Nothing's happening. Argh.
Does anyone else think that the age of blog leaks has made trades nearly impossible to develop in any kind of back-and-forth manner? As soon as something hits the internet (e.g. the Andruw Jones rumor below, or the Tejada-to-Houston-or-Anaheim rumors), whoever is perceived to be getting the butt end of the deal looks pretty stupid. Further, the GM probably feels pretty stupid, and would not be out of line to kill the talks out of spite. Or how about the reverse... a possible snow job goes public, the GM realizes he's being snowed, and kills what would have been a steal for the other team. Makes you wonder if the public vetting of trades preventing bad ones as often as it kills interesting ones.
Andruw Jones for Coco Crisp, Craig Hansen, and Jon Lester
Thank you, no, which seems to be Theo's reaction. The Braves won't budge on including Lester, so the deal's dead. Oh well... more fuel for the "I Hate The Braves" fire. Didn't they get friggin eliminated last weekend? Isn't Jones leaving Atlanta for sure? Did I miss something? What are they holding onto him for??? Sell low, you cheap bastards! Doesn't matter; this is not happening.
Lowell and crappy prospects for Julio Lugo and Scott Linebrink
I parrot my disdain for Lugo. To give up Lowell for the guy is lunacy. I wouldn't mind grabbing Linebrink (he's gotta be better than Tavarez) but the fascination with Lugo is mind-boggling. They're now, apparently, talking to Lugo about a contract extension. If you ditch a good shortstop for committing 30 errors, what will you do when a bad shortstop commits 30 errors? The fans on the first-base line would get plenty of souvenirs, but that's a wasted public relations effort. Now that Alex Gonzalez has been around for the season, I've become somewhat accustomed to having a shortstop that fields the ball... especially when he fields it so affordably. What's the hurry to get rid of the guy?
Lowell and crappy prospects for Ryan Shealy and Padres starter X
This seems a little more realistic, since Shealy indirectly fills the position (Youk returns to 3B). But you can't take away the only productive guy in that 5-6-7-8 area of the lineup without replacing him; Shealy doesn't cut it. I'm mystified as to why Lowell is on the trading block at all.
Roger Clemens
Please, God Shammgod in heaven, no. He's looking for another playoff payday. Fuck him. (Unless Houston takes Matt Clement.)
Kip Wells
You know, he's not a bad pitcher. And he'd come cheap. But this looks more like a Jeff Suppan move than anything: they'll trade for him because the price is too low to turn down, but he'll suck. Which frightens me. But I'd rather have Kip Wells than Cory Lidle.
Diagnosis
If they end up with Kip Wells and nothing else, I'll be fine. Relievers make it across waivers all the time, so it won't mean they're stuck with Seanez and Tavarez until October.
I don't think the Sox need to "counterpunch" the Yankees. They don't have a significant number of problems. They do have one edge on the Yankees, which is a stable of waiver-trade-quality pitchers coming back from injury (David Wells, Matt Clement, Keith Foulke) who will cost the Sox nothing in trade value over the next month, and are approximately equivalent in value as the guys who'd come in. Despite having, in the past, called for Matt Clement's evisceration, I do think Clement has "late-season X-factor" potential. Meanwhile, who would the Yankees exhume if Cory Lidle falters? He's their last hope, besides the Pontoon Queen. And we're worried about them?
Does anyone else think that the age of blog leaks has made trades nearly impossible to develop in any kind of back-and-forth manner? As soon as something hits the internet (e.g. the Andruw Jones rumor below, or the Tejada-to-Houston-or-Anaheim rumors), whoever is perceived to be getting the butt end of the deal looks pretty stupid. Further, the GM probably feels pretty stupid, and would not be out of line to kill the talks out of spite. Or how about the reverse... a possible snow job goes public, the GM realizes he's being snowed, and kills what would have been a steal for the other team. Makes you wonder if the public vetting of trades preventing bad ones as often as it kills interesting ones.
Andruw Jones for Coco Crisp, Craig Hansen, and Jon Lester
Thank you, no, which seems to be Theo's reaction. The Braves won't budge on including Lester, so the deal's dead. Oh well... more fuel for the "I Hate The Braves" fire. Didn't they get friggin eliminated last weekend? Isn't Jones leaving Atlanta for sure? Did I miss something? What are they holding onto him for??? Sell low, you cheap bastards! Doesn't matter; this is not happening.
