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.

Cleaning out the inbox: Passings

There have been several passings of late and the inbox sadly is filled, I'm going to stick to a few sports passings for this one.

Goodbye to former Browns and Giants running back Ron Johnson at the age of 71.
Johnson was the Browns first round pick in 1969 and was traded to the Giants before the 1970 season as part of a trade that saw the Giants send their best pass catcher in Homer Jones to Cleveland and after a strong game in the premiere of Monday Night Football, be essentially worthless for the rest of the season and then through for good at the end of the year.
Back to Johnson, who was pretty much the only reason to watch the Giants, who were generally the worst team in the NFC East for the entire decade, in the early to mid-'70s.
Johnson rushed for over 1,000 yards twice and was the first in Giants history to achieve that milestone, which I was surprised to find out when looking at Johnson's numbers.
The picture of Johnson is a very sharp one as Johnson in the classy unis of the day rushed against the white-helmeted Philadelphia Eagles at the original Yankee Stadium.
Johnson's highlights start at 26;20 in the video below.


Goodbye to Tim Rossovich at the age of 72 (Courtesy of Lefty Koch).
Rossovich was the first round selection of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1968 out of USC as a linebacker/defensive end and became better known for his off-field zaniness and later as an actor.
Rossovich was part of an NFL Films special in 1971 named the "New Breed" that looked at players that were part of the counter-culture of the day and part of Rossovich's behavior which included such things as eating glass.
Rossovich became an actor and to me, the role I remember him most was as a rodeo cowboy in his underwear trying to lasso Shelley Long's prostitute in the Henry Winkler/Michael Keaton comedy "Night Shift".


Another football goodbye as former All-Pro linebacker Isiah Robertson passed at 69 when Robertson's limousine that he was driving skidded in the rain and smashed into two other cars.
Robertson spent most of his career with the Los Angeles Rams, where he was the Rams first round pick in 1971 before finishing in Buffalo.
Robertson was part of those Rams teams that always seemed to be the most talented team, but for various reasons could never get past either the Dallas Cowboys or usually the Minnesota Vikings.
Robertson might be remembered most by many for something that he didn't do-tackle Earl Campbell. who famously took Robertson's best shot and kept on trucking in a Rams-Oilers game at the Astrodome.


Onto baseball, where again it's Lefty Koch sending word on the passing of Al Gallagher at the age of 73.
A journeyman third baseman, Gallagher's best time in his playing career occurred when he was the starter at third base for the 1971 N.L. West champion San Francisco Giants before returning to his role of utility infielder the following year.
"Dirty Al" became a minor league manager for years, including against the Hagerstown Suns with the Durham Bulls in the Carolina League before being "blackballed" for emphasizing winning over development.
Gallagher would spend the rest of his years in baseball managing in various independent leagues.

Finally, a really sad note as former MLB infielders Luis Valbuena and Jose Castillo were killed in Venezuela when the car they were in crashed.
The crash was caused by gangs that place items in the road that cause cars to either leave the road or stop.
Former Indians farmhand Carlos Rivero was also in the car but survived the crash.
Valbuena was a glove-first backup infielder for five teams, including the Indians from 2009-2011.
Castillo was once thought of as possibly becoming a top second baseman when he arrived in Pittsburgh in 2004, but never seemed to live up to those hopes in four years as the Pirates starter, although he did hit 14 homers in 2006, before leaving Pittsburgh entering the 2008 season.
Castillo would spend time with the Giants and Astros in that season and would never play in the big leagues again, his MLB career finished at 27.

Still more passings and more items in the inbox to work on soon, so stay on the lookout for those.

Pirates trade Ivan Nova to White Sox

The Pittsburgh Pirates continued to shed salary for 2019 as they swapped righthanded pitcher Ivan Nova to the Chicago White Sox in return for a minor league pitcher.

The soon to be 32 year old Nova started 29 games for the Pirates in 2018 and finished 9-9 with a 4.19 ERA and 114 strikeouts as part of their rotation.
Nova earns eight million for the 2019 season and would be a free agent following that year so I can see the Pirates wanting to receive something for him and the Pirates appeared to be set in their rotation with Jameson Taillon, Chris Archer, Trevor Williams, and Joe Musgrove as their top four, so for a team with limited dollars to spend, Pittsburgh decided that eight million for an impending free agent was a bit high for their budget.

