I think you are referring to the Jorge Lopez trade? I was lukewarm over it that day. My one post about it referred to him as a waiver-wire pickup, referenced non-trivial prospect capital to get him, and I expressed qualms about him turning back into a pumpkin, Still, I sandwiched in a comment that it was a reasonable trade; I'm not even sure what my intent was with that contradictory statement, except that for a long while I kept having faith that our FO was capable of sifting through all the data to find gems that looked like flashes in the pan to me. Have at it:
Day-of comments have nothing to do with what I was saying, though, which was that Sonny Gray was a trade that has worked out (for the time being, until we know Chase Petty's destiny), and the Jorge Lopez trade absolutely did not. Certainly a FO must make decisions; but it's totally fair to review those decisions later on and it's part of how you judge a FO, by their results. As you say, it's easier to grade trades later on, so I didn't think what I said was the least bit controversial.