Today, the St. Louis Cardinals traded away longtime veteran infielder and stalwart, Jedd Gyorko along with international bonus pool money, and cash consideration to the Los Angeles Dodgers for left-handed reliever Tony Cingrani and right-handed pitcher Jeffry Abreu, which has sparked something of a minor outrage amongst Cardinal fans in the Twitter comments section.
Now, here's my take on this (cue: unpopular opinion alert!)...
Contrary to public opinion, this trade.....might not be all that bad? I don't actually hate this move, unlike others in Cardinal nation, though I'm not exactly in love with this trade either.
Sure the Cardinals didn't get back top prospects, and Jedd Gyorko has once hit 30 homers in a season and nearly contended for an All-Star bid in the 2016-17 seasons, and he's been an above average player for the past three seasons prior to this year, but there are several things that should be mentioned.
Tommy Edman has been on the upswing, as he's played far better in the majors than anyone anticipated, and a spot needs to ensure that he will stay up for the duration of this season, as he'll be playing third base. Kolten Wong is an excellent defensive player at second base, and Paul DeJong has been the team's most consistently productive player all year long at shortstop. DeJong was the Cards' lone All-Star as he hit really well in the first half, and is third in homers on the team with 18.
Paul Goldschmidt started off slowly, but has been on a second half tear, and has really shined ever since that series against the Seattle Mariners, as he now leads the team with 25 homers, and his OPS is better, which is at a respectable .812.
Yairo Munoz has been the team's backup infielder, and Matt Carpenter is currently injured, has not produced nearly as well as last year, and is currently making roughly $14.5 million, and so teams might not have been exactly calling to trade for him.
Which leads us right back to Jedd Gyorko. He's been a fairly good hitter but a subpar fielder for the Cardinals in the past three seasons, but this year, he's been injury prone, and has hit just for a .196 batting average and a .578 OPS. He's also in his early 30s, already has below average speed and defensive ability for an infielder, and signs suggest that he may be on the decline, as he probably would've been languishing on the bench behind Edman this season, and it's unclear if he would've been a clear upgrade over Munoz, as Fangraphs WAR actually rates both Edman and Munoz better than Gyorko, as theirs is 0.6 and 0.1 to Gyorko's -0.3 WAR this year.
But you might say, but what if Tommy Edman is a flash in the pan, or more like a Bo Hart or Joe McEwing rather than the next Matt Carpenter? And what if Jedd Gyorko suddenly starts mashing balls once again in Los Angeles and helps them? Well, that's the risk the Cardinals are willing to take, and they are willing to keep giving Edman more at-bats for the time being.
Now for the second part, what about Tony Cingrani?
On one hand, he's a left-handed reliever that had just a 4.76 ERA for the Los Angeles Dodgers, which doesn't look great on paper, but his peripherals were actually quite good.
His hits/9 is 7.5, HR9 is 0.8, BB9 is 2.4, and K/9 is 14.3 last year, and Cingrani is a strikeout pitcher with experience as a both a starter and a closer. Absolute best case scenario would be for him to be provide some versatility out of the bullpen, and his peripherals suggest that he's just been unlucky or has had a bad defense behind him in Los Angeles. The worst-case scenario is that his command issues flare up again, and he ends up being another sketchy acquisition a la Greg Holland. Hopefully that won't be the case, but Cingrani has had issues in the past with his control and in trying to keep balls in the ball park, but he's often played in hitters' ball parks in having played for Cincinnati, and the Cardinals have a pitchers park. The Dodgers also have a pitchers' park, but with Cingrani having good peripherals this year, his somewhat high ERA may have been due to bad lack and bad defense on the Dodgers part.
Most likely, Cingrani will be a situational left-handed reliever out of the bullpen for the Cardinals.
The worst case scenario is that he falters though, but the same could be said for most bullpen pitchers or pitchers in general. I mean, who could have predicted that both Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrel would not be pitching well? But that could play into the other point, that pitchers can be fickle from year to year, so stockpiling as much talent would be crucial to boosting up the team's pitching.
Now for the other pitcher, righthanded pitcher Jeffrey Abreu, he's a 19-year old strikeout pitcher that is very far away from the Majors, as he is a spot starter that is still in rookie ball, so he's basically a throw-in in this trade.
The last part, the Cardinals traded away 2019-20 International Cap Space and cash considerations along with Jedd Gyorko, via Derrick Goold's Twitter account. I think this was sort of a means to get Gyorko off their roster, but trading away International Cap Space would hurt the Cardinals' ability to sign International players in free agency a bit. But the Cardinals have tended to be able to identify good players in both the draft and with their international bonus pool money, so hopefully that won't sting the Cardinals too much.
