The Start — The Hernandez Deal
This probably was the beginning of the end of the Suwon monster offense that saw Suwon sit 1st in homers, 3rd in runs in 2023. Did this to patch up my shortcomings (pitching) by giving up a bit of my strength (batting).
IN:
CL/RP Dave Davis
LF Cheol-min Park (#67 prospect)
Isle of Man’s 2024 3rd Round Pick (SP Rob Peters, #50 prospect)
Halifax’s 2024 4th Round Pick (3B Seth Auxier, #136 prospect)
OUT:
1B/DH Carlos Hernandez
FLIPPED
IN:
SP Mario Morales (#79 prospect)
2025 4th Round Pick
2026 5th Round Pick
OUT:
CL/RP Dave Davis
Result — Win. Flipped Hernandez for 4 top 150 prospects and 2 extra picks. The collapse of the offense this season still happens regardless of this trade and my bullpen was extremely solid with Davis’s ~2 war pace. Morales looks like a Davis clone as well as a RP, assuming he progresses well.
Did this almost entirely as a cap dump for Vess. Vess spent the season in AAA and would’ve been a fringe long reliever for me while eating 4m of my budget. Tixier I think was worth 4th+5th alone, and dumping Vess was just icing.
IN:
SS Valentin Tixier
OUT:
SP Chris Vess
2024 4th Round Pick (RF Dan Katzen #337 prospect)
2024 5th Round Pick (2B Roberto Mendez #106 prospect)
Result — Loss. Tixier was pretty awful this season as he batting 25 OPS+ in 49 games (162 AB) for a .136 avg and -.5 WAR. The draft picks were solid as Mendez looks to be really good value in the 5th round.
Another cap dump as well as roster dump, clearing up my bullpen as I added several minor league pitchers as well as promoted a bunch of players from my system.
IN:
2024 3rd Round Pick (SP Fernando Perez #72 prospect)
OUT:
SP Tony Napoleo
RP Tony Flores
RP Ernesto Martinez
2025 4th Round Pick
Result — Wash. Napoleo was insane for Wuhan this season and he was the cap dump for my team in this deal. Really pulled a Florida Panthers here cap dumping an all-star, but like Vess, Napoleo was nothing more than a bullpen only long reliever for me. I think this deal was good for all teams involved.
The Middle — The Caballero Deal
This is when the Nayeon’s got spicy, trading big batter Tony Caballero for a bunch of stuff.
IN:
SP Kennie Roach
3B Kosho Horie
2025 1st Round Pick
2025 3rd Round Pick
OUT:
3B Tony Caballero
SP Juan Sosa
FLIPPED
IN:
DH Bernie Casanova
OUT:
3B Kosho Horie
Result — Win. I think both teams won with this deal as Lonewolf sold on Roach who was having an ABYSMAL start of the season, putting up a 1–5 record, 6.63 ERA, and a whopping 52 ERA+. Post trade, Roach has been absolutely great, pacing for ~3 WAR. His ERA dropped to 3.35, 104 ERA+, and putting up a 6–4 record. Horie has been absolutely fucking dogshit since the trade for both Wuhan as well as Suwon. Casanova, who was having a really poor season for Wuhan, was lights out post trade, posting a 168 OPS+ and batting a .304 in 112 AB’s. Juan Sosa was a minor league signing that was tossed into this deal and has been pretty poor for the Men, posting a 66 ERA+ and -.7 WAR in 64 IP. He’s now a bullpen option for the Men. Caballero on the other hand started out absolutely red hot, but has came down to earth a bit in the following weeks, and is now sitting on the IR for the rest of the season. Think this trade was a win for the Men though as Caballero has added a huge bat for the Men and before his injury was putting up numbers as if he was still on the Master Batters. The picks remain an icing on this cake for the Suwon side of things as Roach alone has made this trade worth it for me.
This was where I made a move to try to compete in 2024 (lol).
IN:
CL Ken Asay
2025 2nd Round Pick
OUT:
SP Oscar Gonzalez
SS Sean Cater (#15 prospect)
2026 4th Round Pick
Result — Loss. Asay is elite and has arb years left and getting rid of Gonzalez’s contract is a + in itself as he’s just a BAD player that I gave a stupid amount (3M) of money to in hopes that he pans out as a generated FA. Losing Cater sucks though. Although Toro, and now Gomez, are in the wings, Cater is a near elite prospect, but is a few years away from the majors still. I think if I have a better season this trades a win, but making a move like this to miss the playoffs you gotta consider it a loss. Getting a 2nd is nice though.
