Monday, August 02, 2010
The deadline deals that died
Posted by Anna McDonaldDied: The Texas Rangers drafting a mission statement about the value of good spending habits.
Major league baseball is filled with shining moments and valuable lessons. Some, we should pass onto our children. This is not one of them. People have talked about how major league baseball has allowed a team (ehm, mess) in bankruptcy to actually spend more. Having the approval by a major corporation to spend more than you can pay would be one reason to scratch a new company mission statement about wise spending habits.
Died: The Yankees proving (once again) that they can pay too much for whatever they want
David Letterman's Lebronesque plea last week to have Albert Pujols traded to the Yankees didn't pan out to be anything. Yeah, of course, Letterman's been trying to get him on the show forever AND it just never synced with Albert's schedule.
Well, that explanation makes sense. Because, what's exactly on Albert's schedule when he's visiting New York that he doesn't have time to appear on Letterman? After all the attention he was getting in New York right before the trade deadline, without actually being a Yankee, the management started panicking. Everyone needs to be reminded at least once a year (and trade deadlines are opportune times for this sort of reminding) that the Yankees can spend a ton of money. So, they quickly acquired a whole bunch of players with fancy names. Experts agree these were good acquisitions but they failed and severely disappoint many, in the "using large amounts of unending wealth and paying too much for a player" category this year.
Died: trade deadline surprises
There was a lot of dumping. Many deals matched needs, but gone are the days of those fascinating, secret, hard to pull off trades. Remember way back when, before the days of tweetatextablackberry people? Days long ago, when rumors would quietly start around the ballpark about a trade that no one saw coming? The kind of trades that propel media types running back to their desks because they needed to dig up more information? Maybe all our tweetatextablackberry gadgets aren't the best means to make baseball more exciting. There's nothing that gets both fans and players excited than a GM pulling off a (good) down to the wire surprise.
Died: switching uniform attire for a Nationals first pitch ceremony
Sources are saying that a major deal fell through in the Nationals organization. It would have sent Miss Iowa to the pitching mound in a Nationals jersey and Mr. Batista to home plate in his Speedo. Let's all take a minute and thank Mike Rizzo for not making this deal happen. I'm not qualified to judge what Miss Iowa should be wearing, but I'm certain no one wants to see Miguel Batista in a Speedo.
Anna just opened a Twitter account. You can follow her @Anna__McDonald. She also writes for ESPN.com.
Anna,
I agree with the death of trade deadline surprises. I try not to watch the last 48 hours of MLBTR and actually go places so I get the mystery text of X has been traded for Y. Deals like Haren to the Angel (2010) and Tex to the Angels (2008) came out of the blue to me while at Cubs games. I think people should avoid reading the rumor mill until after the deadline. It makes the trades that much more mind blowing.