Moonshiners catcher Miguel Montero
During the 2011 regular season, there was not a single trade completed in the DTBL. This year, things were back to normal with a handful of deals going down. This was not a surprising development since, unlike last year, more than half of the teams were still in title contention by the time the trade deadline arrived earlier this week. In total, five trades were completed. Three of them involved the Moonshiners, who are trying to make this the second consecutive season with a first time DTBL champion. Since I have not written about any of the these trades, I will recap them all right now, even the ones that were completed quite a while ago.
Mavericks/Darkhorses (June 6)
Mavericks get: RP Matt Capps, P Matt Harrison
Darkhorses get: P Ricky Romero, RP Daniel Bard
I don’t think it is too early to say this trade his been quite a disaster on both sides. The Mavericks made this deal to try to get themselves another closer, but Matt Capps got hurt very soon after this trade and is yet to record a save for his new team. Meanwhile, the key piece going the opposite direction, Ricky Romero, has continued his dreadful season. The Darkhorses other acquisition, Daniel Bard, is buried in the minors where he can’t throw strikes. It is unclear if he will ever be a viable MLB pitcher again. As it turns out, the only player in this trade who has had any sort of value is Matt Harrison. But he was only included because the Darkhorses needed to clear out a roster spot. The Mavericks immediately released him. The Moonshiners swooped in and signed him later and he has had a very productive season for them.
Mavericks/Gators (July 11)
Mavericks get: 2B Dan Uggla
Gators get: C Salvador Perez
As Greg can confirm, I was not happy when I saw the details of this trade. I thought it was a steal for the Mavericks, primarily because they were able to fill a glaring hole (Dee Gordon had just gone on the DL, leaving them short a middle infielder) without giving up a player that had much value to them. But with hindsight being 20/20, this was actually a pretty solid move for the Gators. Uggla is a batting average killer and isn’t even putting up particularly impressive power numbers anymore. In fact, since this trade was made, Perez has one more home run than Uggla. Perez is obviously a lot younger too, making him a better fit for the Gators future plans. That’s not to say this has become a bad trade for the Mavericks though. They had little use for Perez with Wieters and Santana anchoring their catching staff. Perhaps Uggla will go on one of his patented hot streaks before this season ends.
Moonshiners/Demigods (July 26)
Moonshiners get: RP Joe Nathan, 12th Round Pick
Demigods get: 2nd Round Pick
There was a lot of activity around the trade deadline involving closers, but this was the only deal that actually got done (not counting the Capps trade in June). Out of contention for this season, the Demigods had little use for a 37 year old closer. So they were able to get a second round pick for him. If you are wondering what type of player this could turn out to be for the Demigods, here are two names of players picked in this year’s second round: Mike Trout and Gio Gonzalez. Maybe they won’t get that lucky, but there is too much opportunity there for them to have passed on a deal like this. Meanwhile, this was the first sign that the Moonshiners are truly “all in” for 2012. They are up to 5th in saves with a great opportunity to pick up another point before the year is over.
Moonshiners/Kings (August 15)
Moonshiners get: C Miguel Montero, P Edwin Jackson
Kings get: P Dan Haren, 3B David Freese
This was probably the biggest trade made this season, in part because it was the only one involving two teams in the championship chase. In fact, to see two teams so close to each other in the standings make a trade this big this late in the season is quite rare. The Moonshiners needed to find a catcher after losing both of their regulars (J.P. Arencibia and Mike Napoli) to injuries. Not only were they able to find one, but they got an upper echelon receiver in Montero. The Kings could afford to deal him because they had two other good, young catchers on their roster (Jonathan LuCroy and Wilin Rosario). On the flip side, the Kings have been struggling to find effective starting pitching all season. In many ways, Haren fits right in with the rest of the underachieving staff. However, he probably has more upside than anyone in their rotation not named Verlander. Although this was an attempt to get better now, the bigger upside for the Kings may be in the future. Freese returns to his original DTBL team to fill a need at 3B, which has been a black hole since ARod got hurt. Jackson could wind up being a huge pickup for the Moonshiners too, even though he was probably considered the least valuable player in the deal.
Moonshiners/Darkhorses (August 15)
Moonshiners get: OF Alex Rios, 11th Round Pick
Darkhorses get: C Mike Napoli, 4th Round Pick
The last trade, completed within the last couple hours before the deadline, was what the Moonshiners hope to be the final piece of their puzzle. They acquired the red-hot Rios for an injured catcher and a draft pick swap. Earlier this year, nobody would have guessed that a Napoli/Rios swap would lead to the team acquiring Napoli also receiving the advantage in a draft pick exchange. But it has been a disappointing, and now injury hampered season for Napoli. He could be a key addition for the Darkhorses though as he is capable of supplying big time power from a very weak position. But for this season, Rios is obviously the player with more value. He is having a very productive season, following a truly dreadful 2011. The recent trend points to good seasons in even numbered years and poor seasons in odd years. So we’ll have to see what he provides the Moonshiners next year. But in the mean time, he could be a huge addition for the final month and a half of 2012.
Finally, I want to end with a follow up to my previous blog post, which focused on the Stephen Strasburg situation. I knew this was going to be a big story, but didn’t expect major features coming out from every corner of the sports world the last few weeks. It has been discussed on nearly every sports program and web site. What I find fascinating is that the people who seem to have the most to lose (short term) from a Strasburg shutdown (the Nationals, their fans, and the DC sports media) seem to be the only ones who actually support the shutdown. Meanwhile, the so-called experts outside of DC seem to be unanimously opposed to the shutdown. This is almost exactly the opposite of what I expected. Hearing Rob Dibble and Tim McCarver give dimwitted declarations of opposition to the shutdown actually has me reconsidering my position. Do I really want to be on their side of this argument?