Now THAT's a trade. No really, Dave Littlefield made a trade. Seriously.

There was some pretty fantastic karma going around today, let me tell you.

It all started when I went to Bodega with Jonny Raymond, bought some pretty swell kicks while Jonny purchased the Orioles "Fuck Face" t-shirt (which for some reason is blue). We then stopped at our friendly neighborhood Boloco for some burritos that, according to Jonny, are bland and tasteless and will never live up to the standards that California has set. Jonny himself has a hard time living up to the standards that California weather has set, and he would not stop bitching about the single-digit degree temperature outside.

While enjoying our hot wraps, Jon received a telephone call from a friend back home, who broke him the news about the aforementioned Mike Dunleavy trade. Jonny went into an ecstatic giggling fit, similar to the one he went into on Saturday night upon showing a bunch of inebriated people the Reading Rainbow theme song at five in the morning. I laughed at the concept of the NBA, told him I was happy for him, and glumly said I wished Dave Littlefield would do something.

Well, I got home at about 4:30, sat down at my computer, and opened Internet Explorer. My homepage on I.E. is the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette website, and lo and behold, the leading story was: PIRATES ON THE VERGE OF LANDING LAROCHE.

Over the next few hours, I anxiously clung to my computer, waiting to hear further details. Who were the other players to be involved, if any? What new and creative way would Dave Littlefield find to screw up this seemingly done deal? It became an event almost worthy of liveblogging.

As it turned out, the full trade ended up with the Pirates receiving Adam LaRoche and minor leaguer Jamie Romak, with Mike Gonzalez and stud Brent Lillibridge heading to Atlanta. I had intended to do some sort of blog outlining the pros and cons of each aspect of the deal for the Pirates, and I signed on to Blogger to see that Jonny had basically done the same thing for his team's trade. We've got the mojo working, or something.

We'll start with the PROS.

Acquiring Adam LaRoche:

• First and foremost, Adam LaRoche gives the Pirates something they have not had in a long time, that being a left-handed hitter who can hit the baseball over the fence on a consistent basis. Since Brian Giles, the team has had absolutely nothing in the way of left-handed bats, which quickly became the team's most painful and glaring need (and there are a lot of those on a team that hasn't had a winning season since I was six years old). LaRoche hits home runs, draws his fair share of walks, and still hits for a decent average. There is nothing not to like about his offensive profile apart from the fact that he whiffs a ton.
• LaRoche is still relatively young, entering his age-27 season, and relatively cheap, entering his first year of arbitration. We'll be getting him just coming into his prime, and it's not hard to envision signing him to a long-term deal if all goes well this season.
• PNC Park is built for Adam LaRoche, whose hit chart shows him to be a pull hitter, though not quite a dead-pull hitter. The Clemente porch will do him some favors. It'll also turn some homers into doubles, but those aren't exactly bad, either.
• The trickle-down effect: just having a hitter of LaRoche's caliber in the lineup automatically strengthens the rest of an offense that has been among the worst in baseball over the past few years. For one thing, it gives the team at least a little bit of lefty-righty alternation so opposing managers will have to burn more relievers. For another thing, it gives Jason Bay some semblance of protection, which he has never had since coming over to the Pirates. It bumps a hitter who's not so good from the lineup. At this point, the leading victim appears to be Jose Castillo. Logically, this strengthens the whole lineup, although Jim Tracy will still attempt to sabotage it by inexplicably batting Jack Wilson second all year long. Finally, it also gives Tracy a lot more options as far as the bench is concerned, if guys like Castillo and Ryan Doumit are available to pinch-hit instead of Pointless and Stepson.
• By all accounts, Adam LaRoche is capable of playing first base like he isn't physically handicapped, something Pirates fans have not been able to witness since the Kevin Young era.

Trading Mike Gonzalez:

• Gonzalez is turning 29 this season, and has yet to prove he can be reliable, health-wise. He still hasn't been able to get very far over the 50-inning hump in the Major Leagues due to various maladies.
• The Pirates have so many relief pitchers it's absurd. Relief pitching is far and away the deepest part of the organization. A closer is worthless without leads to protect, and you won't have leads to protect if you don't score runs. Thus, a closer is the last thing a team like the Pirates should be worrying about, especially when they have four potential closers lined up to replace him, and Adam LaRoche figures to help a lot with the whole run-scoring thing.
• Really, the 9th inning was getting kind of boring. Let's see some Mike Williams-esque life-shortening techniques again.

