AUGUST 6, 2142
AUGUST TRADE SEASON IS UPON US
By Gracey Heneke
Well everybody wanted deals and now we're getting them. The August 31st trade deadline is rapidly approaching and the Grocers are going furiously down the aisles a few more times to make sure they haven't forgotten anything before heading off to the postseason campground!
On the surface, this deal looks strange. Why would a team (Indiana) deal a younger player for an older guy at the same position. But that's not what happened. Salgado was playing CF for the Racers. They saw a chance to get a big bat who is having a down year (Swart) and are confident in their ability to sign him to an extension before the deal was consummated. With that, they sent the younger Salgado who we got because of his versatility according to the Grocers GM Parker Mills and off goes Swart who we knew wasn't going to come back and was having a rough year.
We take a pretty hit on defense - 2B is not Salgado's best position - but the hope is that he makes up for it as a more reliable bat at the position. It's a risky move for sure, but one that we're hoping pays dividends.
We haven't had a "big" trade yet, but this is the biggest one this season for us. We send a well-regarded young prospect in McCutcheon to Houston with another prospect in exchange for a rental of outfielder Sam Dillard. He'll bat third in our lineup and that's just the kind of infusion of talent we needed in that role. We'll see how productive he can be this last month of the season, but what he's really here for is playoff baseball. J.J. Sinclair needed protection in the lineup and he finally got some.
Is that the end of the dealing before the deadline for the Grocers? No necessarily, according to GM Mills. The team's payroll is 22nd right now thanks to some of the deals made, but none were for an entire season, projected payroll is somewhere around $43 million including some of those rentals. Very reasonable when you consider the team is 10th in baseball in attendance and the club is in first place.
We'll be losing a number of players this off-season, so next year's team is likely to look very different than the team we're putting on the field now. As a fan, I'd like to see this ride last as long as possible. A run now could really cement this team's presence in our region and create fans across the area. EVERYONE is buzzing about the Grocers right now, even the people who still insist on calling them the Blue Sox.
The Boston Yanks are our closest rival and division rivals, but they're having a down year, so that makes it even more compelling a story that this team in baseball's smallest market is doing so well.
I'd hate to see them really gut the farm system much more than we have. So far, they've managed not to deal any of our top prospects for a run at something deep in the playoffs. The post-season is a crapshoot and it'd be kind of silly to give up everything in Year 1 and be terrible for a decade because we tried too hard now.
Let's just let it play out.