Last year robbed us of a lot of things. Like, a bunch. Almost robbed us of our baseball season, but I think we did as good of a job as we could have with what we were given. The biggest thing I personally missed last year - other than the playoffs... - was our trade deadline. And boy, this was a fun deadline.
Not only did we see the two new members of the league bookend the standings, which made things fun - and made things too easy for John - we also had some “buyers” sell and some “sellers” do some buying, which was cool. The season ended with 15 trades - 14 at deadline - which didn’t break any records, but fireworks still went off as scheduled. To breakdown all the happenings of our trade deadline, I’m going to assign everyone a real life MLB deadline counterpart, and talk shit while doing it. Here we go:
Eddie Perkins - Boston Red Sox. Let’s just get this one out of the way now. The constant thrill of waiting 45 minutes between text messages was only matched by the one move he made. For Kyle Finnegan. I’m a little fuzzy on my deep roster knowledge this year, but I think he’s the bat boy for the Minnesota Twins. So as Eddie puts far too much trust in his current roster, and awaits the long anticipated return of his teams’ savior, Byron Buxton, we will see if his third place standing slips away as fast as our home town sit-on-their-asses-while-everyone-around-them-gets-better’s AL East lead. Also he has Kyle Schwarber, so, that's another connection.
Eric Rose - Atlanta Braves. Well, this one is too easy. Eric lost his marquee player, Atlanta Braves’ own Ronald Acuna Jr. Shortly thereafter, he shot up the standings and found himself in 4th place in the standings. Whilst in comparison, I think Eric did more than Acuna’s real life home at the deadline, acquiring Marcus Semien, Robby Ray and Adam Wainwright, and while the Braves just lost their NL East lead, I think both teams have enough to stay relevant and make a modest run at the playoffs. I think Eric played it really well - didn’t blow his entire draft next year, but made enough moves that nobody is going to take his team lightly. First interesting move of the deadline here was a buying playoff team selling one of the top closers to a competitor. Closers are interesting this year. More to come.
John DeMovellan - LA Dodgers. Speaking of Ryan Pressly finding a new home, let’s swing over to the douchbags of the west coast. The Dodgers hauled in Max Scherzer and Trea Turner in a massive deal that the Nationals are getting a little bit of shit for not getting a large enough return on (more on that later). But John, as he does, strikes again. Let’s flashback to what I’m sure went through a couple of our heads when this trade went through…
2017.
John D. Receives: Kris Bryant, Trevor Story, Rich Hill, Greg Holland, Macell Ozuna and Justin Smoak.
Richie T. Receives: Clayton Kershaw, Ryan Zimmerman, Dellin Betances, Drew Pomeranz, Didi Gregorius, Carlos Correa and Lewis Brinson.
2018.
John D. Receives: Corey Knebel, Blake Treinen, Carlos Carrasco, Edwin Encarnacion, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th round pick.
Eric R. Receives: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th round pick.
Now, the 2017 trade is obviously a little bit different - I think that was mostly moving injured guys for healthy guys - but, had to bring that trade up. Arguably craziest trade in our history with 13 players moving and no draft picks. 2018 trade is more like the one stop shopping we saw this year, as Johnny Blockbuster strikes again grabbing Rizzo, Springer and Altuve with one click of a button. He’ll take a lineup so strong that he had to trade away Carlos Correa just to fit everybody, his spotty rotation, and annoyingly strong bullpen into the playoffs where the whole world except for his awful hometown fans will be rooting for him to crash and burn.
Sean Gajewski - San Francisco Giants. Probably my favorite comparison of the write-up. Cause like, anybody understand how the Giants have the best record in baseball? Anybody know who the people on that team are? We do now, but we sure as shit didn’t when the season started. Sean boasts a team that, with the exception of Scherzer, is getting little to know help from his keepers. Drafted well and finding help from all the little guys, motherfucker was so confident (oblivious?) he was trying to sell players for next years draft picks. Like the Bay Area Giants acquiring Kris Bryant, Sean made his splash by mercifully taking Correa off of John’s hands, and adding a name we actually recognize to his lineup. Juice (that’s Sean’s nickname FYI) is going to Billy Beane his way into finishing third this year, but, he worked really hard and we’re all super proud of him.