All in all, considering that this frees up Tommy Edman to continue to get at-bats, and that the Cardinals add another left-hander that might be able to help the Cardinals' bullpen, this could have been worse. This trade looks bad on the Cardinals' end on the surface, but it might not actually turn out that bad for them.
Exactly how much Jedd Gyorko has left in the tank is left up to debate, but while it's not a good look trading him to a league rival in the Dodgers, if Gyorko continues to not hit well this year or over the years, then maybe this trade might not be as bad as people may think it to be.
The Trade:
St. Louis Cardinals Get:
LHP Tony Cingrani
2018 (MLB): 1-2, 4.76 ERA, 22.2 IP, 7.5H9, 0.8 HR9, 2.4 BB9, 14.3 K9, 2.32 FIP, 0.5 WAR
2017 (MLB): 0-0, 4.22 ERA, 42.2 IP, 8.4 H9, 2.1 HR9, 2.5 BB9, 11.0 K9, 0.0 WAR
RHP Jeffry Abreu
2019 (Rk): 2-0, 4.66 ERA, 19.1 IP, 8.8 H9, 0.9 HR9, 2.8 BB9, 11.2 K9
Los Angeles Dodgers Get:
IF Jedd Gyorko
2019 (MLB): .196 AVG, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 2 SB, 62 PA, .274 OBP, .304 SLG, .578 OPS, -0.3 WAR
2018 (MLB): .262 AVG, 11 HR, 47 RBI, 402 PA, .346 OBP, .416 SLG, .762 OPS, 1.4 WAR
2019-20 International Cap Space
Cash Considerations
Current St. Louis Cardinals' Trade Haul Grade: C
Current Los Angeles Dodgers' Trade Haul Grade: C
For anyone wondering, the WAR listed in this article is the Fangraphs WAR. Update: Both Jedd Gyorko and Tony Cingrani are on the 60-day injured list, and Cingrani has not actually pitched this season. So this trade now is basically one of no importance.
Anyways, this has been my write-up on this trade, and thanks for reading.
Now, here's my take on this (cue: unpopular opinion alert!)...
 |
| Jedd Gyorko will be missed as he was traded to the Dodgers, but injuries and a slow start to the season have made this year difficult for him. |
Contrary to public opinion, this trade.....might not be all that bad? I don't actually hate this move, unlike others in Cardinal nation, though I'm not exactly in love with this trade either.
Sure the Cardinals didn't get back top prospects, and Jedd Gyorko has once hit 30 homers in a season and nearly contended for an All-Star bid in the 2016-17 seasons, and he's been an above average player for the past three seasons prior to this year, but there are several things that should be mentioned.
Tommy Edman has been on the upswing, as he's played far better in the majors than anyone anticipated, and a spot needs to ensure that he will stay up for the duration of this season, as he'll be playing third base. Kolten Wong is an excellent defensive player at second base, and Paul DeJong has been the team's most consistently productive player all year long at shortstop. DeJong was the Cards' lone All-Star as he hit really well in the first half, and is third in homers on the team with 18.
Paul Goldschmidt started off slowly, but has been on a second half tear, and has really shined ever since that series against the Seattle Mariners, as he now leads the team with 25 homers, and his OPS is better, which is at a respectable .812.
Yairo Munoz has been the team's backup infielder, and Matt Carpenter is currently injured, has not produced nearly as well as last year, and is currently making roughly $14.5 million, and so teams might not have been exactly calling to trade for him.
Which leads us right back to Jedd Gyorko. He's been a fairly good hitter but a subpar fielder for the Cardinals in the past three seasons, but this year, he's been injury prone, and has hit just for a .196 batting average and a .578 OPS. He's also in his early 30s, already has below average speed and defensive ability for an infielder, and signs suggest that he may be on the decline, as he probably would've been languishing on the bench behind Edman this season, and it's unclear if he would've been a clear upgrade over Munoz, as Fangraphs WAR actually rates both Edman and Munoz better than Gyorko, as theirs is 0.6 and 0.1 to Gyorko's -0.3 WAR this year.
But you might say, but what if Tommy Edman is a flash in the pan, or more like a Bo Hart or Joe McEwing rather than the next Matt Carpenter? And what if Jedd Gyorko suddenly starts mashing balls once again in Los Angeles and helps them? Well, that's the risk the Cardinals are willing to take, and they are willing to keep giving Edman more at-bats for the time being.
