16 Nov 2018 02:07:29
One trade and I'm addicted hahaha

I had another one in mind.

It involves a Cy Young candidate from the Indians. His name is not Corey Kluber. His name is Trevor Bauer.

The A's were without a doubt the surprise team of 2018. However, it will be hard to repeat the great run they had without Sean Manaea in their rotation. The A's have shown us that they can compete with a bunch of underrated stars, but Sean Manaea was one of the most important parts of their season. They are without him for 2019, so they need a replacement. Almost any 97-win team is a buyer that winter, at least on the trade market. They will have to give up a lot for Bauer. A 27-year-old all star with a WAR of 6.1, and an ERA of 2.21 doesn't come cheap, especially with 2 years of team control. The other thing to know is that Progressive Field, according to ESPN.com, is ranked the 4th most hitter-friendly park in the Majors. The Coliseum is ranked 28th. To sum this up: the A's will get a 27-year-old, right-handed, all-star flamethrower who put up a 6.1 WAR and a 2.21 ERA in the 4th-least pitcher friendly park in the majors, and will bring him to the 3rd-most pitcher-friendly park in the Majors which is the most pitcher-friendly park in the American League.


Everything we have heard (and seen) about the Indians has them selling (so far) this winter. We can't call the Luplow trade a buy. They have reportedly been in contact with a lot of teams regarding some of their stars. If they do go through with selling, they have several assets to deal. Their farm system is terrible. They need good, young, controllable talent for the long-term. They can't sustain their run for much longer anyway, and they'll come to regret it if they don't make the most of the opportunity and logical outcome to sell. Make no mistake, the White Sox are on the rise as the future of the AL Central.


To show how good Bauer is, let's compare his season to Jacob deGrom's:

11.34 K/9(Bauer) vs 11.16 K/9 (Degrom)
2.21 ERA vs 1.70. We'll move Bauer's ERA down 10% because the AL has the DH. 1.99 vs 1.70. Another 10% because deGrom pitches in Citi Field (most pitcher-friendly) and Bauer pitches in Progressive Field (4th-least pitcher-friendly).

1.80 ERA (Bauer) vs 1.70 ERA (deGrom)

DeGrom on average got 20 outs per start, Bauer on average got 19 outs per start. If Bauer had pitched a full season (he missed 6 starts), let's say he had the same amount of starts as deGrom (32). We will re-adjust Bauer's stats using the ballpark factor. We'll also give him 2 more wins and 1 more loss assuming he had 32 starts and kept going at the same rate.

Bauer - 32 GS, 14-7, 1.80 ERA, 273K, 202.2 IP 7.1 WAR --> (times by 1.18 because he missed a little bit of time.)
deGrom - 32 GS, 10-9 1.70 ERA, 268K, 217 IP 8.8 WAR



Now we can see how truly unbelievable and underrated Bauer's season was. So let's set the price incredibly high.


Without further ado:

A's get: Trevor Bauer,
Indians get: Jesus Luzardo, Sean Murphy, Matt Olson

I expect this is the VERY LEAST the Indians will CONSIDER for Bauer.

1.) 16 Nov 2018
16 Nov 2018 05:06:07
If the A's dangle Luzardo's name, absolutely, I could see this.

The problem is, I don't think they'll include Olson. They like that guy way too much, and probably for good reason.

2.) 16 Nov 2018
16 Nov 2018 17:13:20
Agreed, that's a high price. You have to remember that Bauer only has 2 years remaining before FA.