(Steel?) Nick is the guy to ask on this one. He can probably go into more detall—all I really remember is MORROW+DAVIS OMG!

My recollection is that it was only the Phillies and Dodgers in the end. The Dodgers GM was pissed because we turned down what he thought was a better offer (centered around Josh Bell I think.)

Toronto just optioned him to triple-A.

define “impact”.

What is that at the end of your sentence? There’s no words there.

I think Miller’s in the lead by a considerable margin, believe it or not, being that Miller is holding up (so far) and being fairly effective at AA.

What’s really disappointing about Knapp’s lack of progress since we got him (due to injury) is that the guy hasn’t even thrown a High-A pitch yet. So much for that young age-relative-to-league advantage – sigh.

Cheating is for the Yankees

#what do you mean

#whatarehashtags

I think Carrasco’s falling down the prospect rankings his last year in the Philly system, mostly due to his “meltdown” issues on the mound in terms of focus. Before that last year, though, he was highly thought of by many. I don’t know about in comparison to Knapp – Knapp may have better pure velocity, and perhaps stuff, but Carrasco was hardly a slouch when it came to both, and might have had better established stuff – but Carrasco was still a very fine prospect in his own right when he came over, despite the media souring on him during his last year in the Philly system.

I think it’s clear, though – how the Lee trade is defined is going to largely depend on how well Carrasco turns out (ace, frontline starter, middle-of-the-rotation, back-end starter, bullpen, not at all), as Knapp’s prospects of even contributing at the ML level continue to teeter. He is young, but the mention of shoulder surgery at ANY age is not encouraging. especially with his past injury history.

This is my thing, and I’ve beaten this drum since the trade was made.

First, you take a purely econometric view of the four players we received. You start with their expected contribution to the major league team, if each player reaches his potential. Factor in the distance from the majors, the risk of career-maiming injury, and the time value of money. I’ll ask one of the FanGraphs guys to do the long math on this, but let me assure you, on the day the trade was made, not only was Knapp NOT the most valuable of the four, but he was by far the LEAST valuable of the four.

The other three guys were in Triple-A, and they were ALL likely to have at least a short career as a big-league role player, starting in just a year or so. Knapp was a very young pitcher in the low minors. The chance that he would EVER make the majors was never good, even if he had no known injury problems. The attrition rate is high for all pitchers, and very high for pitchers under 23 — it’s not a mystery. And any contribution he would make was at least four years away if not six.

I don’t know how you order the other three guys on the day of the trade, and in a way, that’s part of the problem. There was no Brandon Phillips, no Alex Escobar, no Matt LaPorta in this deal — no major stud. It was a package of three quality players, plus one lotto ticket in the form of a high-upside guy who — by sheer virtue of his being a 20-year-old pitcher pitcher — probably will never make the majors.

If you’re going to single out one of the three, on the day of the trade, it’s Carrasco. His stuff meant that he had higher upside than Donald or Marson, who were likely to contribute but not to be core players. (Then again, we said that about Choo, too.) And I think the front office felt that it would be unfair and unwise to single out Carrasco as “the guy” in the trade.

It may be that they heavily coveted Knapp. It may be that they were prepared to walk away from the deal if he were not included — but that’s a negotiating position, not a valuation. It is not possible that anyone in the Indians front office viewed Knapp as a more valuable asset on the day of the deal than Carrasco, or at any point between that day and today. It’s not even a close call.

Marson has thrown out 57% of runners, and if you cherrypick the cutoff point, he’s first in the majors with that number. David Ross is also at 57%, but in 6 fewer games. None of the guys above him have started more than 4 games.

Wilson Ramos and Kelly Shoppach (of all people) have gunned down 50% in much more action, but Marson has thrown out more runners than Shoppach anyway.

So, no… it’s not down to just Carrasco.

Jason Donald had a 97 OPS+ as a rookie.

Totally disagree with every part of this. It just could not be much more wrong.

Carrasco already looks pretty good to me. And Marson is a capable backup catcher. And Donald probably won’t stay injured forever, but that’s just a hunch. But if he contributes in any human way that’s also a return that counts.

Rehabbing Injured Pitcher.

and they may cut him since his rehab is almost up

Whoa