2061.18 Action, Jackson: Nine Trade Lottery Ticket

[Trebro]

Action, Jackson: Nine Trade Lottery Ticket

by Valerie Davies, for the Yellow Springs World

The Yellow Springs Nine capitalized big time on their minor league signing of Greg Jackson, flipping him to the Long Beach Surfers along with AAAA outfielder Quentin Bronson in exchange for OF Attana Sangeeta, 2B Hector Davila, SP Hector Delgado, and OF Bill Terry.

It's an extraordinary trade that sees the Nine take advantage of their "not a hope in hell" chances in 2061 by taking on two of Long Beach's Rule 5 picks in the 2060-61 off-season, most likely because the Surfers didn't want to return them to Nashville. Unlike the home team, Long Beach finds itself in the thick of a playoff hunt and can't afford dead weight on the roster. Meanwhile the Nine are mostly dead weight anyway.

Jackson has had a great run with the Nine since being promoted from Indianapolis. While he was 0-3, he had a 3.00 ERA in 3 starts, a 1.13 WHIP and an ERA+ of 147. That caught the eye of the Surfers, who were Jackson's 2060 home in the BBA. They also pick up Bronson, who was one of several similar players in the Nine's 40-man roster and probably a non-tender in the offseason. However, his skills and ability to hit major-league pitching while providing acceptable defense at all three outfield positions makes him useful to Long Beach for a playoff push.

Coming back to the Nine are the following players:

Sangeeta has bounced around a lot for only being 24 years old. Ironically, he was an international signing out of India with Long Beach in 2054. He was then later dealt to Boise, who released him in the middle of 2058. Nashville lured him to their organization with a huge, 4.2 million dollar bonus later that year. Then the Surfers got him back, but his .121 batting average was just too low to be sustainable for them. National scouts say he has average to above average offensive skills, with a bit of pop in his bat. We'll see how the Nine use him. I expect like Don Anderson, he might see AA in 2062 with a possible return in 2063. In the meantime, they can afford to spot-start him.

Davila is the other Rule 5 that started the off-season in Nashville, moved to Long Beach, and is now in Ohio. He's also 24, and also a former international signing, this time via Twin Cities. He reminds me a bit of Arthur Cole, in that he's probably more a first basemen than a second baseman, with similar offensive skills. Perhaps that's a bit harsh. If he can live up to his potential eye skills, he'll be far better and more useful to a BBA club. But right now, he's a .143 hitter out of his depth. I'd imagine he'll see sporadic use and a trip to AA as well in 2062.

Delgado is probably the key piece coming back here. He's on the border between AAA and BBA, which means he'll either find a place on the roster or bounce between the two until his arbitration costs get too high. He's 23, so he's very young and has time to maybe improve his lackluster stuff. What I've seen of him shows he's got great movement on his five average pitches. He's going to be more of a Dave Lee type, though without the borderline Hall of Fame Career. Getting him as part of the deal for Jackson makes a lot of sense. If he works out, great. If he doesn't you gave up a guy who was in the recycling bin at the start of Spring Training.

Terry is a corner outfielder and 21. His stats so far look pretty good (.360 average, 10 HR, 166 OPS+) and he could end up being more useful to the Nine than Delgado in the long run. At worst, he's a younger version of Bronson that doesn't require being on the 40 man. Scouts I've talked to think he's a perfect 5th, maybe 4th outfielder in the long run. There's nothing wrong with that in exchange for an older counterpart.

This trade looks really good for the Nine, to be honest. Yes, it helps Long Beach in the short term, but it didn't hurt Yellow Springs in the slightest, other than maybe a few extra losses in a 90+ loss season. I'm told by anonymous sources that owner Bo Jordan negotiated this one personally with Long Beach GM Stephen Lane. If so, maybe he should consider being involved in deals more often. I think we'll be looking back at this one and discussing how good this trade was for Yellow Springs.

[BaseClogger]

Sangeeta is the only interesting guy in the return. Maybe Delgado after a reliever conversion. But that's still great as the return for a minor league signing.