I think Lopez has an outside shot at a bench job. He'd be no worse than Jamey Carroll, anyway.

To me this looks like both teams trading from a position of marginal strength (Montreal's bullpen vs. Arizona's rotation) to bolster themselves in another area.

Patterson, to me at least, seems to be Armas Jr. Insurance (always a handy thing to have). He should go north to Montreal after this spring.

I think Choate would have been better of (READ: gotten more work) in the Montreal 'pen, but at least he's out of New York and away from Joe Torre's lack of confidence in him.

This sure doesn't help the D-Backs talent-wise. How big is the salary gap? Probably doesn't matter much when you voluntarily give money to Steve Sparks.

I wouldn't be shocked to see Patterson turn into a decent starter.

Man, it feels weird approving of one of Minaya's trades.

I wouldn't be shocked to see Patterson turn into a decent starter.

That's why I'm curious how much money they are saving. Patterson has upside. Choate doesn't.

This is typical D-Back treatment of younger players: they grossly misdiagnose the talent they have, pout when they don't meet absurd expectations (Durazo, Overbay, Patterson, Spivey, Kim) and give them away for "veteran presence."

What are the odds that Spark or Reynolds, much less both, put together a more valuable season than Patterson? Especially for the money?

That's why I'm curious how much money they are saving.

I suspect they're probably both making closing to minimum.

If you're a team looking to dump a guy's salary, you sure as hell don't trade him to the EXPOS.

The irony is that Patterson was originally drafted by the Expos, but became a loophole free agent. So now they get him when he's major league ready without having to pay the $6M. Nice.

JPatt can take his $6M signing bonus to Montreal, where he can spend it all on falafals along St. Denis street

Damn, I hope he buys me one. I could really use a falafel right now.

He'd also be smart to blow some of that cash on Chinese food from Le Gourmet Hot & Spicy. That's some good eatin'.

I don't think we can assume that the Expos have any more than $7mil to work with, so Vlad, Colon, and Vasquez were out of the picture. Vidro would have been much better, and it really may be a toss up between Cabrera and Hernandez. They certainly could have done worse.

The contract also reduces his pay this year from $6 to $4, so those 3 years will actually cost $23 M. The contract expires in 2007, just in time for the Expos to be contracted.

I don't think we can assume that the Expos have any more than $7mil to work with,

Hard to say. Don't forget they also added Everett for at least 2 years (assuming he exercises his option for 2005) at $7.5 M and Tony Batista for one year at $1.5 M. Vidro is currently at $9 M, Cabrera at $6 M. Rocky Biddle is making nearly $2 M and Joey Eischen a stunning (to me at least) $1.3 M. (I assume somebody else is picking up most of Einar Diaz's $2.6 M)

Just looking at Everett, Batista, Biddle, and Eischen, that's about $8 M this year tied up in not a lot of talent. Take that $8 M, trade Cabrera, and that's $14 M with which they could have kept Vlad. I'm not saying that would have been the best use of those resources, but it could have been done and it's hard to see how the team would have been substantially worse off.

Perhaps more importantly, they could keep (say) Vidro and Cabrera (neither of whom is likely to make much if any more than they're making now). Making matters worse, Ohka, Armas, and Day will be getting more expensive. But they'll have $23 M tied up in the next 3 years of Livan.

I don't know why the Transaction Oracle is so down on this move. Livan is still young (29 wink wink) and since changing his arm slot last year has been extremely effective. Even if he reverts back to the San Francisco Livan, you still get 220+ innings of league average pitching. If he comes anywhere near repeating last year's performance - and the small sample size this year indicates he will - he's an absolute bargain at $7mill/per.

I'd much rather put the money towards Livan than to Jose Vidro. They're the same age, but Vidro is a much bigger injury risk.

A hunch. I suspect they signed him to make him more trade-able to a contender come July. And the way the contract is backloaded reinforces that hunch, since he's very cost-effective this year (at $4.X MM).

He's got playoff/Series experience and is a (medium-good) horse. He'd be a great innings-eater for a team on the bubble but not for a team in the rubble.

Livan likes his money...also I agree with the idea that that they save short term and then trade him to...gee I dunno the Cardinals?

I think it?s a defensible signing, for the trade option described but also for a player relations factor. IIRC, the Expos were offering Vlad 5 years at $70m/75m, which got turned down. They didn?t just sit on the money after Vlad rejected it. Basically they?ve given it to Everett, Batista, and Livan. I think it shows a degree of commitment to players prepared to join the club, which may be appreciated in future contract negotiations. After all, Montreal has not exactly been a popular destination for free agents over the years.

I think it's pretty obvious that this contract makes him less tradable, except to the Yankees if (when?) they get desperate. But they don't have anything valuable to give for him, so it's pointless. Well... the Angels might have a pitching panic in a couple of months, and their checkbooks seem open. Still, the contract makes him less moveable, no two ways about it.