Hansel Robles Traded to Boston Red Sox for RHP Alex Scherff

[RaoulDuke]

5 hours ago, Major League Ready said:

My guess is they were holding out (as reported) for a substantial return on Pineda which required them to play hard ball until the final hour and it ended up not happening.  I think this was probably quite calculated by our FO for a handful of reasons.  

1. They need a mentor for all the young pitchers and there is probably a bit of a language barrier with Maeda.

2. It might help in resigning him if that is their goal.

3. Not risking it getting really ugly the rest of this season had they gone down to one experienced SP. 

With this in mind they were willing to forego hold on to him if their price was not met.  That's the price you pay when you bluff on the river and get called on it.

I think you summed it up well.  Pineda wants to be here and they need the vet arm.  Overpay would get him but why sell the consistency and veteran presence if its not an overpay.

[Major League Ready]

9 hours ago, ashbury said:

You're about the last person I'd expect to view the trade deadline as a poker tournament. Sure, there's a little fog-of-war.  But don't you think the FO fielded whatever offers there were, tried to get the other teams to sweeten them a little, and concluded that no one was offering much for an average-ish starter, and decided to stand pat on that one?  Oops, poker terminology after all.

Sure.  That's just as likely perhaps even more likely.  When something does not make sense I assume there is something at play (information) I am missing.   I just thought they might have taken the position that the demand for pitching was high enough they would ask for a premium and someone would cave in the final hour.  Of course, we just don't know the relative merit of the offers they received.  I do think there is some validity to the team wanting more than 1 established SP the rest of the season as well as a mentor for the young guys.  That would support both theories of how they came to hold on to Pineda. 

[ashbury]

5 hours ago, Major League Ready said:

I just thought they might have taken the position that the demand for pitching was high enough they would ask for a premium and someone would cave in the final hour. 

Sure, that can be the opening negotiation tactic. But does a negotiator buy his own rhetoric? At the end of the day trade deadline, a wise negotiator looks at the actual offers in hand, and decides if the best one is good enough. Doesn't matter how high they aimed.

[Major League Ready]

8 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Sure, that can be the opening negotiation tactic. But does a negotiator buy his own rhetoric? At the end of the day trade deadline, a wise negotiator looks at the actual offers in hand, and decides if the best one is good enough. Doesn't matter how high they aimed.

Agreed.  Could have been they held out long enough the other team went another direction or they just decided they would hold on to him if the best they could do if the offer was another FV40 type guy.  I really don't know but experienced has taught me there is something else going on when something this obvious does not happen.