Summary[]
Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about bigger bases in the Atlantic League, then recap and dissect the trade deadline, focusing on why the market took so long to develop, the significance of multiple teams both buying and selling, why some top contenders didn’t do much, what a wild card is worth, the Trevor Bauer three-team trade, the Zack Greinke trade and the Astros as World Series favorites, and many more moves along the way.
Topics[]
- Review of the 2019 trade deadline
- Significance of the slow developing trade market
- Playoff contenders trading top players
- Trevor Bauer trade
- How much teams should invest to win a wild card spot
- Teams acting as both buyers and sellers
- Viewing trades differently based on the teams that make them
- Teams with needs who didn't make trades
- Houston Astros trade for Zack Greinke
- Astros' starting rotation
- Astros' ability to build a consistent winning team
- Defining an ace
- Past trades by Woody Woodward
Banter[]
- The Atlantic League is experimenting with larger bases. Players say that they have not noticed any difference.
- Sam is curious to know exactly where the ideas are coming from for these rule changes given the broad spectrum they span ('stealing first' to having larger bases). Sam thinks that Ben should be on a committee that submits ideas for potential rule changes.
Notes[]
- There were more players traded in July (and on the day of the trade deadline) than in any previous year.
- Ben and Sam were both surprised that one of the best players (Trevor Bauer) traded at the deadline went from a playoff contender to a team not in contention.
- Sam looks back at the conversation from Episode 1407 to see trade activity of teams with only a chance at the wild card. Teams with certainty of making the playoffs (supposed division winners) were more likely to make a trade than those with just a chance at the wild card.
- Sam notes that many teams who followed a tanking model ended up with a very short competitive window afterwards. He is impressed at how the Astros have not only stayed competitive since their World Series winning team but in fact continued to get better.
Links[]
- Effectively Wild Episode 1411: The Trade Deadline Roundup
- New Britain Bees at center of baseball experimentation by Alex Putterman
- How the Atlantic League Became MLB's Laboratory for the Future of Baseball by Emma Baccellieri
- How much is a wild-card spot worth? by Sam Miller
- The Zack Greinke Trade Makes the Astros the Clear-Cut World Series Favorites by Ben Lindbergh
- Who can tell what strange things might happen right before the trade deadline? by Peter Gammons
- FanGraphs' trade coverage