Saturday, August 1, 2009

NIMBY


This is probably the last time I'll address it (or anything) this weekend, but I've had some time to think. I don't have any right to kick and scream as I've spent this entire summer encouraging people to let the business be the business and take heart in what we have. I guess this trade just cut me too close for comfort. Saving the money is great if it goes to re-sign Halladay, but I'm less than confident that'll happen. I'll pull my self-styled analyst hat down low over my reddened eyes and attempt to be look at this deal for what it is: a cold-blooded salary dump that has taken the best third baseman of his generation out of town.

While this looks like it should be the time to run kids out there everyday, it won't quite be that. We'll be subjected to plenty of Jose "I've never played well as an everyday guy" Bautista and a little more Johnny GD Mac, but also plenty of Millar for the rest of this month. JP is determined to do two things this season:
  1. Continue his streak of justifying the trade of a big name by insisting they begged out of town.
  2. Get something for nothing out of Kevin Millar.
Reclamation project bullpens on the cheap don't happen by accident so JP needs to replenish his rapidly aging pen and quick. Should Kevin Millar string a couple decent games together in August, you can bet JP will pry a 12th man on the staff arm out of some foolish contender needing a clubhouse guy/useless pinch hitter. Which is, in the end, the kind of horseshit that drives us crazy today and goes completely unnoticed down the road. I just know I don't want to look at Kevin Millar for one more day.

Enough hand-wringing. Some good back-and-forth in the previous post about the validity of E5 Encarnacion's defensive stats. Yes, his -23 URZ/150 this year is bloated by a smallish sample size. It was unfair of me to cherrypick it, but that doesn't raise his career UZR/150 of -12.2. Fact is, he's a bad defender. But as Johnny Hale ain't a damn thing changed said: work your magic Butterfield! I agree with Hale and commenter DaveC that EE presents an excellent buy low option. The two arms are live and after a good Arnsberging and the requisite year of rehab; they'll be holding down the bullpen in no time.
Posted by Drew
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5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.
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  2. Trust me Drew I feel your frustration. Earlier this year I said in these comments that watching Rolen every day is one of the handful of things that keeps me watching this team. BUT, this is still a good trade. GBOAT is at his peak (with the Jays) and there's no guarantee he'll maintain this play or his health through next year. It also saves about $6M, although you're right to be pessimistic about Rogers--they'll probably spend it on some nerd shit instead of making the team better. And these two pitchers actually look pretty good.

    This is the first time that I can remember JP being a buyer or seller at the deadline since....Shannon Stewart for Bobby Kielty in 2003? That same summer, he didn't even try to get something for Delgado. Same with Vernon, Burnett, et al. Rogers has been content with meh teams so JP has followed suit by standing pat and pretending to be contenders instead of doing the healthy thing and choosing a direction. The Jays have been in neutral for years now and it's the worst possible gear to be in for a baseball team. Tampa got better by selling at the deadline with shrewd trades and racking up picks from losing 100 games. On the other hand, the Yanks literally buy wins. Either way, you gotta choose a direction. It seems Rogers/JP are finally doing that now. Even if it means losing Rolen and having to watch E5, I think it's a good decision.
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  3. The two arms are live and after a good Arnsberging and the requisite year of rehab; they'll be holding down the bullpen in no time.

    Well put, my good man.

    And "Johnny Hale ain't a damn thing changed" is fucking straight up genius.

    It's a tough day, watching Rolen get traded, and then watching Millar leave five men on base in the cleanup spot.

    Fuck Kevin Millar.
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  4. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/globe-on-baseball/ex-jay-rolen-happy-to-be-close-to-roots/article1239111/

    NOT. COOL. Not a word about the Jays. It's like GBOAT never happened. This is sad.
    ReplyDelete
  5. This post is a winner simply because of the Flight of the Conchords reference in the tags.
    ReplyDelete

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