So, near as I can tell…in the last 12 hours (and mostly in the last 3 or so)…
Oakland, Toronto, Arizona and Cincinnati traded Erubiel Durazo, Elmer Dessons, Felipe Lopez, and two players to be named (probably John-Ford Griffen and Jamie Arnold).
Edgardo Alfonzo signed with the Giants.
The Mets traded Rey Ordonez to Tampa for two PTBNL. (Probably Russ Johnson is one of them.)
Boston acquired Jeremy Giambi for a pitching prospect (Josh Hancock).
San Diego dealt Brett Tomko to St Louis for Luther Hackman.
And none of these deals involved the Expos who were expected to be the center of attention this month due to salary restrictions.
The Durazo deal looks like the D’Backs got the short end in terms of talent. But the story I read says, " Oakland, Toronto and Cincinnati each sent $333,333 to Arizona." So, at least they got a little cash. Not enough in my opinion.
The Giants are looking better and better. Durham, Alfonzo, Bonds at the top of the order – if they can hold onto Kent or trade Ortiz for a bat they’ll be very dangerous.
Tampa Bay trades two players for a glove. Why am I not surprised? This deal should help them hold down last place in the AL in 2003.
Jeremy Giambi to the Red Sox. If Theo Epstein needed to justify his hiring as GM, this just did it. I don’t know enough about Hancock to offer an opinion on the Phillies will come out of this.
I can’t see Tomko hurting the Cards. We’ll have to wait and see on this. I think there may be another player besides Hackman in that deal. If not, the Padres got ripped.
What’s next? Well, I expect Floyd will end up with the Yankees, BoSox or Braves.
And I suspect Ricciardi is nowhere near done dealing. Stewart or Cruz in a package for pitching will probably happen.
If the Yankees get Colon will they take Tatis? With him and Zeile alternating between 3B and DH?
The Rangers will do something involving Blalock and pitchers.
I want to see Javier Vasquez to Boston. Gammons said the ‘Spos would move him if their trading partner were willing to pay Tatis’ contract, and I don’t see anyone outside of the AL East making that deal. There isn’t much room for Tatis’ big butt in Boston, though, so the Yanks seem a more likely destination.
I love the Todd Walker acquisition. A very consistent .290, 15-HR, 75 RBI guy with a decent glove at second for a good price. I don’t see the value of Giambi, it’s not like we don’t already have enough guys that won’t be playing first, and while I don’t know anything about Hancock either, I’m tired of seeing the Sox trade away pitching prospects for no reason.
The value of Giambi lies in his ability to get on base and his decent power. He’s a run-producer and Fenway should be a good hitting park for him. This guy will be a more than pleasant surprise for Sox fans.
There is a PTBNL involved here, probably a minor leaguer. There was talk that Vina would be dealt with Hackman but thankfully the Cards changed their mind. I’m a little disappointed that the Cards seem to have given up on Chuck Finley, but Tomko’s age makes up for it.
WooHoo. Repeat! Repeat!
It is my opinion that the Yankees won’t be able to sign Colon they are trying to offload some pretty hefty salaries. Hopefully GMs are finally figuring out that the Yankee farm system is mostly hype. strikethree.com rates it at #27. (Next week the top 10 farm systems comes out–and since my team aint in the bottom 20, they made it. Life is good in Disneyland.)
I was amazed at how much stuff the sports writers could say with very little action in the first few days of the winter meetings. Rumors, rumors, and more rumors.
As what, a full-time DH? He was a liability in LF for Oakland, and playing out there in Fenway takes some talent. Or put him at first and move Daubach back to left? I don’t like that.
You’re right about his abilities meshing well with Fenway. The same goes for Walker, and I think Epstein’s making some shrewd decisions in that respect.
It’s not that I’m saying Giambi is a bad player, or will do poorly, I just don’t see where he fits in.
Well, I see the Royals weren’t able to dump Joe Randa on the Mets. Why do I have a feeling that Allard Baird is going to decide to stand pat on the bunch that lost 100 games?
The PTBNL is Mike Wodnicki, 22 years old. He went 11-10 with a 3.49 ERA at Class A Peoria in 2002.
The Cardinals also picked up 21 year old right-hander Andy Cavazos in the Class 5 draft. He was 6-5 with a 3.92 ERA for the Charlotte Rangers of the Class A Florida State League.
I’m a little concerned that the Cardinals starting rotation for next year is all right-handers (Morris, Williams, Simontacchi, Tomko and Stephenson). Hopefully Walt Jocketty will be able to acquire a left-hander or two to mix things up a little.
I’m surprised the Cubs haven’t made any significant moves yet. It looks like they’re interested in Ivan Rodriguez and Dusty Baker has expressed interest in Jeff Kent. They should be able to get one of them, but I don’t think they’ll want to spend money on both.
He is best suited for DH. Of course, so is Ramirez. If Floyd accepts arbitration, matters will get more complicated. I’m of the opinion that Giambi’s run production more than balances his defensive deficiencies. I would leave Daubach on the bench and put Nixon in LF, Floyd at 1B and rotate Ramirez and Giambi at DH; with Nixon moving to right when Manny ain’t there, which would push Floyd to LF and Giambi to 1B.
Fewl, I think WL’s point is that there’s a limit to how much you gain by adding Giambi to the mix when you already have a stableful of 1B-DHs. If you’re going to spend millions, why not spend it somewhere where it can get you more than just an extra 15 runs a year?
There’s always talent piling up at 1B-DH because fielding takes skill. Spend the bucks on middle infielders and CFs who can both hit, and field their positions. That’s where talent in everyday players is scarce. And capable catchers. If a GM does that, then the rest of his nonpitching problems will be comparatively easy to solve.