Rangers cast net, reel in haul
DMZ · December 7, 2005 at 8:35 pm · Filed Under General baseball
Alfonso Soriano to the Nationals for:
– Brad Wilkerson
– Terrmel Sledge
– minor leaguer to be named
Soriano can contribute with the bat, no doubt, but as a fielder he largely erases that value. To get Wilkerson and Sledge… the Rangers just got stronger, and that makes the path to a division title next year even steeper.
Comments
28 Responses to “Rangers cast net, reel in haul”
well crap… I left a post on the M’s board about 4 months ago inquiring about why we would ever not hold onto sledge. Perhaps it was out of our control, but wasn’t he like our 8th round pick a few years back? anyways, this is a big blow in two ways because now we can’t trade for Wilkerson (another thing I crossed my fingers for along with many others) AND the Rangers add to their defense, and get to season another outfielder in AAA while these two are added to the major league roster and contribute to beating us next year.
All in all this move is almost exactly what we needed, just the Mariners don’t really have the Alfonso Soriano type player to trade away (Ibanez though?)
ugghhh… sum it up in one word: crap
Lose-Lose situation: Not only do we miss out on a player who would have been perfect for us, but he goes to a division contender instead. Damn.
And isn’t RFK a pitcher’s park? At the very least Soriano will miss hitting in the Bandbox at Arlington. He might also find hitting in the Nationals lineup significantly different than the Rangers.
I love this time of year. (And is anyone else happy that the Jays are putting up a fight against the Yanks and the Sox.)
Wasn’t it Sledge for Widger?
I cant imagine Soriano being happy about 80 games in washington… i cant imagine the Nats being so high on him either…Bowden never did like the young…he’s a leather pants kinda flash for flash sake kind of GM…. I cant explain this any other way.
Can someone take a few lines to explain exactly why people are so high on Sledge and Wilkerson? I know both are young and have shown flashes of power but thats about all I know.
#3: I love it, when the m’s are doing something. I know we’re already a better team than last year and that the offseason’s far from over, however, i think the m’s really lost out on Loaiza and now on Wilkerson. (Although i don’t know of any mediocre “stars” we could’ve dealt). Seriously, it’s Millwood or bust at this point.
I know that Soriano falls a bit in fantasy drafts come spring 🙂
Wilkerson is a stallion. I imagine I’m one of the biggest B-Wilks fans around.
Only made 3 million last year, has a career OBP of .365. He’s a solid defender in the outfield as well.
He’ll fit into the Texas lineup fine, surrounded by guys like Michael Young, Blalock (Pending he isn’t dealt), Mench (Pending he isn’t dealt), Teixeira, etc, and score a ton of runs.
Let’s hope the deals with a few big names are all finished before the next MVP Baseball game comes out because MAN, I sure don’t like re-arranging those rosters…
Sorry to hear about Wilkerson. He seemed to be the best value for the M’s trade wise. The Nationals accepting Soriano was a Texas league gift.
What is this I read out of Denver. The Rockies obtain Torrealba for a PTBNL? Is this true? I have to believe that there a a couple of options agreed to depending on how things settle out for both clubs the next few days. If not, it is a puzzle.
Busy night. Wickman stays in Cleveland for 1 and 5.
Poking my head back in to say that if there was ever any doubt that Jim Bowden is the worst GM currently in baseball, it should be erased tonight.
This is a remarkable deal for Texas. Wilkerson is a better player than Soriano and makes half the money. Sledge is just free talent tossed in, and the PTBNL is reportedly Armando Gallaraga, one of the best arms the Nationls had.
Well, then, Rob, you’re in luck, because the next MVP Baseball game isn’t going to have any major league players. It’s college ball, thanks to 2K Sports exclusive license.
What does this mean for Jose Vidro?
Apparently (according to ESPN), they’ll move Soriano to left, which might change his value dramatically (his defense might not be as bad there). How about this, though: what if Soriano bats leadoff? THAT might be the worst misuse of a player in a batting order…ever.
Now Texas can trade Mench for pitching. What a deal for them.
I don’t get this at all, how stupid is Bowden? If they are using Soriano in LF why not just keep Wilkerson he’s better and cheaper?
how stupid is Bowden?
