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Another day (or night, rather), another set of trades. As we get closer and closer to the deadline, contenders continue to strengthen their lists. Let's collect and rank notable Saturday (and Friday night) deals, including a curious addition of the infield to Milwaukee and a stealthy stealth movement in Houston.
The Brewers get: 3B Mike Moustakas
The Royals Get: OF Brett Phillips, RHP Jorge Lopez
Congratulations to Milwaukee for making the first brain trade of the summer galaxy, picking up veteran Moustakas from last place Kansas City for a pair of prospects Friday night. This is curious for the Brewers, given that the biggest holes in the team are in the starting rotation and at second base and shortstop, not the hot corner already occupied by the very good Travis Shaw .
The goal of Milwaukee is to install Moustakas on third base and place Shaw second. Shaw played one round at the keystone of his professional baseball career? Nope.
I know what you think: why not choose a regular second baseman? It's not as if the market had been running out of those. On the same day, the Brewers picked up Moustakas, Asdrubal Cabrera and Eduardo Escobar – both with real experience in the second – were distributed to the Phillies and Diamondbacks, respectively. No cost of a fortune in the prospects. If Milwaukee did not like any of these choices, there were other options: Brian Dozier of the Twins, Jonathan Schoop of the Orioles, Ian Kinsler of the Angels and Gennett Scooter of the Reds were probably all available in varying degrees [19659006]. Perhaps the Brewers liked Moustakas more than these players (or found their price more manageable). But the 29-year-old athlete did not have a huge season, reaching .249 / .309 / .468 with 20 homers, a 111 OPS + and 2.2 Wins Above Replacement (Baseball-Reference version). The power is nice, and defensively, Moustakas goes from good to acceptable. But his game is full of holes. He is allergic to walks, pulling a free pass in just 7.2% of his appearances on the plates. A left-handed, happy-puller, who plays directly into defensive change strategies – and would not you know he sees an extra field player on the right side 61.6% of the time this season, which is 30 among all hitters with 100 or more plate appearances in 2018. Its base weighted average with the offset is .371; against him, this number plummets to 0.304.
There is also the fact that Moustakas is embarking on three consecutive months of sub-par production. In March and April he averaged .302 / .336 / .578 with eight circuits in 122 appearances. Since then, however, he has set up a mediocre line .225 / .298 / .420 in 295 trips to the plate. This includes a brutal July in which he hits .191 / .276 / .426. Oh, and he's a terribly slow runner, ranking in the league's lowest quartile in Sprint Speed - and that's a massive improvement over 2017 when he was in the last 10%.
For this, the Brewers with Shaw, who is experiencing a similar but better season: .246 / .344 / .468 with 19 homers, a 114 OPS + and a WAR 2.9, as well as a good glove job in the third row. Essentially, the Brewers went out and got Shaw's older, less-patient version so that the current one plays a more difficult defensive position than he has to learn on the fly in the middle of a race. pennant. It does not really scream "good idea".
And on top of that, Milwaukee dropped two of his best trade chips in Phillips and Lopez. The first is a 24-year-old man who seized Houston three years ago as part of a package for Carlos Gomez (along with Josh Hader and Domingo Santana, think the Astros want him back ?). He entered the season as the number 10 team on the MLB.com ranking after reaching .305 / .377 / .567 in Triple A last year, but a second round of this level has not been as successful in 2018 since it is sagging at a .240 / .331 / .411 line. Phillips is prone to strikeouts – his whiff rate in Triple A is an ugly 31.4% – but he offers high-flying power and defense in the outfield – and the best baseball laugh.
Lopez, meanwhile, was once the best hopes of throwing Brewers, only derailed by a 2016 nightmare season in Triple A: a 7.49 MP and 55 steps in 79 1/3 innings. This caused a change in rotation at the paddock, although the 25-year-old Puerto Rican still has problems with the command. On the plus side, his fastball hits 97, and his curve is above average. If the Royals can understand his control problems, they might themselves have an option to mitigate the impacts. And if nothing else, Phillips and Lopez are ready for the MLB now.
