Tag Archives: mark teixeira

Deadline Deal Ratings

mark-teixeiraLast week I droned on about the mind-numbing dullness of baseball’s mid-season. This week I’m eating my words.

Lets break down the two biggest trade deadline deals.

  • Teixeira to the Halos: Braves trade Teixeira, who will become a free agent after this season, for Casey Kotchman (he of the .280 batting average, 12 dingers and 55 RBI). How did the Braves get fleeced here? They get a legitimate, starting first baseman who is excited about playing in Atlanta and who should hang round for a while. In return, they surrender a three-month rental player. Immediate advantage: Halos. Long-term advantage: Braves.
  • Manny to Dodgers: This is ludicrous, the biggest coup of Theo’s tenure. The Sox are instantly improved by obliterating the biggest team distraction this side of the Marlins’ Manatees.  As a bonus, they get Bay, a consummate professional who will bolster team chemistry and bring similar numbers to the table. Harp all you want about the “presence” Manny brought to the lineup. Presence shmesence. Manny’s numbers dont elevate him above the field anymore. Sure, he has superior career numbers, but he isn’t the fearsome hitter he once was. I’ll take Bay with his hustle, superior range in leftfield, and similar if not better offensive numbers. Winners: Sox.  Loser: Joe Torre.
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Mid-season Boringdomness

Apologies for my negligence. I’ve been down in Boston the past week-and-a-half looking for a “real job”.

The job hunt is frustrating and I’m afraid it’s sullied my mood a bit this rainy, Wednesday evening. Nonetheless, I’ll plug away for you, my faithful readers (if I’m not mistaken, there are between two and five of you—ahoy there Jaíme!).

Ehh.. baseball… trades…injuries.. We’re in the belly of the doldrums, my friends. Mid-July rolls through like a vat of hardened molasses. Oooo, Joe Blanton went to the Phils! Mark Teixeira might just go about anywhere west of the Mississippi! Stars above, Tony Clark went back to the D-Backs!

Last week the Sox were shellacked by The Los Angeles Halos of Southern California, Residing near Anaheim, Or At Least Playing In the General Vicinity (this never gets old). Then the Sox headed up north and promptly spanked the pants off the Double-A squad posing as the Seattle Mariners. It’s all so ho-hum, right? In the end, everything comes out in the wash. The Mariners will finish somewhere below the cellar, between the sewage canal and the compost heap, the Sox and Angels will probably face each other in the playoffs, and, if history is any indication, the Sox will probably win.

Mid-July is the giraffe’s neck of an interminably long baseball season. Every team takes a few shots to the chin, then administers a few in turn, but in the end the baseball universe tends to keep turning, as it should.

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