Join Curt Bishop on the Exit Velo Podcast as he breaks down every team’s trade deadline acquisitions and gives them a grade based on what/who they acquired and how each move could help or hurt them going forward.
Hello baseball fans! This is Curt Bishop and you’re listening to the Exit Velo Podcast where we talk all things MLB. We’re going to continue our segment on grading each team’s deadline moves. We did the AL East yesterday, so let’s move onto the AL Central.
Chicago White Sox
We’ll start up top with the White Sox. They had a pretty busy deadline, as they acquired Cesar Hernandez from the Indians and also brought in Ryan Tepera and Craig Kimbrel in separate trades with the Cubs. That bullpen now features Kimbrel, Liam Hendriks, and Tepera at the back end. Manager Tony La Russa is going to have two great options when it comes to closing out games. He’s got two proven closers that are essentially interchangeable parts and he can basically use Kimbrel one night and Hendriks the next. Unfortunately, in the Kimbrel deal, they did have to give up Nick Madrigal, who’s out for the year, but given that they got Hernandez, they don’t really need Madrigal anymore. It’s probably worth seeing if they can extend or re-sign him in the near future. Overall, the White Sox bullpen is now probably the best in all of baseball, and with Eloy Jimenez back and Luis Robert on the way, the whole team is about to get even stronger. They probably had the best deadline of any team in the AL, perhaps baseball. We’ll give them an A+
Cleveland Indians
Cleveland is in second and well behind the White Sox. The soon to be Guardians were sellers, much to my surprise, as they weren’t too far out in the Wild Card race. They of course dealt Hernandez to the White Sox for minor league pitcher Konnor Pilkington, who’s stats so far are pretty good, so this is a good move for the Indians when concerning their future. They also acquired Pablo Sandoval in exchange for Eddie Rosario. I’m not quite sure what they were doing there. Sandoval is washed up, only hitting .178 this year. I think they could’ve tried to pick up a prospect or something. They could’ve seen what other players the Braves had on their major league roster as well. Overall, I don’t really see how these moves help them in the short term. The Hernandez trade is a good move for the future, but like I said, I’m not sure what they were thinking when they only managed to pick up Sandoval for Rosario. We’ll give them a solid C.
Detroit Tigers
Next up we have the Tigers. They really didn’t do anything big. All they really did was ship off Daniel Norris to the Brewers. They acquired minor league right hander Reese Olson in that deal, who’s numbers down there aren’t great. He’s got a career 4.55 ERA, so this wasn’t a great move. Norris isn’t having a very good season. He’s 1-3 with a 5.63 ERA in 40 games, but I think they could’ve done more than trade only him. I’m not sure why they didn’t move Jonathan Schoop. He surely would’ve brought back a decent return of prospects. I’m not impressed with what the Tigers did. I’m going to give them a D.
Kansas City Royals
Next we’ve got the Royals. They traded Danny Duffy to the Dodgers for a player to be named later. Also, at the last minute, they sent Jorge Soler to the Braves in exchange for right hander Kasey Kalich, who’s got good minor league stats, so I think that was a good move for the Royals, as his career ERA in the minors is just over 2 ½. Other than that there’s really not much to their trade deadline. I thought they might try to deal Mike Minor or Carlos Santana, but that didn’t happen. They didn’t have a bad deadline, though. I just thought they’d do a little more. I’ll give them a C-
Minnesota Twins
Finally at the bottom we have the Twins. They traded Hansel Robles to Boston for minor league right hander Alex Scherff, who’s enjoying a breakout season. They sent J.A. Happ to St. Louis in exchange for minor league lefty Evan Sisk and right hander John Gant, and they got a huge return for Jose Berrios, acquiring shortstop Austin Martin and righty Simeon Woods Richardson, who were Toronto’s No. 2 and No. 4 prospects, respectively. I think that move and the one with Robles sets them up really well for the future. There’s a little uncertainty surrounding the trade with the Cardinals. Both Sisk and Gant are having solid seasons. Gant did have problems with walks this year in St. Louis. Most of those struggles came when he was in the rotation and he improved quite a bit in the bullpen, but he still ran into trouble with walks. He’s kind of a swing man guy, so he could make the occasional spot start if need be. It’s a pretty good trade, but there’s still uncertainty about whether or not he can stop walking so many batters. Other than that, I think Minnesota had a solid deadline. I’ll give them an A, just because there are still question marks about Gant.
Thanks so much for tuning in to the Exit Velo Podcast. I’m Curt Bishop and we’ll be back tomorrow with the AL West.
