i didnt lament the paredes trade. i thought he'd never amount to much. i was a bit worried that the rays would turn him into something, but oh well. ya gotta give up something to get something.
that said, paredes has been "ok". not a world beater. its the meadows part that has killed us. meadows should have been a solid addition to the lineup but instead has been a microcosm of the whole team: underachieving and injured.
if parades had stayed here, i suspect he would also be doing poorly and/or be hurt.
but even for those of us - like me - who didnt think paredes would ever come good, the trade is sort of symbolic for the whole organization. the rays identify cheap players and trade overvauled players for them. and then make the cheap players into a coherent, largely successful organization. the tigers lately have not done that. and since they no longer have a gm who has a proven ability to identify big league talent and an owner willing to pay that talent, they fail.
we'll have to see if chris eventually develops into mike. as many here point out, mike was pretty bad at this for a while too.