Crunchman for Sol Train: Fair or not?

"You reach, I teach son"
(Photo courtesy of Sports5)

Just in case you thought that competition is lost among the PBA ballclubs owing to all the "feel good" camaraderie that was shared just a few weeks back owing to the Gilas' program's success, here comes the PBA Philippine Cup Quarterfinals and the realization that the PBA is still a "dog eat dog world."

How else could you explain the PBA teams', some of which are comfortably seated atop the standings, frantically looking to plug some roster holes and address their personnel issues through trades and free agency? Purefoods went looking for a serviceable big man and found one in Mick Pennisi, San Miguel wanted to add a young point guard and got Jeric Fortuna and just this morning, San Miguel went and traded Sol Mercado for old hand Alex Cabagnot of GlobalPort in a shocking, devil-may-care deadline deal.

Here's what we think of the whole deal between San Miguel and GlobalPort and why we feel that it is a rather unnecessary trade for both parties:


Alex Cabagnot, PG
34.6 mpg, 15.3 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 5apg
For all intents and purposes, let's be clear here: Cabagnot was not the first choice for the San Miguel Beermen. It was his backup when they were both wearing red, white and black-- Denok Miranda of the Barako Bull (plus throw-in big man Dorian Pena) that the Beermen wanted to bring into the fold.

When the league deemed that 2 for 1 deal rather unfair and nixed the exchange, the Beermen didn't even wait for a day to pluck Cabagnot out of the GlobalPort roster. Let that sink in for a moment-- how easy it was for the Beermen to get a guy who was leading his team in points, assists and was even up there in rebounding the entire conference while also serving as the token "Master Splinter" to his young Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle apostles (Stanley Pringle, Terrence Romeo, Anthony Semerad, etc.)

Early this conference we said that the whole Cabagnot-Pringle-Romeo "three headed monster" thing sounded too good to be true and that it wouldn't take long for the "mother teams" to notice and break them up. Some called us crazy, retweeted and even took a screen capture of our statement if only to prove us wrong one day. Well, we feel really sorry for those people who actually believed that GlobalPort is NOT a farm team.

Are. You. Serious.

Boss Mikee Romero et. al. can talk macho all they want, but those who've been around long enough, have read the papers and in-betweens know enough to realize that there are two San Miguel farm teams in the PBA. A quick trace of all the trades and acquisitions would reveal as much that it shouldn't even be considered surprising at this point.

With San Miguel, Cabagnot will be reunited with his old friends but will have to learn to play within head coach Leo Austria's sets. Will he be a willing distributor? Or will his hero ball antics cost the Beermen their hard-earned 9 wins and 2 losses slate? Silver lining here is that they're not going to play not until the Semifinals so they'll have a lot of time to jell and bond. Cabagnot comes in as a better option right away over defensive-minded yet limited offense Chris Ross and the young Fortuna.

Grade: A for the player that the Beermen are getting, but a D for the timing as it's rare for a league leader to make a huge trade mid-conference-- specially for a point guard who will need to play half the game and will be running the offense most of the time.

Sol Mercado, PG/SG
21.7 mpg, 6.18 ppg, 2.82 rpg, 2.64 apg

Prior to being traded to San Miguel, Mercado was actually putting up Cabagnot-like numbers while nurturing a then rookie Terrence Romeo. While GlobalPort was quickly starting to become Romeo's team, Mercado was the driving force who kept them in line and on point (alongside now TNT ace Jay Washington). When he went to San Miguel, many were disappointed-- one, because we expected him to be the drive-and-dish monster that he appeared to be while playing for Gilas that one time and two, because he simply looked lost out there while waiting for Arwind Santos and Junemar Fajardo to take their customary superstar touches.

But underneath all that, we saw a different side to Mercado. Someone who was okay with being "just one of the guys." He wasn't starting, which was shocking, but he was soldiering on behind his buddy Ross. Mercado basically bought into the team concept-- like most Beermen this season, and it obviously worked (based on their win-loss record).

Now, he finds himself back in GlobalPort but this time he has to play behind an upstart in Pringle and a rising Romeo. How will he be able to fit his game with the two ball-dominant guards? Pringle loves handling the rock and orchestrating, while Romeo is basically on attack mode 24/7 with the rock. Unfortunately for Mercado, he doesn't possess the outside game to merit running alongside the duo like Cabagnot did. He'll have to find a spot beside those two young studs if he wishes to stay relevant in the pros-- something that's understandably quite frustrating for a player of his caliber.

Isipin mo na lang na ikaw si Willie Miller, tapos napunta ka sa Ginebra kung asaan si Jayjay Helterbrand at Mark Caguioa na parehong asa prime nila. Naloko na.

Grade: B, Mercado is a solid player with great handles, but co-existing with the kids might be a very tall order at this point. Either he leads the 2nd group with Ronjay Buenafe, or he learns to play SG-SF full time. Plus, where is GlobalPort going anyway? Are they a farm team? Caught in between wanting to win and just being a farm team? Is Boss Mikee going to keep on bending over and over and over...