Trade Tree: Yuniesky Betancourt

FOREWORD: Welcome to the third Trade Tree of the season! The first two Trees examined the worst Ners deal of all time (in which the M's dropped 40 WAR) and the longest Tree of all time (the branches of which stretched over 20 seasons). This Tree is slightly different. For one, Yuniesky Betancourt is the title player (and that's always a good sign). Second, the most interesting branch of the Tree actually involves the Kansas City Royals, and most of the write up will therefore focus on their moves. As always, the players initially involved in the deal are at the top of the image. A player with a solid border either is still on that team, was released, or became a free agent. A dashed border means that player was traded and the arrows indicate who was acquired in return.

I’m not going to beat around the bush on this one: if anyone wanted some in-depth Ners mega-trade analysis, this is not the Tree for you. In terms of WAR, the best player the Mariners either acquired or gave away in this trade was Derrick Saito (Derrick Saito!). He never made it past A ball in the minors. However, what is interesting about this Tree is that Yuniesky Betancourt (Yuniesky Betancourt!) was a key piece in a trade that set up the Royals to win the World Series.

First, the Ners' side of the trade: Dan Cortes and Derrick Saito. I personally was a Dan Cortes fan: as a fellow tall pitcher who never really knew where the ball was going, I identified with him and his struggles. However, his time with the Ners is best remembered for striking out the Ranger-version of Nelson Cruz in the bottom of the ninth with a guy on first and two outs in a tie game. Except then the ball got away from catcher-at-the time, Guillermo Quiroz (Guillermo Quiroz!). Quiroz’ throw to first then got past Justin Smoak. Then the guy on first scored aaaand then we lost. So yeah, the 2010 Ners were tight. Just like Derrick Saito, who looks like a nice guy.

Moving to the more important question: How is it possible for Yuniesky Betancourt (who had 4.2 WAR in his first 3 seasons in the MLB and yet still managed to end his career with -2.5 WAR overall) shaped the Royals into World Series champs? The answer is simple: be included in a trade that involves Zack Greinke. That dude is pretty good. In 2010, Milwaukee wanted Greinke – and Grienke was too shiny of a piece for the Yuni-sized smudge to scare away the Brewers, so they ended up giving up Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar (both of whom turned out very good) and Jake Odorizzi and Jeremy Jeffress (neither of whom turned out very bad). Cain was the MVP of the 2014 ALCS and placed third in AL MVP voting in 2015. Escobar was an All-Star in 2015 and a Gold Glove winner. Jeffress bounced around a little but has settled as a solid bullpen arm in Texas, and Odorizzi only lasted one season in KC before being included in another blockbuster trade with Tampa Bay. All in all, not much can be complained about for a return on a pitcher one year removed from a Cy Young.

But the Odorizzi deal is what sets the Royals up to become World Series champs in 2015 and party with Tech N9ne in downtown KC.

Odorizzi, Wil Myers, former Ner and World Champion Mike Montgomery, and Patrick Leonard were traded to Tampa for James Shields, Wade Davis and a PTBNL. Shields was not great in the playoffs for KC despite posting a WAR over 7 in 2 seasons. But Wade Davis was an animal come playoff time. He allowed 1 run in 24.2 innings for the Royals in the postseason and struck out 38 batters, and KC went on to win it all. But recently, the Royals have recognized that their playoff window has been closing one Francisco Lindor dinger at a time, and therefore flipped Davis for Jorge Soler this offseason. Not to judge this trade already, but on the traditional 20-80 scale used by scouts to evaluate prospects, Soler’s ability to replicate emoji faces grades out to a 30, so the Royals may have lost that one.

Regardless of how much Jorge Soler looks like an emoji (he doesn’t), somehow Yuniesky Betancourt helped build the foundation of the 2014 AL Champ and 2015 World Champion Royals teams. Yea you can discount that claim with a Zack Greinke-sized grain of salt, but both of us would still be technically right. Regardless, it's much more fun to picture Yuni B as a piece that built a World Champion team instead of being a really really bad Mariner.

#Hitting #TradeTree