Trading Brent Lillibridge:

• To be honest there really is nothing good about losing Lillibridge, except for the fact that, like most minor league players, he's far from a sure thing, and middle infield is one of the few positions where the Pirates do have at least a little depth. The Bucs still have Brian Bixler, and although I like Lillibridge a lot better, they have a very similar profile.

Acquiring Jamie Romak:

• Romak is exactly the kind of player the Pirates have shunned during the Dave Littlefield administration, especially with Ed Creech at the helm of the scouting department. He can hit home runs and draw a walk, two aspects at which the Pirates suck at throughout the organization, but he's probably average at best defensively and strikes out a ton, two things that tend to deter the Pirates brain trust.
• He'll be 21 this season, and most likely playing at high-A Lynchburg. That's not a bad timetable to be on, especially when you take into account the fact that Nyjer Morgan is turning 27 this summer and has yet to play above AA yet is still considered a prospect by people within the organization.
• He's Canadian.

Now, the CONS

Acquiring Adam LaRoche:

• He's a little older than some people would like, mostly proponents of the Oakland A's train of thought where established Major Leaguers are traded for high ceiling AAA and AA guys who are just about to make it to the bigs. As I'll explain later, though, this strategy would not work well given the Pirates' current situation.
• We'd like to see him do it again before we proclaim him the savior of baseball in Pittsburgh. His .915 OPS with the Braves last year was his second-highest EVER in professional baseball, his .561 slugging percentage his career best by nearly fifty points. Hitters do mature as they get older and more experienced, but there's a chance (albeit slight) that LaRoche's outstanding 2006 was a fluke, and he'll be merely pretty good. Which would still be a huge improvement, but somewhat of a disappointment considering what the Pirates have had to give up.
• The lefty-righty thing I mentioned earlier does mean games against Tony La Russa will be that much more unbearable to watch.

Trading Mike Gonzalez

• Gonzo is lights out, period. The guy has a 2.37 ERA and 183 strikeouts in 155 2/3 career innings. By definition, he was the best closer in baseball last year, as his save conversion rate was a perfect 100%.
• The Pirates are certainly not lacking in candidates to replace Gonzalez as the 9th-inning guy, but it seems the most likely will be Salomon Torres, which in my opinion would be a horrible underutilization of the guy. Over the last three seasons, Sal has proven to be the most durable, consistent reliever in baseball. He and his rubber arm thrive when asked to pitch nearly every day. To limit him to 60-70 appearances would be a huge waste. One of the kids - Bayliss, Sharpless, Capps - could probably get the job done just as efficiently, and Bayliss and Sharpless have more prototypical closer "stuff" and K rates.

Trading Brent Lillibridge

• Where do I begin? Lillibridge has surpassed even local hero and first-round draft pick Neil Walker to move into the top 3 on some Pirates top 10 prospects lists. He's steadily risen through the ranks of the system, primed to make his AA debut next year after just a season and a half in the pros. He does pretty much everything well: he hits (.289/.391/.467 in 644 minor league at-bats, despite an extremely mediocre short-season debut in 2005) he walks (.400+ OBP in 200+ AB stints with Hickory and Lynchburg in 2006), he steals at a reasonable clip (53/66 between Hickory and Lynchburg), and he plays solid defense. He even started flashing the power a little bit this season. Profiles very similarly to another Braves middle infielder, Rafael Furcal. PECOTA creamed itself over this guy, and I can't blame them.
• On a personal note, I road tripped to State College/Altoona in early September for games 3 and 4 of the Eastern League semifinals between the Altoona Curve and the Akron Aeros. Since Blair County Ballpark was about to shut down for the winter, there was a crazy clearance sale on all Curve murchandise, and I bought a generic Curve t-shirt and had it customised with Lillibridge's name and number. At the time, Lillibridge had technically been added to the Curve roster, but he was there primarily just to get an up close and personal look at the level of competition in AA. As such, he didn't even get into a game, but I purchased the shirt in preparation for the 2007 season. After game 4, my companions and I decided on a whim to check out the players' parking lot. I was wearing the Lillibridge shirt, and who should be one of the few players to bother stopping to chat with us than the kid himself. His eyes lit up when I turned around and showed him his name on the shirt, and he signed my scorebook. I don't exactly feel stupid for buying the shirt now, especially since absolutely no one saw this coming, but it is certainly very disheartening. Every time I really, really get behind a Pirates prospect, something bad always seems to happen.

