Immediately after the Los Angeles Dodgers performed their Winter Meetings finale on Thursday morning involving Matt Kemp, the Tigers and Red Sox stole the show. After all the confusion on whether or not the Sox will deal Cespedes, the Red Sox agreed to a deal with the Tigers swapping Cespedes for Rick Porcello.
What this means for the Tigers is that they find their replacement for Torii Hunter in Yoenis Cespedes, but they lose a key part of the starting pitching rotation. Even though Hunter has been a key distributer of on Detroit for the past 2 years, Cespedes is a better guy to have on this team. Sure Hunter put up a .295 batting average with around 17 homers and 80 RBI’s the last two years, but his range factor in the outfield has declined to below league average, and age is an issue. His replacement in the Cuban kid is a great replacement as Yoenis is young, brings significant power, and is a very energizing fan favorite. His presence in left field at Comerica Park will have the spotlight. Cespedes is the only definite outfield starter right now as others such as Anthony Gose, Rajai Davis, and J.D. Martinez will be vying for the other starting roles. Speaking of fielding, Cespedes has a cannon for an arm in left field. He had 16 assists out in left this year, but his range factor was below average, which is ok considering the average left fielder is mostly just a hitter with a good arm.
Good hitter is exactly what he is. His game is centered on power, as he is a back-to-back champion of the derby. In 2014 he had his best season as he split time between Oakland and Boston. He finished with 22 homers, 100 RBI’s and 36 doubles. If Detroit wasn’t a power house already, now add Cespedes to a lineup with Miggy and V-Mart.
This trade may not have been as great for the Red Sox though. Boston may have lost a key bat in their lineup, but they add a good pitcher in Porcello after missing out on Jon Lester.
Since the Sox added Hanley and Sandoval, the hitting problem is not so much a problem anymore. Unfortunately though offense was not the only big issue. Starting pithing is just as much a concern. So they went really hard after Lester hoping for his return to Fenway, but it didn’t happen, so adding Porcello was the first step in the right direction despite giving up Cuban power. After all, pitching wins rings and the sox have other options out in the field such as Victorino, Castillo, and Craig.
What Porcello brings to this rotation is youth with great potential. He is coming off of a league leading shutout (3) season where he won 15 games with a 3.43 ERA. He is a very old 25 as he has already been to the playoffs 3 times including 16 innings pitched in October. Rick’s arsenal looks like this: instead of a 4 seam fastball being his primary pitch he uses a 2 seam, then he comes in with a slider that has a descent amount of break, which is about what his curveball does, and finally he has a change that is about a 10 MPH difference to his fastballs. For making around $8 million/year Porcello is a good 3-4 starter. Obviously the Red Sox were looking for an ace in Lester, but not every team needs an ace, as long as a team has 4-5 good solid pitchers like Porcello, then they have a good chance of competing especially in the American league where pitching is not as valuable as it is in the NL.
Overall this trade is an A- for the Tigers due to the fact that they get a superb bat, but lose yet another pitcher like they did last Winter with Fister leaving. For the Red Sox this trade’s turn out will depend a lot on how well Castillo can replace Cespedes, and whether or not Porcello’s numbers will drop in the offensively friendly Fenway Park.
