Friday, June 22, 2018

Predicting the 2018 Trade Deadline: Joakim Soria



The Chicago White Sox are not going anywhere here in 2018 and when teams are struggling in the midst of a rebuild they tend to sign veteran players only to trade them at a later time. It happens all the time, and it will likely happen again this summer when the White Sox trade away closer Joakim Soria to a contending team in need of bullpen help. The Milwaukee Brewers will need bullpen help if they want to stave off the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals making them a perfect match for a trade and for Soria’s services.

Milwaukee lost their closer Corey Knebel for a month due to an injury and while he has been solid since his return he is still sporting an ERA north of 4.00 this season. Having an inconsistent closer may win you some games in what many determined as a weak National League Central division here in 2018, but that will not win you many games in the postseason. Soria would give the Brewers the edge they need to not only reach the postseason, but to possibly advanced past the first round of the playoffs if they were to win their division.

Soria would come relatively cheap given that the White Sox are rebuilding in terms of prospects and will likely be atop the Brewers radar here in about a month. It is a foregone conclusion that Soria will be traded, and at this point it is also as close to 100% as you can get that the Brewers will look for bullpen help at the end of the game. Whether that search leads them to Soria, or another veteran closer, remains to be seen, but my money is on Soria pitching for Milwaukee before the end of the 2018 season and adding to his miniscule 2.0 innings pitched in the postseason throughout the 34-year old’s career.

4 comments:

  1. Changing the subject in regards ti Ellsbury .
    Lets keep him on the DL until rosters expand , in fact if he was a team player he would slow down his recovery for that reason.
    At one time I preferred Ellsbury over Hicks due to batting average and stealing more bases.
    Were to good right now to mess up the rhythm of the team.

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    1. You can't simply phantom DL a guy, that goes against the collective bargaining agreement. Obviously if you had Jacoby's consent that could be a different story, immoral but still different. If he is ready and he wants to play and the Yankees try to phantom DL him he is going to file a grievance, and win.

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  2. After this season, the Yankees owe Ellsbury a little more than $47 million. We're getting close to 'cut bait' time. Other teams have eaten bigger contracts than that.

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    1. Agree. When he returns from the DL (assuming Cashman doesn't have a salary dump worked out before then) he needs to be designated for assignment. If he wants to come back on a MiLB deal, sure. If not, I'd happily pay him to actually play elsewhere.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)