Acquiring Jamie Romak

• The main downside to Romak is that he's right-handed, and the Pirates could still use a few lefty-hitting prospects sprinkled throughout the system here and there. He also strikes out a ton. It's a little early to be writing him off as the next Brad Eldred, but he's the type of player who could struggle as pitching becomes more advanced in the higher levels of the minors.
• He's not Brent Lillibridge.

OVERALL

As much as I despise the man, I do have to say that in all honestly, Dave Littlefield did a pretty nice job to pull this one out. Going into the season without having acquired Brian O'Neill's mythical "Lefty McThump" would have been an unmitigated disaster. Going into the season having had to settle for another aging stopgap like Geoff Jenkins would have been pretty close, given the sour taste still in the fan base's mouth from the Jeromy Burnitz experience. Getting a hitter like LaRoche was absolutely imperative for just about all aspects of the Pittsburgh Pirates, both on the field and off.

I also have to admit that I'm impressed with DL's ability to compromise in this situation. It seemed like the trade would never get consummated because of the haggling over what extra player the Bucs should throw in, with the names of Paul Maholm, Chris Duffy, and Jose Castillo all being bandied about. Littlefield was hesitant to give up two Major Leaguers for one Major Leaguer, and rightly so, I think (although Castillo would not have been such a great loss).

People have complained about Littlefield's hesitancy to part with players with significant Major League playing time, but I do think that in this situation, he was absolutely right, misguided though his intentions may be. At this point, the Pirates farm system is just about completely barren apart from Andrew McCutchen and Brad Lincoln (who, as a Pirates pitching prospect, is still liable to have his arm fall off any day now) and maybe Neil Walker if he can get his shit together. This is more indicative of the horrendous drafting under Ed Creech than anything, but the fact remains that the Mickey White draftees (White was demoted, then resigned in 2002) are all just reaching the bigs now, namely the starting pitchers, and there is nothing coming down the line behind them.

If the Pirates are going to win again any time soon, what they're going to do it with is, for the most part, already there. The Pirates roster is loaded with 23-29 year olds currently in or just about to enter their prime. With next to nothing in the way of internal help for the forseeable future, the Bucs essentially have about a three year window in which to do something positive. This why I firmly believe that having players who can contribute at the Major League level right now is of the utmost importance, and why it was worth Dave Littlefield playing hardball, even with players as mediocre as Paul Maholm or Chris Duffy.

Taken purely out of context, I would say that Gonzalez and Maholm or Duffy for LaRoche would be pretty fair. But the Pirates don't have immediate adequate replacements for either of those guys, and can't afford to wait until they do come along (although the case could be made that the team could have made do in center field with some wacky combination of Nate McLouth and Jose Bautista or whoever else for a year and a half until McCutchen is ready).

So, as much as I hate giving up Brent Lillibridge, it seems like a noble sacrifice on the part of Dave Littlefield. Granted, the Pirates, being the stupendous talent evaluators that they are, probably value Lillibridge a whole lot less than the rest of everyone else who's ever watched a baseball game. But I think Littlefield really did do an admirable job to draw John Schuerzholtz's attention away from the big league guys and to dangle someone as tantalizing as Lillibridge in order to get it done. Not only that, but he made sure the Pirates came away with something else, and not the typical crappy, short-lived middle reliver that the Pirates almost always get as a "throw-in." The deal as a whole represents the sort of outside-the-box thinking that Littlefield has never, ever shown himself to be able to do throughout his tenure.

My final evaluation of this trade is that the Pirates are now set up better for the long run, since the "long run" in their case is only the next two or three years. This is the first time people have legitimate cause for optimism going into the season in a long time, and you need to look no further than the fact that there will be practically no veteran stopgaps on this team. For the first time in just about forever, almost every major contributor is going to be here for the long haul.

And of course, since I can't make a post involving Dave Littlefield without some sort of negativity, I discovered a pretty amazing blurb about Jamie Romak while doing some research when I first heard his name this afternoon.

From the London (Ontario) Free Press story about Romak getting drafted in 2003:

I was afraid Pittsburgh would step up because they'd shown the most interest. I was so happy to go to Atlanta.

Yeah, yeah, it's funny that he didn't want to go to the Pirates because the Pirates suck, and he was probably just spinning his own situation positively anyway like any player would, blah blah blah. That's all well and good, but I want to point out the part where it says the Pirates had shown the most interest in him prior to the draft.

