Hello Again

Hello again. Some of you may have found this blog thanks to Ben Lindbergh‘s great Transaction Tree piece on Grantland for which I did the graphics. After today’s NYY/DET/ARI three way deal the Tigers’ tree needs an update. (click to embiggen)

As you can see, I’ve filled out the rest of this tree compared to the ones in the Grantland piece to show where all the players’ branches came from and ended.

For fun, here’s the Diamondbacks version, which is more about Trevor Bauer and Trevor Cahill.

And just to be complete, here’s the New York angle.

The Yankees are always so boring.

Updating the Recent Trade Trees

In the last few weeks the Pirates have traded Bryan Morris to the Marlins and announced the player to be named in the Ike Davis deal. Let’s look at how the new information alters the trade trees for those players.

Morris was known as the last player left from the Jason Bay trade. That honor now falls to recent draft pick Connor Joe.

The speculation at the time of the Ike Davis trade was that the PTBNL was a 2013 draft pick, and by rule could not be traded until one year after the draft. This turned out to be true when last year’s second round pick Blake Taylor was sent to the Mets on June 15.

Finally a First Baseman: Ike Davis Trade Tree

Finally consummating a deal that was long rumored in the offseason, the Pirates have acquired 1B Ike Davis from the Mets in exchange for minor league RHP Zack Thornton and a player to be named later.

Davis, 27, will fill the left-handed hitting half of a first base platoon with Gaby Sanchez. He hit 32 HR in 2012 and sports a career line of .241/.334./.433.

Thornton was acquired from Oakland for RHP Chris Resop, who was a waiver claim from the Braves. No word on who the PTBNL will be, but Jon Heyman tweets it will be a “fairly significant” player.

The Mets side of the trade looks like this:

Mark Trumbo Trade Tree

Well, there goes one option for first base. The Angels have traded Mark Trumbo to Arizona in a three team deal with the White Sox. Obviously Trumbo’s power plays anywhere but you have to think they would have been better served getting one of the many available outfield options.

Arizona has used five draft picks, four amateur free agents and one waiver claim to end up with Trumbo, Patrick Corbin, A.J. Schugel and a PTBNL. Most of those parts left via the Dan Haren deal.

Not pictured here is Hector Santiago going from Chicago to Los Angeles. (Click to embiggen)

David Freese Trade Tree

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these.

 

The Cardinals made a move to shore up their out field D and opened a pretty big hole at 3B. I’m curious to see how they fill it.

Marlon Byrd Trade Tree

Finally, the Pirates make a move to upgrade their offense, acquiring Marlon Byrd and John Buck from the Mets.

Byrd is having the best season of his 12 year career and should go to the playoffs for the first time. He slots in at RF and will push Jose Tabata to the bench when Starling Marte is healthy.

I don’t see Tony Sanchez being sent down, so Buck looks like he’ll be a 3rd catcher. His presence will give Clint Hurdle the peace of mind to use Russell Martin or Tony off of the bench when they aren’t starting.

The team hasn’t announced a corresponding roster move and I wouldn’t expect them to before tomorrow. I’d probably send down Pie and a pitcher. You don’t need as many pitchers in the playoffs and they have plenty of DL spots to play with to get whoever they want active.