While it may have been an uneventful week in Major League Baseball (this is the top post this week on r/baseball), it was a crazy week in the Pitcher List staff leagues. Along with the usual top performances and close matchups, we’re gonna talk trades, four big ones to be exact!
Before we get into them, feel free to take a closer look at our rosters, transactions, and matchups by following these links: Legacy League, Prodigy League, Futures League. Likewise, if you’d like to read the previous weeks’ reviews, follow this link.
Legacy League
Best Performance—Choooo that Snell (Rick Graham)
The Legacy League was chock-full of close matchups, with nobody winning a matchup by more than 6-3-1. That being said, the best performance of the week goes to Rick Graham (5-1-1) who topped Max Posner (4-3) by a score of 5-4-1. Max kept this matchup close, especially on the pitching side where he took 3 of the 5 categories and tied Rick in strikeouts. However, it was on the hitting side where Rick shined, winning all categories save for stolen bases. After his victory this week, Rick has now taken sole possession of first place in the Legacy League, however, his reign will be challenged this week by Kyle Bishop.
Closest Matchup—Insane Masterminds (Andrew Todd-Smith) vs. You’ll Never Defeat Andrus!! (Dave Cherman)
This was the closest matchup in a week of near ties. Andrew Todd-Smith (3-3-1) and Dave Cherman (3-2-2) came down to the wire this week and finished in a tie, each taking five categories. Andrew’s squad won runs, home runs, and stolen bases despite posting a .189 batting average. Meanwhile, Dave’s team walked away with saves, ERA, and WHIP on the pitching end of the scale. In the end, neither side came away with a win, and Dave took his second tie of the year
Notable Trades
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!
Stephen Honovich (0-7) is tired of losing and he’s shaking up his whole roster. Steve made two huge trades this week. The first sent Jose Altuve to Ben Palmer in return for Carlos Carrasco, Corey Dickerson, and Yasmani Grandal. When asked why he traded away his best player, Honovich said this: “I was trying to infuse talent onto my roster at multiple positions and Altuve was my best asset, I aimed to get an upgrade at SP and a hitter back, I wound up accepting Grandal, Dickerson, and Carrasco.” Ben Palmer was also very happy with the deal, saying, “I was in need of a second baseman because I’ve got Daniel Murphy on the DL and the only other second baseman I had was Chris Taylor at the time… The trade gives me a lot of flexibility now because I can put Taylor in the outfield. Also, I love having Altuve and Mookie on the same team.”
Overall, this seemed like a fair deal to me. Stephen’s squad was definitely in need of help and the package he received will help him across the board. Meanwhile, Palmer now has Mookie and Altuve, a deadly combo.
Stephen’s second trade was a bit more complicated, comprising of an eight-player exchange. Honovich sent Gary Sanchez, Marcell Ozuna, Delino DeShields Jr., and Luke Weaver to Nic Gardiner in exchange for J.T. Realmuto, Dee Gordon, Carlos Santana, and David Dahl.
That’s a lot. Let’s break that down.
Gary Sanchez for J.T. Realmuto
Marcell Ozuna for Dee Gordon
Delino DeShields for David Dahl
Luke Weaver for Carlos Santana
Stephen explains this trade best, saying, “Getting Grandal in my mind allowed me to pull another trade using Sanchez, who was in my estimation my other best asset. After trading Altuve I had a big hole open at 2B and having drafted Ryan Zimmerman, my 1B production has yet to take off
so I was really going after Gardiner’s 1B-2B package of Gordon and Santana.”
On the flip side, Gardiner was happy with the deal as well. “Gary [Sanchez] and Ozuna add power and RBI opportunities that my team is lacking… When you compare Dee Gordon to my Waiver Wire pick up, Starlin Castro, they are quite similar in most categories except stolen bases. I don’t think I give up a huge amount but I have the opportunity to gain a lot.”
Overall, this was a pretty fair deal. However, if I was in either of these men’s positions, I’d have wanted the package that Honovich received. With the added context of the holes that he’s filling in his roster, I think Stephen probably won this trade.