For those of you unfamiliar with Dave Littlefield's tactics, if he sets his eye on a player, he is not going to rest until he gets him. Littlefield originally wanted Xavier Nady instead of Jason Bay in the Brian Giles deal, but Kevin Towers wouldn't budge (thank God). Three years later, Dave finally ended up with his man. Another example is when Littlefield was saved from himself by the Cubs outbidding the Pirates for Jeromy Burnitz prior to the 2005 season. One offseason later, Littlefield was hellbent on getting Jeromy to play for his team, and did not stop until he had done so. Dave apparently never forgot about Jamie Romak, either.

And now, I bid you farewell and good night.

My entry into the MetsGeek essay contest

(I know this isn't the Texans thing. I haven't forgotten it, I'll post it in the near future, probably Wednesday.)

PER-OLAF SODERLING IS MORE CLUTCH THAN BILLY WAGNER

I finally made it to Geno’s at about fifteen till nine. Knowing FOX as well as I did, I knew the game wouldn’t start until ten as they had recently decided that sporting events needed more Joe Buck, and had taken to flying him to every sporting event they could; the ones that he couldn’t make were put on a delay so that he could add commentary to them. Then there were the Miller Lite, Coors, Verizon, and Nana’s Natural Grain Bread commercials that he starred in. Sports were taking an even smaller niche in society, due mostly to the presentation. I accidentally slammed my tan pinkie in the similarly tan Yaris door in the rush to get in, but luckily there was no noticeable mark, just a sore sort of thing.

Mark caught up with me at the noticeably smoke-free counter, and we ordered some Flaming Piazza’s. Geno’s at forty-first had become the pre-eminent spot for Mets gameday if you didn’t have tickets, or if you were a Yankee fan looking to start shit. We were there to watch Game 5 of the World Series. The Mets were up 3-1 on the Texas Rangers, who were carried by Ahmed Al-Jorabi and his Triple Crown year. Al-Jorabi was the first international anybody could remember who didn’t play for the Mets that had made any sort of lasting impact, as the Mets had spent much money overseas developing academies in untapped regions for baseball like Africa and Europe. This had created such stars as three-time Cy Young Award winner Geert Van’t Klooster and centerfielder Ndumbu Mintsa-Nga, who many thought was the best defensive center fielder ever; teams were only finally catching on and scouting other regions.

We had a few, got settled in with the rest of the crowd in blue, and watched the TV screens and heard the radio waves; the Mets had just gone up 1-0 in the fourth inning on a surprising homer by speedy leadoffman Ryuichi Fuji. The bar was building in anticipation for the Mets eighth World Title in the last twelve years. Along with the Atlanta Braves of the nineteen nineties, or the Brewers of the twenty tens, they were the only teams in baseball history to have more than eleven consecutive division titles.

In walked these three old men, not in Mets colors, but in formal attire that you normally don’t see at Geno’s. They sat down at the only three stools left and ordered the same drink, one was a chubby-cheeked Asian, one was solemn and had the same tan skin I had, and one was a white guy with a goofy chin and obviously dyed brown hair. They all had the same expressionless look on their face. I sat there, lost in time, feeling there was something important about the men until Mark’s huge white hand clapped me on the back.

Mintsa-Nga had just launched a massive two-run shot that reached the Citifield upper deck in left, he pumped his fist while rounding the bases, stopping only after he reached home and compelled the fans to rise. I high-fived Mark and immediately thought “Shit!” as my grip on my drink loosened and it spilled all over the new Japanese patron.

“Goddamnit it was OVER twenty years ago, why can’t you people LEAVE ME ALONE!” he shouted at me in firm accent.

I stared at him trying to figure out why he would say such an odd thing, when it clicked into my head. “Wait,” I said, stunned. “You’re Kaz Matsui!”

He just nodded as the bar turned to face him, the wrath of the past rising again to a career long buried. The crowd cascaded boos on him, and the man with the goofy jaw finally got up and put his hands up. “Boys, we’re just here to watch the game and converse in peace.”

He had almost bored the crowd into a silence before a elderly man in the back called out to him: “FUCK YOU TRACHSEL! YOU KEPT US FROM WINNING IN 2006!” The crowd got riled up again and started shouting more profanities at the two men. A new figure jumped between the crowd and the two beleaguered old men, and to my surprise, it was Mark.

