Day 3 Trades: Pace Slows As FA Begins

Well, free agency has started without a Tony Moya trade (although we still expect it will happen), and the frenetic pace of the first 2 days of the offseason has tailed off to a trickle. Here are the rest of Day 2 and Day 3's trades, which I think catches us up:

Chicago White Sox get RP Breland Nanita
Houston gets C Bill Kershaw
Analysis:  Not a big move by either team.  This is the second ace defensive C Houston has acquired - their future pitching staff will love those guys.  The White Sox seem to be headed into a transition period as the Magglio era winds down - if they go full-on rebuild Nanita is the kind of P that can help hold things together for minimum $$.

Houston gets 2B/3B Armando Bazardo (Sea 32 IFA, $13.8MM)
Florida gets RP Yunesky Baez (Sea 31 IFA, $8.5MM)
Analysis:  Bazardo has been languishing in Florida's farm system for a couple of years now; I think he'll find a spot on the 'Stro's big club, maybe as a backup 2B/3B/CF.  No power, but decent splits and a ML eye.  Baez might make the Marlins as an 11th or 12th pitcher, but I'd bet more on a glorious AAA career.

Houston gets P Garry Perez (Season 30 #70)
Arizona gets IF/CF Donne Lloyd (Season 37 #59)
I wondered earlier how Arizona managed 779 runs with that lineup last year; cbriese later pointed out the team's 126 infield hits (2nd in the world to Minnesota's 175) as a contributor.  Now take a look at Lloyd's speed rating and you get a whole new take on this trade.

San Francisco gets SS Jiggs Maduro
Minnesota gets prospects Quinton Graves (Season 37 #35), Joshua Haynes (Season 335 #85), and Juan Estrada (Season 36 IFA, $50K)
Analysis:  Giants pick up a SS who can at least play defense at the ML level for 3 career minor-leaguers

Offseason Day 2: Reds and Astros Crank It Up

If anything, Day 2 exceeded the pace of a hectic Day 1, with the Astros jumping into the unwinding/rebuilding process. Here are the rest of Day 1's trades, along with most of Day 2's (I think).  The shoe that didn't drop:  Tony Moya

St. Louis gets RP prospect Vincent Lasker
Houston gets 2B/CF Ken Saunders
Analysis:  Astros get an imminently usable defensive player to help keep the team ERA down during the coming rebuild. Lasker will have to develop quite a bit more to have a ML role, but he has an outside chance at it.

Pittsburgh gets DH Enerio Amaro and SP LaTroy Owen
Anaheim gets Julio Pena (Sea 37 IFA, $16.5MM)
Analysis:  The Angels signal a rebuild by trading their best hitter and a good young pitcher for their future franchise centerpiece.  Pena projects to be a defensive monster at 2B, 3B, CF with a very good eye and plus power.  Yes, the Pirates are going to close their eyes and send Amaro out to RF.

Cincinnati gets SP Al Rosado + $5MM
Oakland gets OF Desi Vazquez and IF prospect Javy Flande
Another great pickup at a nice price for Cincy.
Analysis:  Rosado gives the Reds an accomplished lefty in their formerly all-righthanded rotation, an important component at playoff time when facing the tough lefty-dominated lineups of the Mets and Pirates.  Vazquez and Flande won't lead the A's to the promised land, but will be competent ML'ers.

Chicago Cubs get closer David Estrella and C Buck Causey
Los Angeles gets SS Marcos Profar and OF prospect Pat Ashley
Analysis:  Estrella is an enigma: he looks like he should be one of Major Leagues' top short relievers, but he's posted a 4.48 ERA in his first 3 seasons (in pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium at that).  The Cubs were willing to take a chance on him; Dodgers get a much-needed defensive upgrade at SS, while Jair Cortez likely still gets 450 AB's as a 4 or 5-position super-utilityman.

Arizona gets DH Carlos Gonzalez
San Francisco gets pitching prospect Murray Hellweg
Analysis:  The D'Backs took the AL by storm last year with a pitching and defense strategy that produced a surprising 779 runs (3rd in AL).  This move suggests they think they need more punch...Gonzalez takes over at DH and Mendoza returns to OF duty.  Hellweg was last year's #22 pick - he has a long way to go but could grow into a #5 starter or long reliever.

Houston gets SP Patrick Pierce
Toronto gets SP Jim Hansen and RP Abraham Robinson
The Astros have decided to bite the bullet and get what they can for the remnants of the squad that won 4 titles in 5 years (trying to coax 1 more year of contention was probably a losing game).  So even though what they gave here were minor-leaguers, Pierce fits the profile of what they're assembling:  competent ML'ers who will keep them above the mwr on the cheap.

