Nothing happened.
That was my first thought after refreshing Rotoworld and other trade sites like mad during the afternoon of the trading deadline. Nothing happened. No Rich Aurilia to the Twins trades, nobody wanted Taschner, no team was looking for a recently ‘showcased’ Jose Castillo. Nothing, nada, zip, zero.
Teams may have wanted a couple of parts, but either deals couldn’t be made or we wanted to hang onto our pieces for what was offered.
Trading Deadline Post-Thoughts
1. Andrew Baggarly, on his excellent blog, had a couple of points from Sabean on the trade deadline. Here’s the top two that stuck out to me:
–He’s going to meet with the staff tomorrow to talk about when to start playing the kids.
–He said it won’t be totally Bochy’s discretion on whom to play. His words: “I’ll be more active in that area to take some pressure off him and make sure we’re on the same page.”
Despite the fact that no one was moved over the deadline, this may be the best news. You could mark me down as “I’ll believe it when I see it”, after watching start after start of Rich Aurilia, Omar Vizquel, and Jose Castillo grace my TV, but it’s the right thing to say right now. Now, the question is, will the Giants be able to do it?
I think I once read an ancient Chinese proverb that said: The path to happiness starts with benching Omar Vizquel. Seriously, have you seen that guy swing a bat?
Let’s hope the Giants read the same proverb as I did and will give some playing time to the ‘Bench Ryders’ AKA Burriss, Denker (call him back, please), and hell, even Ivan Freaking Ochoa. None of the players just listed could turn out to be starters, or even bench players in the majors, but whatever small chance they might have, is gigantic compared to the chance that Omar and Jose Castillo has at this point.
2. Ken Griffey Jr. was traded to the Chicago White Sox for pitcher Nick Masset and infielder Danny Richar. In a “What’s defense, precious?” move, the White Sox are entertaining the idea of sticking Griffey back into center field. One of the reasons I love Ken Williams is for quotes like this:
“Center field is actually the easiest of the outfield positions to play from a health perspective. I know that doesn’t sound right because you’ve got to go a lot of left and right, but trust me, it’s a little easier to play center field.
A Quentin/Griffey/Dye outfield is going to be interesting. How many flyballs will that trio fail to get to? Did the White Sox forget that run prevention is important, too? From ’05 to ’07, the Fielding Bible had Junior at a -53 for center field. A negative fifty three. Meaning that he made 53 less plays in center than your average center fielder. That’s incredible and if you figure that at 38-years-old, Junior may have lost another step in the OF, he could be even worse. This year by RZR Griffey was ranked as the worst RF in the National League, converting 82.6% of balls in his zone into outs. He had more OOZ plays than right fielders Brad Hawpe and Ryan Ludwick, but that was it. Good lord, would you want Brad Hawpe or Ryan Ludwick playing center for your favorite team?
3. Are the Pirates becoming competent again? I love the haul that they got for Jason Bay in the Manny trade to L.A 3-way trade. Bay was having a great year and is very affordable in ’09, but getting a package of: Andy LaRoche, Brandon Moss, Craig Hansen, and Bryan Morris is a nice return. Now that LaRoche is on a team that will actually play him, I’ll be interested to see what he does. Agent Ned strikes again?
4. Going back for a second to point number one, the more I think about Sabean’s quote of “I’ll be more involved in who plays, and who doesn’t play” makes me wonder if Bochy can’t kick the habit of starting veterans? Much like the case in San Diego when Bochy would run out Vinny Castilla night after night when it was apparent his expiration date had come and gone, I wonder if Sabean will actually start some of the younger players? Historically, he’s been a GM that’s liked the veteraness of grizzled ballplayers. Will he start the younger players? Watch and find out.
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I would have LOVED to have seen the Giants move some of their parts, but I think it’s pretty clear that most other GMs didn’t like what the Giants were selling. And honestly, can you blame them? Can you imagine any team trading for Tyler Walker? Dave Roberts? Omar Vizquel? The Giants had a few pieces that had some mild-value, but in a new market that really values prospects — some can argue that they over-value them — I’m not sure I’d trade an A-ball player for Rich Aurilia.
I still think the team should have tried hard to move Randy Winn but it’s possible the market wasn’t there for him. Or, I think it’s just as equally as possible that Sabean overvalued Randy Winn.
Comment Starter: Happy with the deadline?
