Indians obtain Wood and Arroyo from Tampa Bay

The Cleveland Indians have made their first move of the silly season as the Wahoos traded with the Tampa Bay Rays to add pitcher Hunter Wood and utilityman Christian Arroyo for the postseason run.

Hunter Wood is the major part of the deal with as righthanded help for the bullpen with a fastball in the middle 90s.
Wood was 1-1 with an ERA of 2.48 in 19 appearances for Tampa, striking out 24 in 29 innings and will likely slot in as the seventh or eighth-inning setup man,
Wood has been assigned to AAA Columbus as a temporary measure until space on the 40 man roster can be made later this week.

Christian Arroyo was once a first-round pick(2013) and highly touted prospect for the Giants with a highly regarded bat, but after being traded to Tampa in the trade that sent Matt Moore to the Giants for the 2017 stretch run, had been a disappointment.
Arroyo is currently on the disabled list with an issue with his right forearm and may not be able to return this season, although a September recall is possible.
Arroyo can play multiple positions around the infield and might best be used as a utilityman with a very good contact bat.
Arroyo hit .220 with two homers for Tampa in fifty at-bats and hit .314 with eight homers for AAA Durham in 121 plate appearances.
Arroyo was placed on the Indians disabled list upon completion of the trade.

Cleveland gave international slot money to the Rays along with outfielder Ruben Cardenas in return for the aforementioned two players,
Cardenas was the Indians sixteenth round selection in the 2018 draft from Cal-State Fullerton and played 84 games for low A Lake County, hitting .284 with 10 homers in 320 at-bats.
The 21 year old outfielder ranked in the top five in six batting categories in the Midwest League and is projected to have plus power, although his ability to make contact at higher levels has been questioned and a collegiate back injury helped Cardenas slide in the draft far more than had been projected before Cardenas final season with Fullerton.
Cardenas was assigned to Tampa's low A affiliate in the same Midwest League with the Bowling Green Hot Rods.

This trade may not spin the world, but hard-throwing young relievers with controllable years are always going to have a strong market and even though relief pitchers are the least stable position from year to year of late, anytime you can add one such as Wood, it could be a good deal.

Indians strike in the trade market! Bauers,Santana in. Encarnacion and Diaz out.

The Cleveland Indians are attempting to do arguably the most difficult in sports management-Attempt to contend while rebuilding at the same time.

This can happen for different reasons- trying to make an aging team a little younger in order to contend for a longer period of time,
trying to add pieces to the puzzle to shore up a weak spot with the best opportunity to win in hand and sometimes it is a financial issue as the team needs to save some money and attempts to do so before falling to the league floor.

Just in the little home, we have here, we've seen the Devils try it under Lou Lamoriello for years, just saw the Cavaliers attempt before realizing stripping down to the chassis was a better idea and even last season, the Giants spent money on aging stars Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria that saw an improvement for the team, but didn't see the team reach true contention.
None of them managed to pull it off with great success, but the Indians have a chance with their starting pitching whether they keep them all intact or swap one or two to try to fill an existing hole for a longer term.

The Indians returned Carlos Santana, who left the team for Philadelphia via free agency after the 2017 season to Northeast Ohio from Seattle (who recently acquired him from those Phillies) and added young first baseman Jake Bauers from Tampa Bay, who struggled in his rookie season but is regarded as still a viable prospect.
Cleveland sent Edwin Encarnacion to Seattle along with one of their competitive balance draft picks, while shipping Yandy Diaz and a player to be named later to Tampa in return for the pair.

Santana struggled in his only season in the National League as he hit only .224, although he did hit 24 homers.
Still, Santana's major drop was in batting average as his other numbers stayed relatively in line for his standard stats and he walked 110 times, which narrowly missed (by three) his career high in that category.
The Indians did attempt to keep Santana in Cleveland following 2017, but the well-heeled Phillies were able to outbid the Indians to land the switch-hitting veteran.
Santana is under contract for the next two years (25 million) and there is a 2021 team option.
Santana will see time at both first base and designated hitter in a position share with Yonder Alonso, should Alonso return as he also has been a name floated in trade rumors as the Indians continue to try to become cheaper, younger, faster etc.

