Not the typical trade because it involves a top prospect being swapped for a rental, a good not great prospect and a below average ML pitcher. Rays would never do this trade in real life. White Sox would jump at this trade if they think their window is still open, but if they are heading toward a rebuild, they may want quantity over quality.
Anyway, this trade would shore up the Rays starting pitching with Giolito, a high quality starter who slots somewhere in the top 3 of Rays’ pitching with Glasnow and McClanny, helps the Rays’ Pen with Kopech, who I suspect the Rays could improve right out of the gate as a reliever and then slowly transition back to starter next year, and provides a decent pitching prospect with lots of control in Cannon. The cash component of the trade fully offsets the 2023 salaries of Giolito and Kopech. Trading Mead is a possibility (though very unlikely) only because he’s surely blocked at the moment with every Ray starter on the active roster having a great year and because his defensive limitations make him a poor fit for a team that values defense highly.
Make no mistake, this is an “all-in” move by the Rays.
Love it! This would be an all-in type of move for the Rays, but they’re hardly all in. This is precisely the kind of move I’d like to see. They’re better this year after this trade. They’re better next year after this trade. And they have like 15 pre-arb talents that could have 40M+ trade value next year. This doesn’t mortgage their future in the slightest.
We’re in agreement on Kopech. I still has premium velocity, premium spin rate. He’d be up there with Fairbanks. And transition them back to the rotation next year if the choose to so.
Not the typical trade because it involves a top prospect being swapped for a rental, a good not great prospect and a below average ML pitcher. Rays would never do this trade in real life. White Sox would jump at this trade if they think their window is still open, but if they are heading toward a rebuild, they may want quantity over quality.
Anyway, this trade would shore up the Rays starting pitching with Giolito, a high quality starter who slots somewhere in the top 3 of Rays’ pitching with Glasnow and McClanny, helps the Rays’ Pen with Kopech, who I suspect the Rays could improve right out of the gate as a reliever and then slowly transition back to starter next year, and provides a decent pitching prospect with lots of control in Cannon. The cash component of the trade fully offsets the 2023 salaries of Giolito and Kopech. Trading Mead is a possibility (though very unlikely) only because he’s surely blocked at the moment with every Ray starter on the active roster having a great year and because his defensive limitations make him a poor fit for a team that values defense highly.
Make no mistake, this is an “all-in” move by the Rays.
Love it! This would be an all-in type of move for the Rays, but they’re hardly all in. This is precisely the kind of move I’d like to see. They’re better this year after this trade. They’re better next year after this trade. And they have like 15 pre-arb talents that could have 40M+ trade value next year. This doesn’t mortgage their future in the slightest.
We’re in agreement on Kopech. I still has premium velocity, premium spin rate. He’d be up there with Fairbanks. And transition them back to the rotation next year if the choose to so.