December 15, 2017

Family Trade

Stephen Piscotty‘s ailing mother appeared to be a big reason in the Cardinals decision to trade the outfielder to Oakland. She suffers from ALS:

As the 2017 Cardinals lost steam and the focus turned to the future, the team decided it would look to move Piscotty — with a preference on sending him close to the Bay Area if a deal to do so was palatable. It worked out nicely that the A’s were shopping for a righthanded hitting corner outfielder with a locked-in contract.

“You are never making a player trade simply for geographic or sentimental reasons,” Mozeliak said. “It had to be something that made sense for us. There were certainly some opportunities to move him elsewhere. When you are looking at how to break a tie, clearly that (sending Piscotty home) did play into it.”

Although Piscotty hit poorly for average and power in 2017, he maintained his OBP. He hit well on a west coast trip in September, where his mother was able to attend games. It was only 26 PA, so take the .391 BA with a grain of salt. The A’s, however, should be optimistic that he did maintain his OBP, and that he will be playing for them in the middle of his peak years. He looks like a great candidate for bouncing back from an off year.

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