Lowell and crappy prospects for Julio Lugo and Scott Linebrink
I parrot my disdain for Lugo. To give up Lowell for the guy is lunacy. I wouldn't mind grabbing Linebrink (he's gotta be better than Tavarez) but the fascination with Lugo is mind-boggling. They're now, apparently, talking to Lugo about a contract extension. If you ditch a good shortstop for committing 30 errors, what will you do when a bad shortstop commits 30 errors? The fans on the first-base line would get plenty of souvenirs, but that's a wasted public relations effort. Now that Alex Gonzalez has been around for the season, I've become somewhat accustomed to having a shortstop that fields the ball... especially when he fields it so affordably. What's the hurry to get rid of the guy?
Lowell and crappy prospects for Ryan Shealy and Padres starter X
This seems a little more realistic, since Shealy indirectly fills the position (Youk returns to 3B). But you can't take away the only productive guy in that 5-6-7-8 area of the lineup without replacing him; Shealy doesn't cut it. I'm mystified as to why Lowell is on the trading block at all.
Roger Clemens
Please, God Shammgod in heaven, no. He's looking for another playoff payday. Fuck him. (Unless Houston takes Matt Clement.)
Kip Wells
You know, he's not a bad pitcher. And he'd come cheap. But this looks more like a Jeff Suppan move than anything: they'll trade for him because the price is too low to turn down, but he'll suck. Which frightens me. But I'd rather have Kip Wells than Cory Lidle.
Diagnosis
If they end up with Kip Wells and nothing else, I'll be fine. Relievers make it across waivers all the time, so it won't mean they're stuck with Seanez and Tavarez until October.
I don't think the Sox need to "counterpunch" the Yankees. They don't have a significant number of problems. They do have one edge on the Yankees, which is a stable of waiver-trade-quality pitchers coming back from injury (David Wells, Matt Clement, Keith Foulke) who will cost the Sox nothing in trade value over the next month, and are approximately equivalent in value as the guys who'd come in. Despite having, in the past, called for Matt Clement's evisceration, I do think Clement has "late-season X-factor" potential. Meanwhile, who would the Yankees exhume if Cory Lidle falters? He's their last hope, besides the Pontoon Queen. And we're worried about them?
posted by Jeff at
3:18 PM
10 Comments:
Immediate update: now the likes of Craig Wilson, Moises Alou and Geoff Jenkins are in play. Ehh. Bad timing by Trot, of course, but I'm not even remotely worried about Pena manning right field for the foreseeable future.
By
Jeff, at 3:21 PM
Also, ESPN The Magazine reports the Wells trade is as good as done. Fine by me. No word on who would (if true) go to the Pirates.
By
Jeff, at 3:22 PM
Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez to the Mets for Xavier Nady. Perez looks cooked, but Hernandez might have been a nice throw-in to a Kip Wells deal.
By
Jeff, at 3:25 PM
Hahaha. Gordon Edes now says the Sox "passed" on Kip Wells for medical reasons. The fact that Edes' report came out after news of Wells' trade to Texas makes you scratch your head a little; why would one believe Wells is hurt to that extent if the Rangers stepped in and nabbed him immediately? Are we really that attached to Abe Alvarez? Come on, Gordon... you don't need to do this mutual back-scratching thing in order to get good sources...
By
Jeff, at 4:08 PM
So, looks like the Red Sox didn't do anything. Nothing.
The Yankees, meanwhile, upgraded for cheap by grabbing Craig Wilson for Shawn Chacon. (In other words, for free.)
I have three feelings in response.
1) RELIEF that the Sox didn't trade any good prospects.
2) SHOCK that the Sox couldn't even pull the trigger on so much as a Kip Wells deal.
3) BAFFLEMENT as to what Pittsburgh is thinking. Kip Wells for AAA garbage? Wilson for Chacon? Perez and Hernandez for Xavier Nady? Have they implemented the Thousand Monkeys Working A Thousand Phones approach to general management? They make the Royals look like the New England Patriots.