The other name in this deal with some clout is Jake Bauers, who split the 2018 campaign between Tampa and their AAA affiliate in Durham. hitting .201 with 11 homers in 323 at bats.
The 23-year-old Bauers moved through the Padres (Tampa acquired him in a trade) and Rays organization as a first baseman but began to occasionally spend time in left field in Durham last season.
Bauers also knows how to work a walk (54), but struck out more than his share as he whiffed 104 times which is close to once every three at-bats, so there are a few questions about his ability to make contact at the big league level.
At his age though, there have been plenty of players to struggle early and solve the riddle and Bauers is highly thought of, so I'm not overly concerned-Yet.
Bauers might be the eventual first baseman, but for 2019 is more likely to try his hand at left field with the Indians currently question filled outfield.

Leaving Cleveland will be veteran power hitter Edwin Encarnacion, who despite hitting 32 homers last season, seems to be in the process of losing bat speed.
Encarnacion will thump his share of homers in Seattle, but his stats in the major categories have dropped in each of the last three years and he seems to be (with the exception of power) a player in some decline.
At soon to be 36, the Indians are gambling that two years of Carlos Santana is superior to one of Edwin Encarnacion.

Indians fans seem to be far more upset about trading 26-year-old Yandy Diaz than the immediate help of Encarnacion.
Diaz impressed observers by hitting .312 in a 39 game stint in Cleveland, but it seems like fans and those observers were more impressed than the Indians, who returned him to Columbus.
Diaz has ripped up AAA pitching for two seasons, but in his entire minor league career has never hit double digits in homers and one wonders if he will develop power at all.
I'm not sure that I see Diaz as an everyday player at one spot and he might be best used as a Jeff Keppinger type as in a player that can be used at a few different positions but is a hit for average tool player.

In closing, there is little not to like about this deal.
Yes, Carlos Santana may be in the beginnings of a slowdown, but for only an additional four million (a pittance in baseball dollars), Cleveland will have Santana for two seasons rather than Encarnacion for one.
Santana can be used in the field far more often and more effectively than Encarnacion and I think he'll be happy to be back in Cleveland where he never sold his home even after leaving for the Phillies.

Jake Bauers is somewhat of a risk, but most young power hitters are when they first show up in the majors.
One would wish that Bauers would have hit for a higher average or had more of a proven track record, but if that were the case, teams would not be trading for him for a singles hitting third baseman that was not proven beyond AAA.
Bauers (Imagine the fun for announcers who will now have Trevor Bauer and Jake Bauers on the same team) is the type of high risk/high reward prospect that every team wants to acquire and some even feel were a success- Remember Matt LaPorta who was the main part of the CC Sabathia trade?
It was LaPorta that was thought to be the future star, but it was the other outfielder in the deal that the Indians received the value, Michael Brantley.

Pirates leap into deadline!

The Pittsburgh Pirates looked to be sellers a few weeks back if you looked forward to the trade deadline, but then something happened in Pittsburgh- the Pirates ripped off eleven wins in a row, leaped back into the wild-card race with a Bob Beamonesque leap and Neal Huntington suddenly had a decision to make- sell and basically tell his fan base that the franchise had decided to punt the season from the green flag, stand pat with a suddenly hot team or make some moves and try to make the postseason.

To my surprise, Huntington made not just one, but two moves and they were big ones for the Pirates, costing them several good prospects that might have Pirates fans looking at these trades for years as either the day the Pirates added some arms that turned them into contenders for a few years or the day the team overreacted to a win streak and dealt players that should have thrived in Pittsburgh.

Starting with the larger of the two trades (the second of the pair), the Pirates landed perhaps the biggest arm to change teams at the deadline as Pittsburgh added righthander Chris Archer from Tampa Bay for outfielder Austin Meadows, right-handed pitcher Tyler Glasnow, and a player to be named later.
That's quite a package of cost-controlled young talent to send away for an often financially challenged franchise, but let's look at what Pittsburgh acquired first before the lost prospects in Chris Archer.

The soon to be 30 year old Archer (turns 30 in September) has been the best pitcher on a bad team over the last few seasons (53 wins since 2013), has been durable (no trips to the DL since his 2013 call-up) and hasn't notched an ERA higher than his current 4.31, so this is a quality starter to slot into the rotation for the Buccos.
Add to that, Archer's very team friendly contract that has him under control for 2019  (7.5 million) at a minimum with two team option years for 2020 and 21 at a very affordable (9 and 11 million) cost as well and you can see why the Pirates paid what they paid in prospects.

However, there are a few caveats on Chris Archer.
The largest of these is that Archer never took the expected leap to the next level after 2014 and 15 seasons that would have seen him firmly in the Cy Young race on even an average team and his numbers although still good, are declining slightly.
It could be that Tampa dealt Archer just as he is at his highest value and just before Archer could be starting a steep decline.
Archer's strikeouts numbers are down a bit (a strikeout and a half per nine innings from last year) and his hits per nine innings are up one from last season and those make me at least wonder a bit about Archer.
Still, Archer is still about as safe as you can trade for at this stage and even if he gives the Pirates what he has given to the Rays this season for three and a half seasons, that's still enough to be in the upper half of the Pirate rotation and if he gives you what the 2015 Archer is capable of, the Pirates have a clear number one starter.