IN:
RP Martti Uusikartano
OUT:
LF Naizen Udo
Result — Win. I make this trade 100/100 times even though Udo’s had a resurgence for Washington and has been a really solid contributor for them and their playoff hopes. Given Udo’s turnaround, both teams are happy with this deal.
IN:
C Brian Peters
OUT:
C Jorge Gonzalez
2025 3rd Round Pick (Isle of Man)
2025 8th Round Pick (Suwon)
Result — Loss. Peters was really good for Suwon, but tore his hamstring 2 sims after the trade and will be out until 2 weeks before the end of the season. Along with the Asay trade, I think this trade works if my offense doesn’t implode this season.
IN:
CF Blazej Svoboda
2025 3rd Round Pick (Isle of Man)
OUT:
LF Rico Vega
FLIPPED
IN:
2026 3rd Round Pick
OUT:
SS Blazej Svoboda
Result — Win. I think this trade ended up being a complete steal. Vega has been really poor and Svoboda has been really really good post trade. If teams weren’t giga cucks, Svoboda gets flipped for around what Kim got, 1st+prospect, but teams are cucks. Essentially getting 2 3rd round picks for Vega is absolute insane value as he’s barely a major leaguer, but is only 26 so he has room to improve and is IMO underperforming for his ratings.
IN:
C Bill McAllister
OUT:
SP Ricky Gonzalez
C Ramiro Garcia
Result — Win. This was solely due to the Peter’s injury as I had no backup catcher. Gonzalez wasn’t in my 40 man and Garcia was taking a spot in my 40 man, so getting rid of Garcia is a + and Gonzalez wasn’t making my team so I pretty much just upgraded at C for free.
The End — The Ackland Trade
Deadline day, the day Suwon’s core had an atomic bomb dropped onto it. All of these are too early to tell who “won/lost” the trade so just going to give my thoughts on each.
IN:
CF Edward Kujawa (#109 prospect)
2025 5th Round Pick
Cash
OUT:
SP Bill Liebman
Liebman’s had a down year and with Roach, Reza, Park, and Lara I felt fine moving Liebman as I didn’t want to spend the amount his Arb is asking for on a #5 pitcher. Kujawa is ready for the majors and will be slotting in at CF for the rest of the season as a bit of a tryout.
IN:
SS Manny Gomez
CF Julian Harris (#57 prospect)
SP Mauricio Peregrino (#418 prospect)
3B Manny Espinoza (#399 prospect)
2025 3rd Round Pick
2025 5th Round Pick
CONDITIONALS:
2025 4th Round Pick
2025 6th Round Pick
OUT:
1B Justin Levy
SS Kendrick Ackland
I think both Castlegar and I can agree that the Levy deal favors Suwon and the Ackland deal favors Castlegar. Together I think it’s probably around fair. Gomez can slot in at SS immediately and provide better defense than Ackland as Ackland is probably better suited at 3B now and is just 21 years old. The conditionals will not go through unless something crazy happens. Even if does, a 4th and 6th isn’t going to change much, just add some more magic beans to my collection. Peregrino and Espinoza are both magic bean type players who are young and could potentially slot in, but will be long shots. Harris is a legit CF prospect.
IN:
2B Izzy Toro (#244 prospect)
2025 4th Round Pick
OUT:
SP Tim Walker
Cash
I’m much higher on Toro than #244, but he’s a fairly flawed prospect with awful hitting splits against LHP. Solid defensively and almost big league ready though. Walker, like Liebman, is pretty expendable for me so getting assets is a + so I think both teams like this deal.
IN:
2025 2nd Round Pick
Cash
OUT:
2B Armando Arredondo
I think this trades very risky. Arredondo has been AWFUL this year, but getting him fully retained and knowing he most likely opts in, getting him for a 2nd is really good value for Halfcast if he recovers his 2023 form. I absolutely hate that I retained 100% on him because he will almost certainly opt in next season, but with Toro+Kasko coming up, I just wanted him out of Suwon and a 2nd is a nice pick.
This season was fun as hell. Am I dumb for making all these trades? Probably. Was it worth it? Probably not given my record. Do I regret it? hell no.
