Trades that Have Shaped the ABL - Part 3 of 5

[aaron]

Part 1: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=334
Part 2: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=337

Before writing up the first two installments of this series, I kind of knew how each trade worked out. Miami/Texas was a moot point for both teams, and New York(AL)/Pittsburgh helped both. However, this trade, I'm not completely sure what to make of the results, at least not yet. Both teams involved have not made the playoffs in the ABL. However, they have gotten close and always have some interesting pieces on their rosters. Without further to do, the trade:

January 18th, 2019:

Detroit sends:
- P Riley Pint (#30 prospect)
- SS Delvin Perez (#84 prospect)
- P Sandy Alcantara (#69 prospect)
- P Shane Greene
- 3B Eugenio Suarez
- 2019 1st round draft pick

Baltimore sends:
- 3B Manny Machado

This was one of the big blockbusters of the 2018-19 offseason. To be honest, I was involved in the Machado talks, and barely missed out on him. I regretted that, too. Machado would go on to produce a career best 7.3 WAR in his first season in Detroit, barely losing the MVP race that year. He had another solid year in 2020, and was thereafter traded to Toronto for a package involving SS Richard Urena, who struggled in Detroit but was quickly swapped for SP Ross. Ross has flourished in Detroit, accuring over 13 WAR in less than 3 seasons. Considering double digit WAR from Machado and now from Ross, it is tough to say Detroit has not benefited from this trade.

However, what about Baltimore? Let's look into each player in the return separately:

Riley Pint was one of the headliners in the trade. Pint reached the big leagues in 2020, and has bounced between the bullpen and the rotation at that level. In both cases, he has struggled to be effective.

Delvin Perez also joined the majors in 2020, and won the Gold Glove at SS in his first two years in the league. Defensively he is spectacular, but he has a career OPS+ of 69. (Not) nice.

Sandy Alcantara contributed to the Orioles from the get-go, and with a career ERA of 6.09, he too has struggled to make an impact. He is currently in AAA Norfolk.

Shane Greene spent two years in Baltimore, to the result of -1.0 WAR.

Eugenio Suarez is different. He did not struggle in Baltimore, accruing 9.9 WAR in parts of 4 years. After all that production, Baltimore was still able to get a pretty nice haul from Seattle for him.

The Orioles used the 1st rounder from Detroit to get Andrew Summerville. Summerville is still a little raw, but the early results are encouraging: he has 3.7 WAR in 271 innings pitched for the club, has 5 years left of team control, and has potential to learn a very good slider.

To me, this is a trade that shows you can't always judge a deal by the headliners. All three of the top 100 picks received by Baltimore have flopped, but the deal was not a total loss. Suarez and Summerville have produced for the team. Similarly, Machado is no longer in Detroit, but his presence is still felt through Joe Ross. I'm not sure if both teams would do this deal over again, but in a sense, it really wasn't a bad deal for either side.

[samtigers]

I would do this deal again in a heartbeat. And even though I eventually got Joe Ross out of it, I have been kicking myself ever since trading Machado to the Blue Jays (a big part of it was my budget totals showing incorrect, and I thought I needed to clear salary).