“Hold up there fanboys, these are just ordinary men like us now.” He paused, recomposed himself, and grabbed a random person in the front row by the shoulder. “I don’t know how many of you remember them actually playing, as there seems to be an awful lot of bandwagonism, but these men gave it all they had for our club on the field. They aren’t to be cursed at. We have a little something called ‘class’ here.”

Geno himself yelled “HERE! HERE!” at the mini-speech, but Mark wasn’t through yet. “As a group, we’re as obnoxious as Yankee fans were during their mini-dynasty in the late 90’s. Yeah, these guys stunk it up on the field. That doesn’t mean anything now. If anything, we should remember that they gave us a reason to enjoy what we have now much more. Having high expectations for our guys is great, but sometimes things just won’t go our way. Who here remembers 2018?”

More general acknowledgement was voiced through murmurs in the crowd. “Without these Mets, without the early sixties Mets, the early nineties Mets, we never would have anything to realize how lucky we are to have these guys on the field now. I remember loving the 2006 team so much, even though they fell short, because they were a reward for my faith in the franchise. Lets not take out our anger on Trachsel and Matsui, but instead lets be happy they were here, to make our good times feel sweeter.”

The crowd stood in awe, or drunken stupor, depending on the person. Geno had never been so moved by an in-door speech, drunken or not, and declared that it’d all be on the house that night if the Mets won the game. So we went back to our real job, cheering, believing, embracing. The only real pause was when the yet undiscovered Hispanic that was with Trachsel and Matsui tried to slide a beer across the table, breaking the mug into pieces, and making it abundantly to anyone who hadn’t figured it out yet that he was Victor Zambrano.

The Mets had brought on closer Per-Olaf Soderling, with their 3-0 lead still intact, and the tension mounted as the first two Rangers to face him reached. He was tired after pitching two innings last night, and it was obvious to everyone in the room.

He got a weak pop-up from Trey Tuloski, but walked the next hitter to set-up a climactic matchup with Al-Jorabi and his impressively long beard. The first two pitches were down and away, putting him in a 2-0 hole, and his third pitch was delivered right down the middle.

The ball was crushed, you really couldn’t hit a ball any harder than Al-Jorabi hit it, but it was right into the glove of thirty-eight year old David Wright, who stepped on third and ended the game, the season, and the playoffs.

Tears and cheers started, the beer flowed happily, and we dumped the champagne everywhere. And we even let Trachsel, Matsui, and Zambrano get showered in it. They were just one of us, after all. We were a family. No matter how bad things got for one another, we had to stick together.

Except for Roberto Alomar. Everyone agreed that he was terrible, and that wasn’t the beer talking.

Profiles in GM'ing: Wayne Krivsky (part 2)

We've already explored the intimate nature behind Wayne Krivsky and Timo Perez, but we also ran into some paradoxically good moves that he made by going the opposite way, such as the Brandon Phillips and Dave Ross moves. Perhaps looking at the standings will help us further understand Krivsky's transactions.

The Fodder
April 14, 2006 - Released Jacob Cruz, Released Frank Menechino, Signed Mike Venafro as a free agent.
April 21, 2006 - Sold Timo Perez to the St. Louis Cardinals.
May 2, 2006 - Released Tony Womack.
May 5, 2006 - Released Terrence Long.
May 30, 2006 - Traded Kyle Edens (minors) to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Received Esteban Yan and cash.
June 1, 2006 - Released Darrell May.
July 14, 2006 - Released Quinton McCracken.
July 17, 2006 - Released Mike Venafro.
July 24, 2006 - Released Esteban Yan.

Tony Womack - A holdover from the Dan O'Brien administration, Womack was acquired from the Yankees for non-prospects. The Phillips signing made him largely worthless (okay, moreso), as he got off to such a huge start (.349/.382/.587) in April that Womack received little playing time. This was a boon for the Reds.

Jacob Cruz - Consistently solid for a pinch-hitter prior to 2006, was removed because he wasn't Quinton McCracken and had never appeared in the playoffs. Picked up by the Mets late in the season and probably would've been better than Ricky Ledee was.

Mike Venafro - A bit of a head-scratcher how he got no work for the Reds, as he had a 2.45 ERA in 22 Louisville innings and a 2.20 ERA in 20 Colorado Springs appearances before putting up a similar 2.45 ERA for the Rockies. Oh wait, all the spaces for Venafro were taken by "sexier" options that Krivsky had to trade for, forgot about that. Anyways, he's a spring training Met this year and if we go to two lefties, I'll always have a spot in my heart for anyone who loses his AIM name in an hacked AP Press Release (mrven1)

Esteban Yan - Had a 3.6 ERA for the Reds in limited time, after getting bombed for the Angels. Was released after it became apparent that Gary Majewski was much better and was healthy.

