The San Francisco Giants trading LaMonte Wade Jr. isn't a surprise, but the Giants sending him to the Los Angeles Angels certainly was for one reason. Zack Minasian, San Francisco's general manager, made this trade with Perry Minasian, the Angels' lead executive. That's right — two brothers linked up to make this deal.
Is it a blockbuster? Not at all. The Giants recently DFA'd Wade, so it was a matter of when, not if, he'd find his new team. Still, the fact that Zack Minasian traded him to his brother's team makes this a really fun story.
Now, the real question is which brother won the deal? While the Angels were the team that got the player, it's hard to understand where they were coming from with this transaction.
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Angels take another unnecessary gamble, this time with LaMonte Wade Jr.
The Angels have a knack for acquiring once valuable players well past when they were actually useful and hoping they turn it around in Anaheim. They did this with Tim Anderson ahead of the season, they did it with Chris Taylor earlier this season, and now, they're doing it with Wade.
Wade was even as recently as last season, a productive player for San Francisco, as he had a .761 OPS in 117 games played. This season, though, he's slashed .167/.275/.271 with one home run and 15 RBI in 50 games. He began the year as San Francisco's leadoff hitter, but struggled to the point where they dumped him for nothing.
Wade had always been an extremely productive hitter against right-handed pitching, but for whatever reason, he hasn't been able to get it going this season. Sure, it's fine to take a chance on a potential bounceback, especially in a trade like this, but where exactly will Wade play on this Angels team?
He's primarily a first baseman, and Nolan Schanuel has that position locked down every day. He has played both corner outfield spots over the course of his career, but has not made a single appearance there this season and made a total of 12 appearances (five starts) in the outfield all of last season. Even if the Angels want to play him there, who, between Taylor Ward, Jorge Soler, and Mike Trout would he play over? One of those players occupies the DH spot as well on most nights.
It's a fun story to see brothers deal with each other, but when push comes to shove, there's a good chance Zack can brag about this trade down the line, as Wade is far from an ideal fit on Perry's roster and hasn't done anything with the bat all season.