You have to ask? Have you seen what he’s done to that team over the past 14 months?
The Canadian papers report that the Blue Jays are all over Wilkerson, hoping to have something wrapped up by the end of day Thursday – presumably parting with some of their young pitchers and/or Miguel Batista
Time for some fun facts!
Alfonso Soriano AVG/OBP/SLG on the road,
2002–.319/.352/.582
2003–.306/.350/.567
2004–.244/.291/.444
2005–.224/.265/.374
That’s not progress, folks. Maybe hitting in Arlington somehow had a weird negative effect on his road hitting, but I doubt it.
Do the Nationals have anything of value left? Bavasi needs to get more buddy-buddy with Bowden, and swing something before the Nationals realize what’s happening and fire Bowden.
“THAT might be the worst misuse of a player in a batting order…ever.”
Hmmm…it would be pretty bad, but I’m sure there’s been worse. I believe it was 2002 when the Royals had Chuck Knoblauch (post-meltdown) and Neifi Perez batting 1-2 in front of Carlos Beltran and Mike Sweeney. Maybe that’s not so much the misuse of one player, but it sure killed their offense.
#8 if you have the PC version I suggest heading over to a site like mvpmods.com where someone is probably using a nice util like MVPedit to keep the rosters up to date. Once ST hits I’ll probably head back to that site and catch up on all the mods that greatly enhance the game.
Back on topic, whoever replaces Bowden is gonna have their work cut out. I suppose this does clear up the collection of outfielders he had assembled though, except Soriano is slated to play LF so eh.
On the subject of questionable trades…does J.P. Riccardi even know who’s on his roster anymore? Now that he’s acquired Overbay, he’s exacerbated the 1B/3B/DH problem that they already had. Unless they’re going to do something pretty funky, they only get to play three of these guys per game: Overbay, Hinske, Hillenbrand, Koskie, and Hill. There’s no reason in the world to have all five of those guys.
Is he counting on moving one of those guys in another trade? Are they planning on moving one of them to a corner outfield spot? I’m soooo confused at what’s happening in Toronto right now.
I laughed when I read the Soriano deal. A winner for the T-Rats straight up, and in RFK “No-walk No-way” Soriano will see his slugging shrink down to real world, ho-hum numbers—at a fat salary.
I’ve NEVER liked Bowden, but keep this in mind: he’s acquiring ‘names’ on a mid-price budget to wow dim newbie fans in the Potomoc region and entice an ownership bid. As far as building a team, this is a lousy move; as far as achieveing media churn, it’s a success. But Texas wins big on net talent, here.
. . . I know that the Ms don’t have a great deal to deal with, but the _lack_ of significant deals by the Ms FO is distinctly disappointing to me, especially in the present environment where a lot of teams are shaking players loose to change the mix. This team lost 90 last year. I’d like to think that makes for a little pressure to enhance the talent base.
Are the Rangers going to keep Wilkerson or deal him to Toronto? Or do they plan to send Mench instead?
How about Meche and a bullpen arm to the Rangers for Wilkerson? That would be a double whohoo….the M’s would get Wilerson and simultaneously make the Rangers rotation even worse!
Truthfully, the Rangers probably made out like bandits on this trade but I dont see how they really addressed their biggest problems. Maybe it frees up money and gives them more flexibility to trade too?
Reading between the lines of quotes attributed to Bavasi during the last day and a half, it seems like the M’s were targeting Wilkerson. Im not so sure the Rangers are planning to keep him as they might be trying to parlay him into pitching.
So far, im not real encouraged but im also suffering from the instant access culture of the 21st century and this kind of stuff takes time.
J.P. has said he is not done yet and wants to get another “big bat”.
Talks has surrounded the O-Dawg Orlando Hudson for Mench, then moving Hill to 2nd. Maybe they are working on something for Wilkerson now though?
With Overbay, that puts to rest the Piazza and Hurtin’ Unit rumours. (thank God)
Everyone on the Toronto message boards wants Dunn….but then again..who doesnt? Trade Hillenbrand..have an outfield of Dunn, Wells and Rios or if Mench is in the fold subtract Rios and have an outfield of Dunn, Wells, Mench.
Now thats stretching it. lol