The Morning Glory 2062.01: The Trade

[bcslouck]

A blockbuster was conducted between the Oysters and Mad Popes.

Rocky Mountain sent SP Jamie Barber and 3B Mohammed bin Mus'ad to Sactown for a George Groen, SP Vasile Conta, SP Ichizo Taguchi, 2B Agatone Louganis, SP Esteban Sanchez, SP Shakil Zuhair, LF Eudor Stratis, SP Harith Kadar, and SP Wei-guo Louis.

The move was suppose to kick off a rebuild that didn't really materialize over the offseason for the Oysters. But the move freed up a lot of salary in a league lowering the ceiling while giving them a lot of interesting pieces for a farm system that didn't have much in it. Almost through June, lets review the pieces that came back to Rocky Mountain.

Groen, an IFA sign in 2061 for $3.4M, looks to be a good COF defender with a good bat. The Oysters really loved his potential gap power. While not a burner, he is a good baserunner that should be able to hit a bunch of doubles and triples in Smashburger Park. A switch hitter that looks like won't have a platoon weakness, he has a lot of room to grown into a very good bat.

Conta is another 2061 IFA that signed for $4.752M. Some of the shine has worn off him already. Back in April, he left his game with an elbow injury and had radial nerve decompression surgery. He will be out the rest of 2062. The Oysters really lied his makeup and hope the injury doesn't derail his development. Sources aren't optimistic.

Taguchi is a solid SP prospect who is close to ML ready. While not flashy, his ability to keep the ball in the park intrigued the Oysters brass, especially playing in the Frontier. He'll probably get the call at some point in 2062.

Louganis is also a solid prospect. Thrust in the lineup as the teams starting 2B and leadoff hitter, it has come with mixed results. A solid .776 OPS in April was followed up with an awful .553 OPS in May. But with June about over, he's OPS'd .933. He's been much better on the road, which is interesting given the ballpark factors at home. And he's been better against RHP despite by all accounts being better against southpaws. The defense has also been solid. He's shaping up to be a very nice piece at the keystone.

Sanchez is another interesting SP that may get overlooked. While not quite living up to some of the original scouting reports, he's pitching very well at AA despite just turning last year. He has a good fastball with 5 other above average pitches. Everything about him is solid and there's no need to rush him. The Oysters hope to work with him with an eye toward 2064.

Zuhair is another solid SP prospect. Very similar to Sanchez though he could have 4 above average pitches when all is said and done. He isn't pitching as well as Sanchez down at A ball, but like Sanchez, he has plenty of time to make his way up the ladder.

Stratis was always viewed as Groen lite and that's even more so no. Some of his prospect shine has faded already. His COF defense won't be as good as Groen and he's more of a pure power hitter. But at 17, he is far from ML ready and has plenty of time to potentially get shined back up.

Louis and Kadar were throw ins that wre originally discussed in a Barber deal only. The former is a prospect that needs a lot of improvement to get on anyone's radar. The latter is a salary dump swingman who has been solid in his bullpen role.

The salary the Mad Popes took on prevented this from a being a top heavy deal. But the Oysters got back some solid players that fit all over the prospect map at many levels of the system.