I might have kept Nova as the fifth starter and took what would have had the potential to be a pretty decent starting corps into the season and see what happened.
I would think had the team been in selling mode at the trade deadline, the Pirates would have likely been able to acquire a similar prospect in a trade, so that makes me think that as usual, the decision came down to the financial budget.
Still, I understand it as Nick Kingham pitched very well at times in his 15 starts and the cost difference between what the Pirates hope would be similar pitchers is pretty vast, so slotting Kingham into the fifth spot in the rotation makes sense.

Pittsburgh received 19 year old (turns 20 next month) pitcher Yordi Rosario.
Rosario split last year between the White Sox Dominican and Arizona league teams combining for an ERA of 2.57 between the two teams in 56 innings.
The interesting number is 70 strikeouts in those innings, so there appears to be some upside, although far from a sure thing.
I would think Rosario has a chance to start at Low A Greensboro, but may also stay in Florida and then be assigned in June to either Bristol (He'd be a little old) or West Virginia (He might be a little young).
Rosario's a lottery ticket, but an intriguing one.

Pittsburgh also signed journeyman righthander Jordan Lyles to an undisclosed deal.
Lyles was 3-4 with a 4.11 ERA in a season split between the Brewers and Padres.
Lyles started eight games for the Padres and made 16 relief appearances before his being traded to Milwaukee where he pitched in eleven games all from the bullpen.
Lyles will likely be in the bullpen to start and might be either a challenger for the fifth starting spot for Nick Kingham or the fallback option in case of injury or need.

Forgotten Superstars: Dick Slater

When I recently wrote about an array of passings, I mentioned the death of "Mr. Unpredictable" Dick Slater last month and that I would be working on a post on one of the more underrated stars of his day.

We have since seen two more wrestling stars of the past pass away (Dynamite Kid and Larry "The Axe" Hennig), and I'll be adding them in the passing posts later this week, which sadly has built up of late, but since there are so many, I wanted to finish this off.

Dick Slater was a main event level star in almost every territory that he ever wrestled in (except in the WWF, where he was forced into the "babyface" role of  "The Rebel" which didn't suit Slater's strengths), yet from what wrestlers and many fans say his best work cannot be found due to the lack of television tape from the 1970s.
Slater was known for "being more like Terry Funk than Terry Funk," and the people who saw the young Slater have been known to state that Slater's admiration for Funk's style actually took away from Slater, as many seeing Slater for the first time would think him a Terry Funk knock-off.
There were similarities, but Dick Slater was plenty good on his own.

Slater spent most of his career in his native Florida and Georgia, where he was known by nicknames such as "Mr. Unpredictable" and "Mr. Excitement", but formed one of the time's best tag teams with Bob Orton Jr in the Tennessee area in the late '70s and was a main part of two huge runs in the 1980s.
Slater with Orton were a major portion of the story, entering the sport's first showcase event in Starrcade in 1983 as the pair attempted to collect the bounty money posted by NWA champion Harley Race to make sure that Ric Flair was unable to challenge Race at Starrcade.
Flair would survive their attempts, although the pair did briefly injure Flair before Flair dethroned Race in Greensboro, NC.


Slater would have an even better run in the Mid-South area as the "booker" and as the company's North American champion with his valet Dark Journey, whom he was reported to have found in an Atlanta strip club as the company's lead heel.
This run was most famous for Slater, who held the North American title and the company's television title, and Journey's trip to a Tulsa, Oklahoma, bridge where he dropped the TV title medallion (the company wanted to start using a TV title belt) into the Arkansas River.

After Slater's time in Mid-South, he moved to the WWF as the Rebel, and it never seemed to be a good fit for him.
Slater would only have a short, but entertaining WCW run with Dick Murdoch as the Hardliners before his career ended.

Dick Slater was known as a legitimate tough guy with almost legendary stories.
Slater was a Tampa native, and it's been documented by several people about his bar fight with 6'8 300 300-pound NFL defensive lineman John Matuszak, where Slater knocked Matuszak cold and then woke his college teammate (Both played for the now-defunct Tampa football program) up and closed the bar.

Slater was also remembered for his locker room pounding of Sting when Slater thought (unsure if true or not) that Sting was involved with Dark Journey (Slater was dating her), destroyed him in seconds, and then gave Sting a "swirly", which is performed by stuffing someone's head into a toilet and then flushing it!

