Baseball trades

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Sheffield to Atlanta for Jordan.

Dodger GM tried to spin it by saying that Jordan, along with a healthy (six other players) will make them contenders.

(Um, I think that Sheffield and those healthy players would be about 5 games better.)

He also noted that Sheffield batted in only 40 more than Jordan over the last five seasons.
(Um, RBI are not an individual statistic. And they shouldn't be used by GMs to analyze players. If you must, please use RBI/RBI-Chances)

[Dr T Non-Fan]

In a not-trade, Bonds shops around, stays home.
This is probably best for everyone, except guys who can't handle being around the best-player/worst-person in baseball. That's you, Kent.
A lot of it is deferred, so today's cash flow is not too constrained.

Bonds isn't so bad of a guy. And what's this about Kent not liking him? I've never heard this, and I want to hear all the juicy gossip!

[Pseudolus]

The Sheffield trade was a big win for the Braves. Unless the attitude problems are a lot worse than we know, I don't understand why the Dodgers would make this trade. Sheff is a much better player than Jordan, and is two years younger. The pitching prospects are nothing special.

As a Met fan, I see this as making "my" team's job this summer a lot harder.

On 2002-01-18 09:01, Pseudolus wrote:
As a Met fan, I see this as making "my" team's job this summer a lot harder.

If they turn Todd Zeile into a power-hitting outfielder (via position change or by trading him), and if Astacio doesn't blow, they will beat out the Braves. Aging pitching down in Dixie is eventually going to totally fall apart. The best pitcher on the staff (Smoltz) will only throw 80 innings this year. And Brian Jordan was a total Met killer! That's why you don't trade him... but they did, so you lucked out.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Bonds doesn't know how to talk. He's a bit shy, and others perceive this as snobby, arrogant, etc., so he's not very compatible to the business he's chosen. This is bad for him, since people are trying to get quotes from him. He made a big turnaround this past year, helped in large part by his cute daughter. She deflected attention from him, and he probably bit his tongue more often in her presence. (As a result, he wasn't that interesting.)
I saw an article in a newspaper about his showing up at an old lady-fan's house a few years ago. He heard she wanted to meet him, so he arranged to meet her. He didn't have to, and he didn't have to bring one reporter and photographer with him. I think he brought them to show a different side, not just to prop his own rep.

There was a great article in espn the magazine and espn.com about Sheffield. What he wanted: a long-term contract to stay in one place so he won't have to uproot his family one more time. I guess the delivery of this request/demand was seen as bad. He also didn't read between the lines of anything, since the Dodgers weren't signing him they were obviously listening to or broaching all trade talk. Sheff needs to understand that when you work in sports, expect to move around. Comes with the multi-million dollar contracts.

I'd want them both on my team. Great OPSs, willing to take the walk instead of being the hero. I'd let them decide who plays left field, though.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

I think Bonds doesn't hang out with the team off the field. He's got priorites which are different from the rest of the team.

Kent should be on his knees every day in front of Bonds in thanking him for that MVP award that was rightfully Bonds's.

[Pseudolus]

On 2002-01-18 12:38, 3Sheets2thewind wrote:

If they turn Todd Zeile into a power-hitting outfielder (via position change or by trading him), and if Astacio doesn't blow, they will beat out the Braves.

Zeille slugged .373 last year. I'd be happy if he turned into a power-hitting anything. (Could he play short? Anything to get rid of Rey!) I hope he does get traded. How about it, Dogdgers? He's a Proven Veteran^TM who's chock full of Clubhouse Leadership^TM!

And Brian Jordan was a total Met killer! That's why you don't trade him... but they did, so you lucked out.

Yeah, "lucky". Now we only have to face Gary Freakin' Sheffield and his 4-digit OPS.

[Dr T Non-Fan]

You forgot to mention "Clutch Hitter."

[Pseudolus]

On 2002-01-18 13:34, Dr T Non-Fan wrote:
You forgot to mention "Clutch Hitter."

Better than that, he's a Professional Hitter^TM!

(I'm mixing BBcode and HTML now - the geeky equivalent of freebasing. I'm waiting for my intervention.)

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Pseudolus on 2002-01-18 13:37 ]</font>