Good-bye Cesar, Hello Konnor: Instant Trade Reaction

The Cleveland Indians traded second baseman Cesar Hernandez to the Chicago White Sox for Double-A left-handed pitcher Konnor Pilkington.

Thoughts?

gerbs 
The Cesar signing always felt off to me, seeing as how we have been told that this season was meant as a “show me” year, one in which we were meant to see what the youngins have and Hernandez at the keystone took a spot away from Owen Miller or Gabriel Arias.

Andrew Schnitkey 
Always the freaking White Sox.

Anyway, my love for Cesar was greater than his overall impact on the franchise. But I dunno, he was always such a joy to watch play. I’ll always remember fondly my time watching him through the pandemic, and then hitting a bunch of HRs out of nowhere this season.

gerbs 
That isn’t to say I’m okay with him leaving. He was having one of his better seasons for Cleveland, maintaining the leadoff spot, and provided veteran leadership for the youngest team in the league.

I’m excited to see what Owen Miller/Andres Gimenez/Gabriel Arias can do at 2B/SS long term (Gimenez will more than likely man SS if and/or when he gets the call). We saw this year how having a job and the PAs that come with it helped Bobby Bradley put at first base. I hope to see that happen for Gimenez or Miller

Michael Bode
We needed a steady veteran who had good patient approach especially given the rest of our lineup construction. He was an absolute solid signing in that respect even for 2021. Had the team had better health, then Hernandez could have even been an essential signing, alas…

I still do worry that the guys who will now be required to play every day are not quite ready for those roles. But, given the team is playing for 2022 now, it makes sense to have Gabriel Arias, Andres Gimenez, Owen Miller, and Ernie Clement (perhaps even Tyler Freeman) time to get themselves acclimated to the MLB level.

mitch
The other thing to consider is they had real hopes to win the division this year, and it made sense to have veterans when they were going for that. Now there’s little hope for it, so it makes sense to offload.

Michael Bode
So, about Konnor Pilkington…

He is a 23 year old, 6-foot-3, 230 pound left-handed starter best known for his work as a Bulldog in the Mississippi State versus Oregon State College World Series. Sort of in the same type of mold as recent trade acquisitions of Logan Allen and Scott Moss.

Now, he had a mid-90s fastball back then with reports that he doesn’t have the same velocity anymore. But also, there were some noting he had improved during 2020 earlier this year and the 2021 production shows that might have been correct.

He is at least an interesting prospect for the pitching development team to work on.

Craig Lyndall

Wake me up next year. I’ve been out for a month or so now. Love the players. Hate the game at the moment.

================== Editor’s Interjection ==================

Tito will have his left hip replaced on Monday. Five or six weeks after that he'll have a permanent rod put in his foot (from the staph infection) to start that healing process.

— Mandy Bell (@MandyBell02) July 29, 2021

Shifting topics, the Cleveland Indians announced tonight that Terry Francona is stepping away as manager of the team for at least the remainder of the season as he has multiple health issues to address (Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports he will be having foot and hip surgeries).

Josh Poloha

Hope and wish for the best for Tito. Would love for him to get healthy after surgery and make it back for spring training, but the most important thing here is that he gets healthy, no matter how long it takes.

Michael Bode

Absolutely the only thing that truly matters is that Terry Francona gets healthy. Prayers out to him and his family.