BRAVES NEWS
Ringer: Braves and Dodgers made an NBA-style trade
Ben Lindbergh of The Ringer took a deep look at the trade that the Braves and Dodgers made and how it was so interesting from a financial standpoint — even if it probably won’t have a huge effect for on-field results in 2018. Yes, it could turn the Dodgers into an even bigger financial juggernaut once the juicy 2019 free agent class comes around, but Lindbergh notes that the Braves didn’t do this just to do the Dodgers a solid.
Atlanta isn’t helping L.A. play luxury-tax limbo out of kindness to the Dodgers; the Braves benefit from the trade, too, and not just because Culberson gives them an inexpensive utility player...This trade restores some rotation depth, if not durability. McCarthy projects as the Braves’ second-best starter, and Kazmir gives them another veteran lottery ticket to pair with their 20-something uncertainties...They’ll need payroll room in 2019 and beyond more than they will next year, when they won’t be competitive. Nor will they miss Kemp, who was worse than a replacement player last season and would have had to go regardless to make room for the best prospect in baseball, 19-year-old outfielder Ronald Acuña...
Nightengale: Trade was a “stroke of genius” for both teams
Meanwhile, Bob Nightengale of USA Today was impressed with the trade for both teams. In fact, he was downright enamored with the implications of the trade for the Dodgers and he also figured that the Braves were going to make out well from this deal. The theme of the reaction to this deal is that there really weren’t any losers in this deal and it was a mutually beneficial deal for both parties.
...They’ve got two veteran pitchers who can actually help them if they stay healthy, and a solid infielder in Culberson.
If McCarthy and Kazmir can do anything in the first half, the Braves have valuable trade chips at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline.
Oh, what a stroke of genius by Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos, who spent the last two years in the Dodgers’ front office, and Friedman.
The Braves get rid of a guy who they didn’t want, the Dodgers stripped themselves of three guys they’ve been trying to dump, and everyone goes home happy.
BRAVES PODCATS
Episode 96 of the Talking Chop Podcast is here
I guess it’s a good thing that Alex Anthopoulos and Andrew Friedman decided to do business on a weekend. They gave Brad and Eric plenty of stuff to talk about in the latest edition of the Talking Chop podcast. It came out late last night, so why not start your morning off by giving it a listen?
MLB NEWS
Reports out of Japan connect Cubs to Darvish
We’re finally starting to see a decent amount of action on the Hot Stove, and one of the biggest free agents left out there is Yu Darvish. He hasn’t been linked to plenty of clubs so far during this offseason, but according to sources and reports coming out of Japan, the Cubs appear to be the favorite to land the 31-year-old righty.
No question, Darvish would be a fine addition to the Cubs rotation, despite his woes in the World Series. Those have been attributed to him possibly tipping his pitches, something that generally has a pretty easy fix.
Since Darvish returned from Tommy John surgery in mid-2016, he hasn’t been quite the same pitcher he was before. However, sometimes it takes a bit of time before a TJS pitcher returns to his previous level of performance. Darvish’s best year was 2013, when he posted a 2.83 ERA and 1.073 WHIP for the Rangers. He had 5.8 bWAR that year and finished second in A.L. Cy Young voting, while leading the major leagues with 277 strikeouts.
Three reasons why a Longoria trade makes no sense
Meanwhile, our friends over at DRays Bay are starting to get a little annoyed with their local beat writer’s efforts to propagate trade rumors concerning Evan Longoria. It’s gotten to the point where the crew over at that site has actually written a piece that goes through a few reasons why the trade rumors for the star player of the Rays are actually nonsensical in their eyes. Here’s just a sampling of what they have to offer in their argument.
The value of a win is somewhere between $9 million and $11 million in the current baseball market. Longoria has averaged more than 4 WAR over the last five seasons, with 20+ HR in each year and sterling defense, and he’s getting paid only $13.5 million next season, with minimal increases moving forward.
Even a modest projection of Longoria’s contributions yields a valuable contract to the Rays. He’s worthy of the team’s investment.