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Tuesday, July 08, 2008

27 Outs: Making Sense of Recent Trades

In the past 48 hours we have seen CC Sabathia and Rich Harden dealt to contending teams. With this we have seen a total of 8 prospects traded for these 2 guys. Sabathia was the 2007 Cy Young Award winner and was basically given to the brewers for 1 big prospect in Matt LaPorta and the rest just okay prospects. As for Harden the Cubs traded the A’s pennies on the dollar for Harden. Beane said that he would have to be wowed to trade Harden and he basically gave him away for Matt Murton and Shaun Gallagher. Not to take anything away from these guys Rich Harden has showed some dependablity this year and looks like a very good 2 starter. If he can stay healthy throughout the rest of the season the Cubs will win the Central Division and the Brewers will look like fools for trading for Sabathia. And this is not the first time a big transaction like this hasnt worked out the way teams wanted it too. For Example, the trade for Mark Teixeira to the Braves for a kings ransom of prospects to the Rangers and the Braves did not make the playoffs. Another example is Carlos Lee going to the Rangers in 2006 and the Rangers at the time were just a game and a half out of first place and did not make the playoffs. What it comes down to is that the teams that do not disrupt the team chemistry and add a little pieces to the puzzle usually turn out better than adding a big name at the trading deadline. I think the Cubs and Brewers will battle down the stretch but look for the Brewers to fade down the stretch again due to the lack of pitching beyond Sabathia and Sheets.

jbost06 Posted: July 08, 2008 at 09:34 PM | 10 comment(s)
  Related News: Chi CubsClevelandMilwaukeeOakland

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   1. Dedicated to Esoteric but he wasn't listening  Posted: July 08, 2008 at 09:35 PM (#2850102)
There should be a minimal grammar & punctuation requirement to make it to the front page of BBTF, unless the reason for posting the article is strictly to make fun of the author. And that's a pretty jerky thing to do anyway.
   2. akrasian  Posted: July 08, 2008 at 09:49 PM (#2850129)
If he can stay healthy throughout the rest of the season the Cubs will win the Central Division and the Brewers will look like fools for trading for Sabathia.

Apparently the author doesn't understand there is such a thing as the "Wild Card" in baseball. The Cubs can win the division, AND the Brewers could and probably will make the playoffs still.

In terms of disrupting team chemistry, it seems to me that even if that were an issue with many trades, trading minor leaguers and guys you have on the end of the bench for starting pitching is not likely to cause problems like that.
   3. SoSHially Unacceptable  Posted: July 08, 2008 at 09:54 PM (#2850141)
If these kinds of trades are so chemically imbalancing, doesn't that just open the door for the Cardinals to take the NL Central? Or is a good No. 2 starter somehow less disruptive than an ace?
   4. Crispix Attacks is in the best shape of his life.  Posted: July 08, 2008 at 10:03 PM (#2850159)
I think the point is that none of this will do any good if the teams ignore Commisar John Paciorek's Nine-Point Plan For Overcoming Physical and Moral Adversaries.
   5. Walt Davis  Posted: July 08, 2008 at 10:18 PM (#2850175)
Well, Sabathia is certainly a big piece of something.

I suspect if you look at "big" deadline deals that didn't work out, you'd find a couple of common themes. First, the supposed big pieces really aren't that good (e.g. Carlos Lee) or the team acquiring them really isn't that good (e.g. the 2006 Rangers).

Anyway, as we all know, neither Harden nor Sabathia can be expected to be worth more than maybe 1-1.5 wins over who they're replacing. The chances those 1-2 wins are going to make any difference are slim. One of them could go all Randy Johnson on the league, but barring that they're relatively small pieces of the puzzle.

Now they could provide huge benefit in the playoffs.
   6. Hello Rusty Kuntz, Goodbye Rusty Cars  Posted: July 08, 2008 at 10:53 PM (#2850192)
There should be a minimal grammar & punctuation requirement to make it to the front page of BBTF, unless the reason for posting the article is strictly to make fun of the author. And that's a pretty jerky thing to do anyway.


It's still OK with BASN though, right?
   7. Guts  Posted: July 08, 2008 at 11:00 PM (#2850195)
We haven't had a BASN link in a while. Any explanation, Repoz?
   8. Petunia: Pursuing a Prurient Pastime, All the Time  Posted: July 09, 2008 at 02:08 AM (#2850254)
#1 and 3 made all the points I had. This guy can't write, and his arguments make no sense. Why am I reading this?
   9. nick swisher hygiene  Posted: July 09, 2008 at 04:00 AM (#2850265)
this guy needs to write about 20% worse to make this funny; I want 30 seconds of my life back...
   10. Andere Richtingen  Posted: July 09, 2008 at 09:36 AM (#2850382)
If he can stay healthy throughout the rest of the season the Cubs will win the Central Division and the Brewers will look like fools for trading for Sabathia.

LaPorta is a fine prospect, but the Brewers have little use for him beyond turning him into a player like Sabathia, and while it may not work out, all they can do is try to make their team better for the stretch run. Sabathia is a pretty good addition to the roster in trying to accomplish that. If the Brewers aren't going to sign Sabathia long-term, or have to overpay badly for his services, then this trade isn't nearly as good for them, but sometimes a team needs to go all-out, and I can't think of a reason why the Brewers should not have made this trade.
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