Now for the second part, what about Tony Cingrani?
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/56606969/usa_today_10238862.0.jpg "Picture courtesy of Patrick Gorski of USA Today Sports, and SB Nation's True Blue LA") |
| Tony Cingrani's 4.76 ERA may not look great, but he's a left-handed reliever that has posted high strikeout rates, which might be able to help the Cardinals' bullpen this year. |
On one hand, he's a left-handed reliever that had just a 4.76 ERA for the Los Angeles Dodgers, which doesn't look great on paper, but his peripherals were actually quite good.
His hits/9 is 7.5, HR9 is 0.8, BB9 is 2.4, and K/9 is 14.3 last year, and Cingrani is a strikeout pitcher with experience as a both a starter and a closer. Absolute best case scenario would be for him to be provide some versatility out of the bullpen, and his peripherals suggest that he's just been unlucky or has had a bad defense behind him in Los Angeles. The worst-case scenario is that his command issues flare up again, and he ends up being another sketchy acquisition a la Greg Holland. Hopefully that won't be the case, but Cingrani has had issues in the past with his control and in trying to keep balls in the ball park, but he's often played in hitters' ball parks in having played for Cincinnati, and the Cardinals have a pitchers park. The Dodgers also have a pitchers' park, but with Cingrani having good peripherals this year, his somewhat high ERA may have been due to bad lack and bad defense on the Dodgers part.
Most likely, Cingrani will be a situational left-handed reliever out of the bullpen for the Cardinals.
The worst case scenario is that he falters though, but the same could be said for most bullpen pitchers or pitchers in general. I mean, who could have predicted that both Chris Sale and Craig Kimbrel would not be pitching well? But that could play into the other point, that pitchers can be fickle from year to year, so stockpiling as much talent would be crucial to boosting up the team's pitching.
Now for the other pitcher, righthanded pitcher Jeffrey Abreu, he's a 19-year old strikeout pitcher that is very far away from the Majors, as he is a spot starter that is still in rookie ball, so he's basically a throw-in in this trade.
The last part, the Cardinals traded away 2019-20 International Cap Space and cash considerations along with Jedd Gyorko, via Derrick Goold's Twitter account. I think this was sort of a means to get Gyorko off their roster, but trading away International Cap Space would hurt the Cardinals' ability to sign International players in free agency a bit. But the Cardinals have tended to be able to identify good players in both the draft and with their international bonus pool money, so hopefully that won't sting the Cardinals too much.
All in all, considering that this frees up Tommy Edman to continue to get at-bats, and that the Cardinals add another left-hander that might be able to help the Cardinals' bullpen, this could have been worse. This trade looks bad on the Cardinals' end on the surface, but it might not actually turn out that bad for them.
Exactly how much Jedd Gyorko has left in the tank is left up to debate, but while it's not a good look trading him to a league rival in the Dodgers, if Gyorko continues to not hit well this year or over the years, then maybe this trade might not be as bad as people may think it to be.
The Trade:
St. Louis Cardinals Get:
LHP Tony Cingrani
2018 (MLB): 1-2, 4.76 ERA, 22.2 IP, 7.5H9, 0.8 HR9, 2.4 BB9, 14.3 K9, 2.32 FIP, 0.5 WAR
2017 (MLB): 0-0, 4.22 ERA, 42.2 IP, 8.4 H9, 2.1 HR9, 2.5 BB9, 11.0 K9, 0.0 WAR
RHP Jeffry Abreu
2019 (Rk): 2-0, 4.66 ERA, 19.1 IP, 8.8 H9, 0.9 HR9, 2.8 BB9, 11.2 K9
Los Angeles Dodgers Get:
IF Jedd Gyorko
2019 (MLB): .196 AVG, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 2 SB, 62 PA, .274 OBP, .304 SLG, .578 OPS, -0.3 WAR
2018 (MLB): .262 AVG, 11 HR, 47 RBI, 402 PA, .346 OBP, .416 SLG, .762 OPS, 1.4 WAR
2019-20 International Cap Space
Cash Considerations
Current St. Louis Cardinals' Trade Haul Grade: C
Current Los Angeles Dodgers' Trade Haul Grade: C
For anyone wondering, the WAR listed in this article is the Fangraphs WAR. Update: Both Jedd Gyorko and Tony Cingrani are on the 60-day injured list, and Cingrani has not actually pitched this season. So this trade now is basically one of no importance.
Anyways, this has been my write-up on this trade, and thanks for reading.
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