New York Mets get CF Dean Whitfield and IF Gabriel Sanchez (Sea 34 #15)
Philadelphia gets 3B Davey Ontiveros (Sea 34 IFA, $35MM) and SP Nestor Bautista (Sea 35 #9)
Analysis:  Fascinating deal on many levels.  First, the Mets add perhaps the best CF in Major Leagues.  Second, it's a huge upgrade for them; last year's CF's (Brian Kim and Benito Oilvo) were good defenders but pure popguns on offense.  Third, they were able to swing the deal without giving up any core players or prospects - Ontiveros was blocked at 3B by Rico Lopez (only 3 years older) and Bautista, despite being a talented pitcher who's still improving, wasn't going to crack the rotation.  Philly gets younger and adds 2 key pieces - Ontiveros likely becomes the 3B with Karl Floyd moving to CF, and Bautista and his 3 80+ pitches moves right into the rotation.

Baltimore gets RP Len Connelly
Houston gets C Juan Limon
Analysis:  Birds improve their 'pen, Stros keep adding defense.  It doesn't look like Limon will make Houston's ML roster this year, as they have 2 decent C's under contract. But the 36-yo Roberts is likely done after this year; Limon is a defensive genius and will do wonders to help keep opponents' scoring down.

Cincinnati gets RP Jaime Aldridge
Houston gets SP Bailey Ramirez (Sea 33 #64) and RP Garrett Washington (Sea 34 #111)
Analysis:  Houston continues to shed payroll and the Reds continue to pick up talent at bargain prices - in this case a pretty solid reliever (Aldridge has a career 3.73 ERA in 685 IP).   I don't think Ramirez will crack the ML roster, but Washington might, despite being a soft-toss fly-baller.

Cincinnati gets SP/LR Justin Zagone
Los Angeles gets RP Juan Carlos Torres
Salary dumper by the Dodgers.  It doesn't look like Zagone can make Cincy's rotation - maybe he makes it as a LR, or maybe they stash him in AAA as injury insurance.  Torres could see ML duty but is probably destined for AAA success.

Detroit gets SP Jim Colin
Houston gets prospects Trevor Conway (Sea 37 #19) and Matty Santana (Sea 35 IFA, $17.5MM), and SS Al Vincente
Analysis:  Detroit is feeling the pressure to keep the contention window open for the duration of the Manuel Cano era; Colin is a major improvement at the #2 slot in the rotation.  Given Colin's salary, I think the 'Stros did pretty well getting those 2 pitchers.  I'd like to see Santana get about 4-5 more points across the board in this, his 4th pro season.

Houston gets SP Les Reed
Cincinnati gets RP Troy Griffith
Analysis:  Reds and Astros strike again with a starter-for-reliever swap.  Both players are in their contract years and I'd be surprised if either have long careers from this point, but they'll both have ML roles for this season.

Arizona gets DH Philip Charles
Pittsburgh gets IF/CF Bernie Gennett
Not  quite sure why the D'Backs made this deal given their earlier pickup of Carlos Gonzalez, but Gennett didn't see much action for them last year and they have loads of defensive stoppers.  Gennett returns to the team that drafted him (2nd round, Season 33) as a late-innings defensive replacement.

Rebuilds, Retooling and Pirates Prospects In First Offseason Trades

I don't know if it set any new records, but let's just say trade activity in the offseason's first day was "extremely brisk". Here's a rundown of the first few trades with a brief analysis of each:

Pittsburgh gets OF J.B Hunter + $4MM
Atlanta  gets $28.7MM IFA Arismendy Johnson (Season 35)
Analysis:  Pretty hefty price for the inconsistent Hunter, but he's still fairly young, fairly cheap, available, and the Pirates needed OF help more than anything.  Johnson could be an All-Star 3B as early as this year - big jump-start to the Braves' re-tooling.

Cincinnati gets CF Darrell Hughes
Washington D.C. gets OF prospect Erisbel Soto (Sea 36 IFA, $31.8MM)
Analysis: Hughes brings a 200-point career OPS advantage versus last year's CF, the decidedly defensive Enrique Johnson.  That's a great pickup as the Reds seek to join (and surpass) the NL's top echelon.  First move in the D.C. retooling - watch these guys...it's not going to take long to rework all these prospects into a contender.

