Reaction to the Maggie Brascia-Jackie Kawamoto MLP Trade
We have our first trade of the 2022 MLP season. The Jackrabbits have traded Jackie Kawamoto to the Ranchers for Maggie Brascia. This means that Mary Brascia will be paired up with her sister Maggie on the Jackrabbits while Jackie Kawamoto will join Anna Bright, DJ Young and Austin Gridley.
Where do we start with this one?
Jackie Kawamoto was drafted as the 10th female and she probably went too low at number 10. Maggie, on the other hand, was drafted as the 20th female and arguably should not have been drafted at all. It doesn’t feel great to continue to dwell on Maggie but what are we supposed to do when something like this happens? It’s quite likely that Mary pushed to get Maggie onto the Jackrabbits so she could play with her sister. If you want the answer to what is more important, winning or blood, it appears that answer is blood. There’s no other logical explanation for the trade.
For anyone that plays fantasy football, vetoing trades might be the most annoying thing that happens so long as players aren’t colluding with one another. This Brascia-Kawamoto trade is one that we have to think MLP was not thrilled to hear about, although the Brascia silver in Newport has to have helped with the timing of this trade that was announced shortly after they beat Stratman/Johnson. Now, if the Jackrabbits, don’t think they are getting fleeced, they are entitled to make the trade. However, this is exactly the reason why professional sports teams have front offices that make personnel decisions. The trade highlights that the lack of any real decision-making hierarchy within teams when we have Jackrabbits out here acting like they’re the Sacramento Kings. If you want to go with the DUPR’s, going into the weekend, Kawamoto’s DUPR was about .45 points ahead of Maggie Brascia’s.
We discussed in our Shuffle Draft column that Maggie was a candidate to be dropped by her team. Not only did the Ranchers avoid dropping Maggie, they somehow replaced her with a borderline #1 female. It immediately vaults the Ranchers into serious contender status. They have arguably two #1 females, a guy in DJ Young who can be as good as anyone in a given match and Austin Gridley is fully capable of hanging in there. We’ll have to see how things shake out but it’s difficult to imagine a situation where the Ranchers are not favorites going into Newport. Sure, Austin Gridley didn’t have a great time in singles, but teams shouldn’t let small sample sizes get in the way of big picture things. There’s not a major upgrade on Gridley out there, particularly as a men’s doubles player.
For the Jackrabbits, they could very well be the odds-on favorites to be the weakest team at Newport. As we mentioned above, it is notable that the Brascia’s took down Jorja Johnson and Lauren Stratman on Saturday in 3 games, and Maggie held up really well in that match. Maggie looks to be improving. That other aspect of things is that the MLP format can still give heavy underdog teams somewhat of a chance to come up with wins. You have to think the other players on the Jackrabbits okayed this trade, but it’s difficult to see how.
Nevertheless, It’s hard to make much sense of this deal from a pure player standpoint for the Jackrabbits. The Ranchers have suddenly vaulted their team from a low floor-high ceiling who knows what they will be to it would be majorly disappointing if they don’t get into the top 4. Unless something magical is in the works for the Jackrabbits, this should be a rough ride for the group in Newport and beyond.
Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments below or email us at nmlpickleball@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter too.
Wow, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed! Not sure I disagree with questioning the trade, but this seems to be a little harsh. Looking at the Austin event, Mary Brascia was probably the weaker of the two women on the JackRabbits (would love to support with data but MLP still can’t post all the results from their matches apparently), since then she has played a lot and delivered on the court in singles and in doubles. I am not sure how much Jackie has played, but I don’t recall seeing her name a lot in the past tournaments. Mary and Maggie have the next month to drill and get better -their Newport silver shows that they can compete and win – and we know the MLP format can produce some very unexpected results (see Whitwell in 2021).
Just giving an opinion based on what we see from the players. Maggie is clearly better but does that justify the trade? Maybe there is more in the works too
There has to be more to the story here right? Based purely on dupr scores it just doesn’t make sense. Who would trade a first round girl for a second rounder? Are the Jackrabbits just confident that the chemistry and playing experience with the sisters will make up for the skill level? Or did Maggie get the heads-up that she was getting dropped and her sister then convinced her team to trade for her so she wouldn’t be out of this season of MLP all together? That’s my guess for what happened, and part of me loves it (as a mom I love a sister sticking her neck out for her sister), and part of me hates it (it makes me think they aren’t taking this “pro” thing seriously). To be honest though, I’ll be rooting for them. I love an underdog and hope Maggie can prove this wasn’t a crazy move. Their level of play has improved this year and they had a great showing this weekend, so who knows, maybe they will prove us all wrong!
