AGBA Gazette - Part 1 of 3 (Eastern League Report)

 

Tale of Two Trades

Plenty going on in the sports world of late. It's that fun time of the year when we see a flurry of baseball moves. Always enjoyed this time since I was a little kid, my brother Jared and I would get that first baseball preview magazine on Valentine's Day from our Dad, which would be waiting for us at the breakfast table.

Now as an adult, I get my news updates following MLB on Instagram, ESPN, MLB Network, Yahoo Sports via email, and just a few days ago from my Facebook feed via friends. No more Facebook for me, but plenty of other sources to get sports updates. The beauty and the good part of the internet is getting sports information at a moment's notice, compared to hearing it from my dad's mouth (as a kid) mentioning the instant heartbreak that Lance Parrish was now a Phillie, and no longer a Tiger. As an adult we get to sit there and text one another, or blog about trades that are great, and the ones that simply don't make sense...

Which leads us into the Nolan Arenado Rockies-Cardinals trade. The updates via everywhere came flooding in Friday night around 10 pm. When I heard that St. Louis was the lucky team to acquire Arenado, my first thought was "That can't be good for Colorado". I thought about St. Louis' farm system, and unless the Cards were involving OF Dylan Carlson or 3B Nolan Gorman, or both, plus a few more prospects, the Rockies just got screwed. Arenado does have some opt-outs, with one being as soon as after this up-coming season, but even so Colorado should have got better prospects for him.

When the trade was initially announced, the details were not announced, then I saw my friend (APBA Bridesburg APBA League) Brian Cavanaugh's FB post about how bad the trade was, he was right on the money -- it was awful. Then I checked out responses across the internet, it was unanimously agreed upon, this was a heist by St. Louis. 

A couple months ago, it was leaked that the Colorado Rockies were open-minded about trading Arenado, and the rumored destination which made a great deal of sense and was also discussed by MLB analysts all pointed to the Los Angeles Dodgers. It made sense in so many ways, you are talking about a great farm system that could offer great prospects, plus a payroll that would be able to take on that entire remainder of Arenado's contract.

Instead Colorado traded Arenado to the Cards for a handful of fringe prospects (none of them Top 10 Cardinals prospects by the way), with pitcher Austin Gomber, age 27, as the most recognizable name in the deal, who has just 104 career innings under his belt. Plus Colorado will also be sending $50 million over to St. Louis. 

Arenado, still 29, has won a Gold Glove every one of his 8 seasons in the Majors, while he has hit at least .287 AVG with 37 HR & 110 RBI in each of the five seasons prior to the down 2020 season. 

I have seen friends or people mention, now we will know if he can hit outside of Coors Field.

I am aware of the home-away splits, in which Nolan hit only .263 away from Coors, but St. Louis isn't exactly a pitchers' park. I think Nolan will be just fine, the numbers will (yes) likely come down for sure, but we are talking about the greatest fielding third baseman ever...

and yes, I am aware that there was a Hall of Famer named Brooks Robinson, 'The Human Vacuum Cleaner.' I honestly didn't stutter making such a statement.

Even with lower production the remainder of his career, as long as it is productive enough the rest of the way, Arenado will be a Hall of Famer himself. To be honest, his glove alone could carry him the rest of the way. Then there is the high praise by the greatest third baseman of all-time, Mike Schmidt. Schmidt through the years has not been no stranger on giving Arenado praise, just before (or just after) Arenado's breakthrough 2015 season, Schmidt said something on the lines that by the time of Arenado's retirement that Arenado will be the greatest ever to play the position.

Schmidt echoed his praise in a New York Times article by Tyler Kepner in March 2018 by saying "In my opinion, Nolan Arenado is going to be the heir apparent to the greatest third baseman of all-time. He puts up numbers that I never even dreamed of. I don't think George Brett did or Chipper did, either. His numbers are crazy, and he hasn't won an MVP yet, which is really crazy."

Here is an interesting take on the Arenado trade by Jeff Spiegel of Dodger Blue.

The other trade was in a different sport, in football.

The Los Angeles Rams traded quarterback Jared Goff along with two 1st Round Draft Picks and a 3rd Round Draft Pick to the Detroit Lions for quarterback Matthew Stafford. I believe I read that it was the first time two 1st overall picks or 1st overall picks (that were quarterbacks) to be traded for one another.

People keep talking about this deal as if the Rams won out big. I believe it is more even than lopsided, the Lions get Goff (who was banged up by the way) plus two 1st Round picks. Detroit can do some quick retooling with those picks, and worst comes to worst Goff decides not to stay after his contract is up, but I believe he will have a chip on his shoulder, and will be good for Detroit.

I really like the deal. 

I am happy for Stafford, he will get a chance to play for a winner, and will get a chance to show if he can be a winning quarterback in this NFL. I think he will have a big year in 2021 for the Rams.