The Brewster

Revisiting the 2042 Don Smith Blockbuster

I was brand new to the league and was looking to jump in and make my mark on the Kernels so what better way to do that than make a blockbuster trade. I never had the chance to pick Ed’s brain before he passed about what his master plan was but it was obvious that the Kernels had no offence. This coupled with the vultures circling for Don Smith made me say, screw it and start taking formal offers.

I can’t remember who all dropped me an offer, but Phoenix quickly jumped to the front with what I wanted…a bunch of power and an offsetting pitching prospect for Don Smith.

The trade went down as follows

Phoenix received:

SP Don Smith
2B Angel De Castillo
RP Hector Gonzalez

Des Moines received:

1B Juan Mateo
2B Chua-Kah Yang
Norihisa 'Knuckles' Yokoyama
SP Anthony DeYoung

Don Smith finished the 2042 season with much the same stats with Phoenix as he did with Des Moines, pretty good ERA+ and WHIP, but was lost for significant months of the 2043 and 2044 season with shoulder problems. I remember thinking at this time that I had won this trade based on this alone and his ratings decreased which reinforced my opinion. But all is not as it seems, in the three seasons following the injury, Don Smith has put up very respectable numbers that I would have been happy to have on my squad. In every one of those seasons he’s pitched about 180 innings and had ERA+ above 100 while accumulating 12.4 WAR. All in all, he was a good addition.

Angel De Castillo only had one good season with Phoenix in 2044 and finished off his last two seasons with Vancouver. In the end, he was an accessory piece to this trade, so my guess there was little expectation on Phoenix’s end for De Castillo.

Hector Gonzalez never made it to the BBA and was also an accessory piece to the Don Smith trade. Sometimes those guys work out, most of the time they do not.

For Des Moines, I definitely got the power I was looking for. Yokoyama has accumulated a 12.6 WAR in the seasons since the trade but is in steady decline. He’s been shite in RF but he’s probably the only thing keeping the Kernels together.

Yang has been inconsistent, accumulating a 5.9 WAR with a negative season in there, but he looks to be hitting his stride finally having his best season in 2047. Both he and Yokoyama have signed extensions and will be hopefully be the veteran glue that helps the Kernels strive for mediocrity.

Juan Mateo was the teams star for a brief period, he’s accumulated 11 WAR but is in steep decline. I doubt he signs an extension and it will be interesting to see if he finds success somewhere else.

Anthony DeYoung is a real head scratcher. I’ve never figured him out. He briefly touched 80 potential but then blew his elbow and that potential has decreased every season and now sits at 50 (same as Don Smith for what its worth). The tough part is that his current ratings never got over 35 and he’s actually decreased to 25. His stats are awful and I’m about to cut ties with him.

On paper, I’d say I probably won this trade, but since the Kernels haven’t been close to .500 during my tenure, I don’t think its accurate to view this in WAR and other stats alone. Phoenix has had some good seasons (great by Des Moines standards) and Smith has been a positive contributor to that end. I’d say this is a perfect case where depending on which lens you view this trade through, both teams won.

Ugh I have been trying to avoid analysing this one. I view it as a major loss not just in and of itself, but also in a much wider sense. This was back when I thought that Phoenix would always be good for offense and I'd have no trouble finding run producers, and it would be hard to get pitching.

Little did I know that as soon two seasons from then, Phoenix would transform into a pitching environment (somehow) and power would be at a premium. Would have def won some playoff spots if I still had Yang, Mateo, and Yokoyama still on the squad.

And speaking of steep decline, Don Smith lol.

It feels weird to call a guy with nearly 35 WAR before his 28th birthday a disappointment but somehow smith is.

usnspecialist wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 21, 2021 10:30 am

It feels weird to call a guy with nearly 35 WAR before his 28th birthday a disappointment but somehow smith is.

He should of been the standout in this era of rising pitching with his 10/10/10 draft potentials but he's just been a solid mid-rotation guy. Definitely a nice player but I agree on he's still somehow a disappointment.

Trading big name pitchers will always create a wake of controversy. But this is certainly an interesting one to look at in retrospect.

The problem I see with the trade was from Des Moines side. Sure they got 3 good bats but they essentially did nothing with them. Yang is the only one of them that can play any defense and he still is being played out of position. That dude is a 3b. The other 2 have to play 1b/DH. You can find guys to play 1b/DH. You don’t need to trade Don Smith to do that.

I guess with Smiths injuries and lumping, the trade is one of those rare losers on both sides deal. Although I think both sides can flip the script yet should they move these guys on for younger players and get a little lucky.

That was my first trade analysis I've done, and it didn't age well. That being said, I think nobody really won or lost this trade. It was a defensible trade at the time, but of course you can only go with what you have.