Prodigy League
Best Performance—Max Bauer (Andrew Gould)
As close as the Legacy League was, the Prodigy League was that far apart, with four of the six winners taking at least eight categories. The best of these impressive performances was that of Andrew Gould (2-4-1), who took 9 categories in his win over Mark Weston (3-4). Andrew’s team went off this week, winning every hitting category with the help of standouts J.D. Martinez, Eric Hosmer, and Jonathan Villar. His only loss was in strikeouts, as J.A. Happ and Eduardo Rodriguez dazzled this week. A tough matchup awaits Andrew next though, as he’ll face KV (5-2) this week.
Closest Matchup—The Gregorious D.I.Di. (Jeff Davis) vs. Syndergaarden Cop (Jonathan Metzelaar)
In a matchup between two Prodigy League heavyweights, Jeff Davis (5-2) was able to edge out Jonathan Metzelaar (4-3) for the win this week. Jeff took RBI by a margin of 4, strikeouts by 5, wins by 2, and saves by just 1, taking the Closest Matchup tag easily. Despite the nearness of the final lines, Jeff did manage to take all five pitching categories to secure the win for his team this week.
Notable Trades
Just like in the Legacy League, the bottom team in the Prodigy League is ready to shake it up. Michael Grennel (1-6) made two big trades this week, each within minutes of each other. The first was with yours truly, in which Michael sent Corey Kluber and Andrew McCutchen to me in exchange for Justin Upton and Eduardo Escobar. I was ecstatic to make this deal, as I get to add Kluber to my starting staff of Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and James Paxton. Overall, Michael seemed pleased as well, “I really really hated giving up Kluber in this deal, especially because of my team name… I had had a lot of injured and underperforming batters this year which helped me to a 1-5 start, so I had to trade away top tier pitching for help on offense, especially middle infield.”
The second deal that Michael made was a bit more reserved, as he sent Kyle Hendricks and Wade Davis to KV in exchange for Whit Merrifield and Corey Dickerson. No doubt here that Michael was still looking to improve his offense and his comments reflected that intent: “Again, I needed to sell pitching depth for help on offense… I was happy to get Merrifield, who was a guy I liked in the preseason but got drafted just a couple picks ahead of me.”
Michael’s middle infield and outfield situations are definitely improved after these two deals. Stating earlier that he has relied heavily on streaming thus far, it will be interesting to see if his team will be able to turn it around with a diminished pitching staff.
Futures League
Best Performance—Lunch Angle (Mike Haas)
This week’s top performance in the Futures League goes to Mike Haas (3-3-1) as he tops Austin Perodeau (3-4) by a score of 7-2-1. Most impressive was his pitching, as he posted a stellar 2.55 ERA and 0.96 WHIP to go along with 78 strikeouts and 6 wins. Unlikely heroes Jack Flaherty, Andrew Heaney, and J.A. Happ led the way for Mike’s pitching staff this week en route to his third win of the season. Next week Mike will face Dan Wist (4-3).
Closest Matchup—You Don’t Know Whit (Paul Martin) vs. Lindor Truffles (Rob Zaccheo)
Head-to-head categories leagues don’t see ties all that often, so it is quite unusual to see two teams tie each for the second time so early in the season. That was the case for Paul Martin (3-2-2) and Rob Zaccheo (2-3-2) this week, as each of them won five categories. To make matters more interesting, Paul took all of the hitting categories while Rob took all pitching. This particularly unique matchup was nearly a win for Paul, as he only lost strikeouts by two. However, at the end of the Sunday night game, the score was set and the two teams were each handed their second tie of the season.
Final Notes—Just Juan More Dollar
To end my piece, I’m going to take a look at the bidding for Juan Soto, one of the most exciting and unexpected promotions of 2018. The 19-year-old outfielder has been absolutely demolishing the minor leagues, and with Howie Kendrick out for the season, the Washington Nationals decided it was time to give the youngster a shot.
All three of the Pitcher List leagues utilize daily Free Agent Auctions, with each team being allotted $100 at the beginning of the season. The following bids were cast for the exciting Washington outfielder.
Legacy League
$13 – Nic Gardiner
$11 – Nick Pollack
Prodigy League
$61 – Jeff Davis
$45 – Mark Weston
$27 – Brandon Lundberg
$18 – Jason Dunbar
$11 – Andrew Gould
$7 – Austin Bristow II
$2 – Troy Klauder
Futures League
$11 – Austin Perodeau
$5 – Brennen Gorman
$3 – Nate Von Benken
$1 – Grayson Blazek