Breaking down the trade: Joe's side

After two months of no trades, we get two in two weeks. In this one, Joe sends Carlos Gonzalez and Casey McGehee to Andy for Tommy Hanson and Alex Gonzalez.

First, we look at this from Joe's side.

He is dead last in the league in ERA and WHIP, with several underperforming pitchers in A.J. Burnett, Matt Garza and Dan Haren. Could Hanson be thrown in there by season's end? Possibly.

But, as always, we also have to look at this from a long-term thought process. And Hanson gives Joe a viable keeper option if Haren continues to struggle or if he wants to keep two pitchers.


Joe called his reasoning "simple."

"I need pitching and after long debates and serious talks with several teams in the league, this transaction was the best and most beneficial for the Peddlers," he said. "Hanson is a young pitcher with keeper-like stuff, and pitching has been the weakest point of The Peddlers."

Joe gave up a couple nice young players, especially Carlos Gonzalez, who is hitting .300 with 15 homers. But he did manage to improve the shortstop position with Alex Gonzalez, certainly an upgrade over Christian Guzman.

"Cole Miners was the catalyst and has forced other managers to make moves in order to compete," Joe said. "It was tough giving up both solid hitters. Especially Gonzalez, but I feel that Hanson is worth it."

Just last week, Joe voiced his concern over the rest of the league's inability to make a move with him.

At least one manager complained after the fact that his offer for one of Joe's outfielders was better than what Andy offered.

After seeing Joe make this trade instead of another one, was it a result of frustration with other managers not being good-enough trading partners?

"Part of it was," Joe said. "I wanted to start something. Motion creates emotion in my business. It was the only way to force hands and to light a fire under some managers' asses. As we can see here, even though Andy and I went back and forth for several weeks regarding trades, they came to an agreement that benefited both teams. It was the best deal the teams could make."