Bloggleheads

DEALS:

IF FIGGINS to the MARINERS

The Mariners already have one of the top defensive outfields in all of baseball. Adding the versatile Figgins gives them not only a dynamic nuisance of a hitter but also depth at pretty much every position other than catcher.

LHP PETTITTE to the YANKEES

Like nobody else saw this coming? Pettitte gives them a reliable #3 starter who can teach up-and-comers Hughes and Chamberlain a thing or two. It’s only right that this fan favorite be finishing out his career in pinstripes.

RHP MILLWOOD for RHP RAY

The Rangers got the better end of this one, if only because next season Texas is positioned well to give everyone in the AL West a run for their money. Chris Ray is a solid reliever with stuff good enough to have an impact in meaningful innings.

Kevin Millwood is still just an OK pitcher. I can promise you that the Orioles do not have the defensive ability in the field to allow Millwood to maintain the numbers that made him look so sexy on paper.

THE MEGA TRADE:

Yes. I know I said I didn’t want this trade to go through a couple days ago. I’m going to break it down here by team.

LHP COKE, LHP SCHLERETH, RHP SCHERZER & OF JACKSON to the TIGERS

Someone in the Tigers front office must have been bitch-slapped before the Winter Meetings. Trading away Granderson and Jackson like that? I know Jackson floundered a bit in the second half – but without him there before the All-Star break, I doubt the Tigers would have made it as far as they did.

I always liked Phil Coke. Sure he blew balls this past post-season, but the Yankees won so we can forget that shit.

The Yankees adding highly-tauted OF prospect Austin Jackson to the deal struck me funny. Everything we hear about this guy is that he’s fantastic-right?- a kid with so much talent that he’s regularly called “untouchable” when trade rumors circulate for players like Roy Halladay and Johan Santana. But then they give him up for Curtis Granderson? … there’s something we’re not seeing here.

The other relievers in the deal strike me as odd. I saw Schlereth pitch once, and the entire time the announcers were talking about his famous football father – I imagine this treatment will follow him for his career because his stuff didn’t set him apart any. Max Scherzer is also nothing of note. The other bit that should bother Detroit fans is that these guys are mediocre pitchers in the NL West – AAAA, if you will – and now you’re going to toss them out there against AL hitters? Ha.

So I smell a fire sale?

RHP JACKSON, RHP KENNEDY to the DIAMONDBACKS

This move solidifies an Arizon rotation that probably ranks as one of the top three in the NL (behind only San Francisco and either Colorado or Chicago), and maybe one of the top ten in all baseball. A healthy Webb and Haren are already dominant, but then add Jackson and Kennedy – young starters who found moderate success on tough AL teams – and the rattlers become respectable again.

OF GRANDERSON to the YANKEES

He’s young, is an established leadoff with power who can also steal a ton of bags and has a habit of making superhero defensive plays in the outfield. I can’t find anything talent-wise to complain about.

He’re my one concern: I don’t want the Yankees to start veering away from their current plan of growing talent from within.

RHP BONSER to the RED SOX

Another one of Theo’s repair projects. Here’s the question: do reclamation projects work when the pitcher being worked on was never any good to begin with?

LHP WOLF to the BREWERS

Who cares? It’s not like the Brewers are going to matter this season.

RHP SORIANO for RHP JESSE CHAVEZ

This one surprised me if only because Soriano’s acceptance of arbitration seemed, to me, a sign that there wasn’t much interest in his talents.

IF LOWELL for C RAMIREZ

Lowell was a Fenway fan favorite. Hopefully he can help rally that shakey Texas fan base for ol’ Nolan up in the big boy box.

In return Boston gets … wow, imagine that: a guy who can rake but lacks any sort of defensive ability. A pattern is beginning to emerge …

BONDS HANGS UP THE SPIKES

Real Time: This was a wasted opportunity for any and all shitty AL teams out there (I’m looking at YOU: Kansas City, Baltimore, Toronto, Cleveland, Oakland). Here was a guy with sure, a little baggage, but who can MASH – and probably would have done it on the cheap to ANYONE with the balls to offer him a contract. He could have brought fans into the park for teams that just needed some fan support.

There were also plenty of mid-range teams that just needed that big bat (cough cough Twins cough cough). You say the baggage would have been too much? You know what fixes that sort of thing: championships.

RUMORS:

DAMON to the YANKEES?

But what about Melky … ?