They led up to one another in terms of excitement. First, the 1-for-1 deal; then the 6-player deal with a mix of good players; now, the blockbuster. Shea sent Matt Cain and Daniel Murphy to Dave for Mike Trout, Trevor Plouffe and Matt Garza.
Make no mistake about it, folks, this is the league's biggest trade since the three-way deal last May. That one also involved future keepers and Shea, and he hopes it turns out the same way -- making out like a bandit.
"I've been looking for some pop for quite some time and Matt Cain is my most valuable piece to offer," Shea said. "Getting someone that's a potential keeper and also getting a shortstop with some pop really solidifies my lineup, and i still have strong starting pitching to keep me competitive in those categories."
Shea is 3.5 games behind Hal with eight weeks left, so a division title seems extremely unlikely, but this should give a boost to Shea's playoff hopes. And, if not, he just set himself up very nicely to keep Trout for a long time. He reminds me of a young Ryan Braun, who was a pickup-turned-multiyear-keeper.
Although, one has to admit it's ironic the star hitter on a team called "DUIs & MRIs" is now a 20-year-old who can't legally drink.
Dave, meanwhile, had an absolute surplus of keeper talent on offense -- Trout and Adrian Gonzalez, along with Matt Kemp and Albert Pujols, who are already locked in for next season. So it certainly made sense to send off Trout for one of the best pitchers in the league.
In fact, what Dave was going to do with Trout was a huge question I've been wondering out loud about all season. Would it have been better to ride him out this year? Which is more valuable? Trout for the rest of this year and three more years or one year of Kemp and the sixth-round draft pick you'd have loss for cutting him? Tough call all around.
"I wanted to position myself for a playoff push and set my keepers up for next year as well," Dave said. "I think that Cain was probably the best pitcher that could have been acquired through a trade. I was very cautious about my pitching keepers, and Chris Sale worries me a bit."
Can't fault Dave for trying to improve his keeper situation, but we can't praise him there without asking this: Was this the time to make such a huge move? He has won five out of six in just complete blowout form, outscoring opponents 69-23 in those wins. His offense is just deadly, and it went along with his philosophy all year of stack the offense. Remember, when he took Gonzalez over Cole Hamels, despite a clear need for an ace starter, we questioned it and he commented by saying he valued hitting over pitching and it was a new philosophy.
So why the sudden change in philosophy at a time where he's playing his best fantasy baseball of his career?
"It is still my team's philosophy but I can't keep Trout next year and the rest of my offense has been hot, so with Kemp coming back next week it seemed like the right time," Dave said. "My offense has been amazing the last month so I have the luxury of trading some of it away to improve my pitching and keeper situation."
Fair enough, for sure. However, definitely a question that needed to be asked and addressed.
Dave is just one game behind in the division, so he better hope Kemp stays healthy once he returns from the DL, or else losing Trout and Plouffe's power could be a lot to replace as he goes after that crown.
And on the other hand, if Trout leads Shea to a title sometime in the next couple years, well he can say "Thanks, Dave!" just like he said "Thanks Andy and Chris" for the Verlander trade last year. Just think, if Shea keeps Trout for as many as three years, he'll have had a combined 7.5 seasons of Verlander and Trout despite not drafting either one.
"I'll start with saying they weren't given to me," Shea said. "I made wise trades and they earned a spot on my team. Verlander wasn't a guaranteed three-year keeper at the time of the trade, and we'll see how Trout does in the second half of the year before assuming he's on the squad for the next three years."
Blockbusters! Gotta love 'em. Who's next in line for one?
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