10 months of internal trade talks from the Houston Astros organization were leaked onto a website and exposed, giving readers a glimpse of what the trade process is like for at least one MLB team.
Deadspin posted about the leak and says the documents came as a result of someone hacking a private database for the Astros’ front office. They say that two years ago, the Astros front office created an online private database called “Ground Control,” which gives its users access to player stats, video and communication with other front offices in baseball. Somehow the contents of these private talks/messages from “Ground Control” were hacked or leaked and posted on a site called Anonbin.com, which is an anonymous sharing site.
On June 28, this thread was posted on Anonbin showing the records of trade talks surrounding pitcher Bud Norris, who was eventually traded to the Orioles.
Norris was a former sixth-round pick of the Astros and went 34-46 with a 4.33 ERA in 4-plus seasons with Houston. The team was looking to deal him last year and had conversations with the Giants, Nationals, Tigers, Red Sox, Pirates, Giants, Phillies and Orioles from what we can tell. They eventually traded Norris to Baltimore on July 31, just ahead of the deadline. They got back an outfielder, minor league pitcher and competitive balance draft pick in return, which was much less than what they were seeking in those trade communications.
Also on June 28, another thread was posted on Anonbin. This one details all of the team’s offseason discussions, including times someone reached out to them or vice versa.
Houston had conversations with the Blue Jays, Royals, Rangers, White Sox, Angels, Indians, Rockies, Dodgers, Marlins, Braves, Mets, Giants, Yankees, A’s, Padres and Nationals, from what we can tell. Many of the players who were discussed by either party ended up being dealt.
Here were some of the notable nuggets we noticed:
– Marlins would have considered trading Giancarlo Stanton for Carlos Correa and George Springer.
– Dodgers were willing to talk about trading Carl Crawford because of their outfielder surplus.
– White Sox have four untouchable players – Chris Sale, Jose Quintana, Jose Abreu and Garcia (we’re guessing Avisail).
– Angels were willing to trade Mark Trumbo, Peter Bourjos, Howie Kendrick and Erick Aybar. They ended up trading Trumbo and Bourjos.
– Rockies were willing to trade Dexter Fowler and ended up doing a deal sending him to the Astros.
– Yankees were looking to move Ichiro and were willing to eat most of his salary.
If you’re interested in reading everything for yourself, check out some of the links posted higher up. It’s certainly really cool stuff if you have time to check it out.
