It's Ingy again, back after a long hiatus that involved the murder of several Marshall Islanders who spread malicious anti-Iowan propaganda across the baseball world. When duty calls, Ingy answers.
Our beloved Kernels were several games under .500 by the deadline, and our new GM made several aggressive moves that left the fanbase wondering what the future of this team will be. Are we set up for a quick 1-2 year rebuild around our existing core, or is this heralding a longer term plan? Are we making moves sure to leave us worse off?
Let's start with the headline deal:
This was a total blunder predicated on our idiot GM's undervaluing of free agent compensation. There was no reason to do this deal for so little return. Grade: F, and if Parreno doesn't end up opting out, F-/send this guy to the trenches.
I'm ok with this. We weren't going to extend Masuki for what he was asking, and this may be a better return than a 3rd-round draft pick (or no pick at all, more likely). We could still re-sign him.Charlotte (@Krathan) receives:
ML SS Elvin Masuki (retained 50%)
Des Moines receives:
A RP Sharif Qutuz
S A C Masakado Matsunaga
R 1B Arturo Sandoval
Good trade for both sides. Affordable bet for Mexico City that Ji-e will turn it around next year, though unfortunately he only hurt them in the playoff race. Even if Ji-e he doesn't bounce back, we have better pitching prospects who will need his rotation slot for the last phase of their development. Haworth is a gamble at 25, but if he does develop any more he could be a beast.
This is the biggest gesture toward a longer-term plan to rebuild of these four moves. We didn't have to do this trade at all-- Bigalow is one of the most versatile utility players in the league, with plus skills in the OF and passable at 2B. I thought his extension was quite fair for his numbers. But the return has promise.San Fernando receives:
ML OF/IF Sonny Bigalow
$3,000,000 in unmarked bills
Des Moines receives:
DFA OF Salih "Hammerhead" Bin Salah (I think he's DFAed if he was just traded?)
A SP Javier Duarte
SA SP Salah Lutfi
AAA SP Joe Hulton
What does the league think of these moves? Trying to figure out how much of a lunkhead our GM is and how quickly he should be remitted to pipeline crawling duty.
Love,
Ingy