Trade Review - Grumpy and Anal

The Grumpy Munchkins receive:

2nd round pick

Anal Hersheiser receives:

Michael Morse, a 11th round pick

Pretty cut and dry here. First, Morse – He’s good. Is he a keeper? He’s had 290 abs as of Wednesday. Let’s say a full a season is double that – 84r/34hr/104rbi/4stl/.364obp – there’s certainly been worse keepers. This year’s second round brought forth guys like Gio, Granderson, Marcum, Lind, Sandoval, Andrus – some high quality shit, but Morse certainly fits that value profile, especially with OF eligibility. It’s a tough pick to give up, but if he proves to be a keeper than it’s more than worthwhile for Anal. Certainly, if he assists in a playoff run, it’s worth it. He’s a nice upgrade to the Ludwick/SSmith types that often filled the UTIL/OF slot. The question is whether Morse keeps this up, as he has never been a full time player before and had a pretty crappy first month or so. Don’t forget, this guy was on the waiver wire not that long ago.

For Casten, let look at his pick stockpile – eight picks in the first two rounds, draft done by the 12th (though, I have no doubt he’ll trade off that 12th rounder, in which case he’ll be done by the 10th). For theoretical purposes, let’s take a look at how the corresponding picks in the first three rounds for the 2011 draft: Aramis Ramirez, Brian Wilson, Wandy Rodriguez, Roy Oswalt, Pablo Sandoval, Joakim Soria, Nick Markakis, and Geovany Soto. To go along with Reyes, Heyward, Pujols, MCabrera, and McCutchen. And, oh, by the way, Casten is still in the playoff hunt and is 27-10-3 in the past four weeks. He’s worked the system nicely so far, though you got to expect some sort of decline in the rankings from his pitching staff in the next few weeks. You have to wonder what sort of run this team would’ve had in it had Casten not started selling off the parts for picks. It’s a tough call.

Anyhow, value wise, this is a pretty fair trade, though I could certainly see Casten’s return proving to be more valuable in the long run.