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Portland, Oakland Announce Big Swap
The story of the day in the baseball world is the major trade between the Oakland Commodores and Portland Pioneers. The Commodores will receive 27-year old C Frank Miller, 20-year old minor league RF Ken Banta, 23-year old minor league LHP Jon Jones, 19-year old minor league RF Carlos Ocasio, and 20-year old minor league RHP Rafael Sotelo in the deal, while the Pioneers will pick up 30-year old C Marçall Camacho and $10,710,000 in cash.
This was a seemingly out-of-the-blue move that nobody saw coming. An Oakland insider familiar with the negotiations called the trade "one that people will be talking about for quite some time." Neither general manager could be reached for comment.
This year, Camacho has socked 99 hits in 332 at-bats for a .298 average with 10 home runs. He is getting on base at a .384 pace and his totals also include 38 RBIs and 53 runs scored.
Miller is currently hitting .261 with 10 home runs and 44 RBIs, while scoring 41 runs.
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I want to be clear: this is not a move that indicates us giving up on the season. Based on our previous meetings that I’ve documented, neither player nor agent would budge on anything. This is a trade package that was explored around the all star break. Camacho might still opt out of his deal this offseason giving us the opportunity to sign him again. While fans are upset that Camacho is gone, the clubhouse secretly appreciates it as the clubhouse atmosphere has one less big personality to deal with. Portland sits atop the Dominion League West division, 2 games up on the Los Angeles Titans. This is a win now move for a team that is looking to retain their division title from last year.
Miller is an established catcher in his 4th season in the UBL, accumulating 15.3 WAR in his first 3 years. He’s putting together another good year, is defensively above average, a good personality to have in the clubhouse and a fan favorite. It was important for us to acquire a capable catcher when trading Camacho, and Miller slots into our starting catcher spot. Banta and Ocasio are two hitters of similar profile, both being high power, high strikeout guys. Both are outfielders, but Banta grades better defensively than Ocasio. Both have been performing well in rookie ball and will be assigned to our short A team. Jones is a reliever that could potentially be a very good closer. The lefty will be assigned to AA, but may see a promotion to AAA soon if he continues to perform the way he has thus far. Sotelo could one day slot into the middle of a good rotation, and has bounced around 3 levels this year. He will join Banta and Ocasio in short A.
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