All very fair points. It’s hard not too root for a team like this and if they have a good run people will get behind it. It seems pretty clear the DJ Young thing went very poorly though
Harsh? I don`t think so! In fact, Jackie K’s DUPR is higher than Anna’s. Frequency of play does not equate to talent.
The sisters looked very comfortable winning vs Stratman/Johnson. The trade may seem suspect numerically but I don’t think Jackie and Mary won any matches together in MLP. Plus DUPR is a lagging indicator, I would expect Maggie to be improving quickly this summer.
They did look good today and maybe chemistry was an issue overall so why not make a switch in their eyes
“There’s no other logical explanation for the trade”
Try these:
1. Jackrabbits underperformed and Ritchie wanted to make a change. Any team that didn’t make the quarterfinals should be considering how to reposition because it clearly wasn’t good enough.
2. All of these owners and players are pretty new to all of this. It isn’t like you have seasoned GMs or Moneyball type analytics here.
3. You all think highly of Anna Bright (so do I). Check Maggie’s stats against her in matches…including Newport today.
4. Chemistry matters…especially in MLP where the team environment and motivation can either make or break a squad. Maybe both teams for their own reasons felt like the player mix could be improved with style, matchups, and complementary strengths. DUPR isn’t everything…
Maggie is playing well this weekend in Newport. It seems you are seeing a lot of moves happening as a result of a really small sample of matches and players being very empowered. All of those things matter, but still don’t think the move makes sense
NML, please do your research and get facts before you just throw crap on the wall and see what sticks to get clicks and comments. Owners make trades, not players. You don’t know the facts so maybe ask first.
Nothing is said to get clicks and comments. We also haven’t said at any point that players are making trades. Rather, we have surmised that players are having a heavy influence on transactions that are occurring
Right but if you’re going to post stuff qualify it with “I wonder if….” Or “I don’t know for a fact but…”. That’s all. Be responsible with your posts because I know for a FACT that your speculation isn’t what actually happened
Just curious what part of the post or another post are you referring to specificay where anything was said as fact or could be inferred as fact
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“that your speculation isn’t what actually happened”
Well at least Roditi realizes it is speculation on your part.
On one of the broadcasts, I think I heard him say he coached Maggie. If so, Roditi has a personal stake in seeing her do well. I’m sure we all wish her well. I’ll apologize now if I heard it wrong.
Reminds me of when you “speculated” about the singles draws for PPA. Then future draws seemed to bear out your speculation.
Analysis with a passion with a footnote that commentators are also with passion.
Educated guesswork or speculation is what we would call a lot of whaf we give opinions on
Yes I do coach both Mary & Maggie and Parris and others so of course that will influence my thoughts. I guess my biggest issue is you need to remember a lot of these players are very young and not your “typical professional athletes” that make millions of dollars. So I’m sure I’m more protective of them when they’re being criticized in a public forum like this. That goes for everyone of course not just the players I coach. That’s all. Be considerate when you’re voicing your opinion on players. I do that when I’m commentating as well.
You have been implying strongly that, based on the transactions you see, PLAYERS are calling the shots and dictating to owners who goes and who stays. You have been implying that decisions are made based on relationships and not the desire to win and improve the team. That’s generally not how it works in pro sports. You’ve made some pretty strong allegations.
Further to what I just commented, you are right. We have strongly implied it but the implication was from our guesswork not implied we are reporting fact. However, we’re learning more and can say there almost certainly situations where players are dictating what is going on. But again, we are just educated guessing and speculating on these things, not reporting unless we clearly state and that’s sometimes forgotten I think. Having strong opinions on what we think is going on is different than reporting it
I don’t think that these are allegations of wrongdoings but just simple common sense observations. Even though it’s ultimately the owners decision, it strains credibility to believe that the advice of some of their players are not strongly considered.
Btw – Great Blog NML! Keep up the good work!