Transaction Analysis: April 18-19, 2000

Neither Javier Fuentes nor Garry Maddox Jr. are prospects. This is simply
an exchange from depth; the Red Sox are short of true outfielders
throughout their system, not just on the major-league level, while Fuentes
will be the oldest infielder at A ball in the Snakes’ chain.

Brian Jordan’s return is good news, what with Reggie Sanders struggling
badly and extended playing time sending Bobby Bonilla scuttling back to the
bench. But Jordan’s health is always going to be an issue, just as much as
Sanders’s will be, and while I like George Lombard a lot, he’s hardly the
same kind of fourth-outfielder option that J.D. Drew is for the Cardinals.

The interesting thing about an organizational soldier like Brian Hunter is
that he isn’t quite good enough for any other team to claim on waivers. He
isn’t old enough to attract the interest of Lou Piniella or the Orioles,
and he can’t really play anywhere other than first base, and how many teams
want to make room on their 40-man roster to add a 32-year-old platoon
pinch-hitter? Hunter can refuse this kind of assignment, but why do it?
With the Braves, he’s got a great shot at making the postseason roster, and
it isn’t like he’s hurting his Hall of Fame chances by shuttling between
their bench and Richmond. For the Braves, this is an added bonus in that
they’ll potentially have a better DH platoon in the World Series–if they
get there–with Hunter and Wally Joyner, who is at least better than Keith
Lockhart. While Bonilla and John Burkett can leave us shaking our heads,
this is still an improved bench.

Besides being able to fill in adequately at third base if asked, Freddy
Garcia has some right-handed sock and can play some outfield. All of this
almost makes him a better choice than Marty Cordova would have been if
Cordova hadn’t been hosed over by the inane decision to let Gary Gaetti go
home when he felt like it, instead of over the winter as 29 major-league
teams had not-so-subtly hinted.

Jeff Liefer still has no defensive value, but with injuries nagging Frank
Thomas and Greg Norton, and the expected eventual move away from 12
pitchers, he’ll probably be up after he gets some regular playing time. At
whose expense? Probably the oft-lamented Tanyon Sturtze, although Scott
Eyre’s job security isn’t so hot either.

Hector Mercado is asked to leave to encourage the optionless Dennis Reyes,
and all so that the Reds can take a trip down memory lane. While I don’t
have much use for Charlton, he is coming off of his best season since Bob
Dole lost, and that might be worth something. I could kvetch about the
choice of keeping Hal Morris around over D.T. Cromer, but the difference in
the talent in question isn’t that big.

The problem with retaining these broken-down old warhorses is that if the
Reds really do contend this year, somebody’s going to have to go once the
inevitable stretch-drive moves get made. I doubt Jim Bowden’s got the
stones to pull a Dan Duquette. If it would get him a win, the Duke would
designate his mother for assignment. For all of the bitching and weeping
over cutting Mark Portugal this spring, Bowden might be reluctant to cut
somebody associated, even once upon a time, with doing this franchise some
good.

The Indians have to know this is going to happen, and still don’t have
anything better than Bobby Hughes to replace him with. As previously
mentioned, this is still a step up from Chris Turner or Tyler Houston, and
Hughes does give the Tribe a catcher with some limited sock to go with
Einar Diaz, who has none.

This could easily turn out to be one of those "improve despite
yourself" situations, sort of similar to Tony LaRussa’s epic choice of
Rob Nelson over Mark McGwire back in 1987, only to have to play McGwire
once Nelson got hurt. That isn’t entirely fair to Scott Servais, who unlike
Nelson has had a decent career already. But the Rockies’ offense needs real
power, not just Larry Walker and some altitude-generated illusions. Petrick
is the organization’s lone prospect who can supply it. Unfortunately, he
comes up during a road trip, so he won’t have the advantage of Planet Coors
helping him state his case for sticking around.

Flash back to the Expos of the early 1990s, when Dave Dombrowski’s
organization was famed for its talented collection of front-office and
player-development people. People like Gary Hughes, Dan Duquette, Kevin
Malone and Bill Stoneman were all destined to be on short lists for general
manager jobs, but other people would become famous for their contributions:
Indianapolis manager Tim Johnson and his pitching coach, Joe Kerrigan, as
well as John Boles (who had previously worked with Dombrowski in the White
Sox organization) and none other than ex-Devil Rays pitching coach Rick
Williams.

You go through this list, and you can’t help but find that some of these
things are not like the others, some of these things just don’t belong.
Some of these people, like Kerrigan and the Duke and Hughes, are rightfully
considered among the best in the business when it comes to coaching or
GMing or scouting. But among the rest, you’ve got an interesting crew of
baseball lifers, but not the same kind of talent.

