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Earlier today I wrote about the trade deadline winners so I feel the need to write, not about the losers, it’s too soon to tell, but about the deals and non-deals that made me scratch my head and wondering what the team was thinking. With that said, here are the trades that left me in wonder:
The Giants trade for Cabrera: The Giants traded Thomas Neal, a prospect in that has a good chance to be a solid 4th outfielder for Orlando Cabrera, a guy with -0.7 fWAR and a -7.2 UZR. Yes, the Giants need middle infield help but Cabrera should not be playing on any contending team and the fact they gave up a prospect for him makes the deal even worse. This is after they traded Zack Wheeler for Carlos Beltran. Sure, Beltran was the best position player available but they get 2+ months of Beltran and no compensation pick and lose a potential top-of-the-rotation starter with 6 years of control.
The Dodgers give Robinson away: The Dodgers apparently love to give legit prospects away for bulk prospects with bench potential. They traded Trayvon Robinson who was hitting .293/.375/.563 with 26 homeruns in his first season in AAA. He has great raw power but swings and misses a lot and is still raw for a guy who will be 24 on September 1st. He has the wheels to play center but is better suited for left and could have been starting there next year for the Dodgers but they wanted a future back up catcher in Tim Federowicz with no bat and two future right-handed relievers in Stephen Fife and Juan Rodriguez. On top of this they are holding on to aging veterans when they need to save money and rebuild.
The Twins proposal of Span for Storen and not trading Cuddyer: Why would the Twins, who need to be selling high on Michael Cuddyer, be trying to trade Denard Span, a true center fielder who was well on his way to a 5 fWAR season, for Drew Storen, a potential 1 fWAR reliever? Don’t get me wrong, I really like Storen, but Span was having an All-Star year and has that potential moving forward and Storen is a reliever. You don’t make trades like that. What you do is make trades that involve soon-to-be free agents named Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel who are hitting .298/.370/.477 with 16 homeruns and a career high 138 wRC+ while playing multiple positions and .303/.356/.444 with a 126 wRC+ all while the market is hot for hitters.
The non-moves by losing ball clubs: I have no idea why the only move the A’s made was trading Brad Ziegler. I do like the trade because they got Brandon Allen in return but they held on to too many pieces that could have netted solid returns like Coco Crisp, Josh Willingham, Conor Jackson, Michael Wuertz, Brian Fuentes, and Grant Balfour. The Cubs also held on to guys like Kerry Wood, Aramis Ramirez, and Carlos Pena. I can only imagine the return they’d get for Ramirez who has 19 homeruns and passable defense at one of the worst hitting positions in 2011. The Royals held on to Melky Cabrera, 2010′s worst player who is having a career year hitting .304/.340/.466 with 13 homeruns and 14 stolen bases and, amazingly, passable defense in center and, amazingly, great base running with a +3.9 Bsr. They also held on to Jeff Francoeur who was hitting .272/.326/.464 and an excellent +4.1 UZR in right.
The non-moves by winning ball clubs: The Yankees decided to stand pat and not add a needed starting pitcher for the second deadline in a row. In fact, the most talks surrounding them were about reliever Heath Bell and it was wise of them not to pay heavily for something they did not need. The Angels sat around and complained about the price during the deadline rather than adding a legit bat. The Rays, who had pieces to sell and buy, did absolutely nothing. They could have been the biggest buyers with their farm system and not even traded their top 3 prospects. They desperately need bats and I do not blame them for holding on to B.J. Upton, Casey Kotchman, or Johnny Damon if they think they are still contenders in the AL East. But, if they happened to be sellers why did they not make a deal involving Upton, Kotchman, Damon, Joel Peralta, Kyle Farnsworth, Jeff Niemann, Wade Davis, or Alex Cobb? Heck, why didn’t they make a trade imvolving a pitcher for a bat anyway. They could have still been contending and helped their 2012 club with the right bat.
-Jonathan C. Mitchell can be found writing about the Tampa Bay Rays at DRaysBay and you can follow him on twitter at @FigureFilbert and follow MLBdirt at @MLBdirt
Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis Tagged: | Alex Cobb, Aramis Ramirez, B.J. Upton, Brad Ziegler, Brandon Allen, Brian Fuentes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Pena, Casey Kotchman, Chicago Cubs, Coco Crisp, Conor Jackson, Denard Span, Drew Storen, Grant Balfour, Heath Bell, Jason Kubel, Jeff Francoeur, Jeff Niemann, Joel Peralta, Johnny Damon, Josh Willingham, Juan Rodriguez, Kansas City Royals, Kerry Wood, Kyle Farnsworth, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Melky Cabrera, Michael Cuddyer, Michael Wuertz, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Oakland A's, Orlando Cabrera, Prospects, San Francisco Giants, Stephen Fife, Tampa Bay Rays, Thomas Neal, Tim Federowicz, Trades, Trayvon Robinson, Wade Davis, Zack Wheeler
Regardless if the Cubs would have made a deal for Ramirez, he was going to veto any trade with his 10/5 power. Wood has made it very clear that he plans to finish his playing days in Chicago.
I really wish they could have moved Pena, Grabow (who probably will be a waiver wire trade), Soriano (for a bag of peanuts and sunflower seeds for all I care). They need some of these younger guys playing consistently to see what they’re going to have for the coming season. This will pave the way for Brett Jackson, DJ LeMahieu (who’s tearing it up at AAA now), and potentially Rebel Ridling or Justin Bour at first. Those two kids are moving up the MiLB ladder well, and are way better than Brian LaHair anyway.
Forgot about A-Ram’s 10/5 rights. I agree, the Cubs really should have traded as many aging pieces as they could. Soriano and Zambrano could be in play for waiver wire trades and every Cubs fan should hope they are.
Agree– Especially Soriano… even if they a majority of his contract the next four season yet, it’s worth it. They have a a slew of young OF that could do as good if not better than Sori, especially defensively. Zambrano? I dunno about him, part of me wants him to say since he’s been a Cub, but part of me thinks the team could do better too. They don’t have much for major league ready rotation stuff, so it could be pretty painful with out him till they figure things out.
As said, the Cubs have a good number of position players in the minors that could make a difference on the big league squad. DJ LeMahieu, Ryan Flaherty (albeit a slow AAA start), Brett Jackson, Rebel Ridling, Justin Bour, Evan Crawford, Matt Szczur, and maybe even Greg Rohan could be contributing soon.