Article:Legends Trading Places



Sitting here about 20 minutes before Yanks take on Anaheim Angels of Los Angeles, California, 90210, and ladies and gentlemen oh what a pitching matchup if you like pitching, and I assume if you do if you tuned into this blog: Sid "The Squid" Ponson against Ervin "Evil Ways" Santana.

Yanks play Angels 9 more times this season, and if last night's game was any indication, it's gonna be tough for the Yankees to make the playoffs. Also, Yanks have a lot more road games left than home games; Yankees have played 10 more games at home (34-25) than on road (25-24). After this series with Angels, it's 3 at Texas, 3 at Minnesota, where you can bet Twins will be still be smarting from their 3-game sweep last week at Yankee Stadium.

By now you may have heard there were some moves made just before the trading deadline. In what is known in the biz as a flurry of activity, a couple of players you may have heard of changed uniforms, and just may have some kind of impact on the rest of the baseball season.

Has there ever been a 24-hour period in the history of baseball when 3 Hall of Famers were traded? If so I'd like to know about it. But we saw Manny Ramirez exiled to L.A., Junior Griffey heading to the Windy City, and Pudge Rodriguez will now squat behind the plate for none other than the Yankees, acquired in exchange for Kyle Farnsworth, who for most of his New York stay was an underachieving fan un-favorite.

I thought the Red Sox did as well as they could in getting back Jason Bay, a career .282 hitter who won't turn 30 until September. Trading Manny was like trading Allen Iverson for the 76ers: everyone knew you didn't want him anymore under any circumstances, so it's a matter of getting something of value, not shooting for the moon. I don't see how the Red Sox could have done better, and that's coming from a Yankee fan, admittedly one who's glad to see the all-time Yankee killer in another league. But Bay gives them a young outfielder to pair with Ellsbury and Drew, and a righthander like Bay aiming at the Green Monster can't be a bad thing.

The Angels, already the best team in baseball (68-40 overall, an astounding 37-19 on the road) and one that has shattered more than one recent postseason for the Yankees, getting Mark Texeira has to scare the rest of the AL. Can the best team in baseball be underrated even if everyone is saying the Angels are the best team? That's the kind of paradox we're dealing with here. If I had to start a team, and I don't at the moment, I would choose the Angels' manager, Mike Scosia. And it doesn't hurt to have Vlad Guerrero, who also flies under the radar despite being one of the great talents of the last few decades. That's right, I said it, and I'm standing behind it, at least for now.

New York Metropolitans stood pat, and who wouldn't with such a juggernaut. Omar Mineya is putting an awful lot of faith in guys like Fernando Tatsis, Endy Chavez, and Luis Castillo. And of course he should, because he's the guy who overpaid for these players in the first place.

Yanks also picked up Victor Zambrano off the scrap heap, who I get a feeling is the last piece of this championship puzzle. But seriously, if we get anything from Zambrano, it's more than the Mets got from him, and that will be enough to ruffle the feathers of their fans.

Speaking of birds and feathers, Paul Lo Duca was told his services would no longer be required by the Washington Nationals, and oh how far the mighty big mouth has fallen. Never any question about Lo Duca's ability and his grittiness behind the plate, but it's everything else that goes with it that wears out his welcome sooner rather than later.

Was hoping Manny would be sent to Florida, where the Mets would have to deal with him in their own division. That would have been sweet. Best Manny Being Manny memory from his Boston time is when he went out to leftfield with a water bottle in his back uniform pants pocket, making a sliding catch and landing on it. That and throwing the 62-year-old equipment manager to the ground when he didn't get enough tickets or something. Has one player ever had so many enablers in one city? That's sports for you, I guess, but the excuses for Manny were as sickening as they were predictable. Steve Karstens already dividends for new-look Pirates, cooling off the hot Cubs with 6 shutout innings this afternoon. Karstens, one of the players the Bucs got back in the Xavier Nady trade, has fought threw a series of injury problems the last few seasons, and still won't be 26 until much later this season. Maybe Pirates knew what they were doing after all. This could be the one of those deals that's good for both teams after all.

And that's it, girls and boys. Go watch your games, we'll pick all this up later.