There really weren’t the
fireworks of past JLB deadlines — and certainly not the craziness of the MLB
deadline this year — but there was history made.
A four-way deal between
Monkey, Breakfast, Sex Panthers and the Slammers became the first deal in the
JLB involving more than two teams.
It was a bit crazy how it
came about and how easily it came together in the end. I personally have been part of several three-way trade negotiations, but they have all fallen apart pretty quickly.
This one went from a "What if" to a real deal in minutes.
First, the Slammers wanted
Cal Quantrill from Monkey, but the demand was a bit high. Then, once Monkey
made it clear he loves Grayson Rodriguez, the Slammers started to work with
Breakfast to get him.
It was never planned to be a three-way deal; it was supposed to be a quick acquisition and flip. I was worried that if Sam found out I could get Quantrill for Rodriguez straight up, he'd to it himself.
So negotiations with Sam went on for
36 hours, but nothing developed. Finally, Breakfast asked for Glasnow and that
was the end of it for me.
But he came back for one last push at Glasnow because he had a potential deal with the Sex Panthers — he'd send Rodriguez to her for Khris Davis.
The Panthers, however, weren’t
too high on adding another prospect pitcher, especially after acquiring Lodolo
from the Steaks.
She had mentioned to me a few days prior that she needed a second
baseman and once Sam made the deal known, the light bulbs went on.
The Panthers got her
second baseman — one that Parker despises, probably because he has a .349
average through 146 major league at-bats and that doesn’t compute with him.
The Slammers got his
pitcher, Monkey got his Oriole prospect and Breakfast got a struggling DH in
Khris Davis who could provide a power-punch if he finds his .247 stroke.
It was a four-player, four-team deal that made sense all around — at least to the four of us.
THE NEW CHOO
Choo has been the running
joke of an everyday trader in the JLB, but looking through the transactions to
see what else to write about, I found that I’ve made nine of the 23 trades in
season.
(OK, let’s call it eight
because Alex Kirilloff for Ramon Laureano-boo-boo wasn’t a trade; it was a
gift.)
The last several trades
involved getting starters to bolster the rotation. Since June 24, I have added
to the rotation Madison Bumgarner, Dakota Hudson, Zac Gallen, Drew Smyly, Cal
Quantrill and Tyler Glasnow.
Will it matter?
Maybe, but only if JV goes
and hands an 18-2 defeat to Quad Eh. Come on, JV!
GOOD RELIEF
More than 30 relievers
were traded in MLB right before the deadline.
That seemed to be the
trend in the JLB, too.
In total, nine relievers (10 if you count that Kenley Jansen went twice) were traded before the JLB deadline starting with Jansen on June 24.
Yes, I know that one
stretches it a bit, but I personally knew things were heating up in the RP
market and made sure to get out in front, and I think the return of
Dakota Hudson was pretty damn good.
The Tornadoes cashed in on
all three of his relievers Craig Kimbrel, Brad Hand and Hector Neris, landing a
first-round pick, a second-round pick, Lance McCullers, Sandy Alcantara and
Adonis Medina.
Not a bad haul for those
three.
Crox, Monkey and Sex
Panthers also cashed in on RP deals before the deadline, but the biggest shock
of the entire deadline is the fact that Steroid sat there at midnight on
Wednesday with Kirby Yates, Felipe Vasquez, Shane Greene and Ken Giles still on
his roster.
Through all the rumors, through all the apparent negotiations, in true Pittsburgh Pirates form, nothing happened.
Steroid can only keep two and
it appears he played his cards wrong here putting too high of a value on the
RPs. At some point, there has to be an effort to salvage a deal.
It definitely got tougher as Jansen, Kimbrel and Hand all moved to contenders in the days leading up to the deadline, and another contender settled for Neris, Taylor Rodgers and Sean Doolittle for a lesser cost.
There apparently was an
attempt by Steroid to salvage a deal in the final minutes, but it was too late. I was told to be
ready, and as I hit refresh at 11:59:55, the inbox was empty. At 11:59:58, one
more refresh. Nothing.
Maybe there’s a market in
the offseason, but the demand isn’t as much as it is now when saves can win
titles. Relievers in the offseason are the biggest unknowns unless they are of
the pedigree of a Kenley Jansen or Aroldis Chapman.
We’ll never know all the
deals that were offered for a 33-year-old Yates who is performing out of his
mind, but Steroid will have to hope that he keeps it going and holds that value in
the winter months.
If only Steroid would have traded for Zack Greinke in the offseason. He could have made his annual trade to JV. Instead, Greinke only got traded in real life — and what a deal that was! The DBacks channeled their inner-Butter to give the Astros a World Series.
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