There were quite a few moves made these past few weeks. I know you all care SOOO deeply about what the guy who loses most of his trades thinks BUT it’s about goddamn time someone effing did one. So, deal with it. By Shane McCann-can-can

 

First Trade (3/1):

XRAYZ traded Elvis Andrus, TEX SS to BABDOOKS
XRAYS traded Justin Smoak, TOR 1B to BABDOOKS

BABADOOKS traded Matt Carpenter, STL 1B to XRAYZ
BABADOOKS traded Jorge Mateo, OAK SS to XRAYZ

I’m PRETTY sure there was a draft pick swap somewheres in there too but I ain’t got the time to go find it. Maybe if ya’ll updated ya dang Twitter pages I wouldn’t have to.

 

 

1B Matt Carpenter  –  32 year old 1B for the Cardinals. Carp is coming off a pretty usual Carp year in terms of counting stats (23 HR, 69 RBI, .384 OBP) and is far from dead at his age. He has lost some of his appeal with declining appearances at other positions, though he could and should 2B or 3B eligibility late in the season. Not that the X-Rayz give a crap as they’ve casually tossed Carpenter away already.

SS Jorge Mateo – 22 year old SS for the A’s. Ranked at 72 overall on MLB.com and is the A’s 4th ranked prospect. Rated highest by Baseball America at 64. Mateo fits the typical X-Rays profile of speed and average and will likely be back at AA to start the season.

SS Elvis Andrus  –  29 year old SS for the Rangers. Doesn’t it feel like Andrus should be older? Some very non-Andrus like numbers in 2017 (20 HRs, 88 RBI) seem WAY off the charts (steroids?) considering he’s never topped EIGHT dongs before. But, I’m sure the allure of Andrus lies in his speed, which he has in spades, and the general weakess of the middle infield for fantasy purposes.

1B Justin Smoak – 31 year old 1B for the Blue Jays. At least this guy kinda had the power thing going all along but exploded with a career best 38 round trippers and a stunning 90 ribbies and a suddenly non Mendoza Line riding batting average. The hope is he keeps it up and maybe the Blue Jays don’t die of dysentery this season and maybe aren’t terrible and this looks genius come August.

This was a tough one, but I gotta go with the BABADOOKS. Even if Smoak returns to pre-2017 levels and gets dropped (as I predict he will) Andrus is a nice enough guy to have around filling up the middle of the infield. Mateo isn’t SUPER highly rated and Carpenter was flipped for a dude not in the ESPN system yet which we’ll get to later. Immediate returns favor the Babadooks as I see it.

Second Trade (3/4):

OGTFC traded Yasiel Puig, RF, LAD to SLUGS

SLUGS traded Brent Honeywell, SP TB to OGTFC

THE FISHING CLUB RETURN:

SP Brent Honeywell – about to be 23 year old SP for the Rays. Ranked as high as 11 (Baseball Prospectus) and generally in that vicinity anywhere else. Went under the knife in late February and is already out for the 2018 season and possibly beyond for that pesky Tommy John surgery. He was pretty dominant in the lower levels of the minors and kept it going into AAA with a sky high 11.3 K/9 between the upper two levels. This guy can be something special if he can return to form and keep the character concerns at bay.

RF Yasiel Puig  –  27 year old RF for the Dodgers. Good not great numbers that were much better in ‘17 than over his young career, he could maybe be a guy heading into next year and beyond. Maybe a little odd that his agent dropped him. MAYBE a little concerning that he found himself DEMOTED as recently as 2016. I still think he can produce those good but not great numbers as long as he keeps out of prolonged slumps and ends up in the minors again.

The Return I Like M

HARD TO SAY AGAIN because as much as I like both players, Tommy John surgery isn’t something to dismiss (unlike your client AMIRITE??) nor is being demoted mid-season for literally sucking. My initial reaction at the time of the trade was the Slugs getting out ahead BUT since we are a dynasty league I have to go with the FISHING CLUB in the end. You kinda already know what you’re getting with Puig and while he is a solid dude, the upside of Honeywell is too much for this casual observer to ignore.

