Official Trade Deadline Thread - Page 3

Well, the thing about Kazmir is, of all the pitchers in the minor leagues, he may have had the highest ceiling. You don't find many left handers that can hit 97 on the gun, especially with his downright silly K/9 ratios.

And seriously, Brandon Claussen? Being a top Yankee prospect doesn't mean much these days.

The reason why so many are bothered by the trade isn't because they traded Scott Kazmir, it's because what they got in return was Victor Zambrano. A pitcher with a 1:1 strike out to walk ratio (whose averaging less than 6 innings per start) for a top 15 prospect is a bit hard to swallow, now if we were talking about Brad Penny or Matt Clement, it would be an entirely different story.

trading kazmir for an average pitcher is one of the worst trades i've ever witnessed. it could turn out ok if he ends up being nothing special but my main grip is they had the option of trading himself and reyes for soriano. now instead they get to keep reyes and they traded for zambrano. i'd much prefer just soriano.

To tell the truth, I wouldn't. Alfonso Soriano is something like eight years older than Jose Reyes, and in the words of an NL Executive "[he] strikes out too much, he doesn't walk and he can't play defense. What else is there to think about?" Even as currently constructed, why would you deal a young, cheap and talented shortstop and a cheap starting pitcher that has great stuff for a poor defensive second basemen with a sub .800 OPS that's already arbitration eligible?

Here we go:
Alfonso Soriano
.319OBP .460SLG .780OPS 20HR 10SB

He really wouldn't be the Mets best bat, Cameron's got better numbers (.332OBP .493SLG .824OPS 23HR 15SB), Piazza submerged within the worst slump of his career has still got better numbers (.373OBP .474SLG .848OPS 17HR), and Hidalgo has been remarkably solid as a Met (.347OBP .571SLG .918OPS 13HR). Hell, if Cliff Floyd were healthy (Like that would ever happen), his numbers (.352OBP .493SLG .840OPS 14HR) would have been more than comparable. And let's not forget the enormous difference in ballparks, going from the Ballpark in Arlington to Shea. Have you even checked out Soriano's road splits? He's already having a subpar overall season, care to guess what his numbers away from Texas are? .275OBP .374SLG .650OPS, boy oh boy is that appetizing.

They didn't make the trade because the extent of Reyes' injury was unknown at the time, and Soriano simply wasn't worth it. You have a 20 year old phenom who last year put up a .340OBP .418SLG .758OPS in July and a .408OBP .509SLG .917OPS in August (who, BTW has put up similar July numbers this season with a .318OBP .418SLG .736OPS and 11 stolen bases, something I find impressive for someone with the body of a 37 year old). Did I mention he can actually play his position? What are you upgrading? Age? And not only do you have to give him up, you have to throw in your best pitching prospect to boot? Why would that be a good move? And here I am merely talking about their ability on the field, ignoring the fact that Jose Reyes and Scott Kazmir (now Victor Zambrano) are Met property for years to come at low numbers, whereas Alfonso Soriano is arbitration eligible at the end of this season.

Perhaps it's because I'm one of the few who sees Juan Samuel where others see Hank Aaron, or perhaps I'm just nuts, but a 28 year old guy that strikes out as much as he does, without developing any sort of plate discipline or defensive acumen is simply not worth the price you mentioned above. I've thought this when the trade rumors were swirling during the offseason (hell, I've even posted as much in that silly Mets Journal I started), and will continue to think this until I see something that gives me reason to think otherwise. Alfonso Soriano posting a .780OPS in Texas certainly hasn't made me think twice about it.

Hamels and Floyd are *not* in the Top 10. I think Floyd might be close, but Hamels is closer to 50 than 10. These guys aren't as hyped outside of the Phils organization as they are inside. Granted, they are both supposed to be good, but the Phillies would have you believe that they are both going to be staff aces when, in fact, I've read reports predicting that they both might be mid-to-back of the rotation guys.

Is this 2003 or 2004?
When you are 6 games back in your division you need Robero Alomar. a 26 year old Alomar not this 36 year old version. Not sure the point of the trade.

Let's see last year the Sox traded for Carl Everett and Roberto Alomar and let them go in the off season. Now they trade for them again. And they aren't even that good. For his sake I hope he didn't trade anone of value.

It's almost always better to trade a prospect for a proven veteran. They always bring up the stories like John Smoltz, but the fact is, that's a rarity. None of these 'great' prospects have proven anything, yet. There are a million minor league studs who were never more than MLB role players or couldn't even make it. Not trading a guy who MAY be pretty good, for a pitcher like Benson who is already good, is just silly.

Again, though, there are exceptions - like trading for Roberto Alomar. Any minor league player who's not a corpse is worth keeping over him.

Also, if you're too far out, you'd better sign the players you trade for. The Mets were stupid to trade Kazmir, but if they can sign Benson long-term, it was a solid move.

So, future HoF'mer Alomar has played for seven teams now...which cap does he wear into Canton?

I say Blue Jays.

Blue Jays or Indians. Probably the Jays.

100% chance alomar goes in wearing a jays cap. it's not even something to think about. alomar was probably the third best player in the game during those year's and the best player on a 2 time world series championship team. player's don't even get to decide which team they get to go in as. the hall decides this by where th eplayer had his most productive years. in alomar's case the jays although he was still very good in cleveland. gary carter wanted to go in as a met but the hall made him wear an expos cap because he had his best years there. alomar most likely will be the first jay in hall.