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Marcell Ozuna traded to the Cardinals


JammerHammer21

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2 minutes ago, BrownieTheElf said:

You're good people sir. What can I expect? Doesn't seem to have much power.

Not ever going to hit for it either.  Doesn't have the frame.  Almost all of his XBH come via the speed.  Hit tool is really good, probably 60ish.  Just wish he walked a bit more.  Defensively, he's a GG-caliber defender in CF and the arm to match.  Has speed, but doesn't utilize it enough on the basepath.  Only had 1 season where he stole 30+ bases in his minor league career.  Instincts on the basepath aren't there yet.  Really struggled with a comp, maybe early-Marlins Juan Pierre with a significantly better arm?

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12 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

Not ever going to hit for it either.  Doesn't have the frame.  Almost all of his XBH come via the speed.  Hit tool is really good, probably 60ish.  Just wish he walked a bit more.  Defensively, he's a GG-caliber defender in CF and the arm to match.  Has speed, but doesn't utilize it enough on the basepath.  Only had 1 season where he stole 30+ bases in his minor league career.  Instincts on the basepath aren't there yet.  Really struggled with a comp, maybe early-Marlins Juan Pierre with a significantly better arm?

Kevin Pillar?

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2 minutes ago, ramssuperbowl99 said:

Kevin Pillar?

I don't watch a whole lot of Blue Jays games tbh, but I think he will hit a bit more than Pillar.  Not a bad comp though looking at the numbers.  Sierra is rail thin though.  I think Pillar might have 40 pounds on him tbh.

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Now that we have the entire deal here's my thoughts on it.  I'm going to work backwards.

Daniel Castano is a non-prospect.  You look at the number he posted with State College (Short Season affiliate), and the numbers are interesting.  But that's before you realize he just turned 23 years old a few months ago.  And then those numbers look significantly less impressive, especially considering most of the players the Cardinals send to SS State College are recently drafted college players.

Zac Gallen has been a guy that most Cardinals fans that have been digging into the farm system have kept an eye on.  He's produced at every level, and really never  faltered like most thought he would.  A 3rd round pick in 2016, he made it all the way to Memphis in a little over a calendar year.  That being said, the numbers he posted in Memphis aren't repeatable.  He's not striking out 10+ per 9 innings.  He doesn't have that kind of stuff.  MLB.com's ranking of him at 13th is incredibly generous.  He's probably closer to the 16-20 range.  FanGraphs' had him ranked 18th, which is pretty accurate IMO.  Fastball sits in the low 90s, but apparently has touched as high as 95.  Makes it highly effective with it's natural sink combined with his control.  Has curve, cutter, and change-up, but nothing grade out more than average.  Makes up for it with command.  I've heard a Mark Buehrle comp, but that's probably a best-case scenario.  Worst case scenario, he's going to eat innings for a bad Marlins' ball club.

As I've touched on Sierra, there's a LOT to like and a lot to be frustrated about.  He can hit pretty darn well, has a good sense of the strike zone, and isn't overly prone to striking out. You'd like to see him walk a bit more as a leadoff hitter, but I don't think it'll ever be a detriment to him.  There's no power there, like none.  Any power comes in the form of him using his legs.  Kolten Wong has more power than him.  Defensively, he's probably the best Cardinals CF since Jim Edmonds other than maybe Peter Bourjos although that speaks to both him and what kind of defenders the Cardinals have had in CF.  And he's got an arm to match.  Should be a really good defender.  And I left speed for last.  He's got plenty of it, the problem is he doesn't utilize it enough on the basepath.  He's only had one season where he stole 30+ bases and even when he was in the upper-levels he didn't really show he knew how to utilize his speed.  Not sure the Cardinals were the organization to show him that tbh.  IF the Marlins can get him to tap into that speed regularly, this deal swing up significantly for the Marlins.  If not, it's just a meh deal.

Nothing @hrubes20 said was inaccurate about Sandy Alcantara.  He's tremendously flawed.  His off-speed stuff are still a significant work in progress, and he lacks much control either.  He's definitely improved in that regard though.  But you can't teach velocity.  His fastball sits in that 95-98 MPH range, but will go 100+ MPH out of the bullpen.  He's got a slider and a curve, but neither are much more than show-me pitches at this point.  His change-up is probably the off-speed pitch that has developed the most, but it's still not a big threat.  Let's put it this way, Weaver has a significantly better change-up.  Worst case scenario, Alcantara ends up as a late-inning reliever with questionable control.  Best case scenario, they're trading him away in a few years for a haul.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this deal for the Cardinals.  This is the gamble they needed to make.  Nobody likes dealing prospects, but the Cardinals have the prospect death to weather this deal.

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Just now, hrubes20 said:

Yeesh.  That's a terrible deal for Miami.  Gallen is a reasonable 3rd piece, but Alcantara and Sierra as the headliners?  Jeets is way over his head.

Depends on what happens with Sierra and your opinion of Alcantara obviously.  If he can actually tap into that speed, it looks a HELL of a lot better.  Really surprised they didn't demand Flaherty.  Probably wanted the upside of Alcantara over the floor of Flaherty.

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Just now, CWood21 said:

Depends on what happens with Sierra and your opinion of Alcantara obviously.  If he can actually tap into that speed, it looks a HELL of a lot better.  Really surprised they didn't demand Flaherty.  Probably wanted the upside of Alcantara over the floor of Flaherty.

I just don't buy that Sierra is going to contribute anything positive on offense, and it's tough to even see Alcantara as a starter if you squint.  

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6 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

Depends on what happens with Sierra and your opinion of Alcantara obviously.  If he can actually tap into that speed, it looks a HELL of a lot better.  Really surprised they didn't demand Flaherty.  Probably wanted the upside of Alcantara over the floor of Flaherty.

I've read Sierra had a comp of Ellsbury...

 

We traded away Stanton and Yelich and didn't get a top 100 prospect in return in either trade. That's amazing.

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Just now, hrubes20 said:

I just don't buy that Sierra is going to contribute anything positive on offense, and it's tough to even see Alcantara as a starter if you squint.  

LIS, it all depends on whether or not he can utilize his speed.  If he can utilize that speed, he's a threat to steal everytime he gets on base path.  And he's going to be BABIP you to death, so even if the walk rate doesn't improve he should hit enough.  Not a very high ceiling, but a pretty high floor.  As for Alcantara, you saw the stuff and control improve in AA but it regressed in his brief MLB debut.  But I'm of the belief that you're a starter until you prove you can't.

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1 minute ago, BrownieTheElf said:

I've read Sierra had a comp of Ellsbury...

 

We traded away Stanton and Yelich and didn't get a top 100 prospect in return in either trade. That's amazing.

Sierra doesn't have that random power surge that Ellsbury sort of had.

EDIT: Alcantara and Sierra might be back-end top 100.

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1 minute ago, BrownieTheElf said:

I've read Sierra had a comp of Ellsbury...

 

We traded away Stanton and Yelich and didn't get a top 100 prospect in return in either trade. That's amazing.

Guzman could be a top-100 guy.  Borderline.  He will be top-50 or better within a year.

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