Angry Pirates receive:
OF Nelson Cruz TEX
2B Dustin Ackley SEA
18th rounder
20th rounder in 2013
Donkey Punchers:
OF Matt Holliday STL
12th rounder
10th rounder in 2013
Even with the advent of draft pick trading, we still saw approximately the same number of offseason trades as in previous years. I expected more, but I think most teams either did their business before the trade deadline last year and really didn’t have much to move (Dave, Brandon, Russ) or are in the position where they’re looking at the draft picks and lamenting the picks lost prior to the deadline last year, and thus, don’t want to hurt their position further. For those teams with large gaps in between picks, going through this draft may ultimately cut back on some of the draft picks trades that went through last season. This supports the league’s decision not to take action to try and restrict trading of picks as there could potentially be some organic self-policing. Overall, even though I felt Dave’s idea of not allowing picks in the first three rounds had merit, I thought it was important to see how the year plays out and consider adjusting next season. Casten’s team will ultimately be a pretty interesting case study.
Anyhow, this trade sort of shows how difficult the market was. Kyle, quite frankly, had to do something. Whereas Casten can be forgiven for keeping Bryce Harper even though he’s likely to start the season in the minors because he has so many early picks, the Angry Pirates don’t have the luxury of keeping AAA-bound uber-prospect Mike Trout with one pick in the first four rounds. I think ultimately Cruz’s inability to stay healthy for an entire season juxtaposed with Holliday’s consistent health (prior to last year he had one year since 2006 where he played less than 155 games—139 games in 2008) puts Kyle is at the losing end of this trade. The 6-round downgrade is understandable, but the 10-round downgrade in the 2013 pick is particularly hurtful. Ultimately, I think just swapping the players without picks would’ve been pretty fair since there was really no way Chris could keep Ackley and he was getting the better player anyway. But, like I said, the market made it difficult to deal. Kyle certainly upgrades his keepers, with Stanton, Castro, Cruz, JJohnson, Ackley and Freeman representing a very solid group to start the season. There’s definitely some injury red flags here though with the aforementioned Cruz joining Stanton, who got one of the wrist in ST, Johnson coming off a six-start season, and Freeman dealing with a knee problem. All should be OK to start the season, but something to keep track of. Its tough to know what to expect from Ackley as he doesn’t do anything tremendously well from a fantasy perspective, though he should contribute in all categories.
As previously stated, Chris made out very well here in upgrading a keeper (joining a great group that includes Bautita, Tex, Halladay, and Napoli), while getting back a 12th rounder after trading his away, and acquiring a very good pick in 2013. The only negative impact is Ackley won’t be available for him to draft if he wanted to, but there’s some depth at second base this year and 10 teams already have the spot filled with a keeper, so there’s likely to be similar value in middle rounds. Nice move that puts him in great position to start the season.
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