One Eddie In, One Eddie Out
Finally, a trade whereupon PositivePaul and Marc W can agree ;-) Here's to hoping that this sequence of trades pans out better than the trades of 1997. And, again, it shows that the M's are very serious about contending in 2006. I really hope we don't end up blowing up the farm system, though. I wonder if in 5 years I'll be calming my frustrations saying something to the effect of:
"Think of it this way -- we traded Eddie Guardado for Eddie Perez, and Asdrubal Cabrera for Travis Chick. It takes the sting out, a little -- just like the trade for Varitek and Lowe was really for Jamie Moyer (and, subsequently, it was Bragg for Slocumb)."
I liked the persona that Eddie displayed (I've never met him, so I can't say for sure whether or not I actually like him as a person, but he sure seems like a decent chap to me), but at the same time am with the rest of the M's blog-o-sphere in pretty much overwhelming joy that Hargrove will not have Eddie as an option to go to at any critical point in the game.
And, it's slightly good news for the "Free George Sherrill" campaign. George just took one step up in the bullpen pecking order.
posted by PositivePaul @ 1:54 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I've met Eddie; he is a great guy. Personally though, I wish he'd just stayed a Twin. That's where he belonged. (says the former Minnesotan).
Not sure how it means the Ms are serious about contending though. They're serious about dumping some salary (well, dependent upon how much cash they sent WITH Eddie), and yeah, it's a good thing they found him a place to go where he can try to be a closer again, but it's not like he was a major factor on the team anymore, so I can't really see ditching him as a major improvement.
(Okay, so I'm still hurting over Cabrera, and comments at USSM about Chick don't exactly make me think we got much in return....)
I think Chick's better than advertised in that initial post from Dave at USSM. We didn't just dump Eddie; Chick's an intriguing arm that needs some tweaks, but as JAC wrote in the PI, he's a guy no org has seen fit to protect because he doesn't project as a TOR starter.
That said, if his HR's allowed this year is a bit of a fluke, and IF his slider gets more consistency, then he becomes a pleasant little pick-up. He's young enough that he's got time to work on some things in San Antonio - like a sinker or change. The M's have had success at this in the past: guys like Sean Green, Cesar Jimenez and Francisco Cruceta went from 'interesting, no results' to very useful guys at even the MLB level in a short period of time. For all the flak the M's have taken (and deserved to take) for failing to deliver on their pitching prospects' promise, they've done a decent, and unheralded, job at reclaiming other orgs' prospects.
The cabrera thing still irks me, though. I'm trying to do what Paul's suggested and view it as Perez for Guardado and Chick for Cabrera, and that helps. A little. Sometimes.
Indeed, I'm actually starting to ache a little more on the Cabrera thing myself. More because of Hargrove's decision not to use Perez precisely for what he was brought over than anything, probably. I never said that losing A-Cab didn't sting -- it most certainly does.
If there's one thing I've learned while being distracted from work and blogging its that while USSM is a very well put-together site and its authors indeed deserve some respect, they aren't the only ones with near-expert-level analysis and well-thought-out (and, hence, valid) opinions in the M's blog-o-sphere. We're actually quite fortunate to have a plethora of very decent blogs in the M's blog-o-sphere, and a variety of solid opinions to use to form our own conclusions. Then you have the "fluff" places like this place (when I cover for Marc W 'round here as he jaunts to Europe, anyway ;-) to keep ya somewhat entertained when your brain is full.
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