I’ve hemmed and hawed about Dombrowski’s place among his peers, and while
it’s clear that he once built a great front office that built a great Expos
organization and later a solid Marlins organization, Dombrowski may well be
a victim of his own success. He doesn’t have Hughes any more, and the Duke
nabbed Kerrigan as soon as he had the chance. While Dombrowski has some
people he’s familiar with, like Boles and now Williams, it will never be
easy to assemble the kind of talent he once had around him, talent which in
turn built his strong reputation.

It makes for an interesting contrast with the Yankees, where Brian Cashman
is generally ridiculed for his peers because he’s only one member of The
Boss’s organizational management team. Cashman deserves more credit for his
role, while Dombrowski, shorn of his great supporting cast, deserves less.

There’s nothing happy about this. The only thing Jorge Fabregas is good for
is Brian Johnson’s playing time, although at least Fabregas is a good
catch-and-throw guy. The nicest spin I can put on this is that by getting
to see an awful lot of Johnson and Fabregas, the Royals might be ready to
hand Gregg Zaun a lot of playing time once he’s ready to play.

Sold the contract of LHP Terry Burrows to Orix of the Japanese
Leagues. [4/19]

I’m not exactly busted up about ending the Ron Mahay-as-starter experiment
quickly. While Mahay can pitch, his ability to start was far from
established. Mark Mulder was clearly going to be in the rotation at some
point this season, and everyone seemed pretty relaxed about it when he
didn’t make the Opening Day rotation. I think we all expect him to take his
lumps, but like Rick Ankiel with the Cardinals, dumping a top prospect into
the fifth slot of the rotation, potentially backed by plenty of run
support, isn’t such a bad way to work in a young starter.

The A’s have to have one of the weirdest collections of desperate hombres
you’ll find in a major-league pen. You’ve got Mahay with his
"scab" label, retread Mike Magnante, T.J. "They got me for
McGwire" Mathews, reclamation project Jason Isringhausen, creaky old
Doug Jones, and minor-league veteran Jeff Tam. Luis Vizcaino was the only
prospect in the bunch, and he’s probably better off starting for Sacramento
so that the organization sorts out whether or not he’ll eventually
have to go to the pen.

The remaining six-pack is as clear an indication as you’ll find that you
can assemble a decent major-league bullpen about as easily as you can fill
a sack of cats, and if any of them fall out, then they can decide whether
or not Chad Harville or Bert Snow is ready.

While losing Jason Schmidt isn’t good news, this was a bullpen that needed
shaking up. Schmidt’s future has been the subject of debate: has he been
pushed too hard too young, or not? The combination of never reaching his
perceived potential and the workload he has shouldered so far has to be a
source for concern as he enters the period of a career when you should
normally expect a breakout. For the time being, it looks like the workload
worriers have bragging rights.

In his absence, Jose Parra will step into the rotation after having made
two nice starts for Nashville. He’s coming off of a poor year in the
Japanese Central League, but if Pat Mahomes can return to usefulness after
coming up too young, there has to be a reasonable chance that Parra could
be turned into something useful with Pete Vuckovich’s help.

Retooling the pen was long overdue. Brad Clontz was almost never really
gone, merely lost on an Arizona adventure for a couple of months, and the
Bucs knew they had a sleeper in Mike Garcia. From the right side, the pen
now features two guys who can pump gas in Garcia and Jose Silva, sidearmer
Clontz for situational matchups and "closer" Mike Williams; the
left-handers are Scott Sauerbeck and Jason Christiansen. That looks like a
much stronger outfit than the one counting on the oft-injured Chris Peters
and the oft-battered Marc Wilkins. Peters will get to pitch himself into
shape as a starter; he could either break down completely or be ready to
nab the fifth spot in the rotation in a month or two, but I wouldn’t lay
odds on one happening over the other.

Alan Benes quickly demonstrated that he isn’t capable of bouncing back
physically between appearances, which has them reconsidering his move to
the bullpen. The Cardinals are talking about eventually ramping him up to
100 pitches as a starter to see if they can reclaim a career for him. He
might yet turn into a Mike Morgan five-inning starter, and while we all
wish him well, don’t bet on it working out any time soon

Gene Stechschulte now has bragging rights; he’s one of the few organization
super-closers who actually got to the major leagues, but it will only be
until either Jesse Orosco or Scott Radinsky heals up.

A nice gesture by the Rangers, in that Simms’s career is almost certainly
over as he goes in for major surgery. By returning him to the 40-man
roster, they’re gifting him with service time and benefits.