The Mets won the LoDuca trade!
The M's shockingly got someone good. Maybe they should've fired Bavasi years ago.

Not sure where else to ask: when is the actual trading deadline? As in, what time today?

That's a funny way of spelling Manny Ramirez.

I was amazed to discover a couple weeks ago that Rhodes was still in the league.

As in, what time today?

either 4:00 or 5:00 PM EST

Has there been a thread mocking the Astros acquisition of LaTroy Hawkins yet? Or did I just dream that the 'Stros did that.

4:00 PM

As in, what time today?

4 PM ET.

-- MWE

Has there been a thread mocking the Astros acquisition of LaTroy Hawkins yet? Or did I just dream that the 'Stros did that.

Just go back to the Wolf thread and replace "Wolf" with "Hawkins."

What a huge disappointment for Hawkins. Guy gets DFAed, there's all sorts of interest from contending teams, and he ends up in Houston. I'm not saying he deserves better, but that's gotta be frustrating from his perspective.

Just go back to the Wolf thread and replace "Wolf" with "Hawkins."

Or - you could wait until Ed Wade trades whatever is left on the farm for Raul Ibanez because WE'RE CONTENDERS! NO, REALLY! WE ARE!! SEE? OUR TRADES PROVE IT!! and have the discussion in that thread.

I hope he doesn’t end up being assigned to West Tenn, though

Don't like Pringles? Link

Don't like Pringles?

No, I'm thinking that:

this move takes a pitcher away from the Mudcats, and
Carolina has to get by West Tenn to get to, and through, the postseason

-- MWE

For once, the Mariners take advantage of being out of the race by building for the future.

I’ve watched Gaby Hernandez pitch a lot over the last two years, and over the past couple of weeks he’s made a lot of progress.

Mike, I have great respect for your opinion, but isn't this is a really small sample? Or did you mean years, not weeks?

Finally, as a one-time P & G employee and now a Seattle fan, I am shocked that the Pringles Park name escaped my sphere of knowledge.

The M's shockingly got someone good. Maybe they should've fired Bavasi years ago.

Unless they give away Washburn, they're still stupid.

Rhodes still plays?

Mike, I have great respect for your opinion, but isn't this is a really small sample?

Let me explain.

Hernandez was with the Mudcats all of last year. He pitched pretty well for most of it, but once the spotlight came down on him in August, when he was being considered for a callup, he fell apart (there's no other way to describe it) with the entire brass here to see him pitch, and never recovered. This year, Hernandez was promoted to Albuquerque, and even considering how much of a pitcher's graveyard that was, he continued to pitch about as badly as you can, to the point where he was demoted back to AA.

When he came back, the Mudcats were on the road. I didn't see him pitch until they came home to start this latest homestand against Huntsville and Jacksonville - hence my comment about the last couple of weeks. But what I've seen since he came back is a completely different pitcher. Two things stand out:

1. Hernandez made a fielding boo-boo in his first home start, trying to get a force play at second on a comebacker in a first-and-third situation when the runner was going from first and the runner on third would have been trapped. Last year, he'd have stewed about it, forgotten what his job was, and given up a big inning. This year, the run Huntsville got on that play was the only one they got, and Hernandez wasn't threatened again.

2. Hernandez has been working more quickly, trusting his catcher more rather than trying to think too much about what he is doing out there. When things fell apart last year, he started to question everything. (It didn't help that he had a lot of different voices in his ear trying to tell him what to do.)

I felt at the end of last year that Hernandez was his own worst enemy, and that much of what he needed to do to succeed was mental. This year, from what I've seen since he came back, he's gotten out of his own way. That's the basis for my comment. He's always had the pitches to succeed; I wasn't sure that he had the makeup to do it. What I've seen from him so far suggests that he's getting there; we'll see if he can sustain it in another organization.

-- MWE

I was amazed to discover a couple weeks ago that Rhodes was still in the league.

I can imagine. After all, I just found out that he was still around when I saw this on the Hot Topics sidebar...

What a huge disappointment for Hawkins. Guy gets DFAed, there's all sorts of interest from contending teams

Wait- what?

Mike, thanks for the explanation. There sure will be ample opportunity for him to crack the Seattle rotation by next spring.

I was amazed to discover a couple weeks ago that Rhodes was still in the league.

I can imagine. After all, I just found out that he was still around when I saw this on the Hot Topics sidebar...

Arthur has been kinda low profile in Seattle in 2008. IIRC, he was on the DL to start the year. More important, though, is that he's actually gotten guys out when he's been used in tough situations, while the headlines for Seattle are usually about who was the goat in the umpteenth loss of the season.

Biggest reason of all - he abandoned those famous diamond earrings that Omar Vizquel so admired.

Wait- what?

Twins and Tigers were interested, and that's just what we know about.

How did Rhodes get 5 MVP points in 1997? An ERA of 3.02 for a middle reliever?

As a Phillies fan - I'm happy to see Arthur Rhodes go to a competitor.