TRADER JOE’S ON LA BREA – I’m back after a much needed week off (thanks, Saudi hackers!), and with so much to talk about in the world of sports this weekend, I’m sticking with the big talk of the day, baseball’s trading deadline, and what it all means to us Yankee, Met, and Dodger fans…pretty much nothing. Like Carmageddon, or Y2K, or Meet The Matts going down, this trading deadline got a lot of press but really wasn’t all that exciting. Let’s take a look at the big moves:
Cleveland gets Ubaldo Jimenez. The biggest name out there being bandied about (or “bantered about” as Jim Tracy put it…idioms are not his strong suit), the Tribe gave up some pitching prospects—including 5th overall 2010 pick Drew Pomeranz – to get The Bald One, apparently not so concerned that Jimenez hasn’t been a real ace since last year’s all-star break, has steadily declining radar numbers, and has been crappy against teams with winning records and AL teams in general. However, the Tribe is only 2.5 games back of Detroit, and only a game over .500, so he’ll find plenty of bad teams in the AL Central to prove his worth against. They could’ve used him this weekend, losing two of three to the Royals. (The Royals, by the way, stood pat this trading season. ..guess the phone wasn’t ringing off the hook for Melky Cabrera).
Baseball’s July darlings, the Pirates, were in the unfamiliar position as a “buyer” this year, so you may perhaps excuse GM Neil Huntington for not having a lot of practice. Like the guy in your fantasy draft who hasn’t done any research and just goes with familiar names of players who had good seasons five years ago, he picked up the warmed over carcasses of Derek Lee and Ryan Ludwick. The poor Bucs’ fans went to bed last night telling themselves they’ve got some good “veteran leadership” now to help their young team get past the Cards and Brewers…they may be all worked up and excited now, but before long they’ll be as angry as Hulk Hogan smelling dookie. Sorry Cheesy.
https://youtu.be/7AkymYB_Hso
Speaking of dookie, are there any Houston Astro fans left? Oswalt and Berkman last year, Pence and Bourne this year, and Wandy Rodriguez probably not going to last the month. The Diamondbacks are nobody’s darlings, but unlike the Pirates they’ve got a real shot this year and picked up a couple of halfway decent pitchers, more along the lines of bolstering moves than blockbusters…which makes sense when you realize, to your shock, that they’re leading the league in hitting and home runs.
That brings us to the Mets, who are happy enough with Zack (not Zach ) Wheeler, and apparently happy enough with Scott Hairston to turn down multiple offers for him. The Yankees are apparently happy enough to stand pat for the first time since 1998. Cashman’s taking some flack, but let the Red Sox rent the likes of Erik Bedard…and besides, now comes the wacky august trading season, where richer teams like the Yankees can scoop up waiver fodder…though if you can figure out how that system works you could probably be a GM too.
Grote2DMax will be wheeling and dealing tomorrow.
