Marshall Law trades away
- SP Jake Arrieta ($59)
Hustle Loyalty Respect trades away
- Corbin Martin (RIP)
- 2020 4th Round Pick
BAILEY’s Thoughts
Simply by getting something for a $59 Jake Arrieta, I will congratulate Marshall Law as the winner of this trade.
I had personally been interested in Arrieta as a depth piece, but I just couldn’t muster up much of an offer. He’s not particularly good anymore (4.95 FIP), he’s too expensive to keep or re-trade, and his playoff match-ups aren’t even favorable (@ CIN, vs. BOS and ATL). But still, he logs innings and if he’s your 9th or 10th starting pitcher, which he is for HLR, then he’s fine as a rental that you just hope you never really have to use and then just cut when the time comes. HLR is savvy enough picking up prospects that the 4th rounder doesn’t matter and Corbin Martin is out with Tommy John, so he’s going to miss all of 2020 and probably the early part of 2021. Maybe there’s a rotation spot for him when he returns, maybe not. Maybe he returns without any diminished skills, maybe not.
I don’t think Marshall Law was going to do better than this. It’s splitting hairs, maybe, because perhaps someone offers a non-broken prospect that you think is more interesting.
The most interesting part of this trade is what Arrieta goes for at auction after he’s inevitably cut, and that really has nothing to do with the trade. With the rule changes, the auction should be deeper than in prior years. But owners simply don’t drop good starting pitchers. So as usual, there should be a bunch of teams clamoring for pitching. Is Arrieta a $35-40 pitcher at auction simply because teams need arms and have too much cash to spend? It wouldn’t surprise me.