Non Mets Off Season News

[Lefty Specialist]

Frayed Knot wrote: Straight-up swap: Cards deal Jon Jay to the Padres for Hugo Black OK, just looking to see if anyone was paying attention, it's actually Jay for Jedd Gyorko

Wow. Supreme Court humor.

[Frayed Knot]

D'Backs deal away the 2015 1/1 draft pick, Dansby Swanson, PLUS OF Ender Inciarte & prospect Aaron Blair to the Braves for RHP Shelby Miller

Miller went a wacky 6-17 in 2015 even with purdy dern good peripheral numbers (although much better in first half of season than in second). He had previously been dealt to the Braves for Jason Hayward.
He has 3 years worth of team control left.

I saw a blurb that called Swanson, a SS out of Vanderbilt, is the 4th #1 overall pick to be dealt away before ever playing for the team that picked him. Not sure who all the others are and I'm sure none have been dealt so quickly (remember the one-year rule was recently waived).
I did come up with Adrian Gonzalez: 2000 #1 by Florida, traded three years later (along with two other players) to the Rangers for Ugeth Urbina
Swanson, who sounds like a cast member of 'Dowton Abbey', had just 100 PAs last year in Rookie ball so he's a ways off yet even with [crossout:1h3vr085]Atlanta's[/crossout:1h3vr085] [Cobb County's by the time he gets there] history of promoting players aggressively through their minor league system.

[TransMonk]

Zona's pitching staff is now oodles better than it was a few weeks ago.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Miller's good, but not THAT good-- less swing-and-miss; more pitch-to-contact. Swanson and Blair AND Inciarte? Hell, if you believe in the validity of defensive metrics, Inciarte alone might feasibly be worth more than Miller next season.

Teams seem as hell-bent to help the Braves with these rebuild trades as teams seemed to be with the MFYs a couple years back.

#traidHarvey

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: #traidHarvey

#Yup

[batmagadanleadoff]

Frayed Knot wrote: I saw a blurb that called Swanson, a SS out of Vanderbilt, is the 4th #1 overall pick to be dealt away before ever playing for the team that picked him. Not sure who all the others are and I'm sure none have been dealt so quickly (remember the one-year rule was recently waived). I did come up with Adrian Gonzalez: 2000 #1 by Florida, traded three years later (along with two other players) to the Rangers for Ugeth Urbina Swanson, who sounds like a cast member of 'Dowton Abbey', had just 100 PAs last year in Rookie ball so he's a ways off yet even with [crossout]Atlanta's[/crossout] [Cobb County's by the time he gets there] history of promoting players aggressively through their minor league system.

Tim Belcher (drafted by Twins)
Josh Hamilton (drafted by Devil Rays)

[Edgy MD]

Hamilton wasn't even dealt away, but Rule 5-ed away.

[Frayed Knot]

I don't even remember where I saw this particular 'stat' or how exactly it was phrased. It may have been on an ESPN screen-bottom crawl so it was just a passing thing but I thought it specified being traded away by the drafting team.

I had noticed both Belcher and Hamilton and each would work if it was simply 'never played for' the team that drafted them - but there are more than four if that's the only standard. But if it was 'traded by', like this Swanson kid just was, then, as Edgy notes, Hamilton doesn't really fit as he was Rule 5'd away (and then traded).
Nor does Belcher who was the #1 overall by the Twins in June '83 but didn't sign. He was then picked 1st by the Yanx in six months later in the 'Secondary Phase' of the draft before being plucked from their roster a few weeks later as a FA compensation pick. So not only is that January draft a bygone thing but it wasn't the same as being a 1/1 pick in the regular phase even when it did exist. Nor is being taken as FA-comp (another procedure which no longer exists) the same as being traded.


btw, Swanson is not just another Georgia kid for the Braves (they seem to get those guys one way or the other) but he's specifically from [u:3kniknaw]Kennesaw[/u:3kniknaw], Georgia in [u:3kniknaw]Cobb[/u:3kniknaw] County where their new stadium will be. Sounds like he's been destined to be a baseball player all along.

[Frayed Knot]

Luis Cessa, the other prospect we sent to the Tiggers along with the more heralded Michael Fulmer in the Cespedes deal, has been sent along to the Yanx (along with another prospect) for LHR Justin Wilson

[Frayed Knot]

Phils decide that in their current condition they have no use for a flame-throwing closer type dealt away Ken Giles to the Astros in exchange for Four young players/prospects:
RHP Vince Velaquez (23 y/o), LHP Brett Oberholtzer (26), OF Derek Fisher (22), RHP Thomas Eshelman (21 - 2015 2nd round pick)

Giles took over the back of the pen after the trade of Papelbon to Washington and saved 15 games in 17 chances.
My recollection is that the Mets didn't hit him and the (small-ish sample) stats seems to bear that out: NYM bats were 5-for-34 against with 1 2B + 1 HR across 9 games/10.1 innings

[HahnSolo]

Frayed Knot wrote: I saw a blurb that called Swanson, a SS out of Vanderbilt, is the 4th #1 overall pick to be dealt away before ever playing for the team that picked him. Not sure who all the others are and I'm sure none have been dealt so quickly (remember the one-year rule was recently waived). I did come up with Adrian Gonzalez: 2000 #1 by Florida, traded three years later (along with two other players) to the Rangers for Ugeth Urbina.

