Deadline Post Mortem

If you're looking for my deadline coverage, this post is only half of it. My early impressions can be found here.

Upon review, I find that yes, the Mets had a killer deadline. They added Clippard, Johnson, Uribe, and then Cespedes. The easiest improvement in baseball is from awful to average, and the Mets went from awful to slightly above average at 2 positions, while adding length to their bench and adding a quality bullpen arm who's flourished in a set up role. More importantly, I can't get over their rotation for the next few years. I honestly can't come up with a fanbase or front office who wouldn't be envious of the Mets' rotation for the next few years.

To wit, here is a potentially dominant front four, along the the last year they're under team control:

• Matt Harvey (2018)
• Zack Wheeler (2019)
• Jake DeGrom (2019)
• Noah Syndergaard (2021?)

It's like the Oaklans A's big 3 of Mulder, Hudson and Zito... if you added current day Sonny Gray to the mix.

Quick... name a team that's better positioned for the 2016-1018 seasons.

I didn't think you could.

Lots of talking heads in the NY area have discussed how Sandy Alderson should have done more, and how the Mets should be sporting a higher payroll (I've seem terms like 'commensurate with the NY market' bandied about). However, the Mets kept their 4 most important assets, kept payroll flexibility for the next few years to build an offense, and are actually one of the most compelling stories of this year. Other than 1986, I can't remember a better time to be a Mets fan.

The Last Place Oakland A's (man, between Sandy Alderson and Billy Beane, I'm sensing a pattern) had a great deadline. Gone are:

• Scott Kazmir (FA at the end of the season)
• Tyler Clippard (FA at the end of the season)
• Ben Zobrist (FA at the end of the season)

In are:

• Jacob Nottingham
• Daniel Mengden
• Sean Manaea
• Aaron Brooks
• Casey Meisner

In addition, based on their last place standing they added Felix Doubrant and Danny Valencia, both of whom have the potential to be contributors next year.

Every fantasty league has that guy who revels in having the number one waiver claim, and makes everyone else around him pay. Billy Beane's that guy, and that's a reason the A's will be back after the division crown sooner rather than later. Doubrant and Valencia could play major parts in that revival.

Finally, I like what the Blue Jays did even less, now that they've give up Valencia for... actually.. nothing. You mean to tell me the Mets wouldn't have given up a bag of used balls to build a bench platoon that has Johnson and Valencia available to pinch hit? Excuse the baseball analogy here, but while swinging for the fences, the Jays managed to forget about moving the runner over.

Early Deadline Action

This post will be half shadow Padres, half real MLB.

For the Shadow team, if I'm the Padres, I'm jumping in on the Angels deal to pick up David Murphy, using Will Venable. As of now, both are .5 WAR Players this year. Venable is a little younger and is a FA at the end of the season, while Murphy has a $7 million team option next year, which I suspect the Angels will decline. As such, I'm dealing off Will Venable for Eric Stamets.

This means I'm forgoing whatever deal gets offered in the next 2 hours on Will Venable, after all, you can't deal away an asset you don't control.

I've been on the Stamets bandwagon for a while. He's a ++ defender, who reminds me a lot of the guy who I'll introduce as the backup MI on my all time team in the next couple weeks. He's also exceptionally fast, making him a perfect punch runner. When the downside of a player reads something like "let's you carry a player like Dan Murphy as an offensive minded 2b, can slot in with a good D minded SS to for a terrific DP combo, and can also be a very good pinch runner"... we have a winner.

Remember, while most people think of quality platoons as LH/RH... there's also the option of Off/Def platoons too.

Long term, I'd like of Stamets as a guy who could end up starting a couple games per week (especially with a GB pitcher on the mound), giving regulars at 2b and SS a break, and also being a killer weapon off the bench in close and late situations where a team needs a pinch runner.

Also, given the reports out there that the Marlins could consider moving Marcell Ozuna, I'm keeping my eyes open. He's a young, cost controlled, 5 tool player, and he's only 24. If he gets moved, there's an excellent chance my fake Padres team will pounce to match the deal the Marlins get (remember, players like Max Fried and Jace Peterson are still in my system... I'm no AJ Preller).

Moves I like

Moving on to real life. I have to say, I really like what the Mets have done so far. I know they're getting killed for the Wilmer Flores debacle (as I said in a Facebook comment... People shouldn't be mocking Flores.. most players cry when they get traded TO the Mets), but I appreciate that the team stood by their doctor's recommendation, and made an unpopular decision. Also, they've added a quality 3b Platoon (with Johnson and Uribe, 3b is covered adequately) while also adding length to the bench. They added a quality pitcher in Tyler Clippard to extend their bullpen. Sandy Alderson is a smart guy, and I think he's playing things perfectly.

