Sorry, this is a little bit old (Aug 1), but I thought Jayson Stark's espn.com article on trade deadline winners gave a grounded viewpoint that the Dodgers did well by (largely) standing pat:
"The first thing Sherrill gives them," one scout said, "is that their bullpen is worn out. So he'll be fresher than any of those guys. And if they see the Phillies down the road, he's one of the best left-on-left relievers there is." They didn't get the top-of-the-rotation starter they were stalking (Halladay or Lee). And they missed out on Heath Bell in one final pre-deadline buying spree. But there was only one impact bullpen arm who changed teams this week (George Sherrill). And it was the Dodgers who reeled him in -- without dealing away any prospect who figured in their short-term or middle-term plans. Sherrill is precisely what this bullpen needed. He can pitch the eighth inning. He can pitch the ninth. He devours left-handed hitters (who are batting .133, with precisely one extra-base hit and no homers, against him). And he could be a huge weapon in October if the Dodgers meet the lefty-loaded Phillies, who went hitless in three appearances against him this year.
Such a nice contrast that a national sportswriter of repute gives, relative to the bombastic delivery of our own resident columnist. (Not only is the hypothesis incorrect that a lack of a major move, from the two teams with the best records in their respective leagues, an incredibly faulty argument; but grouping the Dodgers with the Angels--who made ZERO moves this deadline--is simply unsound and ridiculous.)
And even if the lack of the big arm comes back to bite the Dodgers in the ass come October, it sounds like Toronto's reluctance to consider a reasonable market-based offer was so absurd, Colletti's unwillingness to "do a deal" only means that we correctly did not raid the coffers (or roster) to sign Roy Halladay. (Toronto, btw, ends up in the "Five Losers" area of Stark's aforementioned column.)
3 comments:
I think we've gone over how destructive "activity for activity's sake" is.
Plaschke conviently forgets that the Yankees' championship run was mainly bolstered by farmhands, including Jeter and Rivera. The Red Sox also had help from Youkilis, Pedroia, Ellsbury, Papelbon, Lester and Varitek.
I gotta agree. Just think of all the great teams that have won the world series. Few of them were "made of money", or purchased through free agency. The majority were teams that developed their talent from within and got lucky on a few key free agents role players.
Blockbuster deadline deals are for desperate teams. The Dodgers happen to be desperate for a bullpenn arm. Hopefully Sherrill can continue to impress. A healthy Kuo and Wade will certainly help. If Schmidt can continue to get lucky then we should be ok with what we have going into the playoffs.
Kuroda looks great, Bills hopefully can get past the 6, "the Kershaw" continues to impress! Wolf should be a nice 4th starter. In the playoffs we dont need more than that. 4 quality starters. (in no particular order)
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