The trade deadline is one week away. Don't expect any major moves between now and then, though, after the heavy lifting that went down Saturday. In case you missed it, four total trades were completed, three of them were significant, and two included four-plus players/picks. One busy day with Isles purging (yet somehow coming away with a larger roster), Diablos taking a flier, Aces selling first then buying, and Nuts buying before reclaiming a trade piece following what we'll call reported "fan backlash." Below is a recap of the four trades made Saturday:
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While there was a lot of moving parts, some of those big, we'd hesitate to call any of these a blockbuster. Stinky Nuts' acquisition of Craig Skinner will probably be seen as the biggest get, and that's a pretty safe claim: he's an everyday elite arm (ignore his last outing) to slide in alongside Hatt and Lollio, making a deep rotation. His addition drops the Nuts' ERA and WHIP by -0.40 and 0.23, respectively, while the net result also sees marginal increases of between +.008 and +.010 in team AVG, OBP, and SLG.
The final numbers on the Giguere-to-Aces trade actually provide the biggest jump in team offensive production, though: +0.75 in AVG, +0.50 in OBP, and +0.97 in SLG. Their streamlined roster features just four players, and won't be an easy lineup for pitchers to work through. They'll just need to get all hands are present for it to work.
Bayley going to El Diablos, on the other hand, is more of a wildcard. Yes, Bayley's one of the hardest throwers in the league, but his addition to El Diablos rotation actually increases their ERA and WHIP by +0.37 and +0.13, respectively. Not egregious increases, but with Tomlinson and Brown having handled the number-two role well, in a way, this feels kind of like a "why not?" eligibility move; with 8 games to play Shore needs 6 more games, Sessions needs 5 more, Bayley just needs 3. Although, if Diablos get Bayley eligible, bonus: that is another dangerous arm they'll have at their disposable.
Where to from here? As mentioned, there do not seem to be many potential moves on the table. Redux are on record that they are not selling. King Friday is in the hunt and unlikely to move anybody. Aces, Nuts, and Diablos all are in good-to-great shape, and the Islanders have sold out of their prized commodities. If there are any moves to come in the next seven days, the 'biggest' (scare quotes warranted) we expect would be minor eligibility moves, or possibly - stretching on this one - adding 5th or 6th man depth. As it probably should be, it looks like we shot off all our fireworks over the Fourth of July weekend.
The final numbers on the Giguere-to-Aces trade actually provide the biggest jump in team offensive production, though: +0.75 in AVG, +0.50 in OBP, and +0.97 in SLG. Their streamlined roster features just four players, and won't be an easy lineup for pitchers to work through. They'll just need to get all hands are present for it to work.
Bayley going to El Diablos, on the other hand, is more of a wildcard. Yes, Bayley's one of the hardest throwers in the league, but his addition to El Diablos rotation actually increases their ERA and WHIP by +0.37 and +0.13, respectively. Not egregious increases, but with Tomlinson and Brown having handled the number-two role well, in a way, this feels kind of like a "why not?" eligibility move; with 8 games to play Shore needs 6 more games, Sessions needs 5 more, Bayley just needs 3. Although, if Diablos get Bayley eligible, bonus: that is another dangerous arm they'll have at their disposable.
Where to from here? As mentioned, there do not seem to be many potential moves on the table. Redux are on record that they are not selling. King Friday is in the hunt and unlikely to move anybody. Aces, Nuts, and Diablos all are in good-to-great shape, and the Islanders have sold out of their prized commodities. If there are any moves to come in the next seven days, the 'biggest' (scare quotes warranted) we expect would be minor eligibility moves, or possibly - stretching on this one - adding 5th or 6th man depth. As it probably should be, it looks like we shot off all our fireworks over the Fourth of July weekend.
