MLB TRADE DEADLINE FAST APPROACHES~!

[Guest Staravenger]

Edit: Wrong Thread. Actually the wrong folder, which is a bit weird to do.

 

<---Idiot

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

I heard that too, Lowe to the Twins, Nomar to the Cubs, Gonzalez to the Expos.

 

EDIT: Montreal also gets F. Beltran and T. Wellmeyer, Cub relivers

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I guess details are coming up on ESPN News, so flip over there if you haven't already. I'm actually a bit nervous, as I don't see how we could've gotten Nomar without have giving up Clement. Some of the early reports that the Cubs actually got Lowe too scare the HELL out of me. If he's involved, here's to hoping he went to the Twins. Although if he is involved, it would indicate that Clement was involved, too.

[Bored 0]

Minor things trickling out:

 

-Dave Roberts traded to the Red Sox.

 

-Brent Mayne added to the Steve Finley trade to the Dodgers.

 

-Dodgers trade Tom Martin to Braves.

 

-Mets trade Scott Erickson to Rangers.

[2GOLD 0]

I heard that too, Lowe to the Twins, Nomar to the Cubs, Gonzalez to the Expos.

 

EDIT: Montreal also gets F. Beltran and T. Wellmeyer, Cub relivers

 

DAMMIT!

They gave up Wellmeyer?!?!

 

He was one of the only guys in the bullpen I liked.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I don't think Wellemeyer went. This was the only place I heard Wellemeyer's name being dropped, too. The Cubs are dumb, but I don't think they'd give up two guys they had envisioned in the closer's role, in one day.

[2GOLD 0]

I don't think Wellemeyer went. This was the only place I heard Wellemeyer's name being dropped, too. The Cubs are dumb, but I don't think they'd give up two guys they had envisioned in the closer's role, in one day.

 

Yeah, I just posted the official finals for the trade apparently.

 

Chicago pulled a rabbit out of their ass on this one. I love Gonzo for his glove but his bat has been brutal and he was out of town at the end of the season anyway. I'm hoping Clement doesn't move and that Nomar ends up falling in love with Wrigley.

 

I don't know much about Murton though. Is he fast? Cause that is a big thing the Cubs need is a lead-off hitter some games.

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

yeah Wellmeyer turned out to be Harris. My post was long before the trade was official.

[Guest GreatOne]

"Gee I can't believe nobody was trying to trade for Eddie Guardado!"

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Al, I was just curious as to how you'll cover the trades in your next column. Obviously you'll go over if the trades helped or hurt the teams involved, but I think going over the teams that didn't make trades or didn't make the right trades, would be a fun read.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I'm working on that now. Basically I'm covering all the teams that made trades, from their angle. For example, I do the Mets as a whole, rather than each trade on its own. I might write briefly on the teams that stayed put, time permitting. This column could be huge in size as it is.

[Guest Anglesault]

I kind of feel bad for RJ now. Whatever small shot he may have had at 300 wins has gone down the shitter.

[DerangedHermit 0]

I'm working on that now. Basically I'm covering all the teams that made trades, from their angle. For example, I do the Mets as a whole, rather than each trade on its own. I might write briefly on the teams that stayed put, time permitting. This column could be huge in size as it is.

Here's all you need to write for the Mets:

 

ARE THEY FUCKING STUPID?

 

If Anglesault was a Mets fan, he'd be dead of a self-afflicted gunshot wound already.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Not necessarily. There's no reason they can't trade him over the offseason.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I'm working on that now.  Basically I'm covering all the teams that made trades, from their angle.  For example, I do the Mets as a whole, rather than each trade on its own.  I might write briefly on the teams that stayed put, time permitting.  This column could be huge in size as it is.

Here's all you need to write for the Mets:

 

ARE THEY FUCKING STUPID?

 

If Anglesault was a Mets fan, he'd be dead of a self-afflicted gunshot wound already.

Baseball Primer beat me to it.

[Guest Anglesault]

Not necessarily. There's no reason they can't trade him over the offseason.

without the same stalemate?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

In the offseason, there's more room for player movement, and teams have added flexibility to make transactions as needed.

[Precious Roy 0]

Agree. I expect Johnson to move elsewhere in the offseason, much easier to deal then as opposed to during the middle of the season.

[Guest Anglesault]

Big Unit considers his future

Says he was never approached with trade offers

By Owen Perkins / Special to MLB.com

 

 

 

 

 

"I'm in a boat with no oars and the perfect storm is about to hit," Randy Johnson said Saturday, looking around a clubhouse quickly depleted by the Steve Finley deadline trade and Luis Gonzalez's season-ending surgery set for Monday. "The water's getting kind of choppy."