The Orioles held on to their best young players, but also added a quality OF who can play all 3 spots, and has hit out of his mind this year. While Toronto went All-In, Dan Duquette made a super smart pickup without mortgaging the future too much. (and yes, I WILL always be a Duquette apologist... Even if his media savvy could stand to improve, I adore the guy as a GM)

Kudos are deserved in Kansas City, where stat heads' least favorite GM, Dayton Moore, made a pair of aggressive moves to show his team and fanbase that he's serious. Cueto is a phenom, and Zobrist makes any lineup he's a part of better. If Alex Gordon comes back healthy in time for the final couple weeks and the playoffs... the Royals would be a super legit competitor to make their second straight world series.

As of this writing, the Cubs have simply added Dan Haren. A discussion I regularly have with people stems from something I learned at SOSH, the easiest improvement is moving from awful to league average. If the Cubs, now 2 games out of the wild card, make the playoffs, there's a great chance it will be because they have one of the better number 5 pitchers in baseball, in Dan Haren. Good move Theo.

Moves I'm on the fence for

I like that the Blue Jays went all in, but goodness, they've lost a TON of talent over the long term. Jeff Hoffman has potential-ace capabilities, and Matt Boyd is a personal cheeseball (H/T John Manuel from BA for the 'Cheeseball' title). I see a lot of Alan Embree there. That said, Toronto has proven in the past to be a baseball town, and the idea of waking a sleeping giant of a fanbase, with the goal of kicking off a sellout streak like the days of old and being able to add payroll was a good gamble.

Moves I don't like

If you're the Phillies, you needed to add young talent with every move. For Cole Hamels, they didn't get a single guy that, to my eye, will be a core member of the next great Phillies team. Getting Joey Gallo instead of a couple extra lottery tickets is something I would have tried to do.

Cincinnati- What are you doing kids? Walt Jocketty has a FAR more extensive resume than I do, so he deserves the benefit of the doubt. But, in total, he's dealt away Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake for Brandon Finnegan, John Lamb, Cody Ross, Adam Duvall and Keury Mella. It's a classic "quantity over quality" approach, and one I'm not smitten with. If the return is Finnegan and Mondesi from KC and Christian Arroyo from SF, I'm FAR more on board. I didn't love what he did here (I'm sure he'll bookmark this post and send me a nice note when 4 of those guys are all-stars).

As of this posting, it's 2:38 ET, and word on the street is that we'll see many, MANY more deal at the deadline. I'm sure there will be more to discuss.

Trade Deadline for the Shadow Padres

With the trade deadline looming, it seems like a good time to see if the Padres would be buyers or sellers. There have to be a million ways to figure this out, but for purposes of this exercise, I'm going to keep it simple.

I'm going to look at the WAR my team would have accumulated, and the WAR that the real Padres have accumulated. If I have more wins than they do, I'll add to their win total. If they have more, I'll subject.

That seems like a simply way to determine how many wins my team would have.

Players on both rosters				Players on my roster				Players on their roster
Player	War			Player	War			Player	War
Yonder Alonso	0.7			Yasmani Grandal	1.8			Clint Barmes	0.9
Jed Gyroko	0.0			Jung Ho Kang	2.5			Matt Kemp	0.5
Will Venable	0.4			Jed Lowrie	0.8			Craig Kimbrel	0.0
Ian Kennedy	0.1			Nori Aoki	1.7			Will Middlebrooks	-1
Cory Luebke	-0.1			Jace Peterson	0.5			Will Myers	0.5
Tyson Ross	0.2			Everth Cabrera	-0.8			Derek Norris	1.7
Andrew Cashner	-0.2			Cameron Maybin	0.7			James Shields	0.1
Odrasmer Despagne	-0.1			Jake Fox	0.0			Justin Upton	3.1
Joaquin Benoit	0.0			Jake Elmore	-0.7			Melvin Upton	0.1
Dale Thayer	0.0			Seth Smith	1.6			Brett Wallace	0.2
Shawn Kelley	0.0								0.2
Austin Hedges	0.1			Sum	8.1			Sum	6.1
Brandon Morrow	-0.1
Josh Johnson	0.0
Robbie Erlin	-0.5
Casey Kelly	0.0
Cory Spangenberg	0.9

In short, I'm 2 wins better than the real life Padres, which means instead of 47 and 52, I'm 49 and 50; 5.5 games out of the wild card, but still with 4 teams in front of me. Basically, I'm not terrible enough to blow it up entirely, but it's also safe to say this won't be a playoff season for me.

