9/16/23
I'm back! The trade deadline has come and gone, and we made three moves in that final week. I'll cover the first two trades in this post, and then the final trade in another post.
FLASHBACK TO 9/11/23
1B Matt Feaster, 37 and SP Danny Rodriguez, 22 for 1B Tony Dunn. 30. You've already seen Feaster's player card. I wanted to get rid of him because I wanted a multi-year option at first base and a lefty kiler.
I did have to give up this starting pitcher. He may be 22, but his stats show he's probably not getting much better. He'd been oft-injured since mid-May, and when he returned, didn't have a spot in the rotation.
The third first baseman this team has had, Tony Dunn looks solid. His hitting is only slightly worse than Hammond's, and is the first real lefty killer we've had. In the four games between the trade and the deadline, he got 7 hits, so he seems to fit here.
9/14/23
Next, we traded RP Raul Salazar, 26 for RP Mike Schaefer, 24.
I was reluctant to trade Raul, because I liked his ratings. His ERA was 5.17 (with a FIP of 5.35 and ERA+ of 80), but his BABIP was .352, so I didn't really want to trade him unless I felt we really benefitted.
I think we really benefitted. The funny story was that I was at first trying to trade Salazar for some 30-something reliever. I put Schaefer in the deal, not thinking they'd be willing to give him to me, but to my surprise, they did. I no longer felt the need to get that 30-something reliever. I like the look of Schaefer, and he'l see a big role as a backup stopper. If anyone can replace Romero when he's gone, it's Schaefer.
This is part 1 of a two-part post, so save your Qs/Cs and thanks for reading!