Third Trade (3/4):

XRAYZ traded Lorenzo Cain, MIL CF to WOOD

XRAYZ received the 4th pick in the All-Star Break Draft
WOOD received the 8th pick in the All-Star Break Draft

 

THE X-RAYZ RETURN:

4th Pick in the Draft – Little hard to place a value on a pick when the actual draft hasn’t taken place. Moving up four spots does have it’s advantages though

THE WOOD RETURN:

CF Lorenzo Cain – nearly 32 year old CF for the Brewers. Cain offers a skill set that is (was?) SEVERELY lacking in Q-Tip City. One that helped the X-Rayz to a title is all. He moves to a more hitter-friendly park in Milwaukee and while he won’t offer drastic numbers in the power department, that was clearly not the direction headed with this acquisition.

8th pick in the draft – See above, except for moving down bad.

It’s a little biased BUT I like the WOOD side more. Decent speed picked up for little more than a draft pick swap. Considering how much our normal writer dislikes rating draft pick trades, it would appear the Wooders got Cain for practically nothing, even if he was headed from Dropsville anyway.

The Fourth Trade (3/6):

SLUGS traded Adam Eaton, CF/WAS to WOOD
SLUGS traded Cody Allen, RP/CLE to WOOD
SLUGS traded Jimmie Sherfy, RP/AZ to WOOD

WOOD traded Alex Reyes, SP/STL to SLUGS
WOOD traded Erick Fedde, SP/WAS to SLUGS

THE WOOD RETURN:

CF Adam Eaton – 29 year old CF for the Nationals. Slugs GM Brian Smith had a mini meltdown following Eaton’s season-ending injury last year (because this was the seemingly 75th injury to a Slugs player at that point) and rightfully so as he was on to something good in 2017. He was at a career high OBP when the injury happened on a good team. Sadly, the injury derailed said breakout season and threatens to delay the start of his 2018 campaign. HOWEVER, once healthy, he figures to return to form a produce good, solid counting stats for the Wooders this year.

RP Cody Allen – 29 year old RP for the Indians. Allen notched 30 saves for the 3rd straight year for the Wahoos last year and a sub 3.00 ERA while posting a K/9 of 12.3. This was the prize of the deal and while closers occasionally are a risky move because of how quickly they can lose their jobs, Allen does seem to have one of the more secure jobs in baseball despite the now yearly spectre of Andrew Miller.

RP Jimmie Sherfy – 26 year old for the Diamondbacks. In a normal situation, you don’t trade for what amounts to a holds guy (for now, anyway) but with 10.2 IP of shutout ball last year, he will nab (hopefully) holds while under high minors status. Is it SP, RP minors holds? No, but ya take what you can get.

SP Alex Reyes  –  23 year old pitcher for the Cardinals. Reyes is coming off TJ surgery but has shown in his previous 46 IP in The Show that he can produce. 4-1 record, 1.57 ERA and a K/9 over 10 in those 46 IP. His role when he returns (May-ish) is a bit undefined and muddy at best BUT I see no reason he isn’t getting something important, be it holds, saves or dubyas, in the near future. Speaking of future, the dude is just 23 so he has a lot of time to return to the dominance he showed in 2016. He is MLB.com’s 17th ranked overall prospect for a reason.

SP Erick Fedde – 25 year old Nationals pitcher. Currently competing for a spot in the major league rotation, this dude was TRRRBUL in 2017 in his limited time before basically dying of an forearm injury and losing the rest of his season. He’s fallen off the MLB prospects watch in terms of their top 100 but he remains the 4th guy on the Nats list, and their top pitcher. He has the stuff to be a mid rotation type of guy still if he sticks around in the Big Dance.

The MORNING WOOD in a landslide, if one GroupMe poll is to be believed. While Reyes is a nice piece to potentially build a franchise around, the haul of a top 10 closer, potential future closer and a strong center fielder all under the age of 30 raised some eyebrows and I humbly agree.

