[新聞] Swap Wade Davis For Jorge Soler
The Royals have traded closer Wade Davis to the Cubs in exchange for young
outfielder Jorge Soler, tweets Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com. Reports of these
talks first surfaced last night, with Yahoo’s Jeff Passan, ESPN’s Jayson
Stark, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale and FOX’s Ken Rosenthal all shedding
light on the situation.
Davis, 31, originally came to the Royals from the Rays in the 2012 James
Shields/Wil Myers/Jake Odorizzi blockbuster. After struggling as a starter
with both Tampa Bay and Kansas City, Davis moved to the bullpen and almost
instantly broke out as one baseball’s most dominant relief weapons. Over the
past three seasons, Davis has pitched to a comically low 1.18 ERA in 182 2/3
innings while averaging 11.5 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9. He’s also been utterly
dominant in 25 postseason innings, yielding just one earned run and posting a
38-to-5 K/BB ratio.
Davis isn’t without his red flags, though. He hit the disabled list twice
this past season due to forearm and flexor strains and saw his average
fastball dip from 95.7 mph to 94.9 mph. He also posted his lowest strikeout
rate and highest walk rate since moving to the bullpen. But, Davis did come
back strong from his final DL stint, pitching 9 2/3 innings in September and
allowing three runs while posting a 15-to-1 K/BB ratio. Furthermore, ESPNs
Jerry Crasnick tweeted this morning that the Cubs were being very thorough
with Davis’ medical records in order to ascertain that they were willing to
take him on. Davis is earning $10MM next year and will become a free agent
next winter, so this is a one-year pickup for the Cubs, barring some form of
extension.
The Cubs at one point seemed like a strong match for one of the market’s top
free agent closers, but GM Jed Hoyer downplayed that notion early in the
offseason, and there’s been little to no evidence that the Cubs pursued any
of Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen or Mark Melancon before making today’s
trade. The swap reunites Davis with former Rays manager Joe Maddon and likely
pushes Hector Rondon from the ninth inning back down to a setup role.
In Soler, Chicago is trading away a player with four years of team control
remaining. While normally selling that type of control for a one-year asset
would be difficult, the Cubs possess significant outfield depth and would’ve
struggled to find Soler any form of regular role, as their roster already
includes Ben Zobrist, Albert Almora, Kyle Schwarber, Jason Heyward, Jon Jay
and Matt Szczur.
In Kansas City, however, Soler may very well slot into an everyday role in
right field. The Royals currently have a Jarrod Dyson/Paulo Orlando platoon
in right field, but Dyson is a free agent next winter and is has reportedly
been discussed with other clubs seeking outfield help. Dyson and Davis are
just two of many players that helped to comprise a Kansas City core that is
now slated to hit free agency together next winter. In addition to that pair,
the Royals have Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar
all slated to hit the open market next year, so the acquisition of Soler
could be one of many moves made with an eye toward acquiring more
controllable talent.
The 2017 campaign will mark the fourth season in which Soler has seen time in
the Majors, but he’s still just 24 years of age. An extremely high-profile
international prospect, Soler signed a nine-year, $30MM contract with the
Cubs out of Cuba prior to the 2012 season when he was just 20 years old. Soler
’s powerful right-handed swing, offensive upside and plus arm made him a
mainstay on Top 100 prospect lists throughout the industry. He looked every
bit like the future star he was billed to be when the Cubs promoted him late
in the 2014 season, as he went on to hit .292/.330/.573 with five homers in
97 plate appearances across 24 games.
Soler, though, has batted a more pedestrian .253/.328/.413 in 187 games/668
plate appearances since that brilliant debut, and he’s battled injuries as
well. Soler has landed on the disabled list three times in the past two years
due to a hamstring strain, an oblique strain and an ankle sprain. While none
of those injuries is necessarily concerning in isolation, durability has long
been a concern for Soler. He’d never played more than 62 games in a minor
league season before his 2014 promotion to the Majors, and his hamstring
issues date back to his minor league days.
Nonetheless, Soler gives the Royals some much-needed controllable talent and
is still young enough to become a fixture in the middle of their lineup for
the foreseeable future if he’s able to conquer his injury woes and tap into
his potential.
Moore說各隊對Davis的報價中,小熊的報價是他覺得最好的
不過Vernier說的也很對
Wade's contract/role/ability is too great to ONLY bring in a "potential power
bat." Especially one that is without a role/spot in Chicago.
這筆交易只能日後再來檢視了.....
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