a result the up-until-now unthinkable happened and I swung a deal with the Dodgers:

As you can see my AGM Sam Fuld tried to talk me out of it but I ended up acquiring a player I've coveted for a while now in Arturo Gutierrez even if we don't have a lot of use for him right now. Who is Gutierrez?

Only one of the top young players in the NL as you can see from his ratings and stats. He can do it all and has been an All-Star. The only negative is that he's arb-eligible next year and is going to start getting expensive (projected $8.5M in 2032), but we won't be paying Hays 20M+ any more either. For the rest of this season there is the same issue we had with the Nate Strickland call-up: there's no real spot for him in the lineup with 1B, 2B and DH covered but we'll try to work him into the lineup whenever we can. At least Gutierrez can play a good 2B (60 rated). Strickland was sent to Durham to make room for Gutierrez.

But of course it wasn't just Gutierrez we got. While nobody is going to replace Hays' production we did get a rotation replacement for him in Mendes, a hard-throwing lefty LA was using as a swingman (these are his ratings as a starter):

Mendes is a local boy who went to Tampa Jesuit and is still making the league minimum. And with the Mendes acquisition and the emergence of Matt Manning of late, I'm going to bolster the bullpen by moving Kevin DiCostanzo back there even though I still envision him as a starter next year.

In order to get Mendes in the deal we did have to give up Shipp, a two-way prospect who will probably be mediocre at the plate and on the mound; his top projections are 50 contact and 50 power, and 45 stuff on the mound. He was our 4th round pick in 2029.

Whew!

11-26-2022, 11:11 PM	#929
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,593	Blockbuster Trade Time! By no means am I writing off this season since the Rays still are firmly in a wild card and are still more than capable of winning the division. But I'm also not under any illusions a fourth straight trip to the World Series is guaranteed here and there's a lot I don't like about the team either. So therefore I decided to shop free-agent-to-be James Hays since we played barely over .500 ball without him just like we've done with him this season and while it's a bit "galaxy brain" to think we can live without the best pitcher in baseball coming off 4 straight Cy Youngs and not miss him I'm also willing to hedge my bets and get something more than a draft pick for him given that this team a) is good enough to make the playoffs and b) probably not good enough to get one of the top 2 seeds and a bye. As a result the up-until-now unthinkable happened and I swung a deal with the Dodgers: As you can see my AGM Sam Fuld tried to talk me out of it but I ended up acquiring a player I've coveted for a while now in Arturo Gutierrez even if we don't have a lot of use for him right now. Who is Gutierrez? Only one of the top young players in the NL as you can see from his ratings and stats. He can do it all and has been an All-Star. The only negative is that he's arb-eligible next year and is going to start getting expensive (projected $8.5M in 2032), but we won't be paying Hays 20M+ any more either. For the rest of this season there is the same issue we had with the Nate Strickland call-up: there's no real spot for him in the lineup with 1B, 2B and DH covered but we'll try to work him into the lineup whenever we can. At least Gutierrez can play a good 2B (60 rated). Strickland was sent to Durham to make room for Gutierrez. But of course it wasn't just Gutierrez we got. While nobody is going to replace Hays' production we did get a rotation replacement for him in Mendes, a hard-throwing lefty LA was using as a swingman (these are his ratings as a starter): Mendes is a local boy who went to Tampa Jesuit and is still making the league minimum. And with the Mendes acquisition and the emergence of Matt Manning of late, I'm going to bolster the bullpen by moving Kevin DiCostanzo back there even though I still envision him as a starter next year. In order to get Mendes in the deal we did have to give up Shipp, a two-way prospect who will probably be mediocre at the plate and on the mound; his top projections are 50 contact and 50 power, and 45 stuff on the mound. He was our 4th round pick in 2029. Whew!