Bradford traded to Tampa Bay for player to be named later

[Moose Milligan]

I don't know why anyone is getting their hopes up that the PTBNL will be a productive player.

From the wiki page:

Generally to work around this rule minor leaguers are chosen, and thus very few PTBNLs are of star quality. However, some minor league PTBNLs who have turned out to be productive in the majors include Jeremy Bonderman, Scott Podsednik, Coco Crisp, Moisés Alou, Jason Schmidt, and David Ortiz.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Player_to_be_named_later

Maybe I'm missing some others, but I can't find anyone else.

Never fails to amaze me how excited members of this board will get over a ptbnl that'll 99% turn out to be minor league filler.

[JayGibbons31]

Would anyone object to Chris Nowak as the PTBNL? Could be a better corner bench option than Costanzo and Moore.

[Black & Orange]

Don't know if this has been posted already...

From Rotoworld:

The Rays believe Reid Brignac may have suffered a broken wrist when he was hit by a pitch in Triple-A Durham's game last night.

If a fracture is discovered, then Brignac could miss out on a September callup. He wasn't likely to have much of a role then anyway.

[Answerman]

Just got home and read this thread. I'm surprised nobody picked up on the real reason for the trade: yes, it clears a spot for Mickolio; yes, it provides a potentially helpful player (Niemann?); but mostly it provides salary relief. MacPhail said it himself.....But not for Tex or Burnett or Dunn.

The salary relief is for Brady, Landers and Beal! Woo-hoo! Consider the trade to be Bradford for Brady! I'll take it.

[WEAVERMAN]

C'mon Bradford, do you best to keep the NYY out of the playoffs.

[alev]

Huh? Not that I'm claiming that Bradford bring us back anything special but this logic doesn't make sense. If you were a playoff team looking to make a stretch run and needed a reliever you would give up MORE than what that player was valued at.

MORE than what that player was valued at, in this case, is still not very much. Certainly not a future ML starter.

My point is (and was) don't get your hopes up. Which Orioles prospect would you trade in this deal if the roles were reversed? Nobody in the top 15 I'm sure.

[notfast]

IMO, with Price, Davis, etc, Hellickson is the kind of guy they should be ok with dealing for a guy like Bay who could help them win the World Series this year. It's not like he was their only arm and they'd be selling the farm.

If the Orioles were competing, leading the east, would you trade Wieters for a need? Of course not.

The Rays arent even or weren't even close to being "OK" or even consider trading Price...for anyone...

[Baltoravensrule]

MORE than what that player was valued at, in this case, is still not very much. Certainly not a future ML starter.

My point is (and was) don't get your hopes up. Which Orioles prospect would you trade in this deal if the roles were reversed? Nobody in the top 15 I'm sure.

K. My point is mentioning that they are making a playoff run doesn't help the argument that the PTBNL will be bad. Rather it makes it more likely that he would be more talented. (Again I'm not saying thats the case just noting that your logic doesn't quite work)

[HarryReasonable]

Huh? Not that I'm claiming that Bradford bring us back anything special but this logic doesn't make sense. If you were a playoff team looking to make a stretch run and needed a reliever you would give up MORE than what that player was valued at.

I personally don't think Bradford's worth the $3.5M we were going to have to pay him next year. Since Tampa is taking that obligation off our hands, I really don't expect to get any real studs back in the deal.

I agree with Tony that this was a salary dump, with the baggage of the contract de-valuing the player further. Look for nothing more than a AA pitcher to come back. I really don't think the O's have a need for Gomes - he's really not that good.

[zff4]

MacPhail may just be anticipating the inevitable by getting some value for a player who might be picked up as a Rule 5 guy, assuming Andy wasn't going to put Bradford on the roster for the winter meetings. I think on that basis that the value we'll get won't be the value many posters are hoping for. That's not to say it's not a good trade, but I don't think it will be a real difference maker. But if my unsubstantiated speculation is correct, it does confirm that Andy is already thinking ahead to next years roster, which is the kinda GM we want.

[OK_Os_Fan]

Hoping we get someone for the future in this exchange. Bradford is not the most valuable guy around, but he is a good relief pitcher. maybe a mid lvl promising prospect.

[TGO]

The posters mentioning Hellickson, Niemann, etc. are dreaming, yes, but those calling Bradford a straight salary dump are, I think, out of touch with market realities.

Simply put, a one year, $3.5M commitment for a veteran reliever like Bradford is dirt cheap. Argue all you want about his peripherals, the guy gets right handed hitters out, gets groundballs, and doesn't give up homers. If he went on the market right now he would get at least 2 years, $9M.

[PoorMike]

MacPhail may just be anticipating the inevitable by getting some value for a player who might be picked up as a Rule 5 guy, assuming Andy wasn't going to put Bradford on the roster for the winter meetings. I think on that basis that the value we'll get won't be the value many posters are hoping for. That's not to say it's not a good trade, but I don't think it will be a real difference maker. But if my unsubstantiated speculation is correct, it does confirm that Andy is already thinking ahead to next years roster, which is the kinda GM we want.

Bradford is the Rule V guy you speak of?

In order for that to happen, he'd have to be outrighted off the 40 man, clear waivers, and then he'd almost certainly elect to become a FA. This surely would not happen (him being taken in a rule V).

As said above, I think this is slightly more than a salary dump. I think that AM is simply trying to fend off the anticipation of who the PTBNL will be.

[Mackus]

The posters mentioning Hellickson, Niemann, etc. are dreaming, yes, but those calling Bradford a straight salary dump are, I think, out of touch with market realities.

Simply put, a one year, $3.5M commitment for a veteran reliever like Bradford is dirt cheap. Argue all you want about his peripherals, the guy gets right handed hitters out, gets groundballs, and doesn't give up homers. If he went on the market right now he would get at least 2 years, $9M.

The prospect will be much closer to a salary dump than it will to someone like Niemann or Brignac.

If we get someone as good as Scott Moore, MacPhail will have done a good job. This screams salary dump, even MacPhail's quotes pretty much give it away.

[rolliefingers]

I don't know why anyone is getting their hopes up that the PTBNL will be a productive player.

From the wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Player_to_be_named_later

Maybe I'm missing some others, but I can't find anyone else.

Never fails to amaze me how excited members of this board will get over a ptbnl that'll 99% turn out to be minor league filler.

Bonderman wasn't filler, but point taken. I think that if we eat a lot of salary, one of the poorer teams could afford Bradford, and TB is a pretty poor team, relatively speaking. If they're trying to win now - and, frankly, getting Bradford makes me wonder if they aren't half-assing this, knowing they'll be very good, very soon, so why trade anyone? - then they might give up a decent throw-in prospect. Their minors are still stacked; there's no reason that, say, the #15 guy in their system couldn't wind up being pretty good.

Come to think of it, they might just throw in Gomes - when their system is as loaded as it is, Gomes might look like their Luis Hernandez pretty soon.