I really don’t want to start up the arguing about the trade deadline again. It got so over the top that I had to walk away from the site for a bit (which isn’t great, the nice people give me cheese doodles to be on the site). I understand unhappiness with what the Blue Jays did, but we acted like Atkins traded Babe Ruth to finance his vanity movie project. I think when things get that heated it is good to walk away for a bit to relax a bit.
Anyway, yeah I was disappointed with the Sanchez trade. I wanted them to keep him and see if he could find his way back to being useful. I knew he wasn’t going to bring back a game changer in trade. I didn’t think we could trade him. I hope that he does great with the Astros. If he does well, it won’t change my opinion of the trade. I don’t think it was happening here. Adding Biagini....well I don’t see him being more than average reliever (or better than an average comedian, for that matter). Cal Stevenson, I don’t really see as a prospect, but anything could happen.
Derek Fisher, I don’t know. I guess there is a chance he could figure things out. He was a top prospect, at one time, maybe he can find his way back. The ball in the face wasn’t a good look. He has hit a couple of balls hard.
The Stroman trade? I figured we’d be getting two pitchers back, one almost major league ready and one further back with upside. I didn’t expect him to be traded to the Mets. I do like Simeon Woods Richardson and think Anthony Kay could be interesting. Kay’s 11 walks in his first 15.2 innings in Buffalo aren’t reassuring. His last start, 6 innings, 1 hit and 8 strikeouts looks good. The 5 walks? Oh well.
SWR also gave up just 1 hit in his last start, but managed to do it with just 1 walk. And 18 strikeouts in his 13.2 innings in Dunedin makes me optimistic.
The Sogard trade? We picked him up for free, so I’m not expecting anything out of that.
I like Thomas Hatch for Dave Phelps. Daniel Hudson for Kyle Johnson? Who knows. Obviously we weren’t going to get a star for Hudson.
Anyway the poll results:
The national question was asking which team looked the strongest after the deadline?
Yeah the Astros look good.
The weekly question?
93% of us like the job Charlie Montoyo is doing. I mostly like what he does, but:
Yesterday’s game Neil Ramirez, opener, gets through the first inning on 7 pitches. Now I know the plan was to have him one throw one inning, but 7 pitches. Part of being a manager is the ability to deviate from the plan at times. Why not send him out for another inning?
Then Brock Stewart in the seventh inning. He gave up a couple of home runs in the inning, but we were up 17-3 at the time. Why not see if he can get through the inning. And then Buddy Boshers, in the eighth, gives up a walk and a hit batter, but has 2 outs and we are up by 2 touchdowns. Why pull him? Unless his arm was about to fall off (and even then) why pull him? He could give up a grand slam and it still wouldn’t be a ball game. It seemed a waste to bring in Shafer.
But, he’s bunting less (thank you). And, the team looks so much better with all the young guys playing.
The confidence in the front office question got a 64% this week, actually up from 58% the week before.
I do feel good about the future. Pitching is the worry. We do have quantity in starting prospects and some quality there. I think picking up one good arm in free agency will be important. And if Shoemaker could come back and pitch like he did early in the season, that wouldn’t hurt.