Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Texas' Take On The Brooks Trade

We've heard from Chicago's helop on the big Brooks trade.  Now the Rangers' GM bperkins weighs in:

"I didn't really expect to trade Brooks. I kinda wanted him to be a Ranger for life and have all the team records when he retired, but I know the window for the Rangers to win now is not happening.  

My pitching is terrible. My prospects for pitching are terrible, especially my bullpen. The strength of my prospect pool is in position players and I don't have many quality arms in the farm. 

The major player I wanted out of the Cubs was their young IFA pitcher Almadova. Knowing he was hesitant to part with the young stud, helop went with a quantity of players that I know will be a huge part of the rebuilding Rangers. 

My most intriguing player from this trade is Paxton Shuck. His splits aren't great, but his control, ground ball rate, and pitch selection I hope will make him a rotation fixture for a long time. 

I will probably move Santos Mota to either CF or 3B and he projects as a middle of the order type of player.  Ernest Black will spend the season in AAA before moving into a setup role for Season 36. 

Really excited about Antonio Washington, who will be a Game 20 call up this season. He can go multiple innings in a setup role that the Rangers have lacked the last 2 seasons. Dellin Vega will probably spend the season in AAA and will be part of the setup core in Season 36. 

Aaron Snyder will either be the #5 starter this season or long reliever. I know I didn't get a #1 starter out of this deal (which is what I originally wanted), but the depth of the group will be wonderful. I hate spending money on mediocre free agent relief pitching and this area will be shored up by next season. Thanks again for helop for all the negotiating. It was a ton of fun."

Season's First Big Trade - Brooks To The Cubbies

AL pitchers are checking their bonus clauses today.  Any of them with performance incentives could be a little richer this season...ironman slugger and Season 32 MVP Walter Brooks has been traded to the Chicago Cubs.

The Rangers also sent reliever John Randall and get back 6 prospects, the best of whom seem to be AAA swingman Antonio Washington, Season 34 IFA Dellin Vega, and Season 34's #3 overall pick, Santos Mota.

Here's Cubs GM helop on how the trade went down:

"I am pretty excited. With the players I will bring up at the beginning of the year and at the 20 day mark, this could be a good team. He had Brooks on the Trading Block. I contacted him to see if we could make something happen. He was looking to restock his farm system and I was looking for a big bat. We couldn't figure out a 3 for 1 trade, so we went with the two trades together. He received 6 players to restock his farm system, I received the slugger and closer I need to help my team."