1st
August
2008
Bunt Singles: August 1 trade thoughts and other stuff
posted in 2008 season, bunt singles |A few thoughts as the baseball season enters the final turn and the postseason chase becomes real:
- Pudge Rodriguez asked to be traded, NY Daily News’ Bill Madden reports. (Via Daily Fungo)
- Now, we put the pieces together and things start to make sense. Now we have a clearer picture why Dave Dombrowski decided to call Brian Cashman and say, “Hey, want our catcher?” In light of the theoretical — trading Pudge for some prospect from the Florida organization — becoming the necessary — he wants to leave, and he has a history of becoming a headache in the clubhouse — I’d say bringing back Kyle Farnsworth was probably a pretty good move. The Yankees weren’t going to give up anything too much to get him, and the Tigers weren’t going to get any of their A-level pitching prospects, of course.
- Now do I like the trade, in a vaccuum? Ever-so-just barely. Do I like the trade based on what we know now? Sure. I’m not thrilled. But I’m happy to accept it as a necessity. Thanking him for all he did for the Tigers and moving him was the right move.
- Personally, Pudge has taken a bit of favorability hit with me for asking to be traded, though not much of one because I still credit him for making Dombrowski’s job of bringing in free agents that much easier by agreeing to be a Tiger.
- Pudge probably should have thanked Jim Leyland for playing him less, if you look at his monthly totals. The more days off he was given, the better he seemed to bat. He may not realize this, but he’s an aging catcher who needs a few more days off. Nothing wrong with that. Did he think it hurt his free agent value? I don’t know why. He was putting up pretty decent numbers — .857 and .875 OPS numbers in the previous two months, as opposed to the .705 and .637 he did while catching nearly daily the first two months. Leyland absolutely made the right decision to rest him more, and the numbers prove it.
- My feelings on the trade deadline, I touched on in the comments section, but let me restate them here: More or less, now that we know no further moves were made, I guess I’m mildly disappointed. Not much mind you. I would have liked to get a player for Pudge that would contribute past the final two months of 2008, but if it wasn’t to be, it wasn’t to be. No use lingering on that topic.
- As for moving the players who annoy us with their lack of contributions? I knew no team was dumb enough to trade for Edgar Renteria or Gary Sheffield at this point. WE don’t want them, so why would anyone else? No big deal there.
- If Farnsworth comes out looking like the guy who has pitched for the past month or two for the Yankees, I’m sure my mood will shift towards the positive.
- Plus I’m intrigued to see Inge as the “daily” catcher because that’s definitely a piece of information the Tigers needed to find out before the offseason.
- Eddie at Tiger Thoughts is in a curious mood about catcher Paul Lo Duca, who was recently released.
- And if you were curious my non-Tiger trade thoughts? I think Boston at best treaded water with their trade. Though they may be glad to get Manny Ramirez out of town, I feel like I’d rather have him than Jason Bay.
- Are the Angels the favorite to win the American League now? No. How can I say that after the trade? I think the Angels’ move for Mark Teixeira obviously makes them better, though Casey Kotchman was no slouch. So it’s not like they upgraded a weak position with a superstar. And ultimately, I think what we find out is these big-name trades often don’t turn out like you expect them to.
- But my gut says Boston is still the favorite to win the A.L., despite the head-to-head results of the two teams in question.
- By the way, while looking at numbers at Baseball Prospectus, I found the Tigers have the best defensive efficiency in the A.L. Central. Who’d have expected that? It’s 7th in the league and 12th in the majors.
- Pitching is obviously still the sore point for the Tigers.
- Dontrelle Willis allowed one run on five hits in 5+ innings for Lakeland last night. He walked 3 of 21 batters. I think we’ll see him back in the Tigers uniform by Labor Day.
- Just for giggles, let me update my (awful) playoff predictions: AL: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York (wild card); NL: Philly, Cubs, Dodgers, Mets (wildcard). AL pennant: Red Sox. NL pennant: Cubs. WS champ: Cubs.
