Friday, September 5, 2014

Tradeageddon!



The Outlaw Nation had grown quite complacent watching the team build through the draft season by season, making a mere four trades over the past five years.  Suddenly the legion of fans woke up with their heads spinning faster than Linda Blair's after a series of five trades involving thirteen players and seven draft picks, including star players David Ortiz, Albert Pujols, and Adrian Beltre, one 2014 first round draft pick (Christian Yelich), and two 2015 first round draft picks.

Before the carnage was over, Outlaw had essentially traded
  • elder star David Ortiz
  • slightly less elder star Adrian Beltre
  • power hitting first-baseman Mike Napoli
  • two great non-keeper cards
 for:
  • post-hype breakout Lonnie Chisenhall
  • elder star Albert Pujols
  • young stud lefty closer Jake McGee
  • Lehigh's first round draft pick and Vermont's first and fifth round picks
Analysis of the new world order:

While Ortiz and Beltre have a good year or two left, they are nearing their sell-by dates and Outlaw was going nowhere fast this year.  Outlaw decided to sell high and get young, which we certainly did with two first-round draft picks, Jake McGee and Christian Yelich.  No regrets there even though Ortiz and Beltre will have valuable cards at least through 2015.

Then the opportunity to trade Yelich for the hot post-hype Lonnie Chisenhall presented itself.  We know that Chisenhall wasn't really the .330 hitter he was batting at the time of the trade, but couldn't resist the hot-hitting Indian.  We may regret trading the young center-fielder we need, but we hope to have a .290-.300 BA, 15-20 HR guy at the hot corner for years to come.  Time will tell.

Then the opportunity to trade the 32 year-old Napoli and a 3rd round pick for for the 34 year-old, recently injury-prone Pujols presented itself.   How does this fit into the youth movement?  It doesn't, but we figure that the chance at just one, or maybe two great Pujolsian cards could be the difference between an also-ran team and a playoff contender, or a playoff-contender and a World Series team.  We'll take that chance even though we will miss Napoli.

Outlaw Career Wins Leaders


Twenty-three years of Outlaw All-Time wins leaders from 1991 to 2013 including the predecessor NASBL Cleveland Indians and San Diego Padres:

  1.  176, Tim "Chicks Dig the Longball" Hudson, 2000-2013
  2.  113, Andy Ashby, 1994 - 2003
  3.  113, Jake Peavy, 2004 - 2013
  4.    87, Charles Nagy, 1992 -1999
  5.    83, Mark Lanston, 1991 -1995
The NASBL all-time home run leader at his position is also Outlaw's career wins leader!