Have you ever seen someone just pull off eight trades in a week? It’s… crazy, right? Should not happen. Insane. But to try and give this a fair and balanced review, we have to do this a couple of ways. First, by trying to just eyeball the whole thing, then, by plugging in each move one by one and then, hopefully, finding a general conclusion out of it.
First, you have to look at what Suplex City got. This team went 5-15 last year and I’ll be honest, I’m not sure where they came from because that end of the year roster was… pretty rough. But over the course of the season, Daniel apparently loaded the farm system, and without that, he’s not able to make the ton of moves he has made.
You have to look at the fact he added four 5+ points per game players, and three who were 6+ points per game players in
Manny Machado,
Carlos Correa, and
Mike Trout. That is an absolutely huge return. He also picked up a player that approached that 5 points per game mark in LaMonte Wade, and two still-young and quality pieces in Seth Beer and Brandon Marsh, both of which will be cost-controlled. Plus, he got a pick. That’s a heck of a haul for a guy whose goal is to go to the playoffs this year, and…
Wait a second, AND he got Marco Luciano, a prospect rated in the Top 10 of baseball by
MLB.com, Fangraphs, AND Prospects1500!?
Holy shit. Look, even in this quality omelet that Suplex City has created, there were a ton of eggs that had to be broken. So what I’m going to do is go through the moves very, VERY quickly
(SPOILER ALERT: It’s still way too much to read because there are so many moves). These will be in some order, probably just running down the list from most recent until I stop seeing Suplex City so much.
Move 1: Carlos Correa is Best Correa
Suplex City Gets:
Carlos Correa, SS, ??? ($112)Pine Mountain Podstars Gets:
2023 Round 3 (Pine Mountain Podstars)
2023 Round 4 (Fantasy Baseball Team)
2023 Round 4 (Brew Crew)
2023 Round 4 (Brickma’s Revenge)
2023 Round 4 (Marshall Law)
2023 Round 5 (TBD)
2023 Round 5 (Longball),
2023 Round 5 (Brew Crew)
Taylor Trammell, OF, SEA
Kyle Lewis, OF, SEA
Ramon Laureano, OF, OAK
Jay Groome, P, BOS (
MLB.com Red Sox #8)Look, you could argue this is too much for Correa, and yet, with Trout (we’ll get to that), this deal still makes a ton of sense for Suplex, who gets rid of an excessive bulk of picks in exchange for a top five shortstop in fantasy. But let’s not get it twisted, Pine Mountain adds a lot, too. Not only does he now improve his 2023 draft, but he also has two very talented AL West center fielders. Kyle Lewis is an interesting piece because even though we haven’t seen a real, full season of him (don’t throw 2020 back at me!), there’s a lot of tools to like. In fact, judge me if you wish, but I see a lot of the same tools
George Springer came up with in Houston. Look especially at their zone management and exit velos. Laureano lost some of the walks from 2020 but gained the BABIP luck. He may never hit .280 again, but .250 with 20 HR and 15 SBs at cost-control is nice.Overall, it’s a good deal for both teams.
Move 2: What?
Suplex City Gets:
Jake Odorizzi, SP, HOU ($33? Who cares)
2023 Round 2 (Longball)
2023 Round 5 (Longball)* – Later traded to PMP in Correa trade
Longball to LF Gets:
2022 Round 2 (Suplex City Shooters)This deal confuses and angers me. Okay, not ANGERS, but definitely confuses. I’m guessing when Daniel traded for Odorizzi, he wasn’t thinking Correa was coming, but… then you just got an extra fifth round pick to do what Longball might have done anyways? I just… I don’t get it, and the less I spend on this stupid deal, the better.
Move 3: Do you like Prospects?
Suplex City Gets:
Marco Luciano, SS, SFG (
MLB.com #5 overall)
Senior Squids Gets:
Nick Gonzales, 2B, PIT (
MLB.com #62 overall)
Austin Martin, SS/OF, MIN (MLB. com #36 overall)
2022 Round 1 (Suplex City)If you said to me, “Hey Kyle, which player do you think Daniel traded the number one overall pick in the draft for?” I would have said maybe Trout, maybe Correa. But it was…
Marco Luciano?Look, I get it if you love prospects and don’t love this draft. But then, why also add two Top 75 Prospects (Austin Martin ranked 36 by
MLB.com, Nick Gonzales ranked 62)? I like Luciano a lot, and I can even see him potentially being the top ranked guy by the All-Star Break after some graduations, but you have to be betting on him being a 6.5+ points per game guy to trade those three assets for him.And even then, can you justify trading away the two best bats from the 2020 draft not named Torkelson? (Full disclosure here because I love and trust you guys, I almost decided to take Nick Gonzales 1-1 anyways, in a move that would have baffled and angered the league). Austin Martin didn’t just survive AA, he thrived, with an over .400 OBP (!!!) in AA last year, and Nick Gonzales showed his slugging output at New Mexico wasn’t a fluke, slugging .565 in advanced A-Ball. This is the first move that gets a flat thumbs down from me.
Move 4: Segura Ros
Suplex City Gets:
Jean Segura, 2B, PHI ($18)
TBD Gets:
Michael Toglia, 1B, COL (
MLB.com Rockies’ #6)And Daniel is back on the winning side, trading a toolsy, power-only first baseman for steady points production in
Jean Segura. What you have to like about Segura is he is exactly the same player every year. Set your watch to get .270-12 with about 8-11 steals, take a season-long nap, and (don’t) be surprised with the results! I get that Josh may be up against it money-wise, but this felt like an unforced error. Sure, you weren’t going to get a top guy for Segura, but I feel like a 2nd or early 3rd round pick was doable, and I don’t like Toglia more than guys you could get around picks 20-25 in this draft. I dunno, maybe I overvalue boring commodities, but I feel like moving Bryant would have been a better cap saving move? Don’t listen to me, Josh, you have a trophy and I have a career losing record.
