All The Guardians Trades

[Astros]

Guardians wrote:
> he offered Stone or Hjelle,

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[Guardians]

343. Josh Jung, Denzel Clarke, Gavin Stone to New York (AL) for Isaac Paredes, Chase Petty

I think this was a bit of an overpay, but despite Jung's impressive 2023 rookie season, I am a tad concerned that his low avg/obp projection could put him into the DMB danger zone of performance this year. I do think he has a really nice upside, but the K/BB ratio is less than ideal. That said, I could be selling a little low on him. Paredes kind of came out of nowhere, so there's some concern that this could be slight overpay. But he does get me a better projection at a year younger. If he can maintain his defense at 3B, this will work out to an upgrade for 2024 and hopefully at least a push moving forward.

But I definitely paid for that year. Stone is a big perplexing. He's on a top 100 list, but some also believe he could be a long reliever. The Dodgers typically do pretty well with pitchers, so I think if any organization can help him reach his potential, it's LA. Petty, on the other hand, I think has a higher upside and he's a few years younger. I think his combo of pitches should work pretty well as a mid rotation starter. I'm banking on a higher upside among pitchers.

The additional payment here is Clarke, who is also top 100 on one list, and generally is top 5 for the A's among scouts. He's got a really fun speed/power/D combo for CF and I think he could steal the job as early as this year. The downside is he's already 24 in AA, so he's a late bloomer. But I think got a lot of value out of this deal. Don't anyone cry for me.

[Guardians]

344. Adam Macko, Byron Chuorio to Atlanta for Will Vest, Niko Kavadas

Fun little trade. Vest had a really nice season in 2023 and was rewarded with a good projection. Not as good as his season, but he'll fit into the bullpen. Kavadas looks like a DH, but he could sneak into becoming a 1B. I like the power and while the K rate is not ideal, he does a pretty good job taking a walk, which boosts his OBP. He's kind of a fun flier.

Macko is a lefty SP prospect who has a chance to start, but may turn into a long reliever/spot starter type since he has some control issues. Chuorio is a high-upside 18-year-old OF with a great eye and a good lineage. Brett gets a couple nice gambles and I pick up an RP I can use.

[Guardians]

345. Corey Seager, Adolis Garcia, Devin Williams to Miami for Ronald Acuna, Adael Amador, Edwin Diaz

A deal to remember...and man, this one burns a little. Seager is my longest-tenured player, a guy I targeted in the draft in 2012. 2012! I can't believe I've had him this long. He has been a stud all these years -- definitely big for shortstop, but an absolute juggernaut offensively and he's still managed to hold it down defensively at shortstop, despite all the rumors of moving to 3B one day. Last year, he was extra special. He hit a career-high 33 HR in only 119 games. He had an absurd .327/.390/.623 slash line.

Perhaps this pain will be healed by the acquisition of the force known as Ronald Acuna Jr. He now joins his brother in Cleveland in what is going to be an extremely dynamic outfield of Acuna/Rafaela/Tatis (in some configuration). While Seager was crushing bombs in Texas, Acuna was on his way to a ridiculous 40/70 season, slashing .337/.416/.596. We're talking about two giants in the sport right now. One is an outfielder and one is a shortstop, so there's a bit of a premium here, but both are outstanding.

Really, this deal comes down to preference. Would you rather a stud in right field or at shortstop? And, I think most would choose shortstop. But there is an age gap here, so let's discuss the rest of the deal, outside of two amazing players. Garcia, as I've written about, is tough to peg. He's elite in power, speed, defense. He struggles with the bat. But can you forgive a .240 average if it gets you VG/EX D, speed and power? Last year, he crushed a career-high 39 home runs and topped 100 runs and RBI. He also played top defense in RF. He was credited with saving seven runs on defense, while Acuna's DRS score was -2. There's a difference there, though I'm not sure how DMB would treat it.

I think if I had the choice of Seager/Garcia or Acuna/Amador in my lineup, I'm going with the former most of the time. However, sometimes you can use an overabundance of goods and turn them into elite goods. That's what I was trying to do here. Amador is a top prospect, and should be usable at shortstop in 2024. But, there is always the concern of a Rockies' hitting prospect and how that will translate to the sim. I do think if his value lies in defense, doubles power and average, he should be fine. But this is a bit of a gamble on my end. I don't like relying solely on a rookie at a premium position, but this is what I had to do to get to Acuna. Nils had been shopping for a SS for a long time and there's none better than Seager. But in order to get there, I had to make some sacrifices.

Let's look at the rest of the deal: Diaz/Williams. I'm going to get roasted here since Diaz is currently healthy and Williams is not. However, let's keep in mind a few things: Diaz missed the entire season last year after shredding his knee. He's going to have to knock some rust off, if the Mets can actually win a game and give him a chance to come in. Williams, who is slightly younger, I think is just as dynamic of a pitcher. I think you'll get fewer walks out of Diaz, but a similar number of strikeouts and possibly with a lower ERA.

For what it's worth, this ended up being a very tough trade to do, despite me picking up Acuna. Seager has held some sentimental value to me for some time, which strangely makes these types of deals difficult to make. You shouldn't get attached to players you drafted in a fake baseball league. For some reason I do, but maybe I'm alone. I don't know if that makes me overvalue him, but I've seen him as the top SS in the league for quite a while (minus maybe a Trea Turner year or two). Wander is now gone and maybe Gunnar will take the throne one day, but for me it's Seager at the moment.

