We Got Wood - 40.57 - The Big One With Edmonton

[7teen]

Continuing on with the series of trade recaps for the season, we get to a big one with Edmonton. It was big mainly in part due to the number of moving pieces, not so much the names that were involved. However, with Edmonton in firm position to chase down a Landis Title, they may think was a bigger trade for them. Of course I'm sure Chris liked some of my "former" players this year over the ones he got from Portland.

The Trade

To Edmonton	Position	Level	WAR
Julio Alicea	SP	BBA	5.8
Rodrigo Gallegos	P	BBA	1.1
Ryosei Akahori	P	BBA	0.3
$1

To Portland	Position	Level	WAR
Fernando Martinez	2B	BBA	-2.4
Marcos Morales	P	AAA	0.3
Wen Huang	RP	BBA	0.3
Matt Normore	OF/DH	A/AA	1.4/0.4
Jorge Guillen	SS	AA	2.3
Terrance Kelly	SP	SP	-0.4
Lance Carter	SP	AAA	1.4
Jesus Torres	P	AAA	0.7
$2,000,000

Boy we could have used Alicea in our rotation this year. Our 31st round pick in the expansion draft turned in one hell of a season which will likely make this trade a huge bust down the road. But then again, who would have thought a 31st round expansion draft pick would turn in a 5.8 WAR? Gallegos likewise may have fit in well with us since he was cheap, making league minimum. Akahori was flipped not long after we got him from Vegas. Truth be told, we'd have been a lot better suited in Portland to have probably kept all 3 arms but we wanted younger, cheaper players.

Matt Normore was the big prize we acquired in the trade. He looks a lot like the guys I'd add on in Madison. Unfortunately those guys didn't exactly work out all that well. Normore is likely destined for the DH which doesn't make him very valuable as he's more of a contact guy than a power threat. We also put some stock in hoping Kelly would pan out one day and be a viable pitcher in the league in a few years. Besides, that's the target goal for Portland anyway. However, it doesn't appear Kelly will really ever do much.

I'd not be doing this recap justice if I didn't talk about how big a bust Fernando Martinez turned out to be this year for Portland. There was only one player in the entire BBA who produced a lower WAR this season than Martinez. That's how bad he was in 2040. And we still have to pay him 7 figures for 2041. Wen Huang did spend the season with the big league club and will always be known as the first pitcher to record a win in franchise history.

Who Won the Trade:
Not even close. This one goes to Edmonton in a land slide. In hindsight, I'd have been much better off waiting Alicea out. Had he produced early on like he ended up doing for Edmonton we could have probably gotten a decent haul for him then in a league deprived of quality pitching. But, we didn't know he'd be that good and we needed to shed salary after the monster draft we had. Short term, obviously the $2 million helped with some finances here early on and Normore does have some solid attributes, but the deal leans heavily now towards Edmonton who are in the chase for a Landis title thanks in part to Alicea's pitching this season.