Recent Trades
Seattle Mariners sign 3B Adrian Beltre to a 5 year, $64 million deal.
I've been a supporter of Mr. Beltre for quite a while, and he finally proved why we've waited so long for him. He came up to the majors at the tender age of 20, and he's really struggled through some tough years to get to 2004. There, he had one of baseball's best breakout seasons ever, hitting .334 with 48 homers and a monstrous .629 slugging percentage.
In terms of stats for next year, he'll probably take a bit of a hit for playing in Safeco, but Dodger Stadium is no picnic for hitters, either. In terms of cash, it's tough to fault this signing in the current market. While everyone raved about Carlos Beltran's postseason, Adrian Beltre's regular season was the best in the bigs in terms of free agents.
I'll give the Mariners credit for this one. If he weren't a third baseman, I'd love to have him on the Mets. It's certainly a better deal than Troy Glaus, and in terms of money / year, Glaus's is relatively close to this.
The New York Mets signed Pedro Martinez to a 4 year, $53 million deal.
Ton of money for a 33-year old pitcher with arm trouble. That was my first impulse.
Two things, though:
1. The Mets are a gigantic market team.
2. They needed this signing for credibility.
After much consideration, I do not think that this is an intelligent baseball signing. However, I do think that this signing does help the Mets restore some much-needed credibility; they are no longer a disgrace.
That said, Pedro Martinez won't be too much better than Al Leiter was last year, unless he gives them a lot of innings. The Mets are still counting on a few miracles and more signings to make this work....Delgado, Beltran, Drew, Ordonez, one of these guys has to come in to shore up the lineup here, which is still weak.
Plus, Pedro Martinez is still Pedro Martinez. That's important. The Mets haven't netted a free agent of his caliber....ever. And they haven't signed a really big ticket guy since Piazza (but they traded for him first).
Minaya gets a pass on this one.....let's see what else the Mets have coming this offseason first.
Oakland trades pitcher Tim Hudson to the Atlanta Braves for outfielder Charles Thomas and pitchers Juan Cruz and Dan Meyer.
OK, I was one of those to rave about the Hudson-to-the-Dodgers deal before I had gotten confirmation. My usual rule is to be very, very cautious and skeptical about hearing "deal finalized," and not believing it until I hear a press-conference, or an official quote from a GM, or, usually, the transaction on MLB.com.
Well, I sat there a few days ago and raved about how intelligent Billy Beane was. He had set himself up to have a new Big-3 for the future in Harden, Blanton, and Jackson. Even if Blanton didn't pan out, and Jackson was a bust, it was at least a shot of restructuring the team.
The days began to pass, the finals got going, and I realized that the deal wasn't going to happen. And then I see this deal pass.
I still think that the A's got a really good deal out of this.
Charles Thomas came out of nowhere at the end of 2003 to put up some excellent numbers in AA. In 47 games there, he OPSed .845, and he became a bit valuable.
Then, last year, he went crazy in AAA, hitting .358 with a .416 OBP in 61 games, leading the IL in both categories, I think. The Braves called him up, and he held his own in the bigs, hitting .288 with a nice OBP to boot.
My only concern was this:
July: .927 OPS
August: .735 OPS
September: .621 OPS
The monthly decline in OPS....was the league "solving" Charles Thomas? Will he be able to adjust?
I think it's a worthwhile risk.
Juan Cruz was solid out of the pen for the Braves in 50 games, and he helps bolster an obvious weakness for the A's.
Dan Meyer is a top pitching prospect; I wouldn't call him Edwin Jackson, but he's pretty darn good on his own. His career minor league K/9 rate is 9.79, and, last year in AA, he was overpowering, going 6-3 with a 2.22 ERA in 65 innings with 86 Ks. He also only walked 12 guys. AAA was a bit of an adjustment last year, as he put a lot more runners on. Still, he was very good, and he's a big prospect.
The Braves? They just got the best pitcher they've had on the staff since Greg Maddux was in his prime. Moving Hudson to the NL and Turner Field and Leo Mazzone.....as a Met fan, I'm annoyed. Hudson's been in the top-10 in league ERA every year since 2000. It's a great pick-up for the Braves, and the A's got a lot, here, too.
Oh, and the new Braves rotation:
Tim Hudson
John Smoltz
Mike Hampton
John Thomson
Horacio Ramirez
They're gonna be good again.
- Dan
posted by Dan Scotto @ 1:59 PM
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