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August 6, 2004 You Could Look It UpWhat's the Value of a Deadline Deal?
For the next two weeks, You Can Look It Up, dedicated to exploring the baseball of today through the examples of the past, will examine the key midseason trades for each franchise (midseason being generously described as June 15 to the end of the regular season) and evaluate each trade to see what a midseason addition is really worth, and, if possible, discern patterns and discover which deals really help and which are of little or even negative value. After we break down each trade, we'll come to a "snap judgment," a hasty conclusion. At the end of the series, we'll see if those judgments add up to any helpful conclusions. Before We Begin It is with great sadness that we note the passing of Mets' Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Murphy. Murphy was a consummate professional who delivered a crisp play-by-play of the game, never letting an anecdote, trademark call, verbal frill, or digression get in the way of the action. The verbal choreography of a Mets broadcast with Murphy and his last partner, Gary Cohen, was a study in perfect timing, with anecdotes neatly folded between pitches. You never heard the words, "We'll get back to that story after the break," on a Mets game. They always got it in, and if they didn't have the space to finish, they didn't start. His voice was warm, and his understated "We'll be right back with the happy recap" after a Mets win was heard all too infrequently during most of the years he covered the team, yet he always sounded sincere. Murphy wasn't a homer, but he sounded interested, invested in the outcome. He brought a sense of enthusiasm and excitement to the proceedings. Over 40 years with the Mets this man had broadcast thousands of losing ballgames, and sometimes it was hard to wonder if his joviality wasn't a put-on, an act. If it was, he was very, very good at it. Murphy's Mets broadcasts were a pleasure to listen to, unmarred by the showy bombast that is the trademark of their crosstown counterparts. The game was always the story. Today the story is Murphy and the happy recap is a memory--but it's a good one. Thank you, and rest in peace. The Minnesota Twins The first four deals listed here are all part of the Twins' desperate attempt to win the American League West in 1987. Because they are small deals that add up to one example of a frenetic attempt to do something, anything, we'll break slightly from our usual format and wait until we've listed all four deals before looking at the result and making a snap judgment.
Date: 6/7/1987
Date: 6/24/1987
Date: 7/31/1987
Date: 9/1/1987 Result: The Twins were a mediocre team with exactly two above-average players on offense (Kent Hrbek and Kirby Puckett), two decent pitchers (Frank Viola and Bert Blyleven), and a huge home field advantage. Luckily, they found themselves in a division that nobody wanted. A year later, Tony LaRussa's A's would dominate the division, but in 1987 there were only a bunch of .500 teams, each standing around waiting for something to happen. To their credit, the Twins knew they had to improve. The problem was, they didn't have much to trade. The roster at AAA Portland included Billy Beane, Ron Gardenhire, Alvaro Espinoza, Tom Nieto, Chris Pittaro, and Jeff Bittiger. No one at AA Orlando had hope of growing up to be even Chris Pittaro, let alone Billy Beane. Without much to deal, they aimed low, acquiring three stars of the 1970s on the verge of retirement: Niekro (42), Carlton (42), and Baylor (38). Schatzeder was just 32 and had been serviceable swing man in 1983. He posted a 6.39 ERA as a Twin. The old-timers were about the same. Arguably these trades hindered the Twins more than they helped. Snap Judgment: You aim low, you hit low. The Twins did have a trading commodity, their highly thought of first base prospect Gene Larkin. The switch-hitter's minor league stats were not impressive; that he drove in 104 runs at Orlando in 1986 counted for far more than it should have. Larkin wasn't helping the Twins win. Had he been packaged with Salas, a left-handed hitting catcher who was still coasting on the high from his fluke .300/.332/.458 season (382 plate appearances) of 1985, the Twins might have been able to reel in something bigger. Of course, they won the World Series anyway, but with these trades they were swimming against the current.
Date: 7/28/2001
Date: 7/30/2001
Date: 7/16/2003 Next Time:The Cincinnati Reds
Steven Goldman is an author of Baseball Prospectus. 0 comments have been left for this article.
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