Rick White - Defensible move, White was getting murdered (6.26 ERA), but rebounded slightly for the Pirates (albeit with worse peripherals, 4.34 ERA with 15 walks to 23 K's)

Slightly More Important. Slightly.
April 24, 2006 - Traded a player to be named later to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Received Cody Ross. The Cincinnati Reds sent Ben Kozlowski (June 1, 2006) to the Los Angeles Dodgers to complete the trade.
May 19, 2006 - Signed Joe Mays as a free agent.
May 25, 2006 - Traded Dave Williams and cash to the New York Mets. Received Robert Manuel (minors).
May 26, 2006 - Sold Cody Ross to the Florida Marlins.

The Cody Ross saga is here just because I'd like to point out that the Florida Marlins bought someone. Really. Considering Ross' stellar triple A record (.273/.328/.538 in 2004, .267/.348/.509 in 2005) and his penchant for the strikeout (78 in only 313 MLB AB's), his upside is probably that of defensively challenged fifth outfielder. Kozlowski hasn't been anywhere near as good a prospect as he was before Tommy John in 2003, making him one of the few victims of it. He dominated AA hitters last year (2.85 ERA in 60 innings for Jacksonville, 1.17 in 23 innings for Chattanooga), but was unable to take those to AAA, where he had two stints of double digit ERA's. This will probably be his last year to establish himself as some kind of relief status before he takes up residency at the Can-Am League or Wal-Mart with Matt Harrington.

Dave Williams had quite a few quality starts for the Mets down the stretch despite a high ERA. He's being groomed for the Darren Oliver long lefty relief role this year.

Joe Mays non-2002 big league ERA is 5.62 in 763 innings. I'll let that speak for itself.

"Fixing" The Team
June 15, 2006 - Traded Brandon Roberts (minors) to the Minnesota Twins. Received Juan Castro.
July 6, 2006 - Traded Travis Chick to the Seattle Mariners. Received Eddie Guardado and cash.
July 13, 2006 - Traded Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez, and Ryan Wagner to the Washington Nationals. Received Gary Majewski, Royce Clayton, Bill Bray, Brendan Harris, and Daryl Thompson (minors).
July 14, 2006 - Selected Brandon Watson off waivers from the Washington Nationals.
July 31, 2006 - Traded Zach Ward (minors) to the Minnesota Twins. Received Kyle Lohse. Traded Justin Germano to the Philadelphia Phillies. Received Rheal Cormier.
August 7, 2006 - Traded a player to be named later to the Philadelphia Phillies. Received Ryan Franklin and cash. The Cincinnati Reds sent Zac Stott (minors) (August 8, 2006) to the Philadelphia Phillies to complete the trade.
August 8, 2006 - Traded PTBNL to the Cleveland Indians. Received Todd Hollandsworth.
August 16, 2006 - Traded cash to the Toronto Blue Jays. Received Scott Schoeneweis.
August 28, 2006 - Traded Mike Burns to the Boston Red Sox. Received Tim Bausher (minors) and cash.
August 30, 2006 - Signed Jason Johnson as a free agent.
September 5, 2006 - Traded Future Considerations to the Colorado Rockies. Received Sun-Woo Kim and cash.

I for one, am glad to be on the Colorado Rockies. I never liked Krivsky's harsh attitude towards caffeine. He said it was a performance enhancer and wouldn't permit us at FC to drink it. He forced us all to drink orange juice. Dan O'Dowd lets us drink Sprite. Good man, that Dan O'Dowd.

Anyway, we come up with a new characteristic for Krivsky here; he loves ex-Twins. Of the trades for ex-Twins, all of them ended up being moderately successful. Lohse ended up being his third-best starter down the stretch, while Guardado had a 1.29 ERA in 15 innings before having to undergo Tommy John surgery. Juan Castro, hit out of his mind (for him), with a .284/.320/.421 line for the Reds, but had clearly lost a step defensively.

I already covered the Kearns debacle here, so I won't repeat myself.