Greg Thompson - Toronto Blue Jays. This feels like cheating a little bit since, he traded for Jose Berrios and the Blue Jays traded for, Jose Berrios. But mainly, Greg has put together a team that everyone around him should be a bit terrified of. He’s also being carried by Vlad Guerrero Jr. who has become a real life and fantasy MVP caliber player a bit faster than I think even the most optimistic people would’ve thought. Could Greg have done a little bit more - yeah big time. But he also has every reason to be confident in his roster, and held onto his draft for next year with what is going to be another strong cast of keepers. Just because I can, John traded Vlad Jr. in 2018 for Brian Dozier. Thank God.
Dan Alber - Colorado Rockies. It’s tough to know where to start. But, I’m going to start with, dude I’m rooting for ya. Hopefully the small ballpark and the thin air work some crazy magic, cause it takes a sick son of a bitch to try and make up 13 games in 6 weeks. I imagine Dan kept looking at his roster, looking at what it has done over the last couple of weeks, and just stubbornly refused to admit defeat. And after week 17, he’s already down to 7 games to make up after he decimated the last place team and John got smoked by Mark (who also stands in between Dan and the 6th seed). But, he did nothing. Colorado Rockies going absolutely nowhere, sitting with Trevor Story, Jon Gray, Daniel Baard, and more sitting in their locker room with nothing to look forward to but next year, here’s to hoping it’s a different story for Dan. Can he do the impossible? Wasn’t willing to bet next years draft on it. But, I’ll be damned if he doesn’t have at least a shot.
Chris Pflanz - New York Yankees. As the agitated soul sitting restlessly waiting for Dan to return his text messages, it was only fitting to come to Pflanz next. Ready with his draft pick checkbook open, with pre-dated and pre-signed checks ready to ruin the first hour and a half of his draft next year, Pflanz was scooping up as much as he could. Starting with brand new Bronx Bomber Joey Gallo and young gun Freddy Peralta, he made three more moves and ended up with Brandon Lowe, Alek Manoah, Jake Cronenworth, Yasmani Grandal and Carlos Carrasco. By dealing Shane Bieber to yours truly, he actually managed to save his first round pick. But after that… let’s just say I hope they started printing that fantasy baseball magazine again. As are the Yanks, Pflanz made all these moves from outside the current playoff standings, and as his faithful trade partner but also bitter rival, it’s going to be a real hoot if that’s where he stays.
Jeremy Scanlon - Chicago Cubs. There were a couple weeks there where the commish looked like he would be relevant in September. That came to a screeching halt as it became apparent that his team, wasn’t good. Oh and his ace turned out to be kind of a massive douche. While the Cubs didn’t have that sort of drama in their locker room, they certainly called it quits and sold off anything they could, while also saying goodbye to a player that was the heart and soul of their team for many years. Nolan Arenado being one member among the seven players (five to Pflanz) in the four trades I made, that era comes to an end. If only Arenado did what Rizzo did and brought his team a championship… Alas, we will see if the newly acquired talent will help break Scanlon’s newly acquired Commish Curse™ in a year that absolutely will not be this one.
Russ Travers - Chicago White Sox. Speaking of Commish Curse™… Russ is battling something similar to Eric due to Fernando Tatis Jr.’s ailing shoulder injury. Luckily for Russ, he’s covered position eligibility wise with Xander being his other stud, but we all know what Tatis is, so Russ, while hopeful for a strong return before seasons end, did have a hole to fill. And I would say, he filled it well. Sneaky Russ managed to improve his team while actually gaining a pick in the draft - well, except for shipping Sale for Kershaw, that didn’t go very well. Like, at all. That was rough. I mean I don't mean to harp on it. He also upgraded one of Richie's picks!! Anyways, aside from that brutal trade, Russ took advantage of the keeper hunters, flipping recently recovered Eloy and done-for-the-year Rendon for Arenado, Merrifield, Romano and Soto. Given the White Sox being loaded with young talent, they didn’t hesitate to move Madrigal at the deadline, and Russ’ solid core of keepers allowed him to improve his team without jeopardizing his draft.
