OnlyBucs

I'd rather send Frazier, keep Luplow, RH power in OF. Then trade Meadows as centerpiece for DeGrom or Archer.

Keone Kela is a good, young right handed reliever. So are, at least this year, Crick, Santana and Rodriguez, and Glasgow has promise. Why did we just trade our best lefty pitching prospect for this reliever?



The press seems to love it, but I do not. I have argued for Hearns' promotion before, and believe that this trade will prove to be Melancon - Rivera (Vasquez) in reverse.



Further, the Bucs still don't have what they need most, another competent lefty reliever, and have now aggravated that position for September, when I think Hearn may have been given a chance.



I've heard that the Bucs also gave up another noteworthy prospect. I may be back to bitch some more after that news is released.

They traded a soon to be 24 year old pitcher having his first string of success in double A for an established 25 year old back end bullpen guy, who is under control for 2 more years.

63464545507B464E4C5B290 wrote: I know you have to give up quality to get quality and Kela is a solid addition; but I really liked the potential of Taylor Hearn and was looking forward to seeing a powerful LH pitcher in our rotation. I can’t see giving up our best LH starting pitcher prospect for a reliever. Plus the deal involves another prospect most likely one of our middle fielders.


I'm with you, JollyRoger. I don't like this trade at all, even given a good result from Kela.

7B46415B46412F0 wrote: I’d be willing to lazily bet that the PTBNL is Luplow or Frazier.

Clears some of the of glut.
A PTBNL cannot be someone who was on the MLB roster when the trade was made. So it can't be Luplow or Frazier.

456865747362753536070 wrote: I’d be willing to lazily bet that the PTBNL is Luplow or Frazier.

Clears some of the of glut.
A PTBNL cannot be someone who was on the MLB roster when the trade was made. So it can't be Luplow or Frazier.




Yeah.  Initial reports that the players were only not to be named because they were sleeping (the trade went down at 3 AM) and teams rightly didn't want the players to find out via twitter.

40727E7E6A587B727F7A7572130 wrote:



NH needs to keep going.   I want Archer.  He's cost controlled for years too.   


I think I want another 'pen lefty.
Matt Strahm of the Padres seems to fit the bill. We are rumored to be in talks with San Diego. I hope they're about Strahm, and not Craig Stammen. Nothing against Stammen, but we have better guys already.

7F555E6E594F4F432C0 wrote: Keone Kela is a good, young right handed reliever. So are, at least this year, Crick, Santana and Rodriguez, and Glasgow has promise. Why did we just trade our best lefty pitching prospect for this reliever?



The press seems to love it, but I do not. I have argued for Hearns' promotion before, and believe that this trade will prove to  be Melancon - Rivera (Vasquez) in reverse.



Further, the Bucs still don't have what they need most, another competent lefty reliever, and have now aggravated that position for September, when I think Hearn may have been given a chance.



I've heard that the Bucs also gave up another noteworthy prospect. I may be back to bitch some more after that news is released.


This doesn’t have to be the last trade. And I hope it’s not. But regardless - Herne does not fit this team’s window. 2019 and 2020 are the big years. Maybe Herne could break into the lineup by 2020, but I’d rather not have the rookie pitching every five days. And that’s the very best scenario.



This is the first I remember where I feel Neal looked at the present at least equally with the future. If this was a rental I’d feel differently, but for the sake of 2018-2020, I like it. This can be a very good team and Kela can be a big piece in the strategy.

I have mixed feelings. I feel like Hearn has a very high ceiling still and his floor is Kela-esque. Since TOR guys are so hard to come by, I hate seeing us give away one with the potential as close as AA. Adding another prospect that may well be a top 20 guy feels like a steep price to pay for a reliever even though he has 3 more years of control. The facts that he has had a shoulder issue recently, struggles with LHHs makes it worse, and reliever performance is generally highly variable make it all the more questionable.



On the plus side, adding him to Crick, Felipe, and hopefully Santana gives you four really good high leverage options to close down games. If the offense can produce, then the starters can be mediocre and still get a lot of leads to the back end. It’s also a good move for team morale. Nothing beats knowing that management has your back. Now adding a frontline starter would really make that message.

If we are serious about making a run, we need another starter of the Archer/Wheeler ilk.



And IMO we could also use another RH bat to help this team deal with lefties, like the two we're getting ready to face over next 36 hours.