Hot Stove’s cranked up right now, you guys.
M’s get pitchers Nathan Karns and C.J. Riefenhauser and minor leaguer Boog Powell from the Rays in exchange for Logan Morrison, Brad Miller, and RHP Danny Farquhar.
Two things stand out for me in this: LoMo’s still a thing? And Boog Powell has a seriously great baseball name. Even if he pans out, that name is money.
Get your popcorn ready, because this sort of trade is just the coming attraction.
Fan Interference 
Brad Miller is a pretty good “get,” maybe worth Karns.
I don’t get the Logan Morrison part of this. He sports a 92 OPS+. Big friggin’ upgrade over James Loney’s 90 OPS+. I assume the Rays will now try to unload Loney and his $9.6M contract on some other team for a bucket of balls and some rosin. The monetary saving is obvious, but did the Rays really need another below average hitting 1B?
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Ah, my favorite kind of trade – the Ham Sandwich. In which you can take out a player, insert a ham sandwich, and the value is exactly the same.
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Do I get PAH after my ham sammich?
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I am with the professor on this one. Miller is a well below average player (0.6 bWAR last season and a horrific -1.5 dWAR), and Karns was a 28 year old ‘rookie’, not a lot of upside there. This does lend credence to the idea that the M’s might go after Ian Desmond, although I feel that would be a mistake.
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Miller will be fine now that he’s in an organization that knows what it’s doing.
His defense was fine at SS…then they decided to play him at 2B, 3B, SS, RF, LF, and CF last year…not shocking that a lifetime SS had defensive issues being moved all around.
He was also a good hitter in the minors, then as so typically happened in Seattle, the MLB staff couldn’t get out of its own way.
I bet he’s a 3 fWAR player next year if he gets 500+ PAs.
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I’ll take that bet. I put him at 1-1.5.
I am just worried this means they are gearing up to sign Desmond.
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LogMo once led my team in home runs in video game baseball, so he’s okay by me until he does something good against a team I like..
Then he’s dead to me.
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So much for it being a Royals-free zone…
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I’m floored that he’s not related to that Boog Powell. Side note: Boog’s BBQ might be the best place to eat in a spectacularly-covered Camden Yards.
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I know, right? I had to look him up again just to be sure there wasn’t a family connection anywhere.
Never been to Camden Yards. Planning on it one day, though. I have friends in the area.
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He clearly didn’t “inherit” the lumber from his namesake; definitely not a power bat.
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My favorite part about this trade is that Boog Powell was traded. When I first heard I got worried about where I’d get my pit beef from.
http://www.sportscierge.com/boogs-bbq-pork-sandwich/
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