The 2017 season is upon us, and well, after about a decade of radio silence, I am here to make a quick post on the start of the trading season. I had wanted to do a big 2017 kickoff show type post, but then Lady Gaga went and stole my idea of starting off on top of a building and repelling down as the show went on. None of you would have been able to see this, of course, since I am writing, but it would have been epic. Frickin Lady Gaga steals all the good ideas. So instead, you get a post on the first trade of 2017.
Kyler and Tom got us going this year shortly after the league was created on yahoo.
BySs gets OF Ian Desmond ($5)
Les Moles get SS Trevor Story ($2) and SP Sonny Gray ($3)
Here's the thing. I don't get this one at all. Well, that's not entirely accurate. I totally get it from Tom's perspective. Story was fantastic in his first season in the bigs. Even though it was cut short by injuries that limited him to about 400 plate appearances, he hit 272/341/567 with 67 runs and 72 RBIs. He also hit 27 HRs, which don't count as a stand alone stat in our little game, and stole 8 bags. He was basically a 6 category asset at SS, a position where it is entirely possible that someone is starting Brad Miller this year. On top of that, Story is a whopping $3. Gray is coming off an injury plagued season that saw him fall from the second tier of MLB starting pitchers down to the "Andrew Cashner" tier -- This is the tier for players who fit any of these categories A) They are ridiculously talented but cannot stay healthy enough to be relied upon in fantasy, real life or in pick up botchee ball; B) Have been dealt in trades that seem to be extremely one sided, often involving Anthony Rizzo or C) are, in fact, Andrew Cashner. It is easy to forget that Gray it was 12 long months ago that Gray had dealt back to back 200+ inning seasons with WHIPs in the 1.10 range and was widely considered one of the better young arms in the majors. It is certainly possible he never gets back to that after his injury, but this seems like a sell low.
Desmond was a very productive SS with the Nats, until he wasn't anymore and managed to damage his playing image so much that he ended up with a 1 year prove it deal with the Rangers and no sure position to play. Prove it, he did, turning in a massive bounce back season with a monster 6-cat contribution of a 285/335/446 slash with 107 runs, 86 RBIs and 21 SBs while playing center and left fields (not at the same time, only Billy Hamilton, Trouty Pretzels and the Kevins - Pillar and Kiermeier - can pull that off). A closer look shows some problems though. After a dominating first half, Desmond turned back into the guy who played himself out of Washington, hitting just 237/283/347 in 293 post all-star PAs. If he is your SS, you can handle that type of production when it comes with the runs and SBs, but Desmond no longer qualifies there. Now he qualifies only in the OF and, if the Rockies stick to their plan, he will soon qualify at 1b. If the Rocks change course and make him a backup around the infield and Desmond picks up 1b, 2b, ss, and or 3b, his value as a guy who adds counting stats obviously goes up.
I know that Kyler has Xander Bogaerts manning SS, so Story has less value to him than to most of the rest of us and he was unsure about Gray. So I get the reasoning behind the trade, I just think that he could have gotten more for an upcoming power hitting SS and a recent Cy Young caliber pitcher.
Is Kyler's team better with Desmond than with Story and Gray on the bench? Probably, but I am not sure by how much. Tom's team, on the other hand, has improved a great deal with the addition of Story alone. He also helps to bring us tacos, and I can say "Oh, Trevor" every time I see his name. Gray is just some potential icing on the cake.
ADVANTAGE: LES MOLES