With Gonzalez's pending move to the DL, The Big Unit and outfielder Danny Bautista are the only surviving members of the Diamondbacks' 2001 World Series roster. For a player with the highest expectations of excellence and a winning baseball environment, the future was looking a bit bleaker than in the hours leading up to Saturday's non-waiver trading deadline, when Johnson could still hold out hope for another shot at October baseball.

 

"Things were hard before, and they're only going to get harder now," Johnson said before Saturday's game. "But it will give an opportunity to a lot of the younger players to come out here and show what they got. They're playing for a job next year, maybe they don't understand that. We still have two months left in the season. Obviously, we're not going to be doing much as an organization, but [we need to] continue to go out there and play hard."

 

Johnson maintained that he was never approached with any firm trade offers, though he did acknowledge that talks had clearly been active with the Dodgers, to a lesser extent with the Yankees, and perhaps other teams as well.

 

"Nobody came to me about anything. That's what was has got me so upset over this whole time, is no one's ever come to me," Johnson emphasized. "No one from the front office came to me and said, 'This is what we have on the table, would you like to go here or not?' That never happened yesterday, it never happened today. And I never vetoed any trade, because nothing ever happened."

 

Johnson was clearly disappointed that the Diamondbacks may have set the bar too high in considering possible trade options for their coveted ace.

 

"I don't think a deal would have ever worked out that would have made the Diamondbacks happy," Johnson said. "I just think the demands were too high. I think they were expecting to get something like what they gave to get Richie (Sexon, acquired as part of a deal that sent six players to the Brewers, five of whom ended up in Milwaukee's starting lineup). "Obviously, I make a little more money than Richie's. (Johnson makes nearly twice as much.) A team has to assume a lot of responsibility taking on my salary."

 

 

 

The Diamondbacks held out hope that a Johnson trade could bring them a variety of players and prospects that together would mean the team's acquisitions could offset the loss of a dominant starter like Johnson.

 

"I think things probably could have happened," Johnson said. "But I keep hearing equal value. Well, what is equal value for me? Is there equal value? Apparently not."

 

If the Diamondbacks couldn't find a satisfactory deal with teams leading their divisions and trying to improve their chances as the pennant races heat up, they are not likely to find any better deals during the offseason, Johnson pointed out. And with his own contract running out after the end of the 2005 season, Johnson found it hard to speculate about how much longer he'd want to keep playing the game in an organization with so much ground to make up to regain its competitive edge.

 

"Winning solves everything," he pointed out. "When you're winning, you want to play. When you're not in that environment, then you don't want to play as much. If you have an opportunity to retire -- whatever, I don't know."

 

For now, Johnson remains committed to the organization, determined to do his part to turn things around for the team. But even with his consistent dominance on the mound, the Diamondbacks' future only got dimmer as the team braced for the loss of three valued veterans -- Finley and Brent Mayne in the trade with the Dodgers, and Gonzalez to surgery Monday.

 

"I'm just one player," Johnson said. "I've had a lot of responsibility everywhere I've went. I've always assumed that, I've never backed down from that. But it takes everybody doing that. It takes everybody being on the same page. It's not one person that's going to turn this around.

 

"I'll continue to fight to win," Johnson affirmed. "I'll continue to help the young kids that I've been helping all year long, and hopefully some of them will make improvements and we'll make strides going into spring training. But this organization has a lot of evaluating to do. They're going through a stage now where they're evaluating the talent that they have. Who can be here next year to help? Maybe they'll have to go out and fill some holes next year. Once again, that takes money, and all I keep hearing is that they're going to be going back from where they once were."

 

Though never fully clarifying whether it was Johnson or the team that initiated the discussion of a possible trade, Johnson confirmed that he decided for himself that "when the team started to lose as much as they started losing, if they were willing to move money, then I would consider an opportunity." He remained willing to consider a potential Dodgers trade right up to Saturday's deadline, but he never had the opportunity to make a decision.

 

The prospect of renewing "Tradegate" during the offseason, or going through another round of the snowballing media frenzy in the middle of next season are not appealing to Johnson, but as he pointed out, "Nothing more can happen than what happened this year," he said. "If they shop me, then it'll probably be a lot of speculation and trade rumors next year.

 

"I just want to get through it this year," Johnson summed up. "I want to continue to work hard and try to make what I thought was going to be one of my biggest years into a year that I can still be somewhat pleased with under the circumstances. I'll just continue to bust my BUTT and go out there and try to win some ball games.

 

Owen Perkins is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Edited August 1, 2004 by Anglesault

[Precious Roy 0]

Very interesting. From the sound of that Johnson would have accepted a trade to LA just to get out of AZ.

 

Either way, he does not sound like a happy ace

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Arizona's on pace to lose 111 games, and they just lost their two best hitters. This could get ugly in a fun way.

[Guest Anglesault]

It should be fun to see if Randy kills himself or the whole team first.

