suggested trade from espn
Chicago Cubs trade OF Jorge Soler to the Seattle Mariners for LHP Luiz Gohara.
So what will the Cubs do? One thing that seems clear is there’s no room for Soler in 2017 with Kyle Schwarber, Jason Heyward, Ben Zobrist and Albert Almora in the outfield. He’s still more “looks good in a uniform” than an actual good baseball player, but these teams have traded with each other before, and the Mariners need some youth in the outfield. A lineup that swung too left-handed in 2016 would now have more balance:
6. Luiz Gohara, LHP, 19, A-/A
The Mariners signed Gohara back in 2012, giving him a bonus of $880,000, the largest ever for a Brazilian player. Now, four years later and still just 19-years-old, Gohara remains one of the biggest risk/reward prospects in the system. In 53.2 innings for the Everett Aqua Sox last year, he struck out an impressive 10.40 batters per nine innings, while walking an atrocious 5.37 batters per nine innings. This is Luiz Gohara in a nutshell–flashes of brilliance followed up by head-in-hands frustration.
Gohara’s pure stuff is phenomenal. From a three-quarter arm slot, he can rush it up to the plate as high as 98 mph, and typically sits between 92-95. His best off-speed pitch happens to be a slider, which, as John Sickels puts it, “varies from plus to poor.” Scouts are still out on his changeup. Some believe it has the potential to be his best pitch, while others have called it too firm without enough late fade or consistency in the delivery.
This discrepancy between scouting reports reins true for all facets of his game. Some see a future number two starter, while others see a Double-A washout. A lot of this comes back to his body type. At 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, Gohara is as big as he is unathletic. This makes it very hard for him to repeat his delivery, hurting his command and his overall stock as a prospect. If he can learn to throw strikes, there is no limit to how good Gohara can be.