If it were me, I'd open up negotiations with Ian Kennedy right now. If we can strike a deal that keeps him here for a few years, I'm 100% in favor. if not, I'm looking REALLY hard at whether or not he is worth a first round tender at the end of the season. At $16.5 million, he'd be my highest paid player, BY FAR, and I'm not sure I'm OK with that.

I'm also putting Will Venable, Shawn Kelley and Joaquin Benoit on the block. Venable will probably be traded in real life, and since h's a FA at the end of the season, I'm wishing him well (note: I really love Will Venable... for years, he's just seemed like a guy who knows how to play). I suspect Kelley won't bring back a ton. For Benoit, If someone wants a "proven closer," even one who's signed for another year, well, there's probably a deal to be made.

Draft Signings post deadline

Player	Signing Bonus	Slot	Difference
Daz Cameron	$4,000,000	$2,962,100	-$1,037,900
John Aiello	NA	$1,506,400	-$1,506,400
Riley Ferrell	$1,000,000	$1,178,400	+$178,400
Rhett Wiseman	$554,100	$687,300	+$133,200
Justin Garza	$169,900	$484,000	+$314,100
Elih Marrero	NA	$362,300	$362,300
Joe Demers	NA	$271,300	$271,300
Riley Thompson	NA	$271,300	$271,300
Kyle Molnar	NA	$203,300	$203,300
Sutton Whitting	$100,000	$172,000	+$72,000
Chandler Day	NA	NA	NA
Cole Irvin	NA	NA	NA
Nick Madrigal/td>	NA	NA	NA
David Lucroy	$100,000	$100k	NA
Luke Willis	$100,000	NA	NA

In total, that puts me $27,600 over my slot value, which means I can close the deal with the players who signed. This draft will essentially be made or broken depending on how Daz Cameron turns out.

The All Time Favorite Team- 5th Starter

His fastball was, in a good day, in the low 70's. But that wasn't his bread ad butter. No, for Tim Wakefield, a 60 MPH butterfly-like knuckle ball was how he'd be successful. And while he wasn't drafted by the Red Sox, he will always be a member of Red Sox nation.

In 2003, after giving up the homerun to Aaron Bleeping Boone, he feared that he'd be treated like Billy Buckner in Boston.

12 months later, he'd volunteer to pitch in relief, giving up a start in the playoffs, and setting off the most magical run I've ever seen in Baseball.

Inside the numbers... the guy had 200 Wins (186 with the Sox). In his first year with the Sox, he rattled off 27 starts, put up 195 innings, and had an ERA of 2.95. It would be one of 2 seasons where his ERA was under 3 in more than 150 IP. He pitched more than 180 IP in a season 9 times, retired with 2 World Series rings, and covered every role imaginable on a pitching staff (evem notching 15 saves in 1999).

If you want to see what Red Sox fans thought of Wakefield, head over to the tribute thread on Sons of Sam Horn.

Tim Wakefield is my number 5 starter.

The Tals Hill Trajesty

Around a month ago, reports surfaced about the fact that the Astros were going to remove Tal's Hill, the oddball patch of grass in center field where Lance Berkman made this amazing catch:

Tal's Hill, like the Green Monster, the Ivy in Wrigley and the Factory in Baltimore, aught to be considered a baseball institution, and something that can't be removed.

More than any other sport, Baseball's home field advantage is truly that... a home field. When the Redsox look for lefty hitters who can go the other way, or the Padres pick up a fly ball starter, it's building to the place where they will spend 81 says or nights in the summer.

And the fall of Tal's Hill removes one of the unique oddities that makes home field home.

All Star Shananigans

There's a discussion happening about how MLB isn't happy about the way citizens of KC have stuffed the ballot, aiming to answer the question of "what happens if you out Mike Trout on our team?"

(By that, I mean KC has elected the entire starting roster of the Royals as starters in the All Star Game, and added Mike Trout).

MLB is apparently going to disallow many of the votes.

And that stinks.

I love what the fans in KC managed to pull off, and the only people who should be embarrassed are the fan bases for 14 other AL clubs.Seriously Red Sox Nation, we can't bother to go online go vote for Pedroia? Indians fans, no love for Jason Kipnis?Jays fans, Josh Donaldson?

Kudos to KC, and for everyone else, well, let's go root for our hometown team!

The All Start game is supposed to be about what the fans want to see.

Example A:

When MLB Decided this exhibition game needed to mean something, the took away the fun of the game.

Omar Infinte isn't going to turn around and bat opposite handed in this game.

Of course, if MLB has its way, we'll have no idea what Omar is doing, because the leading vote-getter at the Keystone will be watching the game on TV from the comfort of his own home.