There were a few memories that I have of Dick Slater that are always good ones.
In the early 1980s, my brother and I were rabid fans but didn't have cable yet, so one of the best parts of vacations and trips to visit family was the once or twice-a-year chance to watch World Championship Wrestling.
I doubt I remember this correctly, but Slater did a run-in under a mask to enter the territory and attacked someone (I don't remember who) and then did an interview unmasking himself as "Mr. Excitement Dick Slater"!
The story goes that the crowd in the WTBS studio couldn't have cared less, and Shane and I got a laugh about how "excited" they were about "Mr. Excitement".
I'm not sure it happened that way, but I remember sharing the laughs!

Another memory saw the WWF hit Hagerstown with a card at North Hagerstown High School during Slater's "Rebel" stint.
Shane and I rooted for the "bad guys" and reveled in the good-natured back and forth with the standard fans.

On this night, Slater faced off against Canadian Dino Bravo, and this guy, who had been the loudest in rooting for his favorites and giving it back to us, suddenly turned to us as Slater's music, a version of the Confederacy theme, and hollered to us that "I'm with you guys for this match"!
The fan hollered that he was "against all things from the South" and therefore was rooting for the bad guy, Bravo!
I don't remember if Slater or Bravo won, but that incident alone showed that Slater and the gimmick weren't going to be a massive success in the McMahon era.

My final memory was from Slater's WWF time, when I saw him wrestle the Magnificent Muraco on a Saturday Night's Main Event that was more memorable for Muraco and manager Mr.Fuji's pre-match promo than anything in the ring.
I couldn't find a complete video, but it featured Mr. Fuji's halting version of "Dixie" complete with the Magnificent One (my childhood hero, as noted so many times) stomping along and shouting, "Hit it, Mr.Fuji"!!


Dick Slater was reported to have spent the final few years of his life in a nursing home after botched back surgery left him mostly bound in a wheelchair (although that didn't stop him from an altercation in 2004 from stabbing a girlfriend that resulted in a year of house arrest, Slater claimed that pain medication for the back contributed to the attack) and his quality of life wasn't very good by any means, but his wrestling career was an underrated one and we welcome him to the Forgotten Superstars universe. 

Browns finish Panthers 26-20

The Cleveland Browns might have taken the next step in the growth of their program as they overcame mistakes, penalties and some really sloppy tackling to step up and finish off the Carolina Panthers 26-20 in Cleveland.

Baker Mayfield continued his high-efficiency rate outside the state of Texas in completing 18 of 22 passes for over 200 yards and one score, while Jarvis Landry was the star of the day with fifty-plus yards both rushing and receiving as well as a touchdown via both avenues.
The Browns improved to 5-7-1 and kept their small playoff wishes alive with the victory.
Cleveland travels to Denver next Saturday night against the Broncos, another team with narrow hopes for the postseason.

Brownie Bits

1) Baker Mayfield once again was smart with the football, accurate and showed beautiful touch on deep passes to Breshad Perriman and Jarvis Landry.
I'm starting to come around...

2) Mayfield wasn't perfect though, he missed four passes, although one could claim with a little help, he might have completed them all.

3) Mayfield was only sacked once on a blitz off the corner by Captain Munnerlyn, but he was rushed often and used his feet to avoid the Panther rushers, but

4) Mayfield might have been sacked several times, but the Browns lineman grabbed Panther rushers rather than see Mayfield popped.
Kevin Zeitler and Greg Robinson were each called for holding twice and even though it's good to avoid your young quarterback getting whacked, I'd rather you block your man, especially in the case of Zeitler, who's very highly paid to avoid such matters.

5) Jarvis Landry was the player of the day, catching a 51-yard score, running three yards for another touchdown and running 51 yards on another play.
Landry also almost threw for a score, but his pass for Nick Chubb was broken up at the last second by a Carolina defender.

6) Give Mayfield and offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens credit for setting the go for broke feel for the game by throwing deep to Breshad Perriman for a 66 yard gain on their first offensive play.
Considering that Carolina had taken the kickoff and drove down the field for a touchdown to start the game, the Browns offense established that they weren't going to start slow and allow the Panthers to build a lead.

