If you needed any other reason to love X, there’s truly about a zillion of the most interesting people on there. Today a former Boston Red Sox executive took to Twitter after they announced them signing Aroldis Chapman. His name is Zack Scott, and he was the sitting Red Sox GM a few years ago before they hired Chaim. You remember that depressing day when Walt Jocketty sold off Aroldis Chapman? Prepare to be even more depressed, perhaps… Subscribe to our Newsletter!!
December 28th, 2015 – A Sad Day
The Reds were acknowledging themselves headed into a rebuild. They had just went 69-93 while allowing 754 runs to only 640 runs scored, the excitement of hosting the All Star Game was over, and ole Joey Votto only put up 7.8 bWAR instead of 25.0 bWAR that it would’ve taken to win a few more games – what a bum, right? Guys, Brayan Pena was our starting catcher. We had to sell. Come on.
Here brings Aroldis Chapman, the Reds biggest asset that offseason, and why we’re writing this article – there was known to be EVERY contender known to man in on Aroldis in the 2015 offseason. The Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, nevermind it, if they had a winning record the year prior, you bet they wanted Aroldis. That’s why this brings such pain. Such misery. Knowing what they got for him, and just how bad Walt Jocketty handled the rebuild…I still cry about it going on 10 years later.
The Red Sox Offer
Thanks to Zack, 10 years later, we know what the Boston Red Sox offered. They offered 21 year old Manuel Margot who was about to break the big leagues, and Marco Hernandez – two promising young talents from the International Pool, some of which the Boston Red Sox held the most trust around baseball with. Now, most of you, if you follow baseball at least, likely know the name “Manuel Margot” – picturing him with Eugenio Suarez and Joey Votto now makes me sad. Here’s the tweet with the Red Sox former executive detailing that trade:
So, what famously happened?
Once Zack’s team sounded the alarm, the sh&tty New York Yankees swooped in, said they didn’t care about no Domestic Violence disputes, and offered the Cincinnati Reds a package full of bums. Sorry, but that package was terrible. Walt Jocketty panic-accepted once he found out about the pending domestic case, and the Reds ended up getting…Rookie Davis. The full trade looked like this: RHP SP Rookie Davis, RHP RP Caleb Cotham, 2B Tony Renda, 3B Eric Jagielo.
Of that group, only Rookie Davis really went on to play any big league games, and folks…he was terrible. Likely now doing accounting at his local Fifth Third Bank. He had 6 starts in Cincinnati in 2017, a 8.63 ERA in 24.0 IP and a 14:20 BB:K. He then went to Pittsburgh where he was…hey he was a little bit better. So much better that he ended up getting a career ending…blister. Caleb Cotham pitched in 23 games in 2016 to the tune of a 7.40 ERA but hey guys, he did have a 12:21 BB:K ratio, so cut him some slack. In all seriousness, Caleb’s best days as a Red (and still, in his career,) came as an assistant pitching coach. He’s now with the Phillies in that head role.
Don’t let me get into what happened to Aroldis Chapman later on that year, he only got flipped to the Chicago Cubs, went on to win a World Series with my least favorite team of all time, and not to mention, the Yankees turned him into Gleybar Torres + some. For fck sake, Jock…
If you were wondering why we’ve sucked so long…
Walt Jocketty knew how to build a winning team. On the contrary, he had NO idea how to…rebuild a team. None. It’s easy to hate on him, but don’t forget he’s the only reason the Reds had any sort of playoff runs in the last 2 decades. Yes. Decades. So be nice, be gentle to our sweet Jock. We’ve genuinely sucked for years because of sitting on the hands, not knowing what to do with our best assets, letting them run the course another year, and ultimately accepting way less for them than what should’ve been received. Pain.
