There is zero reason to do that before the rule 5. He doesn't occupy a roster spot and the money is sunk.
Big mistake in the earlier era is thinking that the veterans available via trade can outperform the prospects when the prospects were already READY. Example: Ben Zobrist when he was already superior to Aubrey Huff.
It's not an exact science. Humans are not robots. And in what world was Ben Zobrist already superior to Aubrey Huff? Huff had an OPS of .809 for TB when the Astros traded for him, and he actually was. 819 (108 OPS+) for the Astros. He had some terrible moments, but was not nearly as bad overall as I remember. Zobrist had not even made his MLB debut and hit .572 ( 48 OPS+) that season once he did. Zobrist was much better over the next 6+ years but it's ridiculous to say he was superior at the time of the trade.
"It's not an exact science." Turns out it kinda is. During Luhnow's tenure we employed a "director of decision sciences" and it worked great. These decisions are not about one day. Huff may have been better the day before the trade but for six years thereafter Zobrist was far superior. Past performance is meaningless. Basing decisions about the future on those performances is plain foolishness.
I get what you are saying, but it is impossible to KNOW how people will perform and how things will turnout. If it was possible it would make baseball and all sports kind of pointless. People a lot smarter than me, get paid and lot more than me to try but again, humans are not robots so random unpredictability is in their nature.
I agree that for 6 years ( and more) Zobrist was far superior. But he wasn't in 2006 and certainly wasn't "already superior" at the time of the trade as @inchan stated.
The way Dana Brown framed that response- that mccullers “received his second opinion” makes it sound like Lance requested it, insisting something isn’t right with his arm, still. Dana’s responses have all made it seem like it’s a mental deal and that this is just the process of rehabilitation after many arm surgeries. I feel like Lance probably knows rehabbing arm injuries more than most big leaguers
Or he needs another surgery and the 2nd opinion is a desperate attempt at trying to find somebody to say that he can pitch injured and it won’t necessarily do permanent damage and render his arm useless for the rest of his life? It could go either way… curious.
How was he already superior to Aubrey Huff? Zobrist wasn’t good in 2006 after the trade and then Jose Abreu bad in 2007. Huff put up very solid numbers for us after the trade. Edit: My bad didn’t see this was addressed already
I'm calling it right now so bookmark this page. Lance McCullers Jr - your 2026 AL Cy Young winner. I have no idea how much he pitches in 2025 or how long it takes for him to regain his form.
Great. But if he’s just not able to dial it up, is he really going to be effective? We saw a watered down version of him in 2022… and while he did have some initial success with other teams still gearing up for his previous stuff, we saw what would happen if a team really keyed in on the junk ball stuff in the WS.
