The Red Sox have 682 first basemen, the Reds revamp half their bullpen a week before Opening Day, the Rockies’ three non-Helton infield spots could be the best collective bargain in baseball, and the Pirates choose one set of jounreymen over another for the back end of the pitching staff.
The Snakes throw excessive money at a good citizen–again. The Orioles use an injury as the latest excuse to screw with John Stephens. The Tigers’ pitching staff could be scary bad. And the Jays need health on their side if they’re to benefit from the Wells and Hinske signings.
Mark Quinn, Bruce Chen and Rob Bell still dishing out torment, Benny Agbayani peddling his Hawaiian Punch to the wrong team, Dan O’Dowd shopping Helton for an impulse control device to be named later, and the Dodgers messing with the wrong Alvarez.
The Reds and A’s have a roster crunch of quality arms. Casey Kotchman, James Loney, and Justin Huber will be back sooner or later. And the Devil Rays are a copy editor’s worst nightmare.
Jeff Austin’s journey from high draft pick to Don Gullett experiment. Bruce Chen tries to remember which two teams he hasn’t pitched for yet. Brian Lawrence can now afford that new hammer he’s been eyeing. And Dave Nilsson gets a hearty Chris Kahrl “good on ya, mate.”
Chris Kahrl takes his biweekly look at even the most obscure transactions, detailing what impact they have on both player and team alike. In this issue: the Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Montreal Expos, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
If nothing else, Steve Phillips is always busy. I’m sort of surprised at myself, but of the two signings, I’m a lot more positive about Tony Clark. Is he done? Sure, he might be, but he was also useful as recently as 2001. But more importantly, if Mo Vaughn wallows around in noisy mediocrity or worse, gets hurt, the Mets don’t really have another internal alternative, and this is a division where 85 wins will contend.
Will the two-year deals signed by Junior Spivey and Kirk Rueter blow up in the Diamondbacks’ and Giants’ faces? Kevin Millar and Alex Ochoa swap out in the Japanese leagues exchange program. And Trace Coquillette: utility infielder or rotisserie chicken joint?
Transaction analysis, February 10-18, 2003.
Transaction analysis, January 24-February 9, 2003.
Re-signed INF-R Benji Gil and DH-L Brad Fullmer to one-year contracts.
Signed OF-R Eric Owens to a one-year contract, and LHP Rich Rodriguez, 2B-R Adam Riggs, and UT-R Oscar Salazar to minor league contracts.
Avoided arbitration with 2B-L Adam Kennedy, INF-B Scott Spiezio, and LHPs Jarrod Washburn and Scott Schoeneweis.
Claimed C-R Wil Nieves off of waivers (from the Padres).
Howdy gang, nothing like spending five hours typing up the index for this year’s edition of Baseball Prospectus to make me desperately hungry to dive right into playing catch-up on real-time baseball news. Yes, Transaction Analysis is long overdue, and for that I apologize, having spent the intervening time working with our writing team and the incomparably enthusiastic Jonah Keri to get this year’s book out the door. If you can forgive me that, you’ll also have to forgive me this temporary break from format, as I run down the most-notable moves made over the last couple of months, going by divisional pairs (Easts, Centrals, and Wests) to get caught up and resume your regularly scheduled TA mayhem by next week.
Transaction analysis, September 28-November 10, 2002.
This series is almost remarkable in its absence of “hooks.” Sure, you’ve got the “Pastaman’s Progeny” angle, as two putative Sons of Lasorda duke it out from the dugouts. As regional incest goes, the Bay Area versus the Angeleno megalopolis doesn’t really rise to Boston-New York, and certainly ranks as much more on the level than the low-water mark of the 2000 World Series.
With the Twins in the ALCS and these two teams in the NLCS, there are some eerie similarities between today and 1987.