Shawn Abner?

[Frayed Knot]

HahnSolo wrote: I saw a blurb that called Swanson, a SS out of Vanderbilt, is the 4th #1 overall pick to be dealt away before ever playing for the team that picked him. Not sure who all the others are and I'm sure none have been dealt so quickly (remember the one-year rule was recently waived). I did come up with Adrian Gonzalez: 2000 #1 by Florida, traded three years later (along with two other players) to the Rangers for Ugeth Urbina. Shawn Abner?

Ah yes! Two and a half years after being the #1/1 pick in the '84 draft, Abner was dealt away (on this date 29 years ago!) in the Kevin McReynolds deal and then made his ML debut the following September.
I didn't realize he stuck around for portions of six seasons (I would have guessed his career more brief than that) although totaled only 902 PA with the Pads & ChiSox.

[Frayed Knot]

Couple of in-division swaps of note yesterday

- Nationals got one good season out of Yunel Escobar and decided that that was as far as they wished to push their luck. So they dealt him to Anaheim in an attempt to shore up the bullpen (aka: make way for later trades of Storen and/or Papelbon). Trevor Gott is the main bait with some minor league PTBNL duct-taped to him.

- and the Braves have given up on catcher Christian Bethancourt. The defensive specialist who Atlanta hoped would develop into an all-around catcher couldn't hold off the 82 y/o AJ Pierzynski last year so he's been shipped to San Diego for pitcher Casey Kelly and 17 y/o minor league catcher Ricardo Rodriguez. Kelly was a one-time 1st round pick of the Red Sox who was sent west in the Adrian Gonzalez deal amid much grumbling from Red Sox nation ("no, whatever you do don't trade Kelly!!"). Since then he's been injured (missed all of 2013 + '14) and/or ineffective (one most likely causing the other) but is still just 26 y/o so the Braves figure is worth a gamble.

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: Phils ... dealt ... to the Astros in exchange for ...LHP Brett Oberholtzer (26)

That is oh, so wrong.
Brett Oberholtzer should be playing for St Louis or San Francisco. (A flashback to the old Baseball Digest rookie reports)

Later

[Edgy MD]

What's the word on the Chapman deal?

[MFS62]

Edgy MD wrote: What's the word on the Chapman deal?

Haven't seen any resolution yet.

Later

[Farmer Ted]

Oliver Perez to the Nats. Oliver. Perez. Ladies and gentlemen.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Say what ya want, that guy is having a career. 2016 will be his 14th year in O.B.

[TransMonk]

[fimg=400:1d1r2d35]http://i.imgur.com/WCTisgw.png[/fimg:1d1r2d35]

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Six-year-deal for $130M or so, reportedly, with player opt-out-- ALL the cool kidz get opt-outz-- after two.

[Edgy MD]

Prediction: He serves the six-year sentence, with the Giants carrying him a good stretch of the way.

[Frayed Knot]

'Opt-Outs' are the new 'No-Trade' clause.



Giants 2016 rotation = Cain, Bumgarner, Peavy, Cueto, Samardzija

[Frayed Knot]

ChiSox send 3 prospects to the Dodgers
Dodgers send 3 prospects to Cincy
Cincy sends Todd Frazier to the ChiSox

[Frayed Knot]

So not only is the Dodgers' trade for Aroldis Chapman on seemingly perpetual hold, but now so is their FA deal for Hisashi Iwakuma
They had previously reached a 3 year deal for the former Seattle starter (and 2015 no-hitter author) but this one has hit a snag over medical questions found during the required physical rather than around any potential felony charges.

[bmfc1]

Brandon Phillips to WSH. He'll have more opportunities to extend his Citi Field hitting streak.

[Ceetar]

bmfc1 wrote: Brandon Phillips to WSH. He'll have more opportunities to extend his Citi Field hitting streak.

I like this move....for the Mets.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

He makes the Nats better

[Edgy MD]

Man, Reds hitters have always seemed to gravitate toward Washington since the Nationals came into existence.

Anyhow, this takes DC out of play for Murphy. Have we polled yet on the question of where we think Murphy is going to land?

[Frayed Knot]

Certainly helps the Nats in the short run - although not as much as he would have even 2-3 years ago.

Deal not yet official - although certainly seems to be done. Phillips still has to give his stamp of approval (5-10 rights) and there's no word on what is going back the other way.
Phillips signed for two more seasons at pretty big bucks ($13 & $14). Will turn 35 in mid-season 2016

[Frayed Knot]

Frayed Knot wrote: So not only is the Dodgers' trade for Aroldis Chapman on seemingly perpetual hold, but now so is their FA deal for Hisashi Iwakuma They had previously reached a 3 year deal for the former Seattle starter (and 2015 no-hitter author) but this one has hit a snag over medical questions found during the required physical rather than around any potential felony charges.

And Iwakuma returns to the Mariners; one year deal with several options.