The mediots were out in full force today, the day after the Major League trade deadline. The commentary was all over the map as talking heads fought on with their respective agendas, proffered misguided analyses that shouldn’t have snuck past even the most sports-ignorant copy editor, and even insulted their respective audiences. There was one common denominator, however. Activity is good. If you were out there, wheeling and dealing, you were making progress. If you determined prices were too high or that any upgrades that were there for the taking were only marginally incremental ones, you let your city, your region, your fans, your mom, your religious deity of choice and everyone that attended your high school graduation party, down.
We’ll kick off our three-city tour on the West Coast with our old pal, Bill Plaschke. Bill combines a special mix of axe-to-grind bluster with dimwitted foolishness. He famously and pathetically had it out for former Dodgers’ GM Paul DePodesta, and I can only guess because Ned Colletti has a mustache, a scouting background and did not go to Harvard, Plaschke has taken to the new Dodgers’ GM the way Bob Novak takes to Karl Rove. Here’s the money passage…
In the final breaths before baseball’s trading deadline Monday, with his team’s fans huddled in front of an empty hearth and dreading the onset of winter, Colletti burst through the door with arms full and smile wide.
In his one hand, the smartest available pitcher, Greg Maddux.
In his other hand, the best available infielder, Julio Lugo.
In his wallet, every top Dodgers prospect remained.
In baseball parlance, a two-run walk-off homer.
“I don’t think we’re that far away,” Colletti said. “This should give everybody a lift.”
A lift in attitude, from the clubhouse kids to the top-level ushers, everyone realizing this new Dodgers administration will refuse to give up on a season.
A lift in ability, with holes plugged in the rotation, infield and batting order.
And a huge lift over the Angels, who once again ignored their fans and abandoned their players and failed to add the hitter that could have taken them to the World Series.
The Dodgers traded for Greg Maddux, who, since he sucks, is “smart” according to Plaschke. I know a lot of smart people and none of them should be taking a rotation turn for the Dodgers, ok. Lugo, a very good player mind you, now enters the middle infield mix with LA alongside Jeff Kent and Rafael Furcal. They get Lugo for two months and for the privilege, part with a promising 21 year-old hanging in there at AAA-ball.
Oh and you can never under-estimate the importance of the “clubhouse kids” and “top-level ushers” feeling good about the team’s hopes. Funny, but I bet Josh Byrnes, Kevin Towers (and DePo for that matter), Dan O’Dowd and Brian Sabean are feeling pretty good about the Dodgers today, too.
Before we get back to Boston, we’ll stop off in Chicago with Phil Rogers. Phil’s a tough one to pick on because he is not the jerk that Plaschke is but boy does he have a tough time understanding some fundamental aspects of baseball. He doesn’t have much of an agenda, or not a clear one to a non-everyday reader, but you wonder how he pulls down his gig as a purported baseball expert. From his piece today…
It’s also hard to believe that the Los Angeles Dodgers would trade 26-year-old shortstop Cesar Izturis, a 2005 All-Star, to have Maddux for the stretch run. Credit both Maddux’s stature and the deal-making skills of Jim Hendry for bringing the Cubs the best return of any of baseball’s sellers at the deadline for waiver-free trades.
Cesar Izturis is a career .260/.295/.339 hitter, and exactly the sort of player that has played such an instrumental role for the sucky Cubs teams of the last couple of seasons. He’s basically a combination of Jose Macias, Tony Womack and Neifi Perez. The Cubs need Cesar Izturis like they need a right handed power pitcher with arm troubles.
Finally, we check in on Tony Mazz, who pretty shamelessly was fishing for some WEEI appearances with today’s column.
Let’s be candid here for a moment. Since the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, all of New England has gone as soft as a sneaker full of Barbasol. Red Sox fans have grown alarmingly complacent, accepting most everything the club does with glazed eyes and a stupid smile. Yes, Theo. Of course, Mr. Henry. Certainly, Mr. Lucchino. Some of us are starting to wonder if anyone will ever awaken from the trance.
Somewhere along the line, the Atlanta Braves became the model franchise for major league baseball, an amusing development for one simple reason. The Braves don’t win championships. Atlanta has qualified for the playoffs for an amazing 14 years running, but its only World Series title came in a strike-shortened 1995 season that also marked the Red Sox’ last division title.
So is that the goal now? To become the Bruins of baseball and hang banners from the roof boxes that boast of being a playoff team?
So Mazz thinks his readers have gone soft. Sox fans, fat and asleep at the switch coming off of their long-awaited World Series, have sat idly while their Red Sox have stumbled their way to a 158-111 (including post-season) mark since the end of the 2004 season. Where’s the outrage, Mazz wonders.
Listen, I realize sometimes I am overly optimistic but I am no Sox apologist. There have been plenty of Red Sox roster-management items over the last couple of seasons that have upset me more than they should have – Roberto Petagine, Kevin Youkilis and Hee-Seop Choi (stupidly) – come to mind. That said, what the hell is wrong with a .587 win % since 2004? And were it not for one Tony Graffanino fielding gaffe and a dramatic relief performance by El Duque, maybe it would have been the Red Sox celebrating at Minute Maid Park and not the Pale Hose last October. By the same token, how easily could the Yankees have beaten the Sox in 2004?
The point is that his Bruins analogy doesn’t really apply in baseball. In my lifetime, I have seen the 85-win 1987 Twins win a title and the 116-win 2001 Mariners fall in the playoffs. There is no voodoo playoff baseball formula. You try and field the best team you can, blend win-now and prudent long term approaches, and give it the best possible go.
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As I mentioned at the outset, one tie binds these articles and that is that activity alone, in and of itself, is good. Well we will see where the Angels and Red Sox, two teams panned in these articles, end up in relation to the Cubs and Dodgers, two teams praised – both in the short and long term.
Stay tuned.
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