The Trade Deadline has come and gone, and unless you’re a fan of one of the MLB teams from Texas, it was a relatively quiet deadline with no huge blockbusters like the Juan Soto trade we saw last year. However, there’s still some positive value to be derived through some under-the-radar moves made in the past week.
Paul DeJong – Blue Jays – Part of the Cardinals retooling efforts and shipped to the Blue Jays, as the Jays look for immediate middle infielder relief as Bo Bichette hit the IL with knee tendinitis. While Paul DeJong isn’t helping us this year, even though he lands in a favorable new home environment in Toronto. The trade of DeJong coupled with Brendan Donovan’s season-ending flexor tendon surgery should help clear the way for Cardinals top prospect Masyn Winn.
The general consensus around St. Louis seems to be that the Cardinals will hold Winn down in the Minors for a couple weeks as to keep Winn rookie-eligible for 2024, so Winn should be up shortly. Winn’s an exciting middle infield prospect who showcases a solid hit tool with a good power and speed combo. After a cold April, Winn’s heated up with the weather. Winn was July’s Minor League Player of the Month. In 423 at-bats this year, he’s slashed .268/17/59/17.
Amed Rosario – Dodgers – Sent to the Dodgers for Noah Syndergaard, in a swap of expiring contracts. Amed Rosario’s value gets a boost as he moves from the lowly Guardians lineup to the high-powered Dodgers juggernaut. The Dodgers have been batting Rosario in the middle of their lineup, and as a result, Rosario has already been reaping the benefits, racking up plenty of counting stats, adding 7 RBI in his first 6 games with LA. Amed Rosario has been primarily been playing second base, and the Dodgers seem content leaving infielder Michael Busch in the Minors.
Luis Urias – Red Sox – Traded to the BoSox from the Brewers for minor league pitcher Bradley Blalock. Middle infield hasn’t been the best feature of the 2023 Red Sox, putting it lightly. Luis Urias was recalled from AAA Worcester this past Friday, as infielder Christian Arroyo was DFA’ed in a corresponding move. Barring injury, Urias should see some extended time as Adalberto Mondesi is IL’ed indefinitely and considering Kike Hernandez was recently traded. It wasn’t too long ago that Urias was posting high batting averages in the minors and has been touted in years past as a sleeper. If Luis can stay healthy, Fenway should contribute to some extra BABIP and Urias should be a multi-positional eligible bat that players should keep an eye on in deeper leagues.
Luisangel Acuna – Mets – Perhaps no player was more excited to move to a new team than Luisangel Acuna. Acuna, who is having a tremendous season in the Minors, which includes batting .312 with 7 homers and 42 stolen bases, is no longer positionally blocked by Corey Seager and Marcus Semien for the next half decade. Interesting note: Big brother Ronald, reportedly called Luisangel more advanced and better than he was at his age. While the Mets and Steve Cohen have shown a propensity to pay a premium for elite prospects (they are paying the Rangers about $35M of Scherzer’s salary over the next 14 months), Mets fans can look forward to and dream of Luisangel Acuna and Ronny Mauricio manning their middle infield, as Jeff McNeil moves around the field in a super-utility role and the fact that Francisco Lindor will eventually move off of short in a few years.
Josh Rojas – Mariners – Traded from the Diamondbacks to the Mariners, where Rojas looks to get time in the Majors, albeit as a strong-side platoon player at second base. We’ve likely seen Rojas’ fantasy peak, but he still offers some speed for those fantasy managers needing some stolen base help.
Orlando Arcia – Braves – Continues to have an unexpected solid season for Atlanta, batting 46/11/39/.296/.350/1, as the Braves are showing they are content with Arcia at short while leaving Vaughn Grissom in AAA purgatory. Looks like Atlanta management knew what they were doing in letting Dansby Swanson walk.
Have a great week!