7) As for  Breshad Perriman, a talented player signed off waivers, the former first-rounder
struggled with injuries with Baltimore and never made an impact there.
Sometimes, players need a change of scenery and Perriman may have been one of those players that needed another chance.

8) It was cold (28 degrees) but not especially windy, but Baker Mayfield passed his first weather test.
Southern passers generally have to prove themselves in the cold, Mayfield will still have to deal with the heavy winds off the lake, but yesterday was a great start with his passes not being handicapped by the weather.

9) The receivers weren't perfect as both Jarvis Landry and Rashad Higgins lost fumbles by not securing the football and Higgins dropped an almost certain score on another play
If the Browns are receiving the type of play with these receivers from Baker Mayfield, imagine what could be with one or two upgrades for 2019.

10) The defense still tackled terribly, but held the Panthers inside the three on downs in the fourth quarter and ended the game when Cam Newton missed Devin Funchess and instead drilled a wide-open Damarious Randall for the interception that ended the game.
Much still needs to be done, but Randall, who Ryan reports was a huge disappointment in Green Bay as a cornerback, has been outstanding in his first season as a Brown at safety.

11) At 5-7-1. the Browns still need to run the table for a winning season and the playoffs even at 8-7-1 would be a remote possibility at most, but next week in Denver against the 6-7 Broncos is winnable.
Denver was beaten at San Francisco (3-10) yesterday, but has been very strong at home and should be an interesting test for the Browns.

12) The victory clinched a winning season at home ( 4-2-1) with the ailing Bengals and Hue Jackson to go.
Developing the ability to defend your home turf is the first step in building a winning program and no matter the final record (although a Bengal win is expected now without Andy Dalton), this is something to feel good about!

13) Finally, no matter the future of Gregg Williams as the eventual head coach. he's been doing a fine job keeping this team interested, playing hard and building the culture as the catchphrase goes.
I'm not sure if I want Williams as the permanent head coach (although when I hear some of the names, I would keep Williams before them), but I certainly want him as part of the staff, if it can be worked out.

Back later with a look at some of the many passings since the last passings post.

Boxing Challenge: Lomachenko Unifies!

 Al Bello/Getty Images

The Boxing Challenge had its main event from New York, but the performances on the undercard were equally as strong and it was a nice night of the Sweet Science from the Big Apple (Big Apple, Big Cesspool as Wes Huntley once quipped).

The main event starred Vasyl Lomachenko in his return from shoulder surgery against Jose Pedraza as he won a unanimous decision to add Pedraza's WBO lightweight belt to the WBA version that he held entering the fight.
Lomachenko looked a little slow to start, but he dominated the second half of the fight and the eleventh round where he knocked Pedraza down twice might have been the best fought round by a fighter this year.
Only the bell saved Pedraza after that onslaught and his best in the final round allowed him to go the distance.
My card had Lomachenko winning 117-109 and Lomachenko mentioned after the fight wanting to have a chance to collect the remaining two belts in the division.
Mikey Garcia holds the WBC title and between his Quixote-like attempt to defeat Errol Spence and his noted difficulty to do business with makes such a fight as unlikely to happen as it would be awaited by fans and the IBF title is vacant currently to be decided by the winner of a Richard Commey- Isa Chaniev bout in February.
The Commey-Chaniev fight will take place on the ESPN telecast of the Eleider Alvarez-Sergey Kovalev rematch and according to Top Rank president Bob Arum, an agreement has been made with Lou DiBella, who promotes both fighters, that the winner will face Lomachenko in May.
I've never seen Chaniev fight, but I have seen Commey and Chaniev will have to be pretty strong to win that fight.

Lomachenko wasn't the only impressive winner on the worldwide leader as Emanuel Navarette upset Issac Dogboe by a unanimous decision to earn the WBO junior featherweight title that Dogboe won earlier this year.
Navarette entered the fight untested, but with an impressive record, much larger and taller than Dogboe and using those advantages was able to control Dogboe to rarely allow the Ghana native to step inside and do his best work.
Navarette was very sharp in the win, but let's wait to see if he is truly a new star.
Often styles make fights and physically, Dogboe was made for Navarette.
I scored Navarette a 116-112 winner.

