Flip Him Again! Expos Orchestrate another 3-Team Deal Around Espinoza
stadiumreport.bbn July 8th, 2021
It feels like I wrote the same news half a year ago. The
Expos once again orchestrated a three team deal centred around right handed closer
Alex Espinosa that not only landed them some prospects, but saved some money.
Chicago Rangers receive:
RHCL
Alex Espinosa(35, 4*, $14.7M, 0-4 15SV 3.69 39K 31.2IP 1.0WAR) from WSH
C
Steve Fitch(29, 2.5*, $11.8M, .221-3-18 .560OPS -0.7WAR) from MON
R C
Joaquin Quintanilla(18, 0.5/2.5*, .234/.264/.314 4HR 6RBI 58G 1.5WAR R ball) from MON
Washington Nationals receive:
AAA LHRP
Danny Parsons(28, 2.5*, 1-1 2.82 40K 44.2IP 0.6WAR AAA)
Montreal Expos receive:
S A 2B/3B/SS
Jorge Flores(19, 0.5/3*, .067-0-1 .192OPS 12G -0.2WAR)
R RHRP
Javier Baca(16, 0.5/4*, 3-5 6SV 3.06 25K 32.1IP -1.7WAR)
For the
Montreal Expos, this closes the book on veteran catcher
Steve Fitch. The 29-year old first lost his batspeed, and then his job to
Kevin Craddock and now his roster spot in
Montreal. Over a 546 game career, he hit .255/.301/.414 68HR 247RBI 208R 6.9WAR over seven seasons. He is due $11.8M this and next season.
When the Nats put Alex Espinosa, I knew I had to try it. Parsons was a minor league signee that was in there for depth and nothing else, so that wasn’t costly at all.
In order to get Fitch off the books, we had to trade Quintanilla as well. The 18-year old came up often in trade talks but Dave G. has him as a 2.5* prospect with defensive ratings that do not match my standards for a NMLB catcher. We may be wrong about him, but things happen.
On the other hand, Flores is another 3* guy that could give us some depth in a few years, and Baca was one of the international amateur free agents we didn’t manage to get last season, but they weren’t putting a lot of trade value on him, so I grabbed him for free.