The state of the trade market

HALLELUJAH

Now please analyze the Hamels deal other than Harrison and Alfaro I know little about the haul the Phils just got.

I'm on it...

Holy crap. Sandy Alderson just met with Mets beat writers and said there is no deal and one will not transpire. This after Carlos Gomez had posted on his own social media accounts goodbye pictures with his Milwaukee team mates. Leave it to the Mets to make this Bizarro world.

Speculation it fell apart on Wheelers Medicals he was scheduled to start throwing next week but God knows it wouldn't be the first time the Mets "crack" medical staff screwed up.

Hector Olivera is now prominently featured in the deal, reportedly headed to Atlanta per Mark Bowman of MLB.com, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, and Jim Bowden of ESPN.

The Dodgers appear to be receiving a total of six players: Latos and Morse from the Marlins, pitchers Alex Wood, Jim Johnson and Luis Avilan from the Braves, and minor league infielder Jose Peraza.

The Dodgers are sending Paco Rodriguez and minor league pitcher Zachary Bird (per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports) to the Braves (per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com), plus Jeff Brigham, Victor Araujo and Kevin Guzman to the Marlins (per Joe Frisaro of MLB.com).

The Braves will also get the Competitive Balance draft pick from the Marlins.


I expect Wood plus ? to be flipped to Detroit for Price

Thanks for the update Steve. Wild weird night.

Texas get Hamels and Diekman

Phills get:

C- Jorge Alfaro
OF Nick Wliams
P Matt Harrison
P Alec Asher
P Jared Eikoff
P Jake Thompson

This is quite a haul, but still a great trade for both teams. As I said in an earlier post, Hamels immediately becomes one of their two best starters, and most healthy starter, and will be signed for the next four seasons...the last season being an option. Considering he will come cheaper than David Price, who might not have wanted to play in Texas, this assures them an ace for the next 4-1/2 years. Also, as I said earlier, none of the prospects they traded are--except perhaps for Williams--all-star caliber. So, they gave up high levels in quantity, but a survivable level of quality.

The haul for the Phils, however, is huge for them. The six players will affect them as such:

1. Jorge Alfaro, Tex' #3 prospect, immediately becomes the Phils catcher of the future. Though he's currently injured, he should be their starting catcher by 2017. He's got 15-25 hr power potential and a cannon arm, even though he has to work on his receiving.

2. Jake Thompson, Tex' top pitching prospect, could be ready to join Aaron Nola in the bigs. If not, he immediately becomes the Phils top pitching prospect. He throws in the low-mid 90's regularly, has a killer slider, and has solid #3 starter potential.

3. Nick Williams, of. Possibly the best player in this deal, He's a legitimate 5-tool player who has been tearing up AA, and is clearly now the Phils' future cf or rf, possibly arriving next year.

4. Alec Asher is a big hard-thrower with questionable command who is currently struggling in AAA. He was the Rangers' 13th top prospect, though, and has definite back-end rotation potential.

5. Jerad Eickhoff looks like pure organizational material. A soft-throwing 15th round pick, hes's had a mediocre career so far, and is doing meh in AAA right now.

6. Harrison is obviously a toss-in the Phillies might have had to take for money reason. The man hasn't been healthy since the days of Napster.

So, in conclusion, a great trade for both teams. The Rangers got a legitimate ace without hurting the big league club, giving up Gallo, or giving up an unsustainable amount of talent. The Phillies very well got their future catcher, their future cf or rf, and a future #3 starter...and more.

So apparently it was the Mets that backed out of the Gomez deal. After reviewing medical reports they had concerns about Gomez's hip it wasn't Wheeler's arm.

The Cardinals added some needed Lh punch in 1b-Of Brandon Moss for their Title drive and the Indians scored a substantial pitching prospect--Lh Rob Kaminsky--yesterday. Although Moss has produced a pitiable .217/.288/.407 line, he has hit 15 homers which will be a welcome addition to the Cards, who have not had a 15-hr hitter this season. Moss should most likely spell Adams at 1b and Holliday at left and provide needed power off the bench...even though they probably over-paid.

As much as the trade immediately benefits Cards, it greatly benefits the Indians. They had only traded a mid-range prospect--2b Joe Wendle--last winter for Moss, and were already tiring of Moss' poor hitting and strikeouts. So, nabbing Kaminsky for him was a coup. Smallish at 5-11, he still has a wicked K-producing curveball and consistently throws in the mid 90's. He was pitching very well at HiA, with a 2.19 ERA and a 1.12 Whip. So, he immediately joins another lefty, Justus Sheffield, as the Indians' top pitching prospects. So, it's a very nice trade for the tribe.

Alex Anthopolous is at it again, as he's paid a very high price for 1/2 a year of David Price, sending the Tigers top prospect Lhp Daniel Norris, #5 prospect lhp Matt Boyd, and #10 prospect lhp Jairo LaBourt...with Norris and Boyd immediately becoming the Tigers' top pitching prospects. Anthopolous clearly feels the Jays have a legitimate shot at a Wild Card spot and, after the big acquisition of Tulowitzki, he's got an ace to lead a staff of Estrada, Buehrle, Sanchez, and Dickey. If they make the playoffs, it's a decent move, if not, they've just added more talented young pitching traded away by Anthopolous to add to Syndergaard, DeSclafani, Nicolino et al.

For the Tigers, it's a coup. With their disastrous starting pitching this year, the Tigers have clearly showed they are not a championship caliber team, so scoring these three pitchers for Price, whom they didn't plan on signing is brilliant. Norris has one of the best lh arms in the minors, throws regularly in the mid-90's and regularly touches 97. He's struggled some with command and control this year, but he had some decent big-league starts and is only 22. Boyd is a classic command-and-control southpaw who dominated AA this year and has pitched well in AAA; he should be ready soon. Labourt has struggled this year, but he throws hard for a lefty and has a high ceiling to match his low floor.

So, Anthopolous and the Jays get an ace for their title run, but Dombrowski and the Tigers deftly replenished their pitching and minor-league system for 1/2 a year of a player.

Some are saying the Mets used Gomez hip as an excuse when the Brewers would not pay part of Gomez salary. So were the reports of a deal pending medicals premature or did the Mets agree to a deal pending medicals and then try to rework the deal/get a better deal and then use the hip as an excuse when that failed? Or is there a hip issue?