Was the whole Marlins free agent splurge/fire sale boondoggle all just an elaborate ploy to get Jose Reyes to cut off his dreadlocks?
(HT: @OSheaComputer)
The Red Sox are about to trade for a manager - John Farrell of the Blue Jays. The Sox have reportedly been after Farrell for a year, but couldn’t put together a deal that would compensate the Jays for losing their skipper to a division rival. Farrell is their old pitching coach, which worked out so well for the Sox when they tried it with Joe Kerrigan in 2001. Kerrigan went 17-26 to close out the season, signed a multi-year contract, and then got fired in spring training. Which probably wasn’t so bad for Kerrigan and his wallet.
A year after the Kerrigan experiment, the Rays traded outfielder Randy Winn to the Mariners for the right to hire Lou Piniella. The Rays won 70 games for the first time, but that was about all they got. Meanwhile the Mariners enjoyed Winn’s prime and flipped him to the Giants, though they missed the playoffs in Bob Melvin’s first year, despite winning 93 games. Oh, those innocent days of but a single wild card team!
The Mariners cratered in 2004, losing 99 games, and they hired Mike Hargrove the next year. Who lost 93 games. What can we learn from this situation? Well, it probably isn’t a good idea to trade a good player for a manager, but it also doesn’t help to dump your manager, especially if he’s so good another team wants him. For teams on either side of an exchange like this, a player-manager swap does not lead to a lot of Winning.
Seconds later, Lindros accidentally hit himself in the head with the bat, and missed four months with a severe concussion.
Eric Lindros baseball card.
The Blue Jays should have known that trading John McDonald would not go over well with their fan base. Here are just two of the hundreds of the self-proclaimed MacHeads who stormed the field at Rogers Centre tonight. Others held signs proclaiming, “No Glove, No Love,” “Return The Mac,” and cruelly, “Kelly Is A Girl’s Name.” Toronto police has dispatched mounted policemen in riot gear to handle what should be thousands of protesters rioting in downtown Toronto, pleading for the cancellation of the trade.
When reached for comment, Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said he expected McDonald to fill in as a late-innings defensive replacement.
Jerry Meals thinks Travis Snider was out here.
This Blue Jays fan is NOT getting a forearm bash from Brendan Ryan.
(AP photo)
Preliminary reports have this as a five-year, $65 million deal, with a team option that could make it six years and $78M. Bautista hit 54 home runs last year, which is 39 more than his previous career high. Also, he’s 29 years old and his most similar players are Mack Jones and Dan Pasqua, so there is really no way this deal could possibly backfire, right?
When informed of the trade, Kevin Garnett told Villanueva, “Usted está canceroso a su equipo y nuestra liga.”
Brandon Morrow
9 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 BB, 17 SO
Luckily, the Seattle Mariners got middle reliever Brandon League back in return for this fine Golden Bear, a trade which they do not regret at all, no way.