By
Jeff, at 4:27 PM
Good news! Julio Lugo has been traded... to the Dodgers! Yay! I can't think of a manager I'd rather wish Lugo upon.
(Even now, I look that picture and think to myself, "PEDRO!!! FOR GOD'S SAKE, PUT THE BALL IN HIS HAND AND RUN TO THE DUGOUT!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO")
By
Jeff, at 4:38 PM
Honestly, I'd be happy if nothing major went down. Neyer just posted an article a few days ago about how deadline deals don't really make much of a difference in terms of wins and losses. Obviously, some deals (or callups -- see K-Rod) can propel you to a championship, so you take your chances on a 10% chance. But at this point, our offense is fine, our defense is great, we have a little more speed, youth and athleticism than we've had in the past with more on the way, and we have payroll flexibility. We have some problems in the bullpen and rotation, but I wouldn't give up anything more than Abe Alvarez-quality prospects; with Wells is better than any other crappy pitcher we'd get in a trade, Clement can help in the bullpen (if he makes it back), DiNardo was pitching well enough before his injury, and we just picked up Bryan Corey, who has pitched well as a situational lefty on an AL team this season. It's not much of a move, but I don't think we need much more than that; our bullpen is solid towards the end (assuming Delcarmen and Hansen solidify their status over the next 2 months) and only needs some more depth. And if we need more than we have, that's the kind of thing we can get in August.
As for getting something to compete with the Yankees, I'm not that worried. True, Abreu is a great fit in that lineup and they didn't have to give up anything to get him. But he's another oldish, expensive player that doesn't give NY a whole lot of athleticism (especially important with the crackdown on greenies) or options. And as for the rumors of Sheffield coming back to play 1B, don't count on it; he'll not exactly the most easygoing player out there. Lidle has great command, but his stuff isn't all that great. And he's been a disaster in the AL; this season in 4 games against the AL, he's 1-1, his ERA against AL teams (and they were playing the AL East he'll have to thrive against) was about 5.56, giving up 14 runs on 25 hits (6 of which were homeruns) over 22 and 2/3 innings. His WHIP in those games is 1.50. Will he and Abreu help the Yankees? Absolutely. Are they better than the players they replaced? Yes, especially Abreu. Do they add 4-5 wins to NYY and make them favorites in the division? Not to me. Do they help the team long-term? Not really. Will I ask any more rhetorical questions? No.
By
chas, at 4:46 PM
I guess Theo is biding his time, readying himself to poach someone off waivers.
Most interesting rumor of the day was from the fellow on SoSH who (without listing a source) typed "Soriano and Kearns to the Mariners?" I almost posted that in its own thread, just to see if I could make Jesse bust a nut over the Internet. Didn't happen, though.
By
Jeff, at 5:05 PM
I agree that the Yankees really didn't improve themselves much. The Abreu/Lidle deal makes sense, but neither that nor the Wilson deal solves their problem. It still comes down to:
1. Randy Johnson is an absolute mess
2. Moose-Wang is STILL the only worrisome stretch in the rotation
3. Mo-Proct is STILL the only decent pair in the bullpen
That's still not as good as Boston's pitching, shaky as it is. So the Yankees aren't much better in that regard.
They did improve their lineup, though. I like the Abreu move a lot. The Vegas odds that Abreu was dogging it specifically because he hated Philly, and will subsequently turn it up a notch or two like Rolen, Schilling and Thome before him, are about 7:5. That they got him w/o giving up Hughes is a job well done. That's where I see the Yankees getting a lot better... especially when Mr. Happy and Godzilla get healthy.
By
Jeff, at 5:33 PM
I think you're wrong on Kip Wells; to me he looks like he's bad and getting worse. We'll see of course, but I think you're better off without him. I don't see any of the potential deals really improving the team, much like the Mariners after the Benuardo acquisition, so I think it's better you didn't make any moves.
Agreed, it's just the Red Sox bad luck that the Yankees managed to upgrade for basically nothing. This really pisses me off, but hopefully Lidle will suck ass and Abreu's contract will make it harder for them to do the necessary tinkering in the offseason. Too bad, though, I always liked Abreu.
By
Jesse, at 7:10 PM
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