Once the dust settles on this, I'll see what my team looks like and if there are any next moves I need to make. I will also need to see where Acuna/Tatis fit in defensively. I am leaning toward Tatis in RF and Acuna in LF or CF, but we'll see what DMB says whenever it comes out (hopefully soon?). Acuna will most definitely move into my leadoff position, which has been a bit of a need for some time. This allows Tatis, Olson, Albies to sit in the middle of the lineup and drive in runs. And if Amador can actually sport a .345 OBP over the season, he can bat #2 and just set the table for the middle of the lineup.

Obviously a lot can change over the season and with me it usually does. But with four strong starters (anyone catch Bieber's season opener?) still, I'm in good position to push deep into the playoffs after this deal. I'm a little light at SS if Amador somehow takes a step backwards, but for now I like it a lot. I'm losing some power, but gaining so much in Acuna, I don't know that I'll feel it in my lineup.

Like any trade, there will be an uproar of cranky GMs. I hope that is kept to a minimum after this one. I'm giving up Corey Seager, who I never thought I would give up. I mean, c'mon. He's a stud and no one can deny that. I'm sure someone will threaten to quit. But if anything, I'm giving the league something to talk about, yet again. Tatis/Acuna in Cleveland forever!

So, that's it, I'm not sure what else to say about this blockbuster. I think Nils makes out at SS and brings in a stud OF with power, speed, and defense. He's also getting another quality closer, who actually may close on his team. He's getting a lot of help this year, while I'm getting younger. Toss up. We'll see what happens.

[Guardians]

[Guardians]

345 (really). Jack Hurley to New York (AL) for Gregory Soto

I really loved where I picked up Hurley in the draft (#106). He's a bat-to-ball outfielder without a ton of power, but with a hit tool that should carry. I see him as a future LF who could fill in in CF occasionally. But I like the upside.

In return, Soto is a pretty nice setup arm, who got a pretty bland projection, though his splits against lefties are pretty strong. Typical high-K, high-BB reliever, but he's only 29. Let's hope he can improve on his numbers this year so he's more useful next year. But given the injuries to my bullpen, adding another option helps.

[Guardians]

346. Adolis Garcia, Jack Suwinski, Mitch Garver to Reds for Ian Happ, Matt McLain, Connor Wong

This was a deal that started with an ask on Connor Wong, the last remaining piece of the Mookie Betts deal with Boston. He's the Sox' last hope of evening the deal, which adds a lot of pressure to a 28-year-old catcher. But Wong has been knocking the cover off the ball (6th best in the majors among hitters with at least 80 AB...albeit with a .400 BABIP), so maybe he's Mookie 2.0! So, that's where Ken and I started. I knew he had previously dangled McLain and since I had drafted him originally, I wanted to try to get him back. More on that later. Happ is someone I have asked Ken about for years, only to be constantly rejected. Now that he's nearly 30, Ken finally decided to deal him to me. And given Ken's stated needs of outfield help, this seemed like an opportunity to expand the deal some to make it worthwhile.

This is about the third time I've traded for or traded Adolis Garcia and I feel the same thing every time -- he's a guy I know I'm going to regret dealing because he is amazing at about 80 percent of what he does. He is an elite defender with an elite arm in the outfield, but he also has elite power and speed on the bases. He's a VG/EX machine in DMB and, to me, he's an upgrade for Ken over Happ. However, Happ fills a need I was really trying to address, which is leadoff hitter. I haven't really had a solid guy to plug in at the top of the lineup for a while and I wanted to move Tatis into more of a middle order role. So, Happ will fill a need that Garcia does not -- OBP. And as a switch hitter with good splits, Happ will set the table for the rest of the lineup. For Ken, he now has a middle order RF.

Suwinski and McLain have similar projections -- Suwinski with a little more power and OBP and McLain with more useful positional value and defense. Of course, McLain has a bad shoulder and he's out likely to August, so I can see why Ken was looking to potentially make a move. I don't currently have a place for McLain to play, so I can afford to wait and see what happens. Suwinski was going to DH and potentially hit at the top of the lineup, but his defense is better in a corner and I had Garcia and Tatis. If he gets an AV/VG type projection, he can slide to RF for Ken and Garcia can play CF. McLain was a bit of a return home story. When he started hot in the minor post-draft and started moving up prospect lists, I saw him as a sell high candidate since I already had Seager at SS long-term. It turns out that Z did pretty well on that deal since Liberatore never made his mark and Marsh is good, but probably not as good as McLain over the long haul. So, McLain's position is TBD, but we'll see what happens with his diagnosis for 2024. In the meantime, Justin Turner and Jake Fraley will see time at DH, which should be fine.

All the way back to Connor Wong. My catching situation this year was largely going to be Garver and Travis d'Arnaud. Both are veteran backstops and Garver's bat (26 HR projected over a full season) was going to sit just above Rafaela at the bottom of the order with hopefully a usable defensive projection. Now, d'Arnaud and Wong probably end up in some kind of split, unless a better catcher emerges at some point. So, the bottom of the order suffers a little, but I gain some age, a better defensive catcher in Wong and hopefully a more useful projection in 2025, if he hits .350 all year.

I think for Ken, he fills his outfield out nicely with 2/3 of it coming from Cleveland, and now he has added power from Garver that he can spread around catcher and DH, giving him some added depth.