It pains me to write this post. I was no great Nick Madrigal fan. In my opinion he didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the team. He seemed like he had never had fun in his life. But he was a solid player, with the potential to be more. He almost certainly wasn’t going to become a star, but a consistent 3-4 WAR player is very valuable, especially while they’re cheap.
If we had traded him in a package for a legit star, I wouldn’t have been too upset. But we traded 5 years of a good player for 1.3 years of a flaky reliever. Kimbrel has been great this year (at least until he got here), but he has been very inconsistent in his career. We already had a great, consistent, closer in Liam Hendriks. Aaron Bummer and Michael Kopech are more than capable of locking down the 7th and 8th. Ryan Tepera was a fine addition, and would have helped to solidify the middle of the bullpen, along with Garrett Crochet. So we traded something like 15-20 WAR (plus Codi Heuer) for a reliever we didn’t really need that will be lucky to be worth 4 WAR during his time here.
The only way I’ll come around on this trade is if Madrigal’s injury ends up being career-altering in some way, or if Kimbrel is a vital cog in winning the World Series this year and/or the next. Otherwise, I think we got fleeced. I guess this is payback for the Jose Quintana trade.
BM Authentics posted a Nick Madrigal signing shortly before he was injured. It was a very expensive signing, relative to what Madrigal has accomplished. My first inclination was to get a 16×20 done with a “Nicky Two Strikes” inscription, but Madrigal refused to do that inscription. So I ended up sending in just 2 cards. His rookie refractor, and another really nice refractor. At a cheaper price, I would have likely gotten 10 or so items done.
After the trade, I’m glad I only sent in the two items. In fact, I wish I had only gotten the rookie refractor done. I’d be pretty upset right now if I had paid through the nose to get 10 items done.
The two cards turned out great, and I’m glad to have them done. If Madrigal goes on to an All-Star career with the Cubs (UGH), at least I got a couple of cool items done.