Richie Travers - Minnesota Twins. Richie was on a keeper seeking mission, and I think, for what he did, pulled in some pretty good names. Similar to Berrios and Cruz, Richie moved a couple studs in Semien, Kershaw and Merrifield and was able to move up the draft board a little bit, but more importantly for him grab Sale and Rendon to add to Devers and JD. That mission, accomplished. I think given the demand for 2b, he could’ve gotten a little more return for Whit, but unfortunately there wasn’t much else on his team drawing much demand. A little less active than usual for Richie but for that, we forgive you.
Mark Chirokas - Seattle Mariners. Just like, pretty strange. Mark rounds off the members of the league this yeah who I guess felt a little trapped in the middle and didn’t really move one way or the other. His outside looking in view of the playoffs I have to imagine looks a bit further now. He ships Robbie Ray and Brandon Lowe, which can’t be good for the clubhouse of a team not knowing where they stand. I didn’t talk to Mark much at the deadline - mostly because every time I ask him for deGrom he rolls his eyes and tells me to leave him alone - but hey if the deals aren’t there, the deals aren’t there. A rough year for his keepers makes it seem like he could’ve gone keeper seeking a bit if he was up for it… Deadline felt a little non-commital for the defending champ, but at least he didn't drink his way through no moves like Eddie did. Thanks for not winning the championship this year Mark - hope the next ten years are exactly the same.
Jeremy Garside - Washington Nationals. Garside and I, I’m sure to nobody’s surprise talked a decent amount in the deadline days. I know his train of thought a bit more than others, and I’ll leave that where it is. This is definitely a great example of new blood in the league and I’m excited about his approach. I’m not going to give him too much shit here, but letting John D. of all fucking people escape that trade at that price was, devastating. As much of a douche as he is, I think Altuve was the prize of the draft, at a position that every buyer wanted. The criticism the Nationals are getting for their return for Trea Turner seems right in line for me in the return he got for this trade. But Garside goes into next year in good shape - a very young core of keepers that he essentially hand picked, and some picks to throw around. Just know for the future that, when you trade with John, it’s important to squeeze every last thing out of him you possibly can. Kinda like how he got a second round pick for a pitcher he just picked up off of waivers from Pflanz. More of that!
Another deadline in the books setting up what should be a really sweet playoff run. Top half of the current playoff bracket flashing their egos at the next four teams, telling them they didn’t need much more than their current roster to continue to beat their asses. Then you have the heavy buyers flashing all their new toys looking to barrel their way into the playoff picture and break up the top 3. As much as I love being involved, I’m pretty content sitting back and watching this one… Good luck everyone!
- Commish Prediction -
Final Standings:
Polark Power
Cole World
Kenta Believe It
The Young Guns
Buehler’s Day Off
Something Witty
Ryu Serious?!
All Betts are Off
MC
Neverending Stooory!
Bo Knows
Bohm’s Away
Playoff Prediciton:
Kenta Believe It beats Something Witty, 6-3-1
The Young Guns beats Buehler’s Day Off 5-4-1
Kenta Believe It beats Cole World 6-4
Polark Power beats The Young Guns 5-4-1
Kenta Believe It beats Polark Power 7-2-1
Way too early first twelve picks of the draft prediction:
Manny Machado
Jose Altuve
Freddy Peralta
Matt Olsen
Lance Lynn
Kevin Gausman
Yordan Alvarez
Robbie Ray
Kris Bryant
Jose Berrios
Starling Marte
Giancarlo Stanton
