Trading places

The first spin on the trading merry-go-round seems to be over. At ESPN.com Buster Olney gives us his thoughts and I would tend to agree with his analysis - the Marlins get much-needed help behind the plate (Lo Duca) and in the bullpen (Mota), as well as Encarnacion, who has already played for the ballclub. The Dodgers, however, are another story - MLB.com's John Schlegel says that Los Angeles has made bold moves, but I would go so far as to suggest that their boldness is bordering on the foolhardy. Remember that we're not talking about a team in third place with an outside shot at making the postseason - as things stand the Dodgers have a 3 1/2-game lead in the NL West, and Dodgers' GM Paul DePodesta is taking a huge risk by trading key elements of a successful ballclub. Penny will be a good addition to the starting rotation, but getting him has meant trading away Lo Duca, who has been a driving-force of the Dodgers' team.

Lo Duca himself was devastated by the announcement:

"It's hard to see why or what. I'm sure I'll wonder all night what brought it on. Knowing this could happen is always in the back of your mind. But I always dreamed about being a Dodger for my whole life, having a 20-year career, but I guess it didn't happen. It's tough, so many friends I've made along the way. The fans in L.A., they treated me so well. It's tough."

However, he played down the 'heart and soul of the club' aspect:

"A lot of guys can do that (lead). I think they'll be fine. As long as they get it to the big guy (Eric Gagne), they'll win games. I'm not saying I'll be the missing link. They've got plenty of players."

DePodesta had this to say about the trade:

"The team knows we're trying to make them better and push them over the top. The worst thing we could have done was nothing with a first-place team. Are there risks? No question. I felt the risks associated were acceptable and what we needed to do to get there. When you talk of standing pat, you only get in this position so many times. We don't want to be done. We want to do something more."

What stands out when I read that is: "The worst thing we could have done was nothing with a first-place team". No doubt I'm being overly simplistic about the whole thing, but isn't there an old cliché that says "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"? I'm sure DePodesta knows his job and does it a thousand times better than I ever could, but it does seem as if he's got caught up in the whole trade deadline thing and felt almost obliged to make moves, whether they're 100% necessary or not. However, nothing is ever as simple as it seems - Jayson Stark says that the moves the Dodgers made are simply a precursor to bigger moves on the horizon.

The Mets' trade seems to be a little more puzzling - they seemed to have given up on trying to win it all this season, yet they go out and net the two best-pitchers-on-the-trade-market-not-called-Randy-Johnson. In the process, they gave up third baseman Ty Wigginton and, possibly more crucially, top pitching prosepct Scott Kazmir. Mets fans in blogland (can somebody explain how it is we all end up using words like "blogland" and "blogosphere", however hard we try to fight it?) are not happy about the deal, although Flushing Local seems prepared to give Duquette the benefit of the doubt, suggesting that he might pull another deal out of his hat before the 4pm deadline. We'll see. If he doesn't, it really will look like the Mets sold their soul to the Devil for an outside shot at success this season, and that's not good, even for fans who would like to see their team win it all and put one over on their crosstown rivals.

David Pinto has a good take on the Mets trade, and references the New York Times article that deals with the trade:

Impersonating the Yankees, who traditionally sacrifice minor-leaguers for veterans, the Mets promptly dealt their best pitching prospect, Class AA left-hander Scott Kazmir, to Tampa Bay along with Class AA relief pitcher Joselo Diaz. Besides Benson and Zambrano, the Mets got two minor leaguers in return - Class AAA relief pitcher Bartolome Fortunato from the Devil Rays and Class AA second baseman Jeff Keppinger from the Pirates.

Heading into this season, the Mets advertised their plan to build from within. Owner Fred Wilpon even called Kazmir "untouchable." But in one day, the Mets gave up their two best pitching prospects in Kazmir and Peterson, and their best catching prospect in Huber.

"Untouchable", huh? This blog was recently praised for being "refreshingly free of cynicism", but this kind of deal unfortunately brings out the cynical fan hidden deep inside my pure baseball soul. How do you know when a baseball owner is lying? Easy - his lips are moving...