Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Quick trade deadling thoughts

Luis Castillo to the Mets
Nice, low risk move for the Mets - they basically gave up nothing for a slight upgrade, and they may get draft picks back if they end up offering Castillo arbitration. I hesitate to call it a great move since it's not a huge impact, but it's hard to see a downside here. I'm surprised the Twins couldn't get more for him. Bases loaded triple for the Mets, Out for the Twins.

Mark Teixeira to the Braves
The Braves have a good shot at the playoffs this year, and with the ages of some of their stars (Chipper and Smoltz), they need to go for it this year. Salty is a good young player, but he's not a great fit for the Braves with McCann there already, so they were always going to get the most out of him in a trade. As a Mets fan, I'm not too pleased about the Braves picking up a 1B - their hitters at that position have hit .212/.270/.363 so far this year (ouch!). Given Schuerholz's track record of trading prospects that don't end up panning out, I think you have to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to trading the raw Andrus. I think the Rangers did well for themselves, though, and they even look good PR-wise since they mentioned their offer of a contract extension. Double for the Braves, Triple for the Rangers.

Eric Gagne to the Red Sox
We already talked about this a bit. The Rangers ended up making a nice return for their original Gagne deal. Triple for the Red Sox, Double for the Rangers.

Wilson Betemit to the Yankees
The only downside I see for the Yankees is Joe Torre - I assume this move was predicated on the idea of bringing Chamberlain up, but there's no guarantee Torre will actually use him - his use of relievers is pretty odd. With Proctor gone, who is Torre going to actually use? Purely from a talent standpoint, this is a big win for the Yankees, and they have some insurance in case A-Rod doesn't come back next season. Triple for the Yankees, Out for the Dodgers.

Matt Morris to the Pirates
There was no Zambrano-Kazmir type of deal yesterday, but this one was pretty hilarious. I'm guessing no one saw this coming. Batter hits into a Triple Play and then has a heart attack on the way back to the dugout for the Pirates, Home Run for the Giants.

2 comments:

Ross said...

I can't believe the Pirates. Wow! The only thing I can think of at all is that Matt Morris has been tipping his pitches, and they were aware of it and aware that the rest of the league was aware of it, and they believe they can fix it.

I think you were a bit harsh on the Dodgers giving them an out on the Proctor deal. I guess if you believe in Betemit's upside I can see it, but Proctor is a pitcher going from the AL, in a ballpark bad for righties, to the NL and a great pitcher's park. Not to mention in 14.1 innings this season against NL teams, proctor surrendered only 2 runs (1.26).

Greg said...

The thing with Proctor is that his arm could fall off at any time. The Yankees sold at the perfect time. I love that move for them - the Dodgers could have done better.

And that's a perfect characterization of the Morris trade - I would only add "in the bottom of the ninth in a game seven," but what are the odds that the Pirates would be in a game seven?

They're spinning it by hyping his 6-0 record and 2-point-something ERA lifetime in PNC Park. Of course he's done well in PNC Park! He's been facing the Pirates!!! Stupid, stupid, stupid, inconceivable, stupid move for them.