I understand the desire to get prospects, but I think that sometimes we tend to overvalue exactly how good those prospects are actually going to be in the majors. Look at BA's 2007 top 10 list:
1. Daisuke Matsuzaka
2. Alex Gordon
3. Delmon Young
4. Phil Hughes
5. Homer Bailey
6. Cameron Maybin
7. Evan Longoria
8. Brandon Wood
9. Justin Upton
10. Andrew Miller
A couple studs come out of there, and a few other good major leaguers, but it's not like it's anywhere near certain that you're actually going to get production. We've seen that from our own prospects this year as they've experienced growing pains and tried to produce at the major league level. In my mind, if you can't get 2-3 prospects in a trade, I would absolutely prefer to get a guy like Cespedes, just because there is still so much uncertainty with prospects.
Cespedes is a known commodity. Is he perfect? Nope. He probably doesn't get on base quite enough, and even with his throwing arm, he clearly seems to have some lapses in the field sometimes. But he is very much an above-average major leaguer who should be good for around 3 WAR a year at a very reasonable cost. That's a pretty good return for 2 months of Jon Lester.
Do I love how the club handled the whole situation? Definitely not. I would make the case that this should have been wrapped up a long time ago. But given the situation they have gotten themselves into, I think this is a very good outcome, and I'm pretty happy with the end result.
1. Daisuke Matsuzaka
2. Alex Gordon
3. Delmon Young
4. Phil Hughes
5. Homer Bailey
6. Cameron Maybin
7. Evan Longoria
8. Brandon Wood
9. Justin Upton
10. Andrew Miller
A couple studs come out of there, and a few other good major leaguers, but it's not like it's anywhere near certain that you're actually going to get production. We've seen that from our own prospects this year as they've experienced growing pains and tried to produce at the major league level. In my mind, if you can't get 2-3 prospects in a trade, I would absolutely prefer to get a guy like Cespedes, just because there is still so much uncertainty with prospects.
Cespedes is a known commodity. Is he perfect? Nope. He probably doesn't get on base quite enough, and even with his throwing arm, he clearly seems to have some lapses in the field sometimes. But he is very much an above-average major leaguer who should be good for around 3 WAR a year at a very reasonable cost. That's a pretty good return for 2 months of Jon Lester.
Do I love how the club handled the whole situation? Definitely not. I would make the case that this should have been wrapped up a long time ago. But given the situation they have gotten themselves into, I think this is a very good outcome, and I'm pretty happy with the end result.