Trea Turner was supposed to be the starting shortstop for the Washington Nationals on Opening Day. Everyone in the baseball world recognized that this kid was ready for primetime, and that it would be a complete waste of his talent to let him spend any more time in the minor leagues. Naturally, that's just what the Nationals did (as that is always what they seem to do.) After they were done dicking around with his service time, Turner was finally called up. He proceeded to explode onto the MLB scene: .342/.370/.567, with 13 homers, 8 triples, and 33 stolen bases in 39 attempts. Thanks to all that dicking around, though, he amassed only 324 plate appearances.
When we made the big Kris Bryant trade earlier this year, we knew exactly the risk we were taking. The goal was to spread that risk through diversification. A major element of our more diversified portfolio was Miguel Sano. Of course, within days of making that trade, Sano missed a significant chunk of the season with a hamstring strain. Then he hurt his elbow and missed even more time. Then he hurt his back. This is a 23-year-old kid we're talking about. By the time the dust settled, Sano managed only 495 PA's, with a disappointing .236/.319/.462 triple-slash line. Chalk it up as a wasted season. He will likely serve in a platoon role for us next season.
Another major factor in that trade decision was the acquisition of Andrew Benintendi. We are extremely high on this kid, and believe that he is the piece of the puzzle that we've been missing since Alex Gordon said goodbye to Salem. Unfortunately, the Red Sox also dicked around with Benintendi's service time. After tearing up NCAA and three levels of the minor leagues, it was obvious that he was ready for the big time very early in the year. Instead, the Sox waited until August to promote him. Then, of course, he twisted his knee and missed over two weeks of the remainder of the season. That left him with just 118 PA's, making him a valuable pinch hitter for us in 2017.
We signed Neil Walker as a free agent last winter with the intention of eventually trading him during the season. Instead, he exploded out of the gate, and finished the season with a .282/.347/.476 batting line. Unfortunately, he, too, missed a significant portion of the season due to injury, and ended up with only 458 PA's -- barely enough to avoid the split usage limitations.
Travis Shaw was another player we drafted with the sole purpose of flipping him in trade. But he, too, caught fire early in the season, and was hitting .292/.358/.508 at the end of May. It was around that time that Bob Sylvester offered Jameson Taillon for Shaw, straight-up. We said no. Seriously, that happened. Needless to say, Shaw went into a tailspin after that, and finished with a mostly-useless batting line of .242/.306/.421. Meanwhile, Taillon overcame his past injury issues, was promoted to the majors, and became one of the most exciting young pitchers in the game.
Last winter, we took a gamble by making a deal with the Akron Ryche in which we sent high school phenom Austin Bergner to Akron in exchange for Jose Ramirez. The gamble was two-fold: Bergner (at the time) was ranked the #1 prospect in the Class of 2016, and Ramirez carried a $2 million salary and a MLB career OPS of .604. Needless to say, that trade worked out well for us. Ramirez was among the bigger surprises in MLB, and finished the season with a line of .312/.363/.462. Bergner wasn't selected until the 38th round (pick number 1,138.) You lose some, and once in a blue moon you win some.
When the Granite State Lightning traded Justin Upton to the St. Louis Apostles last winter, and St. Louis GM Bobby Sylvester insisted that it was a salary dump trade, I made the comment that I would have taken Upton's contract in exchange for nothing. Sylvester took me up on the offer (although I somehow ended up giving something.) At the time, we looked at Upton as a terrific bounce-back candidate after a disappointing 2015 MLB season. At the all-star break, however, it looked as though his career was finished. His .235/.289/.381 batting line ranked among the worst in baseball. Then, the Detroit Tigers gave him a few days to think about how much he sucked. Upton hit .260/.337/.579 in the second half of the season and turned his season around. Incredibly, he hit .292/.382/.750 (yes, .750!) in the month of September, with a whopping 13 homers. His overall line of .246/.310/.465 is hardly awe-inspiring, but at least it has some value.
This was the season when Jorge Soler was supposed to break out and become the MVP candidate that we envisioned when he first exploded onto the MLB scene. He posted an .898 OPS in his brief minor league career, and then hit .292/.330/.573 in his MLB debut in 2014. 2015 was a huge disappointment (.262/.324/.399), but he capped that season with a phenomenal postseason performance that seemed to portend that great things were ahead. Or so we thought when we traded for him last winter. Instead, Soler began the first half of the season hitting just .223/.322/.377. Like Upton, he turned his season around in the second half (.258/.348/.515), but like Upton, his overall performance isn't strong enough to make him an asset for us in 2017.
Upton and Soler both came to the Cowtippers in the same trade (in which we sacrificed Freddie Freeman, Chris Coghlan, Luis Valbuena, and Yadier Alvarez.) We received pitcher Jon Gray in that deal as well. We also took on Starlin Castro's albatross of a contract. The best that we can say about Castro's MLB 2016 performance is that it wasn't as bad as his 2015 "effort." He hit .270/.300/.433 overall, with 21 homers. We're hoping that his three games at shortstop will mean that he will be rated at that position, and that his rating will be adequate enough for us to play him at that position. If not, I have no idea what we'll do with him.
Lastly, we picked up Alex Dickerson off the free agent scrap heap earlier this season. While we were hoping he would get a little more playing time down the stretch, we'll settle for his .254/.333/.477 batting line against righties and stick him in a platoon role with Jorge Soler.
vs. LH PA BA OBP SLG CF Turner 65 .317 .338 .413 2B Walker 110 .330 .391 .610 3B Ramirez 182 .311 .368 .473 1B Sano 114 .227 .333 .485 RF Soler 84 .267 .345 .467 LF Upton 179 .236 .313 .441 SS Castro 172 .265 .308 .432 C ? vs. RH CF Turner 259 .348 .378 .607 RF Dickerson 219 .254 .333 .477 3B Ramirez 436 .312 .361 .457 2B Walker 348 .266 .333 .433 1B Sano 381 .238 .315 .456 LF Upton 447 .249 .309 .474 SS Castro 172 .265 .308 .432 C ?
