I don't know how to grade the Scherzer-Turner trade. I felt at the time the idea was to get those salaries off the books to free up a reload in the near future while Juan Soto was on the team. In that case, getting a passable starter at catcher and a young pitcher you could win with as a mid-to-back of the rotation arm was a fair return. Instead, we realized the Lerner family was in limbo. In hindsight, I think we'd have been better looking for bunch of prospect returns instead of a couple guys near the majors.
The MLB draft remains a disaster, but Brady House and Trey Lipscomb are nice players. Going from a disaster to "something useful" in draft is improvement.
The smaller trades have a mix of fine and who cares. Lane Thomas and Riley Adams are nice pieces.
the bolded point is spot on. That deal was either not honest about where the team was or a bad misjudgement of what they were getting, or both. The only way a retool might have been possible would have been if Soto were signed, and it that were the case, then dealing Turner didn't make sense. I don't know if they were deceived about how good Ruiz would be - his power exploded in AAA in 2021, and he had a good defensive reputation, but it looks like an error. I don't know what impressed them about Gray.
I'm not quite so down on the drafting since about 2018. I think Henry, Irvin, Rutledge all post-date that, as well as some nice current minor league bullpen arms. Green is a disappointment going. #5 pick shouldn't have that much bust potential. Heck, James Wood was a second rounder. Even if you think Green's (tools - questionable contact with elite power and speed) are comparable to Wood, that's a second round pick. I'll add that even if you think that Alu is at best an MLB utility guy, that he's succeeded as much as he has as 24th round pick is good.
As for the minor deals, obviously the Thomas deal was a big success, but the payoff for the next contention window will be most likely what we trade Thomas for.