After the Kearns trade though, Krivsky just had to keep digging at it. He got Scott Schoeneweis, who was apparently government payback on the Canadian soil for losing Carol Shields. Schoeneweis turned it around for the Reds, but still had an ugly 1.4 WHIP. Cormier is aging, but was easily the best reliever for the Reds last year, even despite his ERA raising from the 1.59 it was with the Phillies. The Phillies, by the way, finished 2 games out of the Wild Card. Good work, Pat Gillick. Also, thanks for thinking Wes Helms is going to protect Ryan Howard. Todd Hollandsworth can tell us the price of Dutch goods and once won Rookie Of The Year. Ryan Franklin is a completely disposable left-hander who follows the Joe Mays path (2003: 3.57 ERA in 212 innings) of being allowed many second chances to discover past glory.

Of the many non-prospects surrendered, only Travis Chick appeared in the majors this year, and he got pounded just as his peripherals at AA would suggest (37 walks, 44 strikeouts in 67 innings).

One thing I want to bring up here that you can't cover in trades; Krivsky's caution with top prospect Homer Bailey may have cost his team the playoffs. The black hole that was his back 3 slots of the rotation could have possibly be patched by a man with such credentials.

What we can learn about Wayne Krivsky's first year at the helm
-He protects his actual prospects
-Brandon Phillips pickup was shrewd
-He loves to acquire ex-Twins and players with playoff experience
-Spent way too much time trying to fix bullpen holes last year, and was swindled pretty terribly in the Kearns trade.
-Other than Kearns trade, has very much fit the typical cautious GM prototype. Few Bold Moves (TM Ford) and very little straying from "conventional" 1970's baseball guy wisdom.

You can see the moves this offseason following into these ideals too. The Alex Gonzalez signing (too much money, but a good shortstop glove with playoff experience), Jeff Conine trade (playoffs), Mike Stanton trade (playoffs), and David Weathers re-signing all show the same pattern.

The Reds face many interesting dilemmas this season, foremost what to do about Adam Dunn, who seems to be everything they hate. But with a full year of Edwin Encarnacion, a similarly weak NL Central, and hopefully some Homer Bailey innings, the Reds have a chance to make the playoffs next year with or without competent GM'ing. It'd just really help if Krivsky could see the forest for the trees when it comes to playoff experience over actual talent.

Profiles In GM'ing: Wayne Krivsky (part 1)

Wayne Krivsky was named Cincinnati Reds GM on February 8th, 2006. It hasn't even been a year yet, and he has already managed to acclimate himself with a reputation as one of the worst general managers in the game. Everyone knows about his horrendous big move, but to fully evaluate how bad of a GM Wayne Krivsky is, we need to reach into the most minute moves.

This part will be about the preseason, later we will cover the in-season moves. Then the offseason of 2006-2007. First, lets focus on the good he did.

March 20, 2006 - Traded Wily Mo Pena to the Boston Red Sox. Received Bronson Arroyo.
March 21, 2006 - Traded Bobby Basham (minors) to the San Diego Padres. Received Dave Ross.
April 7, 2006 - Traded a player to be named later to the Cleveland Indians. Received Brandon Phillips. The Cincinnati Reds sent Jeff Stevens (minors) (June 13, 2006) to the Cleveland Indians to complete the trade.

Few, if anyone, expected these three trades to come out as well as they did for Krivsky. Perhaps he had a magic touch, or perhaps he was lucky, but you can't take away the fact that all three of these moves were an immense help to the Reds. Brandon Phillips didn't even hit as well as he did last year in the triple A in 2005. The talent had always been there, as evidenced by Phillips' multiple appearances in multiple prospect rankings from 2002-2004. Maybe it was the fresh start he needed, or maybe it was a massive fluke and he's coming back to earth. It's too soon to tell.

David Ross, on the other hand, was universally regarded as an average-ish catcher (well, not universally; many people just didn't care) with some pop. He turned around and put up 21 homers and a 126 OPS+ in 247 AB's (why was he on the bench this much anyway?).

Bronson Arroyo, while being pumped in our face all year because he used to be a Red Sox player (one of the two teams in baseball), put up a pretty stellar year. He had a 146 ERA+, pitched more innings than anyone in the NL, and regained his strikeout rate that he had bobbled a bit in 2005.

