Boone trade round-up
Jeff · July 13, 2005 at 9:28 am · Filed Under Mariners
From the comments, many of y’all are aware of Batgirl, superior Twins blogger, and her entertaining site. Highly recommended.
Well, she has a good round-up of reaction to the Boone trade on her own site and a rather off-beat piece on Page 2. Check both out.
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122 Responses to “Boone trade round-up”
A couple big IF’s in your argument, EC
By the way, check out today’s Seattle Times for an article by Jeff Angus on the best Mariners in history.
#100 – and filmed in the scenic town of Bloomington, Indiana.
Go Hoosiers!
#96: Palmeiro probably had a decent case until the injury. At that point in the season, Palmeiro had to start virtually every remaining game at first, and the injury made that impossible. That is not a strong case to present to an arbitrator. Could he still have brought a case? Sure, but he wanted to stay with the O’s and there was zero chance the O’s would re-sign him if he filed a grievance and lost (in which case he also would face the prospect of taking an even bigger paycut with another team).
I think reading Lance’s first book “It’s not about the bike” (or is that his second? or do I have the title wrong) is enough to make even the formerly non-interested fan somebody who can watch the TdF intrigued. The other factor is that big sporting events are always good – the best when they know it is all on the line. I don’t watch golf, but I will tune into the final round of the British Open. I watch any olympic event. As soon as I found out how hard these teams work so that one star can win, well… I was hooked.
Just looking at Team Discovery peel off the top guys one by one, and then fall back completely exhausted and let Lance finish the destruction the other day was awe inspiring.
That’s a pretty nice bike.
It’s even cooler live in person.
Re #58: Wrong. a) Bavasi got one all-star (Beltre) and one guy the next tier down (Sexson), even if the latter is paid like an all-star. Plus, as noted, Beltre submarined the plan by getting off to a terrible start. (And, of course, as ec pointed out, if Beltre hits and Mads stays healthy, we probably are in contention.)
Plus, of course, strong silence is conveniently ignoring all the other parts of Dave’s plan which Bavasi didn’t carry out and thus didn’t fit his snide comment (it wasn’t just “Sign two guys without changing anything else,” it was “Move all the salary possible and sign three or four good players, including two all-stars”).
105 – Sexson was an All-Star in 2002 and 2003. Beltre has never been an All-Star.
“Guys will risk it all (And I do mean all life, and limb)”
Joseba Beloki – 2003. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. I’m amazed he’s riding again this year after that, even though it’s been 2 years.
Re #107: Sexson isn’t anymore, Beltre should have been in ’04 and has the potential to be in the future.
How about Tyler Hamilton (barred this year for doping, alas), finishing 4th in the Tour de France in 2003 after breaking his collarbone in the 1st stage? Remember him bouncing over the cobblestones at the finish? Ouch.
The year before, he was second in the Giro d’Italia, racing with a broken shoulder, grinding his teeth against the pain down to the nerves, grinding so hard that he destroyed twelve of them.
Tyler Hamilton lives a few miles from me, I see him training all the time. It’s amazing how many hard miles they will knock off. I remember him riding with the broken collar bone. Incredible. It will be interesting to see how his doping appeal goes.
#92, one would like to believe that going to a contender might cause Boone to improve his hitting; I seem to recall Olerud hitting better in the brief time he spent with the Yankees last year. Confidence could be a factor too. Still, all the confidence in the world that you can hit means nothing when the skill disappears. In fact, that confidence becomes denial.
You know the Metrodome better than I do, and it’s certainly a better hitters park than Safeco. He might get better at the plate; then again, he might not. When it comes to fielding, I’ve seen a couple of balls hit at him go through the legs this year. If the new turf at the Metrodome is as fast or faster than the old one, that’s trouble for Boone. I think the fewer ground balls hit in his area, the better he’ll look. And what’s going to happen when opponents pop the ball up with that white ceiling?
#102: Fine, then, in 2004 the M’s could have done what the O’s did to Palmeiro: start squeezing away the PA’s when they noticed he was no longer performing. Give progressively more playing time to Lopez or whatever warm body they could find to stick at second base (maybe Bloomquist, always a fan favorite). Have Bavasi or Melvin issue some variation on the following quote (which is, of course, what the O’s said about Palmeiro): “It’s a baseball decision. You don’t work backward from the contract. The reason you put performance clauses in there are just for that: performance. And we’ve never been afraid to pay for performance.â€Â
The downside is that for this strategy to work, you telegraph to your fans that you have given up on the season when you notice you are 12 games out of first (June 1, when Boone’s OPS was .682) instead of waiting until June 27 when you trade Freddy Garcia (by which time Boone’s OPS was down to .641 and they were 13 games out).
The question Bavasi had to face at that point was: would he sell enough beer and Dippin’ Dots to make it a worthwhile gamble that Boone would start performing at an elite level for the balance of the contract. Like I’ve said before, it’s not my money. But whatever the M’s were paying $9m/year for, it doesn’t look to me like it was performance.
Now, suppose that the team had taken this tack, Boone decided to file a grievance at the end of the 2004 season, and the arbitrator ruled against the team. What I don’t know, and would love to hear from people who know the Basic Agreement better than I do: would the team have been liable for something awful like treble damages or punitive damages, or would they have just been out the $9m?
#112: The new Fieldturf at the Metrodome is not nearly as fast as classic Astroturf (the old stuff).
114: thanks for the headsup; that should help Boone in the field. Whether it makes him Gold-Glove caliber again remains to be seen.
You “recall” Olerud hitting better with the Yanks because he had a couple of hot games right after the trade. Overall, he was .367/.396 (OBP/SLG) there, which isn’t much different than the .354/.360 he put up in Safeco — barely better at all after park adjustment.
#116: Indeed, the only reason Tino Martinez looks like a power hitter this year is the “park adjustment.” That short porch in NY is a joke.
That Batgirl. She is my non-sexual blogger crush.
Any chance this will become a Willie Bloomquist thread before it dies?
bike racing is a very rewarding sport, and it often peaks on those very three days in july. it did this year.
it’s one of the few sports in the world that is better on television than it is in person. not as ‘cool’ as seeing the TDF live maybe, but definitely a better sporting experience.
watching popovych yesterday crash into the back of a team car, dust himself off, climb a mountain, descend and then absolutely shred the peloton on the last climb of the day before sending lance rocketing forward with most of his challengers in the dust. good stuff.
How about that Bloomie? He’s scrappy! He hustles! He’s a local boy! And with Boonie gone, he’ll get all the ABs he needs to prove that he BELONGS as an everyday MLB starter. (That oughta do the trick.)
116: good point. then again his numbers looked better probably because of the move to a team in contention rather than a team that was toast by June 1.