White Sox / Reds Trade (Approved 3-0) **PICKS UPDATED**

White Sox accept.

This will be a shorter trade acceptance than the Phillies’ trade. Partially because it’s fewer pieces and partially because I’m on my phone.

Prior to the Goldschmidt trade between the real life DBacks and Cards, I felt pretty good about my RF situation for this season. Polanco is likely out until June, and there are reasons to think he will be more limited than expected on his return (in spite of public comments suggesting a May return). I’m in two other deep leagues as the Pirates and have been a paying member of Pirates sites for years so he’s the piece on this roster I frankly know best. But before the Goldy trade I wasn’t concerned. Jose Martinez was a more than adequate stopgap at the position and was reasonably expected to contribute as my RF while he manned 1B for the real life Cards.

But he’s now a man without a position and likely a man desperately in need of a trade. Guys in their 30s who can hit used to be a lead pipe cinch to be gainfully employed. But the game is changing quickly and it’s more and more apparent that 31 is the new 37 when it comes to being a professional baseball player. Martinez’ per game numbers should be fine this year. But he may not get enough reps to matter.

This is a win now team. And risking zeros from RF for the first 8-10 weeks of the season is simply not tolerable for a contender.

So I approached Reds about Piscotty and here we are. I’ve owned Piscotty in four different leagues since he arrived in the majors, though for various reasons I moved on from him in all of them. He has quite a compelling narrative for why his 2016 and 2018 seasons were solid, and why his 2017 was awful. The loss of his mother at such a young age was tragic. But her eventual death allowed him to refocus on baseball knowing she was finally at peace after her long battle. I’m a huge believer in him going forward and think his 2019 season will be even better than his 2018.

I’m giving up four pieces. Adolfo is the biggest obviously. He’s bounced on and off top 100 lists, including not making the new FG top 130 yesterday after placing 88th in the mid season FG update last year. The talent is there to be a big league contributor. Kiley McDaniel said last month that on a rerank, he would have Adolfo 9th in the insanely deep 2013 J2 class.

I’m also giving up a future 3rd, which should be near the bottom of the round if all goes well. Plus two lower specs in the Sox org. Mendick is an intriguing middle infielder with a solid hit tool, but needs some things to break right for him to continue his climb through the minors. Thompson was converted from starter to reliever last season and put up nice ERAs. But the peripherals are still problematic. His K-BB% in AA is lower than it needs to be to have confidence he can move up the ranks. Between the two there’s a decent chance one will make the majors, but those risks are better taken by a rebuilding team rather than one in a title hunt.

All in all a fairly straightforward trade of future for now. That also returns my ability to crack Piscotty Doesn’t Know jokes this season. Along with Nowhere Near Berlin, This Isn’t Where I Parked My Car, and the Manchester United song “Morning Train”.

Thanks for the easy deal Reds. Won’t be our last.

Approval #2