On the eve of the draft, the defending world champs in Frostbite Falls announced a pair of deals lowering salary and reducing the number of established players pre-draft to 28, swapping two pitchers and a pair of picks in separate swaps with New England and Sin City.
First, to their division rivals (the Aces), the Squirrels sent RHP Anibal Sanchez, who had been expected to be their fourth starter going forward, along with their 8th-round pick in this year's draft. In return, Sin City sent the world champs a pair of prospects (C Wilin Rosario and RHP Liam Hendricks) along with veteran OF Andre Ethier.
GM Andrew Haynes admitted uncertainty about dealing Sanchez, but claimed "we do have good starting pitching, so when we were presented with the opportunity to pick up a talented outfielder and some good prospects for our projected #4 starter, we had to jump on it. We hope Ethier's late-season magic for the (former) Philadelphia Rebels last season is replicated in the home of the defending champs!"
In a second deal, the Squirrels sent useful swing man Alfredo Aceves and their 7th-round pick to the New England Yankee Stompers to pick up some insurance for their bench, adding 1B Casey Kotchman and OF Austin Jackson. New England was satisfied with the move, remarking, "New England always covets depth, and while we are losing Kotchman and Jackson, we are gaining a guy that has a "rubber arm" and can pitch wherever and whenever we need him. you can't put a price tag on a guy like that!"
As for the Squirrels, they admitted, "Depth on the bench was still lacking for us. We were looking to add another outfielder and a player who could DH or play 1B, and we got both. Aceves was a player many teams asked about, so we figured he wouldn't survive the draft if unprotected. To be able to pick up a good, young outfielder in Jackson and a first baseman with as sweet a swing as Kotchman for a player who wasn't likely to be with the team was a bonus."
Unacknowledged in all of Frostbite's calculus: despite his late-season magic, the coveted Ethier would join both Kotchman and Jackson as players exposed to the Draft, so any should be selected late in the Draft, the club could get some picks back.
REBUILDING FRIARS FIND MATCH WITH MOABS
The St. Francis Friars sent OF Shin-Soo Choo, LHP Franklin Morales, pitching prospect Karsten Whitson and St. Francis's 4th-round pick in the 2012 BARB draft to the Brooklyn Moabs, in return for OF Carlos Quentin, LHP Derek Holland and Brooklyn's 7th-round pick.
Moabs GM Eric Caskey felt that his club dealt from a position of strength, in which "Verlander, Gallardo, Lester and Cain present a nightmare for many lineups." Caskey added, "I sought to get increased playing time for the unestablished Cameron Maybin with the idea that Choo fits the profile gig much better than B.J. (Upton, earlier dealt for Gaby Sanchez) or Carlos. The lefty is an outstanding defender with a very good bat that profiles very well in our seventh hole."
Lastly, Caskey noted, "Sweet," in reference to Karsten Whitson, "Brooklyn may take the European Football approach to baseball in which it drafts under the radar and youth products with placement in academies across the country. We would like to use this deal to announce our new academy, the Bunker Complex in (somewhere) Southern Georgia. Among those assigned....Whitson, David Perez, Josh Sale, and Madison Youninger." A side note, "The Melkonian clan really missed out today!"
The Friars organization's press release was less ebullient, noting their rebuilding process...which might explain why St. Francis protected both Holland and Quentin, while Brooklyn left both Choo and Morales exposed to today's Draft.
SIN CITY CONTINUES TO COLLECT PICKS
With the first overall pick in the Draft, the rechristened Aces added two more selections to their larder, now twelve picks in all, and are poised to potentially dominate this year's affair. They sent rookie SS Dee Gordon to the Los Angeles Isotopes, who in return sent both their pick and a 7th-rounder previously acquired from St. Francis.
As Isotopes GM Anthony King explained, "With the acquisition of Dee, I am set at short, and I felt this was a good deal for me to make." Left unmentioned is the fact that a pair of veteran shortstops (Derek Jeter and Stephen Drew) would now be exposed in this year's Draft.
3.08.2012
ARIZONA MYSTERY PROJECT CONTINUES
In another series of moves, the complete makeover of the former Philadelphia Rebels (now the Arizona Rattlesnakes) continued, moves that drew sharp criticism from other GM's for implicitly devaluing this year's Draft.
Having previously moved his first four picks, Arizona GM Ronald Melkonian spent his fifth and seventh-round picks as well as part of deals with Worcester, Casselton and Pottsylvania. Condemnation was swift from veteran baseball men. Retiring St. Francis GM Jack McKeon explained, "It's an insult to those of us who comb the minors looking for future stars. There is plenty of talent waiting to be selected, with far more potential than the retreads that the guy in Arizona keeps collecting. The truth is, he's impatient and lazy. Every BARB organization is going to restock their farm system on Draft Day....except one. Every GM I talk to know the way to rebuild an organization is through the draft....what makes this guy, who has yet to win a single playoff series, right and the rest of us wrong? Thank God, I'm now retired and I don't have put up with this crap anymore."