Fifth Freaking Trade (3/

WOOD traded Adam Duvall, LF/CIN to LTBS

LTBS traded Kolby Allard, SP/ATL to WOOD

LF Adam Duvall – 29 year old LF for the Reds. Duvall followed up his 2016 All-Star breakout season with a pretty similar 2017 (without the All-Star selection, sad face) which in most formats was pretty good. 31 ding dongs, 99 RBI and that unsightly .301 OBP. That looks to be his only real weakness because he strikes out a lot but I guess it could be constant double play balls which would matter to his real life team FAR more than the Sliderz. An overall solid but not flashy contributor who finds himself whored out this offseason, only to return to where is all began and without so much as a single AB for either team that cast him aside.

SP Kolby Allard –  20 year old pitcher for the Braves. Rankings for this former 1st round pick vary greatly, from Baseball America at 65 to Baseball Prospectus, which places him at 24. He’s reached as high as AA ball and figures to return there to start the 2018 season. He’s shown a middling ERA and K rate so far in the minors but he’s still only going to be 21 this year.

As much as I don’t like it, I like the BACKDOOR SLIDERZ return better. A fly on the wall of the negotiations told me that this was a smooth transaction with both owners finding a good match and making it happen. Duvall isn’t a sexy name (think Jay Bruce) but he is going to produce some pretty sexy numbers even with the probably bad on base percentage. Allard is a bit of an unknown and just isn’t highly touted as a prospect. The Braves tend to know what they’re doing but no one is perfect and we won’t know how this pans out in hindsight until he cracks the majors, maybe in 2019. FOR NOW, Duvall is the better player here.

The Sixth Goddamn Trade (3/7):

XRAYZ traded Matt Carpenter, 1B/STL to LTBS

LTBS traded Hunter Greene, SP/CIN to XRAYZ

Also swapped were LTBS receiving the 2nd overall pick and X-RAYZ receiving the 15th pick

THE BACKDOOR SLIDERZ RETURN:

1B Matt Carpenter – Ya’ll know how I feel about this guy. See above.

THE X-RAYZ RETURN:

SP Hunter Greene’s rights –  18 year old pitcher for the Reds. Second overall draft pick in the MLB draft last year. Super young still and yet so highly rated, sitting at 21 on MLB.com and 29 on Baseball America. Won’t sniff the majors for some time but he’s highly touted and THEY’RE NEVER WRONG!

The Return I Like More:

The BACKDOOR SLIDERZ. If memory serves, Greene was picked 1st last summer which you can view as a swap for that 2 spot, which in theory was slightly lower value. I then look at it as getting Matt Carpenter with the 15th pick, which if he were a free agent and in the pool he wouldn’t fall as low. It’s close, but I see a TEENSY bit more value heading to Lacey Township than it sent out.

Mercy Me, the Seventh and Last Trade (3/8):

BAD DUDES traded Monte Harrison, CF/MIA to XRAYZ

XRAYZ traded Adonis Medina, SP/PHI to BAD DUDES
XRAYZ traded Lazaro Armenteros, LF/OAK to BAD DUDES

Also swapped were X-Rayz receiving the 19th overall pick and the Bad Dudes receiving the 15th pick.

THE BAD DUDES RETURN:

SP Adonia Medina – 21 year old pitcher for the Phillies. Ranked 86th on MLB.com, Medina has languished in Low A ball so far but he is still only recently allowed to purchase alcohol. What he has done in that class has been serviceable if not great with low ERAs countered by a middling strikeout rate. Could be a guy but leaning, for me, towards like a Jon Garland.

LF Lazaro Armenteros – 18 year old left fielder for the A’s. This poor kid has been traded, dropped and traded like a $5 whore the past few months it seems. Ranked 7th on the A’s prospect list (it’s something?) he’s so far only played some rookie ball with little to show for it sooooo who knows.

THE X-RAYZ RETURN:

CF Monte Harrison –  almost 23 year old CF for the Marlins. Generally ranked in the 70s on our major ranking sites. He was a piece in the trade that sent Christian Yelich to Milwaukee and no doubt was acquired (here and in Miami) for his speed, though he has shown some pop lately.

The Return I Like More:

The X-RAYZ yet again. This is partly because Lazaro was dropped and then traded for a week late by the same dude. Prooooobably could have just dropped someone else BUT I shall manage my own damn team. Harrison looks like a slightly better prospect of the two others and seems closer to making his major league debut than Medina, though I still do like him. Far from a landslide here but points off for the Lazaro thing.