MOVE 5: Gone Fishin’
Suplex City Gets:
Mike Trout, CF, LAA ($117)
Who’s Your Haddy? Gets:
Cristian Hernandez, SS, CHC (
MLB.com Cubs’ #3)
Nick Lodolo, SP, CIN (
MLB.com #31 Overall)
Luis Matos, OF, SFG (
MLB.com #77 Overall)
Gunnar Henderson, IF, BAL (
MLB.com #74 Overall)Oh, so this is what it takes to get Trout? Noted. My least favorite prospect in this return is Henderson, who has the tools but a silly K Rate. I want to see him slim that down in 2022. Nick Lodolo screams 2 or 3-starter, but that’s not actually a bad thing (ask my rotation of last year, which included Josh Fleming, Tyler Alexander, and AJ Alexy. Ouch). Add in some young prospects with strike zone control in Cristian Hernandez and Luis Matos, and I think Haddy got a pretty solid return.But, of course, Daniel got
Mike Trout. There’s only one
Mike Trout, and that
Mike Trout is now a Suplex City Citizen (I give you that team name for free. Run with it). Maybe, just maybe,
Mike Trout will make a deal with the devil where he gives up his ability to just make 7+ WAR seasons happen in exchange for a trip to the playoffs. Maybe, just maybe,
Mike Trout will be human, and not be able to slug .600+ for the next five years, like he was in the last five years. Maybe, just maybe, Trout won’t have a 90+ MPH exit velo, like he has every year the stat was measured except in 2017, when he slashed… .306/.442/.629.Look, I get it. Don’t bank all of your hopes on one guy. You can’t just win with one guy, but when you have a chance to get a guy who has only averaged below 8 points per game ONCE in this scoring format… you tend to take it. Four point and five point guys can be found if you’re quick and smart on waivers. You don’t find 8 point guys. You have them, or you trade for them. I get this move from Suplex.
MOVES 6/7: Daniel Dives in the Trashcan
Suplex City Gets:
Seth Beer, UT, ARI ($0, CC)
LaMonte Wade, 1B/OF, SFG ($8)
Brandon Marsh, CF, LAA ($0, CC)
H-Town Trashcan Punch Gets:
2023 Round 2 (Marshall Law)
Gavin Lux, 2B, LAD ($0, CC)
Gilberto Jimenez, CF, BOS (
MLB.com Red Sox #10)Alright, I clearly have some biases since I made both of these deals, but I’ll go through them piece by piece. Seth Beer had a sip of coffee (10 at-bats. Really), but his AAA slash line of .287/.398/.511 gives you an idea of the promise his bat has. Another real positive in his favor? He doesn’t swing and miss much (he has never had a K rate above 25 percent, and never had a swinging strike rate of higher than 14), which means the bat contributions may actually stick in the big leagues, a real plus for a guy whose career lies either in the corner outfield, where he’s bad, or at first base, where he’s bad. If the NL DH comes, then he’ll probably quietly hit .270 with 20 bombs in the utility. Not bad.LaMonte Wade is just a dead corner bat, right? Well, not quite. Everything about his stat line (90+ exit velo, barrel of 10.6%) says the pop is legitimate, and his batting average and slugging were within the margin of error compared to his expected line. However, he was absolutely feckless against lefties last year (he hit .104 in 48 at-bats), so he may be a platoon-only guy. Still, a guy who hits righties and gives you a cheap 20 homers? Where do I sign up?Brandon Marsh is interesting, because he has some numbers that make stat dorks like me tingle (92.1 average exit velocity, barrel rate almost at 11 percent), but he also had a ghastly 68.7 percent contact rate and a K rate at 35 percent. Which Brandon Marsh is real? That depends on who you ask. I tend to believe a little bit more in the heavy contact, and think the swings and misses will drop to a more palatable amount over time. My vibe is a little bit
Hunter Pence, but without the power counting stats and a slightly lower average. I’ll be quick about my guys. I wanted an early pick, and Beer got me that. I believe in Gavin Lux’s hit tool and needed a young bat at 2B (at worst, he’ll tide me over with tantalizing ALMOSTS until Nick Yorke gets here), and while Gilberto Jimenez is a BABIP-dependent guy at this point, I believe in buying the hit tool, then letting the rest follow. Jimenez’s K rate going up by league is a little troubling, but 2022 should clear it up.
MOVE 8: Machado About Nothing?
Suplex City Gets:
Manny Machado, 3B, SDP, $93
Brew Crew Gets:
Matt Allan, SP, NYM (
MLB.com Mets #4)
Brayan Rocchio, SS, CLE (
MLB.com Guardians #10)I refuse to say anything good about
Manny Machado. Okay… FINE. ugh. Machado had a boost in exit velo (up to a BONKERS 93.1) and his BABIP actually went down from 2020, suggesting there may be even more batting average and slugging to add in his line last year of .278/.347/.489, which is already pretty nice. Brayan Rocchio is my type of guy, a middle infielder with some sneaky pop, a hit tool, and wheels. And he actually, weirdly, hit even better in AA with a .294/.360/.505 slash in 203 plate appearances. Did I also mention he did this at 21, when he was more than 3 years younger than the average AA player? Either Rocchio is being dinged for power potential, or the Guardians farm system is, to use a proper term, “bonkers as hell.” Allan is the kind of guy that you scratch a lottery ticket on. The stuff is there (both Fangraphs and MLB love his fastball/curveball combo), but he also missed 2021 and could miss most of 2022 with Tommy John. But really, this guy has pitched 10 professional innings. What the hell do you want me to do with this?