Here's the issue for the Pirates though- you don't get a pitcher like this for free and they sure didn't this time.
Tyler Glasnow has the type of arm that makes scouts drool and as he flew through the minors, Glasnow was thought to give the Pirates a contention window with three big righthanders with power arms with Gerrit Cole and Jameson Taillon, but for one small problem- every time that Glasnow was given a chance with the Pirates, he had problems finding the strike zone.
The Pirates placed him in their bullpen and despite the walks remaining high (34 in 34 appearances), the strikeouts were as well ( 72 in those 34 appearances) and to me to have an arm like this that hasn't turned 23 (He will later this month) that you seem to have given up on as a starter is incredibly short-sighted.
Perhaps the Pirates figured they had run out of answers for Glasnow's questions or that their staff couldn't get through to Glasnow or who knows what other thoughts that they have, but all I will write is this- when you have a 6'8 fireballer with that kind of stuff and you give up on him this soon- you had better hope you are right because those arms don't come along as a homegrown product every day.

Austin Meadows was thought to be the next starting young outfielder and was the natural long-term replacement for Andrew McCutchen.
McCutchen's trade to the Giants was thought to have opened the door for Meadows, but when the team traded with Tampa Bay to add veteran Corey Dickerson, that door closed until Meadows was given a shot in May and responded with a torrid first month in the bigs hitting over .400 with four homers in his first 13 games.
Meadows cooled off in his next forty games, but still seemed to be in their long-term plans between the veteran Dickerson and the erratic Gregory Polanco, but Tampa had to have wanted the cost-controlled Meadows in this deal to make it work.
I've always liked Meadows bat, but he has had problems staying healthy and with the way that Meadows had dropped off after his start, the Pirates had to have wondered at least a little.
Meadows was the best outfield prospect in the system as far as talent and was the nearest to the parent club as well, so this was not a player that the Pirates could easily trade away.
The departure of Meadows also puts a lot of heat on the Pirates to re-sign Corey Dickerson in the off-season, despite an arbitration number that might make a Dickerson re-signing oppressive, this trade almost makes that a must do rather than we'll see consideration.


The player to be named will be interesting as well.
Will it be a third higher level prospect ( O'Neil Cruz at low West Virginia is the best prospect position wise or pitcher Mitch Keller at AAA Indianapolis, which I would think is unlikely), a b-level player that is at Bradenton or Altoona or a lottery ticket from the lower end of the system?
Glasnow was added to the Tampa roster and Meadows was assigned to the Rays AAA affiliate in Durham after the deal,
This trade will be evaluated for years and many Pirates fans will be following Tampa box scores for quite a while.

Editor's Note; The PTBNL was pitcher Shane Baz, the Pirates 2017 first round selection,

The first trade saw the Pirates add to their bullpen with a trade with the Texas Rangers as they added closer Keone Kela, favorite of former TRS fan Brad Adams (If two people read this and ask, I'll write about the Kela story that I have to tell) and owner of 24 saves in 25 chances for the Arlington's in exchange for minor league lefty Taylor Hearn and a player to be named later.
The 25-year-old Kela pitched well for the Rangers in 2017 and 18, can close or fill a setup role and can even pitch in a semi-long role in a rare situation that calls for it.
Kela will be arbitration eligible, but the Pirates again have added a pitcher that gives them some control over his rights for a while.

The part that hurts is losing former Hagerstown Sun lefthander Taylor Hearn, who was having a breakout season at AA Altoona.
Hearn has an ERA of 3.12 in twenty starts, struck out 115 in 109 innings and held opposing hitters to under a .200 batting average.
Add that to a lefty that sits in the mid-90's and you have a southpaw that didn't seem to be far away from the big leagues.
This might be another pitcher that the Pirates might have wished hadn't gotten away.
Hearn was assigned to the Rangers AA squad in Frisco after the trade.