New York Yankees get CF Derrick Lewis
Montreal gets minor-league 3B/OF Radhames Borbon
Analysis:  Looks kind of like a salary dump by the Expos, although I'd have thought they could've arb'd Lucas a 3rd time for the minimum.  Yankees get a pretty nice defensive CF/pinch runner type (93 SB's in 100 attempts over 5 seasons) who could conceivably be the vR part of a CF platoon.  Borbon will never see the Majors.

Montreal gets Roland Kent (Sea 33 #79) and P.T. Harper (Sea 37 #39)
Atlanta gets OF Orlando Figueroa
Analysis:  Undoubtedly a salary move by the Expos; Kent and Harper might get ML shots but won't amount to much. Meanwhile, perhaps Atlanta's early trade of OF Hunter was a rebuild head-fake.  Maybe they thought Figueroa would be an upgrade over Hunter, plus they landed a top prospect in the switch.

Washington D.C. gets Season 36 $35MM IFA Jimmie Velazquez, OF Leonardo Grimm, and RP Alan Carpenter 
Pittsburgh gets OF Chris Petkovsek and closer Adalberto Cervantes.  
Analysis: Huge haul for the Nats.  The Pirates better win something in the next 2 years, as Petkovsek probably has a useful life of 2 more seasons, and Cervantes will likely go to free agency in 2 more years. D.C. is accumulating prospects like crazy, and in Velazquez they got one of the best pitching prospects in all of Major Leagues - after just 2 seasons both splits are at 80 and could end up above 90.

Do We Need A Cash-In-Trades Official Policy?

zbrent recently tc'd me with this question, and I promised to poll the world on it.

Can't say the question has ever registered high on my attention scale, but I agree it's worth asking.

Here's what I think I can accurately report about it:

1.  There seems to be some kind of world-chat disagreement about it almost every year. This year's seemed to me to be civil and respectful, but it hasn't always been. Regardless of the tone, the discussion seems to be one that few people enjoy, and the purpose of the World Chat (imho) is to be a forum for comments that people DO enjoy.

2.  We had 2 owners depart this year who cited either our laissez-faire treatment of cash in trades, or the resulting WC discussion of it, as their reasons for leaving.  Personally, I take this with a few grains of salt; I've never seen anyone with a winning record, or a big jump in winning percentage, or a loaded farm system depart and cite cash in trades as a reason. Nonetheless, 2 departing GM's did give me that as a reason, so I feel obligated to report that in any discussion of the subject.

The big reason for having a C-I-T policy, I think, would be so we can have right up front how we handle it for anyone considering coming into the world.  If someone knows that we limit C-I-T to the salary of the highest-paid player in the trade (just to use an example), they can't exactly complain about it later or use that as a reason for leaving.  It would also theoretically end the WC discussions about it.

There certainly may be better reasons for having one.

The negative, I suppose, is it's one more little admin detail for the commish to keep up with, although I"m sure there are other arguments against it as well.

I'd welcome comments here or on the WC from anyone who has something to add.

Please vote in the poll.  Note that the question is whether we should even have a C-I-T policy, not what it should be.  If the world votes to have one, we'll move on to deciding what it should be later.

New Commish Needed, Suggest Recruiter As Well

As I mentioned on the World Chat, I'm retiring from HBD after my next seasons here and in Hobbs.

I'm moving from Austin to Madison, WI for the Summer (arriving June 1).  After that I'm going on some kind of international sojourn, most likely through Latin America.  I travelled a lot years ago and have been promising myself I'd do so again.  At age 62, it's time to sogotp, so I'm going (somewhere).

First, thanks to all of you (and especially the long-timers) for the many seasons of great competition and camaraderie.  Major Leagues has probably been the best of all the many HBD worlds I've played in, and I'll miss it.

Second, start thinking about a new commish.  I'd suggest we set some kind of date for early season for nominations, or perhaps to select someone by acclamation.  Main idea is to get it done early so you don't run into the next recruiting season.

Third, I'd very strongly urge you to select an official recruiter as well.  I know it's a task that would run a poor race to sticking pencils in your eyes, but if you have a good system, it's pretty easy.  And I have a good system, which I'll document completely for the next recruiter (and help with at the end of next season).

I can't emphasize enough how big a difference it makes to a world to have someone who is dedicated to making the next season start right after rollover.  Many of you who have joined Major Leagues in the last 10 seasons or so have told me that you did so for exactly that reason.

Last, the reason I emphasize having a recruiter separate and apart from the commissioner. I think both jobs are made easier by the fact that there are 2 people who have a vested interest in the smooth operation of the world, rather than having the entire burden fall to 1 person.

That's it, we'll work out some kind of early-Season 38 date for selection, just wanted to put it out there well in advance.