Baseball By Paul

I was perusing SI.com writer Jon Heyman’s article on “Seven Trades That Need To Happen” and I was left wondering if he even put any rational thought into most of them, especially the one including the Detroit Tigers. Heyman suggests the Tigers acquire Troy Glaus from the Toronto Blue Jays. While Brandon Inge will never be anything resembling a .300 hitter, he does an adequate job for a #9 hitter and plays tremendous defense, so I have no idea where Glaus would go. Worse yet, Heyman suggests the trade then writes a paragraph about how Todd Helton would be a much better fit. So then why not suggest Helton to Detroit? Maybe because he’s got him going to the Los Angeles Angels with Garrett Atkins. Helton makes much more sense for Detroit given the combined ineptitude of Sean Casey and Marcus Thames coupled with the resurgence of Helton after less-than-stellar 2005 & 2006 campaigns.

Back to the Helton/Atkins deal, I just don’t see it. Regardless of how deep Los Angeles’ system is, I can’t see Colorado unloading both, especially with Atkins in his prime at age 28. Heyman’s incorrect claim that third baseman Ian Stewart is Colorado’s top prospect is his only support for why Atkins would be moved. If he was talking about preseason, Stewart was fourth behind Troy Tulowitzki, Jason Hirsh, Franklin Morales and Dexter Fowler. With Tulowitzk and Hirsh on the major league club, he still ranks third behind Morales and Fowler.

FireJoeMorgan.com, arguably the best-named site in the history of the internet, does a fine job breaking down one of the other suggested trade, Scott Rolen to the Dodgers. Their only miss being that Dodger Stadium is not a cavernous ballpark and is actually prone to allowing home runs, rating slightly below Coors Field with a 110 index.

Some of his ideas are viable, like Chad Cordero to Cleveland to replace the awful Joe Borowski. Granted, the Indians have potential replacements in Rafael Betancourt and Fernando Cabrera, but still, Cordero is a proven commodity that could instrumental in a stretch run if given an opportunity. Ok, so maybe I only liked one of his seven ideas and mislabeled that as “some.”

Al Reyes to the Brewers? What?? Why??? Why would the Brewers move anything of substance for Reyes? I take nothing from Reyes with that comment, but the Brewers have one of, if not the hottest closer in the league right now with Francisco Cordero. And the road from the starter to Cordero has been well-paved. Chris Spurling, Derrick Turnbow, Carlos Villanueva and Matt Wise have a combined 3.09 ERA in 78 and 2/3 innings as well as a 2.4 strikeout-to-walk ratio. It just doesn’t make sense for them to give up other working parts to acquire someone whose deal with the devil could expire at any moment. Remember, Reyes is 37.

Ken Griffey Jr. to the White Sox. Hmm, well they could use him. Hell, they could use anyone that is hitting over .260 (because that would lead their team), but I don’t know if Junior is the fit. If he moves back to the AL, it will likely be somewhere he can DH semi-regularly and with Jim Thome in Chicago, that isn’t going to happen. The last idea was sensible enough, sending Jon Rauch to Boston. Maybe someone else gave him the idea.

My previous ESPN rant only came about because I was watching Pardon the Interruption earlier today and saw this glorious nugget dropped by Tigers manager Jim Leyland on Daisuke Matsuzaka:

“I don’t give a (expletive) about him,” Leyland said. “I’m not getting into all that. I could give a (expletive) less. It’s another pitcher.”

Good stuff. I like that he’s not afraid to say what is on his mind and really, he’s not off-base. For all the hype surrounding him, Matsuzaka has been a bust thus far. It should be interesting to see how the game goes tonight.