Iwakuma, Cespedes, Craig mosh pit
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Q. Trade Iwakuma?
A. As hard as it is to choke the words out ... time to SELL HIGH. :: jim carrey phantom nausea effort ::
Dr. D had penciled Iwakuma in for about a 2-, maybe 3-year shelf life when he came over here. This was oh, about 2-3 years ago. There was a lot of DiceK in his career arc, seemed to us. Question Dr. D's wisdom at your PERIL, babe.
Also, here's a guy where the tiniest fade = giant, blossomy mushroom cloud that busts windows out at seven miles. Iwakuma's fastball has zero length to spare, his location has zero inches to spare, his shoulder is scotch-taped with four one-inch strips at 3 6 9 12 o'clock ...
Think Jamie Moyer with vaguely unreliable command, two men on base and three HR threats in a row due up. That would be any scary middle of the order in the American League, which would be any lineup but Seattle's. When a slopballer's success window is hair-fine, he can't afford to start pulling hair out of the brush. Dr. D would know.
... True, the M's have been pretty delicate with Iwakuma. It's not a slam dunk no-brainer that he will get hurt. Is it ever?, before a pitcher goes down.
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Q. Can the M's spare him?
A. They're about to.
Spare him, that is. As soon as something (ELSE) pops in his shoulder.
You gotta agree with Logan: the M's rotation "depth," isn't. Trade Iwakuma, have anything whatsoever happen to Felix, and you'll need for all the rookies to pitch like A's rookies. The sprinklies on top of this cupcake diagnosis: Jack Zduriencik didn't even want to trust Paxton or Taijuan, WITH Iwakuma here. See any Billy Beanes around here?
(Granted, you think of a Bartender who'd fix the depth if you let him do so. But that guy is wayyyy too valuable serving 5th innings to a 6-1 deficit. Or, as they say in swankier places than SSI: Wilhelmsen's 2014 "game leverage index" was below 1.0.)
"Sell high" may be the dominant factor in Iwakuma's case. Then, you figure things out from there. At least, that's how the little punch cards come out of the 1971 mainframe.
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The M's see Paxton as a legit #2 now, so if you went out and found a .500'ish veteran for the #3-4 slot you have raised the M's comfort level high enough. Then Taijuan and Elias serve just fine at the back of the rotation.
To the M's, now. If the Beane-Meister were at the helm, that would be a different sitch entirely.
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Q. Deal him, even though Iwakuma is under club control until 2018?
A. He's a free agent after 2015.
B-Ref.com has the ball and strike count wrong. 'Kuma was signed as a free agent. So in 6 months you have to decide whether to offer a big (gulp) contract anyway. Hold it. That was trite analysis as well as lousy sentence construction. As you know, we live to serve.
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Q. Does the mainframe see any value in the Iwakuma-for-Allen Craig idea?
A. Here's the "buy low" inverse of "sell high." Kudos to Moe for keepin' both ideas in mind simultaneously ... even if DOING them simultaneously looks pretty weird ;- )
If for some reason you liked Craig to bounce back ... well, you'd still add to the deal from the Sox' perspective, but ... .
There's a story about two candystripers filling bags at a Nordstroms, you know, with the old-fashioned metal scoop? One of them had a big line to her station, despite the fact that they were serving the same candy. The other candystriper filled the bag a little too much, and then took out until it was 1/2 lb ... the popular one started short and then kept adding.
If you WERE hot on Craig to get back to his club-controls 130 OPS+, it would be fun to see what the Sox would add to the deal.
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Q. Why in the world would you be hot on Allen Craig to bounce back?
A. The Boston Red Sox were, 94 at-bats ago. :: curtain comes down ::
He's not my kind of player, personally. Shrug. Mo' Dawg is saying, [Kuma for a 90-RBI righty bat]. In principle I'd have to blink back the tears and work something out.
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Q. Is it possible that Stefen Romero has life left?
A. That's like "uber-putz" in BaseballHQ World, to give up on a hitter after his first chance in the bigs. Everybody fails their first time.*
At BaseballHQ they have a 10-step template wash cycle for 1st-round draftees, with 3 chances, 3 failures, everybody wandering off and then the young player jelling in iteration 4. (Just f'r instance, Carlos Guillen, David Ortiz, Raul Ibanez, Shin-Soo Choo.) The newfangled term is "post-hype syndrome," coined in 1982, but Romero would have to fail at least a couple more times to qualify for that.
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Q. Iwakuma for Cespedes?
A. I don't care for Cespedes either. Sniff. He's got 4.3 and 4.6 runs per 27 the last two years, with the league catching up to him "weekly." That's going to hit cleanup? "Buying high" on a 4.5 runs per game player, that's a nice recipe for Corey Hartage. Well, you know. Mike Morse. Casper Wells. Milton Bradley. Pick your own whipping boy. Why were we so stunk out by Nelson Cruz and now we go after all these 4+ runs corner OF's?
But if you like El Blingjob to get 25 homers and 90 RBI in Safeco, be my guest. Hey, Billy Beane cobbled a couple of years of RBI out of him, including a rather famous partial season once.
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Here is a fascinating 'put from Hey Bill, which we really should have separated out faster than a Grumpy comment:
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Q. Back to trading Iwakuma. If SSI waves off 4+ RC/27 outfielders dismissively. Then what?
A. Iwakuma and ? for Jose Bautista. :: smiles, waves to crowd while slowly turning a 360 ::
Nah, I haven't researched Bautista. The Jays supposedly want young pitching. As do all MLB teams and 17 teams in the NBA. Iwakuma, Luis Gohara and Edwin Diaz for two years of Bautista? Iwakuma and Hultzen for Bautista and ? ... make up your own deal.
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Thing is, if you're going to give up Iwakuma, can't you add to him and get something you really want? What say we get back the best player in the deal for once in our blinkin' lives.
Fister'ed out,
Dr D