[Guest Anglesault]

One thing that I find interesting. Mota was the best set up man in baseball?

 

Must come as a shock and surprise to a couple people in the American League.

[the pinjockey 0]

From Stark's Winners and Losers column:

 

"All he traded was his fifth starter (Brad Penny), a platoon guy (Hee Seop Choi), a bench player (Abraham Nunez) and two minor leaguers (Bill Murphy and Travis Chick)," said one NL front-office man. "And he got the best setup man in the league (Guillermo Mota), one of the best catchers in the league (Paul Lo Duca), a decent fifth starter (Ismael Valdez), a starting right fielder (Juan Encarnacion) and a useful arm (Rudy Seanez). And he got the Dodgers to pay them to take their best player (Lo Duca). How 'bout that?"

 

-This is such retarded logic. Just because Brad Penny was in the 5 hole does not mean he is a fifth starter who you just trade without a care. "Hey, you are a stud pitcher, but we use you in the fifth spot. So we decided to trade you for a bag of balls."

 

-Calling Ismael Valdez a decent starter with out the term single A preceding starter is a disgrace.

 

-I want some of the Juan Encarnacion kool-aid, since it is apparently great.

 

-Choi spanks righties. Hmm..what are 75% of starting pitchers? I'll take a platoon guy if I am going to get 450-500 solid PAs out of him during the year.

 

-Mota is not even going to be the best non-closer in his division according to BP.

 

-And the Dodgers got young players with potential to improve, while the Marlins got older players who have hit their peak.

 

How 'bout that?

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Good points, but at last check, the Dodgers were in first place of their division. I'm fully aware that look at the big picture and plan ahead, but this was a pretty big turnover at this point of the season for a first place team. And not for the better, IMO.

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

I've taken great joy in pounding the Fish to dust over this trade, but who does BP think is better than Mota? Worrell? FRod? Cordero? Please.

 

that said, I second your amazement over Encarnacion. The guy is beloved. It boggles the mind. I can at least understand people growing attached to Lo Duca because he was there for so long, but Encarnacion was a Dodger for what, 4 months?

[the pinjockey 0]

This year's top 15 relievers in order.

 

Linebrink,S SDP 55.3 12 2.02 16.9 6.1 -0.6 1.02 23.1

Gordon,T NYY 61.3 14 1.98 19.1 3.2 -1.2 1.46 22.6

Madson,R PHI 60.3 11 1.69 20.6 1.3 2.0 1.77 20.1

Nathan,J MIN 47.7 5 0.92 20.4 0.0 0.3 1.09 19.5

Rivera,M NYY 55.0 10 1.57 19.5 -0.1 0.0 1.63 19.2

Lidge,B HOU 59.0 16 2.40 15.6 4.6 0.6 1.90 18.8

Smoltz,J ATL 53.0 11 1.87 17.1 2.1 0.0 1.59 18.7

Gagne,E LAD 48.0 8 1.64 16.7 2.6 0.3 1.31 18.5

Ryan,B BAL 56.0 12 1.94 17.6 3.2 1.4 1.88 18.0

Frasor,J TOR 46.3 11 2.07 13.9 3.2 -1.3 1.33 17.7

Takatsu,S CHW 39.7 6 1.34 15.1 2.3 0.2 0.91 17.0

Benitez,A FLA 50.3 8 1.54 18.1 -0.5 0.0 1.84 16.4

Foulke,K BOS 54.7 13 2.02 16.7 -0.0 0.0 2.10 16.2

Rodriguez,Fr ANA 55.3 14 2.37 14.8 1.6 0.5 2.27 15.4

Mota,G LAD 63.0 15 2.34 17.0 -0.1 2.6 2.60 15.2

[Guest Anglesault]

BTW, these are the stats I found.

 

Mota, 2004: ERA 2.14, IP 63, BB 27, K 52, HLD 17, SV 1, BAA .228, WHIP 1.24

Gordon, 2004: ERA 1.91, IP 61.1, BB 16, K 65, HLD 26, SV 3, BAA .160, WHIP 0.80.

K-Rod ERA 1.79, IP 55.1, BB 20, K 84, HLD 19, SV 7, BAA .186, WHIP 1.03

 

Mota, maybe best in the league (NL). Certainly not baseball.

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

if by "going to be" you mean "in 3 years" then I'll give you Madison. I was thinking like now.

 

 

off topic - are the Phils really going to leave Madison in the bullpen instead of giving him a rotation spot in a year or two?

[the pinjockey 0]

Madson is better than, or at least as good as, Mota right now. And I can't imagine he isn't in the rotation when he comes off the DL. There is no excuse for having him in the pen when they would have Rodriguez, Jones, Telemaco, Cormier, Worrell, and Wagner when he comes off the DL.