Despite various rumors, news wires were mostly quiet as just two
small trades were completed at the 2015 BARB trade deadline.
A total of three teams were involved in
the two deals, all in playoff positions but all with different goals.
The St. Francis Kansans, with a
five-game lead on the Casselton Horned Toads for the second wild card in the
Grapefruit division (but 11 games back of division-leading New England) decided
to “go for it” and make whatever sensible moves give them a reasonable chance
of a third-straight playoff berth. With that in mind, concerned about their
production against left-handed pitching, and worried about the health of
infielders Justin Turner and Danny Espinosa, the Kansans sent injured righty
Henderson Alvarez and a PTBN to Frostbite Falls for utility man Danny Valencia.
“Valencia will come off the bench
against lefties and get starts all over the place to keep our guys rested,”
said owner Scott Hatfield. “We have directed acting-GM Kevin Towers to make the
roster moves necessary to get Valencia at-bats in September.”
Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images
The Flying Squirrels, for their part, viewed
this as a minor sell-off and a chance to position their team for 2016—despite a
one-half game advantage for the Cactus division’s final playoff spot. Frostbite
management was rumored to have had discussions about dealing bigger names on
the roster to other contenders, but nothing came to fruition.
“At the onset of this season we
considered our ballclub a strong contender for a division title, but many
players have performed beneath their abilities,” said Frostbite Falls GM Andrew
Friedman. “Yes, anything can happen in a short playoff series—but we weren’t
going to gamble on a big acquisition and see others continue to struggle and
miss the playoffs.
“With this deal we’ll have a top
contender in 2016, to be sure.”
Not done with their positioning for a
run at a first-ever league championship, BARB founder Scott Hatfield dropped a
bomb in his clubhouse by dealing popular outfielder Michael Brantley, his
first-round pick in March, to the Yuma Firebirds in exchange for left-handed
reliever Sean Doolittle and a pair of highly-regarded prospects, Carlos Rodon
and Jurickson Profar.
“This is not going to win me any fans,”
admitted Towers. “People like Michael. He plays hard, and he plays hurt, and he
has exceptional bat control. That’s a rare ability. But we saw a chance to get
a quality southpaw in the pen, a real upgrade, and frankly we just think that,
ready or not, it’s time to find out if Kyle Schwarber can handle regular duty
in left field. We are going to be a team with more swing-and-miss with Michael
gone, but scoring runs has not been our problem. Preventing them, especially in
the bullpen, has been our nemesis more often than not the last two months.”
Robert Galbraith/Reuters
Chris Melkonian didn’t provide a
statement on his Cactus-leading team’s outfield pickup, but it’s clear this
move wouldn’t cost Yuma a playoff spot.
Various other playoff contenders,
including Brownsville, Brooklyn and Santa Barbara, didn’t have much trade
discussion make the rumor mill at the deadline but had been making deals to
position their teams throughout the summer.
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