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Originally Posted by
SteelSD
Just to be clear, I'm not saying that Suarez was worth hanging onto; only that some of the stuff you're using to justify the deal isn't quite accurate.
I also think we all need to get something straight about the trade- this was an NBA-style salary dump, where the Reds attached a good player (Winker) in order to simply move salary. But they didn't return signficant assets while doing so. They got a 25-year old RH pitcher (Dunn) with decent MiLB stats, but who they knew had a significant injury and who has, thus far, shown nothing at the MLB level. Jake Fraley isn't actually a prospect- he's 26 year-old OF filler material who's been pretty terrible in his attempts to transition to the Show. He has good plate discipline, but no significant power skill set to speak of and we generally see the former dry up if the latter never shows up. That leaves Brandon Williamson, our latest iteration of "big kid throws hard", who's working his way through AA at age 24, while walking a few too many hitters and giving up a few too many HR. These are magic beans that smell kinda' funky. Maybe they're licorice nibs instead? Jelly beans? Tic tacs? The Reds don't seem to know, or care. But certainly they really didn't get much youth and if we're going to be brutally honest, they really didn't acquire terribly exciting projectible talent in that deal.
These were bad trade targets in exchange for the outgoing players. If they're bad targets, they're bad choices. And if they're bad choices, it's a bad trade. There's no "incomplete" on that. Could everything go right for the players acquired? Probably not. Could something go right? Maybe. I certainly hope so. But the incoming players were a volume grab to try to hide the fact that truly significant resources didn't arrive.
BTW, Jesse Winker is a hell of a hitter. He has been his entire career. For seasons now. His only real issue has been health.
The real target, besides lowering payroll, appears to be tanking for the top spot in the draft, probably many top spots going forward. For years. And that's where the tanking plan diverges from being NBA-esque. In baseball, you may need to wait significantly longer for your crapshoot prize to materialize into something of value, if it ever happens at all. It's rolling dice for the chance to play roulette. It's cheap, because it is. It's painful because it preys on a fanbase's hope. And it's insulting because it relies on the average fan's good will and patience, when said fan should be, by now, so dazed by the organization's bumbling that the little voice in their head starts whispering "Hey, that really doesn't look so bad..." when they think of the Pittsburgh Pirates.