For Milwaukee, however, both players were expendable. A crowded field filled with productive players shut down Phillips 'avenues at major league play time, and while Lopez was receiving cups of coffee in the Brewers' paddock over the last two years, he was unable to turn them into long stays. As such, even though both players have lots of potential, they are reasonable pieces to move.
But was it the job to use them? The Brewers believe that Moustakas can make a difference in alignment. There is a certain logic to this: it will be by far a better alignment and a better park for the leftist power hitters than the Kauffman Stadium. But unless you have added a real elite bat like JD Martinez, choosing attack on defense is a rough way to try to add victories. . Milwaukee would have been better off having a real second baseman (or a shortstop, both positions were a mess all year) or using chips like Phillips and Lopez to acquire a long-awaited starter. This sounds like a questionable decision of the brewers.
Brewers: C
Royals: B +
Astronomers Get: RHP Ryan Pressly
The twins get: OF Gilberto Celestino, RHP Jorge Alcala
This was a deadline for the winners of the World Series, whose only move before Friday had been to add depth to veteran Martin Maldonado. On the surface, picking up Pressly may look like more of the same. The 29-year-old right-hander is a name that most people probably do not know, working as he was in the anonymous pen of Twins. This is not the kind of business you expect from a reigning champion.
But as with many Houston staff choices, it's quietly a good pick-up that should have a big impact on the road. Pressly may not look like an ace of relief, but he stung like one, punching 69 batters in 47 2/3 innings. Its withdrawal rate of 33.2% ranks 16 in the major leagues-better than, to choose a few, Felipe Vazquez, Joakim Soria, Kenley Jansen, Allen Cody and his new teammates Hector Rondon and Chris Devenski . His swinging rate of 18.0%, meanwhile, is the fifth highest in baseball, which dominates Craig Kimbrel and Aroldis Chapman, among many other nasty relievers. Pressly has produced elite results.
His business is also elite. The Pressly four-seater buzzes in 96.3 mph and can hit 99. His slider, which flies in a tough 89 mph, has a ridiculous swing-and-miss rate of 55.8% and a .222 stick average counter. And his curveball is a devastating two-shot weapon against left-handed hitters, who just hit .158 with zero more base hits against him over the year.
What helps, is that his fastball has an absurd spin, with an average of 2,580 rpm, which is the fifth highest among all pitchers with at least 50 appearances of plates against them. Its curve, meanwhile, peaks at 3,199 rpm on average – third among all throwers of the game, and even better than his new teammates Charlie Morton and Collin McHugh.
Unsurprisingly, heavy-weight astros have been a bit of a tendency to pick up guys who can spin the ball, and Pressly definitely fits that bill. High-spin fast balls generally lead to more withdrawals, and high-spinning curves generally drop more, creating more balls on the ground. That makes a pitcher difficult to equalize, which was the case with Pressly
This kind of pitcher should not be cheap, and he did not do it for Houston, who dropped out of the top 20 hopes of his career. system. Celestino, 19 years old and already at Double A, is a Dominican fielder with a big arm, more speed and excellent defensive instincts in the center, as well as a good punching tool, but not much power yet. . Alcala, a 23-year-old Dominican, is also at Double A, where he posted a 3.76 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 40 innings and 2/3 between the rotation and the bullpen. He has a fast-paced fastball that is between 95 and 98 mph and can reach up to three digits, although his secondary throws are in progress, as his take-off rate suggests
. nice race for Eduardo Escobar earlier Friday. But while the Astros will miss them, their system seems to pump a dozen launchers like Alcala each year, and Celestino was likely to have a big impact in the league. In addition, Pressly is not leased: it has another year of cheap team control before making the agency free.
Overall, it is a good decision for both parties. The Astros get a stellar receiver to deepen their paddock, and the Twins add beautiful pieces for the future. The only real surprise is that no other team has jumped on Pressly, although the formidable farm system of Houston has given it one length ahead in this pursuit.
Astros: A
Twins: B +
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