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...except that's how it feels, yeah.
Trading 5 years of a plus starter for a pair of middle-inning relief arms is a bad trade. When we did it with Lowe and Varitek it felt bad at the time, and was bad. Should I be glad we didn't trade a Varitek too?
Of everything Jack has done, the Fister trade feels the most desperate and over-reaching. Morrow for League? I get that one. We didn't win it, but we didn't really lose it either. We traded a reliever for a more reliable reliever. The Blue Jays decided to convert him back to a starter and got a lot of Ks but two years of much worse ERA than FIP. Why is that, exactly? We'll see if that continues in year three.
Either way, even if we wind up losing it I understand it. Aardsma was a walk on the wild side, and so was Morrow. Couldn't have both of em in the pen at the end of games, and Morrow wasn't gonna close for us.
Giving up Fister for the Mystery Grab Bag of prospects...that hurts more. It's like taking the very nice $5,000 grill set and trading it in for what's behind curtain #3. Could be a car, could be bowling tickets. We didn't bust out, but I don't really see how what we get back is gonna ever better than what we traded. Fingers crossed for awesome results from Furbush and Ruffin.
But the Pineda deal is really gonna help. Once Montero is catching 100 games a year and Jaso's taking the other 60, I'll be even more thrilled with it, wherever Noesi is. Jaso counts as part of the Cliff Lee trade, so that's still paying dividends too.
And Campos...grr. Long way to go, for heath and success, but I do miss him. James Paxton came off the rails for the 2nd game in a row today, had a Noesi-like outing. I want all the arms I can get.
Still - we're loaded. It's just time for all this talent to manifest in results, that's all. Jack has a few more moves to make, and after that the guys on this team have to put their money where his mouth is. Lookin' at you, Smoak and Ackley. The "best first-round hitters" in consecutive drafts need to start pulling weight this year.
First round, 2008 draft by hitter WAR:
4.4: Buster Posey
3.8: Ike Davis
2.8: Brett Lawrie
1.9: Gordon Beckham
1.6: Jemile Weeks
0.9: Lonnie Chisenhall
0.7: Justin Smoak
Not cool Justin. Time to get on your bad motor scooter and ride.
And when do we start taking over/unders on Olivo's time as the guaranteed starter and lineup presence? He's a train wreck out there.
~G