I checked my copy of Baseball Prospectus this morning to get a quick-and-dirty read on the trade by adding up the projected VORPs of all the players involved. Rounding everyone to the nearest whole number, both teams gave and received exactly 43 points of VORP! So maybe it is true that all you need to be a GM is a current copy of BP (and a willingness to suck up to owners).
As a Cubs fan, I see it as pretty much a meh, with a potentially high upside in the not-too-likely event that Harden can stay healthy. Gallagher and Gauden seem like pretty much the same guy, so basically we traded two fourth outfielders and an A-ball prospect (albeit one with a high upside, per BP) for a lottery ticket on Harden’s health. I guess it’s worth it…I have a hard time imagining that I’m going to be crying in my beer at the end of the season saying “Oh, if only we’d kept Matt Murton, it would have made all the difference!”
Something is clearly wrong with Aaron Harang. The guy was 10-3 last year at this point, and now he’s almost exactly the opposite. Last night’s outing by him was painful to watch. 7 walks! And giving up those dingers.
I hope Johnny Cueto brings his new and improved stuff tonight, we’re going to need it.
Oh, and fuck you Ryan Dempster, for being a complete piece of garbage while you were a Red, and now are a worthy pitcher for someone else (which is an alarming trend with Reds players, I’m afraid).
C’mon Reds, get your shit together and act like you care!
You know, the Tigers would be making up ground if the White Sox would do their part and lose. We’re still 6 games back, but we should take at least 3 out of the next 4. The Indians and Twins aren’t that good away from home.
I was sitting in a wings place playing Buzztime trivia when the news broke. I saw that the Cubs had acquired Harden and thought “Oh, crap, who’d they give up!!” :mad:
Well, I wasn’t mad long…
And the good news is, they didn’t trade for a position player. I want them to KEEP GOING WITH WHAT THEY HAVE ON THE FIELD.
:eek: indeed. Mulder scares me. What are the chances of him being an effective starter?
And, still, Carpenter and Wainwright are both due back in August. If they’re at full stength, that ought to be as good as acquiring a pitcher from elsewhere.
Yeah, but to be fair, we did get Edinson Volquez in that deal, who’s now 11-3 and in the top three pitchers in the MLB in SO and ERA. And he’s an allstar.
But we sure do miss Hamilton’s bat in the outfield. Our combined average between our three outfielders is something like .245, what with Dunn’s .225, Griffey’s .230 and Jay Bruce’s .270
Gag. Two leads against the White Sox, two leads blown. This time we did it with a balk, of all things.
Royals are looking way too much like the 1962 Mets for me to be happy with them now. And just think, two days ago I thought that 40-50 meant good times ahead.
Goddamit! A wasted effort by the rookie Johnny Cueto, yet again.
Fuck you, Adam Dunn. You should have caught that ball, it would have changed the complexion of the game. Worthless double-digit payroll eating slacker machine.
An ugly rumor about the D-backs signing Barry Bonds.
I’m getting down on my knees praying this doesn’t come true. I really can’t see Bonds in the National League. His defense is pathetic and certainly hasn’t gotten any better with having a half season off.
Yeah, we’re struggling offensively. But, Bonds is not the solution.
I think the Mets should sign him. They could have Carlos Beltran and Endy Chavez cover the entire outfield and Bonds and Moises Alou can sit in foul territory in deck chairs. I don’t know if there’s enough room to play shuffleboard.
I’ll trade you for Endy Chavez, straight up. Endy catches everything, and he runs out every ground ball like he’s charging up the beach at Normandy. Deal?
You can’t score, one the top hitters ever is available to sign, you have to give up nothing, and he isn’t the solution? Sure his defense is bad, but it isn’t pathetic, and no worse then any other hit only outfielder like Raul Ibanez or Manny Ramirez. It actually is probably a little bit better. Besides left field defense really isn’t that important in the scheme of things. Bonds will createw much more value at the plate than he will lose in the field.
Even if he is 20% percent worse a hitter than last time he played, he would still be the best hitter on your team, and could very well be the difference between a playoff trip and October golf.
You know, if someone says: “Bonds is a douchebag, and I don’t want him on my team because I can’t stomach the idea of rooting for him,” salut and good on you. I sympathize; in fact, I emphathize. Putting Bonds in left field in place of Fernando Tatis / Endy Chavez and limiting those two gentlemen to a right field platoon until Church or Alou is ready to play would probably be worth a bunch of extra second-half wins - enough maybe to win the division. But I’m reluctant, because on a purely visceral, I’m-a-fan level, I don’t want to root for the man.
But everybody wants to couch their disdain for Bonds in baseball terms, to make it sound like “oh, he wouldn’t make the team better anyway.” And there’s probably not a single team in baseball for whom that’s true, particularly if he’s playing for the league minimum. In sheer baseball terms, in terms of wins and losses and place in the standings and chances at the playoffs, every team would benefit from adding Barry Bonds. The other advantages and disadvantages are there to be debated, but I don’t understand dissension on that central point.
Bonds would be a good player for any AL team with a weak DH **except ** he brings a chaotic news circus with him that could disrupt a team. I would pass on this problem. Additionally, not many fans will want to cheer for him. He is probably the most disliked man in baseball.
His fielding is poor enough now that I doubt it would be a good idea to even bury him in left. If I were an NL GM I would have two good reasons to stay away from him. So what AL team in contention needs a DH and can survive the media shitswarm? I would have said maybe Oakland, but they appear to have run up the white flag. (This of course confuses me.) I cannot see him on the Twins and the 3 AL East teams make no sense at all.
Does Toronto still think they have a chance? The media problem would probably be minimized and they could use the offensive boost. I would probably pass as I don’t think they would have a chance even if they got the 35 year old Barry without the swarm.
The local paper makes it sound like he’ll never pitch again. He has an MRI in St. Louis today that quote, “may be just a formality after three major surgeries”. Yikes! I’m sad for the guy, trying to come back and to blow up like that and have it be the last time you’re on the mound.
Zone Ratings isn’t the end all of defensive stats, but given Bonds problem is mostly lack of range, it should highlight Bonds defensive deficiencies. Bonds’ Zone rating in 2007 was .813, which isn’t good. However, Pat Burrell also has a rating of .813. Carlos Lee had one of .787, Raul Ibanez .761, and Manny Ramirez .713. Even if Bonds defense falls a bit more due to time off, he isn’t going to be any worse than some of those guys. Do you believe Ibanez, Manny, Lee and, Burrell aren’t worth playing due to lack of defensive skill?