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Inside the Trade: Stags Bet Big on Stan Wallace After ALCS Reality Check
When Jesús Dávilos and the Orioles eliminated Portland in Game 5 of the ALCS, the gap between the Stags and baseball's elite became painfully clear: their magical run through the Ladder playoffs had masked a critical lack of frontline pitching. On Monday, they took a massive step toward addressing that deficiency, acquiring veteran starter Stan Wallace in a complex deal with Toronto that could reshape the American League playoff picture.
The full trade breaks down like this:
Portland receives: RHP Stan Wallace (with Toronto retaining 50% of his $10.8M salary), 1B Josiah Gronewald (50% retained), LHP Ezra Ayotte (10% retained), and OF prospect Abdurahman Al-Dahmani
Toronto receives: LF E.J. Monaghan, RHP Stephen Maldonado, RHP Ezequias Ramos, and 1B Nicky Swinson
"When you get as close as we did, you have to be honest about what separated you from teams like Baltimore," a Stags executive told The Athletic. "We needed someone who could go toe-to-toe with an ace like Dávilos in October."
The numbers suggest Wallace might be that pitcher. He posted a 3.61 ERA across 226.2 innings in 2062, with 198 strikeouts. More importantly, he worked at least six innings in 24 of his 32 starts. For a Stags team that was forced to piece together pitching plans throughout their playoff run - including that memorable complete game from Rocky Smith in the Division Series - that kind of reliability could be transformative.
The cost wasn't insignificant. Monaghan (.289/.335/.486 with 25 homers) was a key piece of Portland's offensive core. But with both Liam Bright and Payton LaBay capable of handling left field, and Monaghan's salary set to jump significantly in arbitration, the Stags chose to deal from a position of strength.
The salary retention aspects of this deal are fascinating. Toronto eating half of Wallace's salary and significant portions of Gronewald and Ayotte's contracts allows Portland to add multiple pieces while only taking on about $10M in 2063 payroll. For a team that operated on a shoestring budget in 2062, this represents a significant but not crippling increase.
"The ALCS showed us exactly where we stood," the same executive noted. "We had the offense to compete with anyone. But in a short series, you need horses at the top of your rotation. Stan gives us that."
The real winner here might be Wallace himself. He goes from Toronto's retool to a legitimate contender, and gets to work with baseball's best offense. His career 3.50 ERA at Civic Stadium (albeit in a small sample) suggests the park should play to his strengths as a flyball pitcher.
For Portland, this feels like just the beginning. Multiple sources indicate they're still in the market for another starter and catching help. But acquiring an ace without sacrificing any of their core offensive pieces - particularly MVP candidate Matías Santana - is a strong opening move for a team clearly intent on taking the next step in 2063.
Extra Innings
- Wallace's home/road splits over the last three years suggest he might actually benefit from moving to Civic Stadium's more spacious dimensions
- Don't sleep on Gronewald as a potential platoon bat - his .298/.356/.482 line against lefties could play nicely in a timeshare at DH
- The Stags' rotation now projects as: Wallace, Randy Parrish, Chase Benjamin, Jake Cornelius, with the fifth spot still to be determined
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