Baseball Thread 6 - Steve Garvey's got a lot of mouths to feed

You hang in there, too. Know what? We might have the two worst teams in the AFC, too!

And that injury to Guillen is amazing... while putting on a shinguard. Wow.

 

Hey, Buck: Just heard tonight's starter for Seattle against my Whimpering Wahoos is the first player in MLB history with a hyphenated name.

Surprise you, too?

 

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie?

 

What a Cy Young screwjob that was.

Don't get me started on the fucking Wins category

 

He was also the same guy to lose more than 10 with a sub-1.90 ERA

 

He did outsmart other teams in one respect -- he paid 60 cents on the dollar to acquire Holliday, then somehow got near market value back when he traded Holliday away.

 

I don't know if that's even true. The Rockies are getting very good year out of Huston Street, who's something like 24/25 in save opps, while Holliday did nothing for the A's except bring them yet another package of prospects that they insist will help them someday. Just like the ones they got for Haren, except they traded those guys for Holliday. And round and round it goes.

 

Street's having a good year (24 saves, 2.61 ERA, 0.94 WHIP) for the Rockies, yes. But so Andrew Bailey (10 saves, 2.06 ERA, 0.97 WHIP), who replaced Street as Oakland's closer.

Say the A's never trade for Holliday. They have Street closing games and no Wallace to plug in at first base down the line. By trading for Holliday, they had a chip that allowed them to get a top prospect like Wallace, and they replaced Street with someone who's posting similar numbers this season.

All those good young arms won't mean much if the A's can't score runs. Wallace will help them in that respect.

 

Exactly. And let's not forget that Street's value was way down after last season. Beane took a gamble that Holliday could either help Oakland hang around this season or at least that he could get more in return than he gave up. The plan for this year was a flop in part because Holliday was a disappointment, yet he still got a very good package in return.

 

Your point was that the A's gave up 60 cents on the dollar for Holliday. I'm just saying that Street represents more value than that, even if they were able to replace him.

And yes, maybe Wallace will eventually help them offensively. Maybe. But that's what Carlos Gonzalez was supposed to do when they got him from the Dbacks for Haren. And that's what Daric Barton was supposed to do when they got him from the Cardinals for Mulder. Maybe Wallace will pan out, like Haren did, which wil make Beane happy, because then he can trade him for somebody else's hotshot prospects.

And while Beane continues to get these "good packages," the A's continue to be irrelevant on the field.

 

Supposedly TB SS prospect Reid Brignac just got pulled from his minor league game. I can see him going to Toronto in a Halladay deal.

 

Closers are replaceable, no matter how good they are (Rivera being the exception). An outfielder who provides good defense batting in the middle of the order is more valuable than a close almost every time. Closers and middle relievers are so fickle, you never know from one year to the next with most.