i was not a big fan of the Tank for Gonzo swap, said so at the time. I still remain slightly less than agnostic on it, pointing out that ’Neill has hit 87 HR’s over the past 3 seasons. The worst he is going to be is a TTO platoon guy. He’s BBed 100 pts vs LHP at both AA and AAA, and last season he ISOed .280-ish vs lefties. Gonzo has grown on me some, I will admit. That is tempered by the fact that he’s given up 98 hits/33 walks in 77 MLB innings. He’s really never dominated at any level, but the best extended pitching stint of his professional life was this year in AAA for Memphis. That’s what Dipoto was betting on.
So I get it. Sort of. But for a team short in high minors guys ready to play OF in the bigs, losing O’Neill’s power potential irks me.
4 incredibly cheap years of Gamel/Haniger/Heredia/O’Neill allows you to do a bunch of stuff elsewhere. Will point out that Zunino’s 1st stab at AAA was not even close to Tanks’s ‘17. Zunino just OPS’ed 123, I will remind you.
Water under the bridge, I suppose.
Other than that swap, Dipoto’s revolving BP prospect merry-go-round has yet to hurt us. Let’s hope it pays off.