The Tale of Two Franchises
The difference between a fire sale, rebuild, and treading water with a major league roster is becoming more and more difficult to discern. Take Boston’s trade deadline approach, seller would be an understatement; they shipped out veteran pitchers who are not part of next year’s roster plans. The front office correctly understood that last year’s team had lady luck on their side, and when the polish wore off this year they moved to ensure their payroll would not be blown up by keeping pending free agents. Their moves are bold, pushing all of their proverbial chips to the center of the table with prospects they expect to break in within the next two years, and thus control on the cheap for the next 5 years, to fill out the roster. The only question is whether or not these prospects turn into able bodied big leaguers. Boston is feeling the growing pains at 3B with Will Middlebrooks and CF with both Jackie Bradley Jr. & Mookie Betts struggling to make the jump from AAA.
The Sox are hoping that Henry Owens and recently acquired Eduardo Rodriguez can complement current rotation fill-ins Allen Webster and Anthony Ranaudo to form a strong, young (cheap) rotation to carry the club as the likes of David Ortiz and Mike Napoli will be gone by then. Getting Yoenis Cespedes in the Jon Lester deal helps pad those bats, but when his contract runs out after next year the team will be in the same position, unless they trade him at the deadline next year. They are putting A LOT of faith in their player development and minor league coaches to develop these kids properly, and it doesn’t always work out. Stay tuned Sawks fans.
The Phillies and GM Reuben Amaro Jr. have been getting killed for standing pat at the deadline with several players fitting the bill for a move. I’m not going to jump on this bandwagon because every other GM knew their position and likely low balled them in trade talks. The contracts Amaro gave out to begin with also played a role in keeping his actions in house. Cliff Lee, who has been shut down for the rest of this year, and fellow lefty Cole Hamels are owed big money for the next two plus years, and thus are more valuable because they are signed, (albeit to high dollar amounts), than a two month rental of Chase Utley or Ryan Howard. Jimmy Rollins has a no trade clause due to being a 10-5 guy but he has value to a contender because he is hitting this year. Amaro likely will be let go this summer, not because of his inactivity at the deadline, but because the farm system is nearly barren to retool the big club. The next GM will have a total overhaul in front of him, and will likely come from a player development background.
PED’s Just Won’t Go Away
The federal government has arrested Anthony Bosch along with eight others last week on charges of steroid distribution. The impact on MLB is that in the investigation the DEA allegedly found approximately 5 names of athletes that were not included in previous statement from Bosch (A-Rod, Nelson Cruz et al.) or connected to him but were connected to the eight others also arrested. MLB has been knocking on the door asking for these names in order to levy their suspensions against these players, while the DEA is willing to let the names come out during the discovery process of the case. The government is not concerned with users and is working to crack down on the suppliers of these drugs thus angering the commissioner’s office. Needless to say there are some very nervous players in major league club houses right now.
Speaking of the commissioner’s office, Bud Selig is stepping down at the end of this season and his likely heir is Rob Manfried, his current right hand man. This is the same guy who bought evidence to seal Alex Rodriguez’s record suspension. With this kind of behavior some owners have voiced their displeasure with Manfried as Selig’s replacement. The new commissioner will need 23 votes of yes out of the 30 owners to be approved. The contingent of Arte Moreno, John Henry and Jerry Reinsdorf are against him but likely don’t have the backing of enough other owners to block Manfried from being promoted.