And there was Teofimo Lopez, the talented lightweight prospect who faced his toughest opponent to date in trialhorse Mason Menard.
Menard had lasted seven rounds with former WBO champion Ray Beltran and eight against another nice lightweight prospect in Devin Haney in May, but I wrote if Lopez is as good as I think he is, he'll take Menard out in less than five.
Menard lasted forty-four seconds and ended the fight face down on the canvas in what will at least be a competitor in the race for KO of the year.
That was about as impressive as you could be and Lopez needs to receive yet another bounce in competition.
I hate to rush young boxers, but he's not going to be tested by the level of Menard-like fighters and he might as well take those risks.

In England, Matchroom, and DAZN led the top of their card with Kell Brook against what appeared to be a squash match and title eliminator in journeyman Michael Zerafa.
Instead, Brook won a clear decision (118-110 on my card) but looked dreadful winning and looked to be nowhere near ready to take on a top contender
Brook looked slow, took his share of punches from Zerafa and never seriously hurt a fighter that was taken out in five by Peter Quillin in the past.
Amir Khan vs Brook has been a dream fight for British fans for years, but unless Khan watched this fight and decides easy money against Brook is better than a bid to dethrone Terence Crawford, Brook might be in No Man's land.
It's sad to say, but although Brook should be applauded for courage for jumping to middleweight to try Gennady Golovkin, it was a foolish move as the beating that Brook took seems to have ruined him as a world-class fighter.

The other challenge bout from England was canceled when welterweight prospect Josh Kelly fell ill and his leap in competition against David Avanesyan was canceled.

On the final HBO card, junior featherweight contender Juan Francisco Estrada wore down former sparring partner Victor Mendez and Mendez's corner ended the fight after the seventh round.
I had Estrada ahead six to one on my card and Mendez looked ready to go, had he continued the fight and tried the eighth round.
Estrada is the mandatory contender for WBC champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and a rematch of their exciting fight that Rungvisai squeaked a majority decision would be welcomed.

In the boxing challenge, I earned six points to Ramon Malpica's five with the difference being two points for me to Ramon's one for the Juan Francisco Estrada win.
The total is currently 206-185.

Cavaliers bring Dellavedova home-Trade with Bucks

After a two year and a little more absence, Matthew Dellavedova is coming back to Cleveland as part of the Cavaliers trade with the Milwaukee Bucks and Washington Wizards.

The Cavaliers are adding Dellavedova along with center John Henson along with the Bucks first and second round picks in 2021 and Washington's 2022 second rounder.

Cleveland will be sending veteran guard George Hill to the Bucks and forward Sam Dekker to the Wizards, along with returning the Wizards 2011 second rounder that was obtained in a previous trade.

Matthew Dellavedova was a tremendously popular player in his previous stint with the Cavaliers and at 28 could still have some good basketball left in him.
Delly has seen his playing time reduced each of his three seasons in Milwaukee moving with 26 minutes a game to 18 to a mere eight minutes a night with the Bucks this season and averaging 1.7 points and 2 assists a game in that time.
The loss of playing time does make you wonder a bit, but in a deal that seemed to be made mainly to create cap space by moving George Hill and add draft picks down the road, the chance is minimal and bringing back a popular player never hurts in the eyes of the fans.
Dellavedova is under contract next year at 9.6 million.

Henson is a 6'11 power forward that underwent wrist surgery last week.
The 27 year old from North Carolina was averaging five points and five rebounds this season before the injury.

George Hill was making twenty million for the season and veteran leadership with ten points and just under three assists a night certainly wasn't worth all that.
Just adding cap flexibility to perhaps make more deals at the deadline makes this a good deal for the Cavaliers and Hill is a player better suited to be a role player on a good team than a stalwart on a mediocre one, especially at the money that he is making this season.

Sam Dekker moves to Washington (Washington sent Jason Smith to the Bucks in the trade) for his third team in 2018.
Dekker was around his career averages of six points and two rebounds, his numbers were similar to that of John Henson and likely included in the deal in order to make the salaries match up.

Anytime that you are able to add a future first and a second rounder (even if it could be as late as 2024 before the picks could be used) and save over ten million dollars in cap space, it's a good move.
It's even better when you could even move John Henson at the trade deadline for some more assets and add a popular player like Matthew Dellavedova as well.
Adding players with longer contracts to add future picks is smart and the type of move that a rebuilding team needs to make more of- Good job.