A harsh assessment, and out of fairness let's put the deals under the microscope, where the details might blossom in Arizona's favor. In their deal with Casselton, the Snakes dealt minor-league 3B to reacquire veteran RHP Gavin Floyd, a solid mid-rotation starter still in his prime who has shuttled back-and-forth between Central Division teams the last few years: always valuable, always desirable, but never a major piece. Last year, Floyd appeared in 33 games with Casselton, including 22 starts, going 8-8 with a 4.92 ERA.
As Horned Toads GM Landon Bolt put it, "Gavin no longer had a place on our team, and we are interested in seeing what Josh can do." Melkonian dealt Vitters, explaining that "we have a surplus of third baseman, and decided to get help in other areas."
Yes....that surplus, which included big-name rookie 3B Mike Moustakas, only recently acquired from the Horned Toads, as well. Just two weeks ago, Melkonian was describing Moustakas as a future franchise cornerstone, but in a stunning twist, the Snakes dealt Moustakas, rookie 1B Justin Smoak, two pitching prospects (LHP Mike Montgomery and RHP Jarrod Parker) along with Arizona's fifth-round pick in this year's draft, all to the Worcester Eliminators....for a single player, ballyhooed 3B Brett Lawrie.
So, the hot corner is still definitely filled for Arizona, but at what price? Observers around the league were flabbergasted that a rebuilding team would cash in so many futures for a single player with only one plate appearance in his BARB career (a strikeout). As Worcester GM Matt Caskey put it: "Well, what can I say? I wanted 6-8 players for Lawrie, but I guess I'll settle for five. Smoak is serviceable and the rest are pretty good prospects. Lawrie's proven nothing and I'd rather take my chances hitting on one or two of the five than all or nothing on Lawrie. To be honest, Lawrie and Moustakas could be a wash, and having Parker, Montgomery, Smoak and a pick added in addition tilts this trade massively in my favor."
As expected, GM Melkonian is high on this deal, viewing Lawrie as "a young, developing superstar at the hot corner, one we deem as a great successor to our long-franchised player, Alex Rodriguez. He has all the tools to battle out Evan Longoria as the best third-baseman by year's end." There is more on the Arizona blog to justify this deal, but former Darwin executive "Rocky" Bridges was unequivocal in his condemnation, labeling it the worst he had ever seen.
"I can't believe this was approved, it is so incredibly one-sided," said the old scout, spitting sunflower seeds out of his mouth with evident distaste. "If just two of the players Worcester acquired become average big-league regulars, Lawrie would need to be a perennial All-Star for Arizona to break even....the odds are good, however, that Parker and Montgomery are going to be in a big-league rotation, that Smoak and Moustakas will be regulars as well, and that one or more of them are going to be All-Stars for years to come! So...the only way Arizona breaks even is if Lawrie wins multiple MVP's over the same stretch!" Bridges punctuated his final challenge with a flying seed: "C'mon! How likely is THAT?"
But the bloodbath of trading controversy was not over. In yet a third move, Arizona sent a pair of "Grade B" prospects (IF Tim Beckham and OF Blake Smith) along with their seventh-round pick to Pottsylvania for a pair of veterans making $19 million: LHP Mark Buehrle and 2B Aaron Hill. Here, at least, was some established value for the Snakes: Buehrle was 3-13 with a 5.53 ERA last year for the Creepers, but did rack up the innings, including some complete games. Hill hit .121 with 2 HR through mid-May and eventually was benched, but he has been the rare slugging second baseman in the past, and presumably could be so, again.
Pottsylvania GM Jeff Moore could care less, and was, in fact, delighted: "I traded essentially NOBODY for three players---seeing as I was going to cut both those guys, anyway, HA HA HA HA!" Moore did not mention that he was once again making a move with a divisional rival, and Arizona has yet to acknowledge how trading away picks makes them, for all effects and purpose, non-players on Draft Day.
Instead, GM Melkonian has identified his "core players who won't be traded." From his blog:
C- Matt Wieters
1B- Adrian Gonzalez
2B- Dustin Ackley
SS- Elvis Andrus
3B- Brett Lawrie
LF- Logan Morrison
CF- Colby Rasmus
RF- Jason Heyward
BARB founder Scott Hatfield could only shake his head ruefully. "What have I done? In my twenty seasons of shaping leagues like this, I could never imagine such an owner. Ron seemingly feels that he can build a club without the draft, and has gone on record as saying that the talent in the draft is far less than in the past. That means, apparently, that all the other owners who are attempting to position themselves for the draft and acquiring extra picks are dumb, and that the smart move is to divest one's team of draft picks to acquire young players who are already established."
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