Meanwhile the guys he gave up still have a little promise. Bobby Basham was busy being injured and only pitched in 2 games for Mobile this year, but Jeff Stevens was pretty okay in limited innings (4.4 ERA, but 43 K's in 42 innings for single A Dayton.) Pena is sort of an enigma at this point, because he has the bat to contribute (112 OPS+ in 276 AB's) , but wasn't given a lot of at-bats this year and does strike out a lot and he isn't a sterling defender. A second trade might be in order to find somewhere where he can play, and might I suggest beautiful Flushing? I think a Heilman/Pena trade would be mutually beneficial for both sides provided the Mets miss out on Zito and use Milledge to deal for a starter.


As for the bad, well...heres an auspicious start for you:
February 10th, 2006: Cincinnati Reds sign OF Timo Perez to a minor-league deal
February 14th, 2006: Cincinnati Reds sign OF Quinton McCracken to a minor-league deal

Well lets see, Timo Perez has been a bad 6th outfielder/minor league fodder for years. Rather than take a chance on someone new and unestablished, Krivsky opted for blandness. This is to become a defining characteristic of his GM-ing skills.

Then, apparently unsatisfied with his depth in terrible outfielders, he went out and got Quinton McCracken. Whenever I think of Quinton McCracken, I think of Ken Griffey Jr's Slugfest, where he was okay for some reason. However, doing research on these guys shows me a lot. Namely, the fact that Quinton McCracken went to Duke University. As if you needed more reasons to hate him!

Also, heres one other thing you'll learn about Krivsky: The guys he is acquiring have playoff at-bats. McCracken had 11 good at-bats with the Snakes against the Cardinals in 2002, and Timo Perez is a fuckface who can't be bothered to run home on Todd Zeile doubles.

Net value these two contributed: Perez was released and picked up by the Cardinals. Quinton McCracken added 53 at-bats of 45 OPS+ hitting.

February 19, 2006: Signed Karl Rhodes as a free agent.
March 19, 2006: Released Karl Rhodes.

Whew, that was close. Can't be having those 450 homer Japanese League players getting a shot over the likes of Quinton McCracken.

March 9, 2006: Released Luke Hudson.
Hudson wound up playing for the Royals last year, putting up a 5.12 ERA (95 ERA+) in 15 starts in a superior league (including no breaks, as he didn't get to pitch against the Royals). Heres a list of players who started more than one game for the Reds in 2006 that weren't Bronson Arroyo or Aaron Harang:

Matt Belisle, 2 starts, (ERA+ is for full year), 0.80 ERA as starter (sleeper if you're in an NL only league next year, and he only got to start at the end of the year when it became apparent that everyone else was shit.)
Kyle Lohse, 15 starts, 105 ERA+, 4.57 ERA
Chris Michalak, 6 starts, 95 ERA+, 4.89 ERA
Eric Milton, 26 starts, 93 ERA+, 5.19 ERA
Elizardo Ramirez, 19 starts, 90 ERA+, 5.37 ERA
Brandon Claussen, 14 starts, 78 ERA+, 6.19 ERA
Dave Williams, 8 starts, 77 ERA+, 7.20 ERA
Joe Mays, 4 starts, 66 ERA+, 7.33 ERA

Yeah, would've hated to have Hudson around to break up that murderers row.

Other pre-season signings:
Alex Sanchez - Noted steroid user put up a .492 OPS last year. In Triple A. Doesn't seem to fit any pattern of Krivsky's, although it does betray his weakness for people with reputation of a good glove.
Terrence Long - Lasted a month in Louisville before comically showing up in Yankee Stadium for a few games. Once again, another weak fifth outfielder candidate with playoff experience.
Darrell May - Started 8 games for Louisville last year, was released despite having a 3.86 ERA.

Today is the birthday of our real lord & savior

In honor, I will not be posting anything real today. Everyone celebrate The David's birthday, and be good to yourself and others.

Marlins to fans: Why go to the Salvation Army?

Buried in this press release:

In addition, the team is making available a limited number of $99 season tickets. The Marlins Holiday Pack, includes 25 games for just $99 (less than $4 per game) with two accessible plans. The Marlins Holiday Pack is a limited-time offer with seating subject to availability.

Thats basically the equivalent of a game against a bad opponent for a Red Sox or Yankee fan, no? See, sometimes it's fun to root for the little guy. Even if the little guy brought this on himself by stealing revenue sharing money and not even using any of it to fund his team. In a way, Red Sox/Yankee fan, you are paying the Marlins money so that they can sell packets of 25 tickets for $99 a piece.

Picture Of The Day

This is not what he had in mind when he asked to be posted, you can tell.