2059.24: Bears Make Two Deadline Deals

[BaseClogger]

9/1/2059


For the second consecutive season the San Fernando Bears were both buyers and sellers at the trade deadline.

In the first trade, we sold Ruben bin Majid al Din to Twin Cities for $1. Bin Majid al Din was a 3.6 WAR pitcher for us last season and counted on to be the second guy in the starting rotation for another year in 2059. His ERA bloated from 3.77 to 5.53 which admittedly was in part due to much weaker infield defense behind him. However, the 33 year-old's K/BB and home run rates both deteriorated which is independent of the defense. We could easily see him pitching well for the River Monsters down the stretch and making sense to retain on a $9M team option for next season, but we viewed this deal exclusively thru the lens of trying to avoid paying his $3M option buyout.

In the second move, we've once again acquired one of the league's leading shortstops. Qutuz Mahdi was traded by Montreal in exchange for prospects Maximo Gousto, Jake Beers, Gustavo Brown, and Sjoerd Baan.

Our organization lacks any true shortstops in the upper minors and Mahdi is under contract for 2060 so this is a deadline trade about the future rather than the present. It's not common for a shortstop of this caliber to become available and Montreal has proven to be an able trading partner. After buying out some team options, San Fernando's total payroll projects to be around $50M in committed outlays entering the offseason giving us the flexibility to add more talent to the roster.

Gousto is the primary return and the prospect around which negotiations revolved. Montreal understandably wanted to get a true shortstop prospect in return. Gousto was also the headliner prospect San Fernando received earlier this year when they sent ace starting pitcher Arnold Cantrell to Las Vegas. As commish pointed out after the trade, Gousto has been slow to develop and we didn't see much progress on that front as he also struggled for our rookie league team. We ultimately found the teenager expendable if it meant bring back a bird in the hand at the same in-demand position.

Beers and Brown are fairly high upside teenage pitching prospects. "TINSTAAPP" and whatnot. They both are severely lacking in control and years away from contributing. Their high movement potentials made them clear targets for the Blazers. Baan was signed with a $900K signing bonus earlier this season after being released by Louisville.