[actionjackson]

Some interesting trades before I quit for the day. The first one (made on August 12, 1902 - trade deadline is August 31) looks like a tale of two very good players at the back end of their careers getting swapped out with very little consequence, but look a little deeper and it gets interesting.

By that time in his career, Tris Speaker was probably the worst defensive player I've ever seen in my OOTP days. He was in the National League, so in order to get his bat in the lineup, the Cubbies had to throw him out there, and watch him absolutely butcher everything hit his way. 68 games, 67 starts, 10 errors, a .937 FPct, -28.7 ZR (this is between one third and one half of a season here folks), and .800 Defensive Efficiency. This is completely unsustainable in such an important position as CF. So the Cubs dealt him across town to the Sox for Urban Shocker.

Shocker proceeded to go 19-12, 2.79 in 41 starts over the next season and a quarter, and was pretty pivotal in getting the Cubs to the doorstep of the postseason. The lost to Pittsburgh in a Game 163 in 1903, and missed by 2 games in 1904. So they got a really nice pitcher for a guy who finished out his career in 1902 as a DH with the ChiSox. Speaker certainly responded in his final 43 games with the Sox hitting .353/.420/.503/.923 without the worry of pooping his pants in CF. Good trade for both teams there. Probably the White Sox would've been better served to get some prospects, but sometimes teams go after the big name vet to distract the fans from the misery of a lost season (41-70 at the time of the trade), and they don't come any bigger than Speaker.

We're not done yet though. You have to go back a bit to see what the Cubs were up to in full. On June 19, 1902 (two months before the Speaker trade), the Cubs had acquired CF Al Oliver from Cleveland for lefty Brad Havens (who's been awful so far), and right handed pitching prospect Walter McCoy (Negro Leaguer who has pitched in one game before requiring elbow ligament reconstruction). McCoy could eventually be something, as he's only going on 22, but Havens is utterly meh with a 6+ ERA since the deal.

But wait...There's more. Waaay back on June 30, 1901, the Cubs dealt CF Juan Samuel to the Reds for reliever Bill Fleming and CF Johnny Lindell (#7 prospect at the time). Fleming's quietly done a decent job as a reliever since then (9-7, 4 SV, 3.88 in 153.0 IP), but he's not the jewel of that trade. That would be Lindell. Once Oliver went free agent after the 1902 season, Lindell grabbed the CF job, and hasn't looked back. He's an averageish hitter (.264/.324/.415/.738, 105 OPS+), but that isn't really what he's there for. He hasn't won a GG yet, but it's definitely in his future. Brooklyn's Carden Gillenwater has foiled him both times, but Lindell's every bit as good out there.

If you're keeping score at home, the Cubbies really haven't given up much to get a very good starting pitcher, a decent reliever, and a very valuable (9.0 WAR and counting) CF. It's the sequence in which they did it that intrigues me though. They got their CF of the future first, then their place holder CF, and then they dumped their aging former star CF. Pretty cool.

Final trade has nothing to do with these three, but is for David Watts. It involved yer boy Bill Freehan, and is kind of a blockbuster. On December 7, 1902, the Pirates dealt him and solid reliever Rick Camp to the Clevelands for Dan T Murphy (today's Daniel Murphy), 3B Paul Schaal, and SS Eddie Leon. Murphy's a three time All-Star, while Freehan's been there twice. The Pirates either showed great impatience with Freehan, or had figured out that it was time to cash in while he still had some value. He finished runner up in NL MVP voting in 1901 to Frank Robinson of the Beaneaters, then regressed in a big way in 1902, and sadly hasn't done a whole lot since. Murphy's hurt the Pirates with his defense at 2B, but the dude can hit.

Side note: I have my league AI trading frequency cranked to 11. Seeing really good prospects get blocked used to drive me bonkers, and though I don't follow too closely, I think this is helping out. It also creates tons of chaos, and some really fun trades that might not otherwise happen. The latest World Champion team (Brooklyn Superbas) seem to have built their team through awesome drafting, and awesome trades. A bunch of their players are originals from the Inaugural Draft, but they've brought in some really key pieces in trade.