Billy King, Bob Clarke, Pat Gillick and Tom Heckert in the same room at the same time. Not exactly the best and the brightest.
As the Phillies crash and burn and the Eagles prepare to start camp, Comcast Sportsnet gathered the GM’s of the four major professional teams in town to talk about the 23-year old championship drought and what steps the four were taking to end it.
I would hazard a guess more than a few viewers might have suggested starting with firing at least two of the GM’s themselves, King and Clarke, both of whom have shown themselves to be utterly inept at making trades and bringing in the right personnel. As for Heckert and Gillick, it wouldn’t matter what happens to the former since he has no real authority anyway while we should finally know more about the latter when he shows his hand as the July 31 trading deadline approaches.
I can’t wait for the sequel that will presumably find Charlie Manuel, Andy Reid, Ken Hitchcock and Mo Cheeks in the same room offering their formulae for success. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if one or more of them opened the festivities by saying he could use a better GM for starters.
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Just when you thought the City of Brotherly Love had a monopoly on GM’s who love to deal with their former teams, along comes GM Jim Bowden of the Washington Nationals who made an eight-player trade with GM Wayne Krivsky of the Cincinnati Reds,. The consensus is that Bowden, who was fired by the Reds in 2003, certainly served the coldest dish in any major league clubhouse yesterday when he snookered the Reds into trading Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez and a prospect for Gary Majewski, Bill Bray, Royce Clayton, Brendon Harris and a prospect. Frankly, I don’t buy the party line. I think the Reds may end up the winners in this trade. With the exception of Royce, who is joining his 11th club in a fifteen year career, the Reds improved themselves where it meant the most, pitching and defense (although Clayton will probably move on to his 12th club shortly). As for Kearns, clearly the principal from Washington’s standpoint, he has never shown me he is a top-tier outfielder.
6 comments:
To me, Majewski is the jewel of that trade. I'm not sad to see him out of the division. He's a real horse, and perhaps even the best setup guy in the division over the past two seasons. Kearns will never be anything more than he is. They'll make it work with Clayton at short, but the Reds helped themselves in their weakest area, and that was the bullpen.
ESPN.com:
Jul 14 - The Yankees have an interest in Washington outfielder Jose Guillen, who has become expendable with the team's acquisition of Austin Kearns from Cincinnati, reports ESPN.com?s Jerry Crasnick.
I cannot believe how many people thought the Reds got the very short end of this deal. Except for Clayton they got a lot of young guys and at least one pitcher who is having a very decent year out of the pen. As for Kearns, he is a career average player. Frankly, I hope Bowden calls Gillick soon.
The Nationals made another deal today. They signed outfielder Luis Matos. To clear room, they designated Marlon Byrd.
Felipe Lopez was an all-star and the best offensive shortstop in the league last season, and he has to be ten or more years younger than Clayton. Kearns may or may not ever be a star, but he's certainly a solid everyday outfielder. I've never been very impressed with Majewski. The Phillies definitely have had their successes with him. I have to believe Ryan Wagner has at least as bright a future as Bray. Washington just got much better. They lost a dead-end shortstop and got a long-term solution. They got a productive outfielder and are about to lose a problematic, injury-prone malcontent in Guillen, and were able to send Byrd away in the process. They improved themselves, without a doubt. Cincy got snookered in comparison. That's my end of it.
I've seen it described this way, and I think it sums up the deal the best:
The Reds gave up their starting shortstop and their starting rightfielder - two solid young players (both 26 years old) who are not making that much money and don't become free agents until after the 2008 season. In return, they got two middle relievers, a 36-year-old no-hit shortstop, a utility player, and a single-A pitching prospect who has been injured most of the year.
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