Give the Pirates credit, they saw an opening and for once- went for it.
For a team that is almost always questioned about finances, you have to give them credit for doing what they are usually criticized for not doing- giving themselves a chance to win.
However, you can argue (and time will answer this question) that the Pirates might have overreacted to a winning streak that put them in sight of a playoff spot (and that's really what the streak did put them in the running) and might have cost themselves as many as five young players that make the big leagues for a mirage of a playoff run.
They are valid questions to ask and I don't think that the answer is an easy one, mainly because I've been critical for the Pirates not being buyers when in the position to make sense to do so.
Still, looking at all things fairly, I lean to the side of not making the deal for Chris Archer.
Here's why- you didn't think that you were going to contend, which is why you moved Gerrit Cole for young players (Michael Feliz, Joe Musgrove, and Colin Moran) that were expected to make the parent club, yet weren't expected to make instant impacts on the lineups.
The team (in my opinion) traded better prospects for Archer than they received for Cole and yet the trade for Cole put the surprise contender in need for a pitcher.
Archer will be under team control longer than Cole, so that plays a part in those deals, but still, if you don't trade Cole, the need for Archer is not as great and so it goes down the line.
Now you lose players with the potential to help you down the road for what could be a mirage of a few weeks in one season and the risk is massive, particularly if Tyler Glasnow figures things out in Florida.
I understand the reasons why but consider me more than concerned about the end results of these trades.

Giants trade for Evan Longoria

Source: J. Meric/Getty Images North America

The San Francisco Giants claimed they weren't going to strip the team to the gears after an awful 2017 season and that they were going to take measures to attempt to return to playoff contention for 2018.

Their road to that status began with a trade with the acquisition of the greatest player in the history of the short-lived Tampa Bay Rays as third baseman Evan Longoria is on his way to San Francisco in return for four players.
Longoria fills a spot that was a gaping weak area last season at third base and adds a power bat to a lineup aching for one (and more than that still).
Even at 32 and coming off an off year (for by his standards) of .261,20 HR and 86 RBI, Longoria plays every day and plays top notch defense (Gold Glove winner last season), so even if he has lost a step, Longoria still has plenty left in the tank.

It's not all perfect, Longoria is signed through 2022 with a buyout in 2023 and with numbers starting with 13.5 million next year and ending with 18.5 in 2022 at the age of 37, so he'll be paid big money just when you would think he should be in a major decline.
Still, AT&T Park isn't the power sapper that it has the reputation for, at least for dead pull hitters (although it is for the power alleys) and I think Longoria has a good chance to provide the power he is being brought to the Bay for- at least for a while.

The Giants sent four players for Longoria in various stages of their careers.
Longtime TRS favorite Denard Span was part of the deal in order to keep the Giants under the luxury tax.
Span's inclusion will allow the Giants to make another move or two to continue to improve the team for 2018.
I've always liked Span, but at his age (Soon to be 34) and in the spacious AT&T outfield, his defensive liabilities were glaringly obvious last season.
Span can still be helpful to some team, especially if he could be a platoon starter or even a fourth outfielder, but his paycheck is way too much for that role.

Christian Arroyo was the main selling point for Tampa Bay.
Arroyo was the Giants top pick in 2013 and was brought up last season and given a chance to win the third base job when the Giants were having issues (as they would all year) at the position.
Arroyo had a good start, but slowed down and was demoted to AAA Sacramento as he finished with a line of 192/3/14 in 34 games.
Some had Arroyo rated as the Giants top prospect, but in my rankings,I have the latest Giants first rounder Heliot Ramos in that spot and for Arroyo's skill for making contact, what Arroyo does best is the easiest type of player to find.

The Giants also included two minor league pitchers in the deal that have two things in common-they both strike guys out and they have questionable command.

Stephen Woods is a 22 year old righthander that went 6-7 with a 2.95 ERA in 23 starts at Low A Augusta last season.
Woods has another intriguing stat to me-113 strikeouts in 110 innings...
Woods was a 2016 sixth round draft pick.

23 year old lefty Matt Krook was the Giants fourth round pick in the same 2016 draft out of the University of Oregon,
Krook was highly thought coming out of high school but underwent Tommy John surgery while at Oregon and last year at High A San Jose went 4-9 with a 5.12 ERA in 28 starts.
However, Krook still whiffed 105 in 91 innings and Cal League hitters hit just .217 against him in a hitters league,

Tampa Bay will also be including some cash yearly over the course of Longoria's contract to help with the cost of the deal.
It's risky for the Giants on one hand-32-year-old power hitters always have a chance of dropping off a steep cliff quickly, but Longoria is durable, isn't a defensive liability and even as he ages should still be able to deliver some power.
Evan Longoria alone is not the answer to returning the Giants to playoff prominence, but shoring up third base is the beginning of the process, so in the short term at least, the trade looks like one that is a pretty decent one...