Orioles Acquire Jonathan Heasley from Royals

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

As long as this move isn't one of the highlights of the off-season. I think Elias is going to make at least one noteworthy trade by spring training.

I don’t think he will but I’d love to be wrong. 

[CaptainRedbeard]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

Strikes me as the Austin Voth of the Royals.  

I like that as a comp of Elias targeting a guy on a team with bad pitching development, but Austin Voth can really spin it. He’s got solid fastball spin rates like Heasley but also exceptional curve spin. It was more apparent there was something there to work with for Voth. I wouldn’t even be surprised if he bounces back and has some decent ball left in him if he’s healthy. 

Heasley’s fastball might be interesting but they’re going to have to find some compelling second offering there. I think the big appeal to this pickup was having the option year, good candidate for the Norfolk shuttle while they see if they can unlock more. I’m mildly intrigued but not expecting much. 

[sportsfan8703]

The option is worth a lot. High spin FB. Could switch to a FB/CB reliever. Can go multiple innings out of the pen. Up/down guy. Seems like a good replacement for Logan Gillaspie and Joey Khreibel. 

[RZNJ]

Generally speaking I’d rather have the 6’2” 17 yo lottery ticket.  89-92 at 17?  You never know.   The guy we got sounds like a longshot himself.   We’ll see.  The option is nice but it’s worthless if he can’t pitch effectively in the majors.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, bpilktree said:

Voth has an ERA of 3.67 since joining the Orioles.  I don’t think that would be considered bad to me.  

He was very good his first year here.  That’s my point, along with the fact that he has some interesting pitch characteristics and pitched in a bad organization.  

[LA2]

4 hours ago, Frobby said:

Strikes me as the Austin Voth of the Royals.  

Intriguing point

[Billy F-Face3]

I can't claim to be informed about this pitcher, but my gut instinct usually helps me and my gut is giving me a positive feeling about this transaction. We will see.

[ChosenOne21]

6 hours ago, RZNJ said:

Generally speaking I’d rather have the 6’2” 17 yo lottery ticket.  89-92 at 17?  You never know.   The guy we got sounds like a longshot himself.   We’ll see.  The option is nice but it’s worthless if he can’t pitch effectively in the majors.

The one that was our 71st best prospect? I'm sure we could get his equivalent for peanuts from any other team.

[RZNJ]

1 hour ago, ChosenOne21 said:

The one that was our 71st best prospect? I'm sure we could get his equivalent for peanuts from any other team.

Thomas Sosa was #71 in 2022 as a 17 yo.  This year he’s #17.     At that age you never know.  That’s why we sign them. 

[Sports Guy]

1 hour ago, ChosenOne21 said:

The one that was our 71st best prospect? I'm sure we could get his equivalent for peanuts from any other team.

These guys can go from nothing to something very quickly.  You never know.

That being said, I don’t mind the trade.  Maybe Elias has other guys he likes more and needs the spot..especially with the new class coming soon.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Sports Guy

[Frobby]

20 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

These guys can go from nothing to something very quickly.  You never know.

That being said, I don’t mind the trade.  Maybe Elias has other guys he likes more and needs the spot..especially with the new class coming soon.

Obviously Elias knows a lot more about these young DSL prospects than we do. I think one of the most important skills an organization can have is the ability to evaluate its own prospects.   Good luck to Cesar Espinal.

[sportsfan8703]

How does Hensley compare with a guy like Uwasawu that we had rumored interest in?  Uwasawu has the splitter and Hensley has the curveball/sweeper. Both are high spin rate FB guys. Hensley has an option. We don’t know if that would’ve been the case with Uwasawu. 

It seems like Uwasawu has more interest and a higher price tag than we thought so we pivoted to Hensley for the role of RH optionable reliever with good analytics and could start in a bind.
 

Reports come out yesterday morning about the market picking up for Uwasawu and we make this trade hours later. 

[sportsfan8703]

Also, a team like the Royals could be guaranteeing Uwasawa a chance to start. So we pivot to Hensley and they get to make 40 man room. 

[Frobby]

6 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

How does Hensley compare with a guy like Uwasawu that we had rumored interest in?  Uwasawu has the splitter and Hensley has the curveball/sweeper. Both are high spin rate FB guys. Hensley has an option. We don’t know if that would’ve been the case with Uwasawu. 

It seems like Uwasawu has more interest and a higher price tag than we thought so we pivoted to Hensley for the role of RH optionable reliever with good analytics and could start in a bind.
 

Reports come out yesterday morning about the market picking up for Uwasawu and we make this trade hours later. 

They’re nothing alike.   This is a depth move that costs almost nothing.  

[ChosenOne21]

33 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Thomas Sosa was #71 in 2022 as a 17 yo.  This year he’s #17.     At that age you never know.  That’s why we sign them. 

You never know, but you have a pretty good idea. I'm going to guess that the overwhelming majority of players who were at one time their team's #71 prospect never sniff the majors let alone have a meaningful career there.

This is also true of the vast majority of #17 prospects.

I'm not saying we shouldn't sign Dominican players as teenagers. I'm saying there are dozens of players with similar profiles to Espinal that can be had for a song, so it's not worth fretting that we traded him. We'll probably sign a couple of "Espinals" in January.

I'm not saying Espinal can't have a major league career, but I'd put the odds well under 1%. I think the odds Heasley has a successful season for us are greater than 1%.