Crawdad Chronicles 37.02 - It Ain't no Lie. (Baby) Bye Bye Mei

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Crawdad Chronicles 37.02 - It Ain't no Lie. (Baby) Bye Bye Mei

Post by JimBob2232 » Fri Dec 07, 2018 9:20 am

Today the New Orleans Crawdads announced a blockbuster deal, sending All-Star Catcher Hsin Mei to the Mexico City Aztecs.

Mei was originally an International Free Agent (IFA) out of China in 2027 at just 16 years of Age. The Crawdads gave him big money, including a 12.6M signing bonus. IFA's are always a risk, but this time it paid off for the club. After steadily making his was from Rookie ball to the Majors in a shocking 5 years, he made his debut with the club in 2031. In his 6 seasons with the club, Mei hit .284/.342/.516 with 125 HRs and 369 RBI. That only tells part of the story though, as his 2036 campaign was by far the best of his young career, hitting .313/46/98 and a league leading .638 SLG. Combined with his 6.9 WAR Mei was one of the best players in the league finishing 2nd in the JL silver slugging trophy race.

In 2033, Mei helped the Crawdads make the Landis after being named MVP of both the Doubleday and Cartwright cups.

But the end was getting closer. Mei was scheduled to become a free agent after this season. He was demanding a contract in excess of 160M for 6 years. New Orleans was in a bind. They didnt want to lose him to FA, but they didnt want to have a massive contract for a catcher, and limit options elsewhere. They also had trouble finding a bidding parner because few other teams were willing to pony up the prospects New Orleans felt were necessary in the deal. They also knew that as the season wore on, finding a partner might get easier, but getting adequate compensation might get harder.

With that in mind, New Orleans and Mexico City reached an agreement sending Mei over for 4 prospects.

C Pedro Gomez (S A)
SS Damek Korbel [INT]
SP Jerry Pacy (S A)
SP Christian Garcia [INT]

Gomez is the prize here. The #46 prospect in the BBA, Gomez has the potential to be as good as Mei. Maybe a little less power, but a very well rounded prospect. If he can develop his defense a bit, Gomez can be the future C in New Orleans.

SS Korbel is another very good prospect at a rare position, SS, has good defense potential and a well rounded bat that has him with all star potential.

SP Pacy will be interesting to watch. Solid potentials, and is well developed for 20 years old. Only issue is whether his lack of a fastball will be a deterrent at the big league level. It hasnt been a problem thus far on the farm

And lastly Christian Garcia, an IFA find out of the Domincian has the potential to be a big league starter if he avoids the IFA curse.

All in all, GM Jim Roberts feels he got good value, but it will be a big loss to the club in 2037. But with the cash free'd up, they can focus on rebuilding this team in other areas.

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Re: Crawdad Chronicles 37.02 - It Ain't no Lie. (Baby) Mei Mei Mei

Post by bcslouck » Fri Dec 07, 2018 9:57 am

Not sure you could of gotten a better prospect than Gomez. Holding his own down in the lower levels and has shown development. I do wonder if you could of gotten a better developed prospect along with him or in another deal. I like what you got. Just far away.

Though if only one offer is on the table and Mei wasn't in future plans, you had to take it.
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Re: Crawdad Chronicles 37.02 - It Ain't no Lie. (Baby) Mei Mei Mei

Post by RonCo » Fri Dec 07, 2018 10:06 am

Yep. You take the offer you've got. Seems to me the package in return was high risk, high reward. If a couple pan out, New Orleans will be looking good in the end, but it's a roller coaster ride for awhile.

Mei is obviously a star. I'm wondering if the advent of a lot of good players going to Free Agency (or, as in the case of Mei, getting paid at the "right" level?) will result in more of these kinds of deals.
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Re: Crawdad Chronicles 37.02 - It Ain't no Lie. (Baby) Mei Mei Mei

Post by JimBob2232 » Fri Dec 07, 2018 10:17 am

RonCo wrote:
Fri Dec 07, 2018 10:06 am
Yep. You take the offer you've got. Seems to me the package in return was high risk, high reward. If a couple pan out, New Orleans will be looking good in the end, but it's a roller coaster ride for awhile.

Mei is obviously a star. I'm wondering if the advent of a lot of good players going to Free Agency (or, as in the case of Mei, getting paid at the "right" level?) will result in more of these kinds of deals.
Its always a tough call trading a way a guy like Mei. I talked to several teams with various levels of seriousness. But it kept coming back to either they didnt have the cap room for a Mei extension, or they didn't have prospects I wanted, or they weren't willing to give up much for a 1 year rental.

I told Fred this privately, but I think he got a great deal in the way this was structured. $20M/year for Mei is very reasonable. In the short term, the 35M is manageable.

BTW, this deal was 100% done over on slack via Direct Messages. I find it much easier for trade discussions. If you are looking for me, reach out over there. And please, change your user name to something with your team name in it!

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Re: Crawdad Chronicles 37.02 - It Ain't no Lie. (Baby) Mei Mei Mei

Post by bcslouck » Fri Dec 07, 2018 10:22 am

I agree on the Slack thing.

If I thought I was close to contention, I would of tried to work something out on a sign and trade.

I hope those guys work out for you. Like Ron said high risk but definitely potential for a big reward.
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Re: Crawdad Chronicles 37.02 - It Ain't no Lie. (Baby) Mei Mei Mei

Post by usnspecialist » Fri Dec 07, 2018 2:24 pm

Agree on the consensus, now waiting for the Mexico city TN entitled "It's gonna be Mei".
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