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Preaching patience It's too early to determine which teams will dump playersPosted: Thursday June 19, 2003 11:47 AM
Click here to send a question to Tom Verducci's Mailbag. I've got a beef to drop on you here: It seems that "The Trading Deadline Guessing Game" starts earlier every year. People want to know in May whether borderline contenders should cash in their chips and dump players. With the deadline set for July 31, why would a decent team make that kind of decision with 60, 50 or even 40 games to go before that date? Remember when people wanted Oakland to dump Jason Giambi in June a couple of years ago? Oakland rallied the following month and subsequently seized a playoff spot. Speculation may seem fun, but a GM has to keep his options open. Seen many blockbuster June trades recently? Can we let the schedule play out? OK, back to our regularly scheduled programming. Are the Blue Jays caught between a rock and a hard place this season? On the one hand, they are playing great and could make a run at the postseason. On the other, they could falter and fall below .500 yet again. It was even stated when GM J.P. Ricciardi took over that he wanted to put a contending ballclub on the field by 2005. With the Jays playing so unexpectedly well this year, should they move some young talent now to get some veteran pitching in order to make a run or should the team remain intact, play out this season and see what happens with the same 2005 goal in mind?
Time will tell. If the Blue Jays keep winning at this rate, they'll keep riding this hand. I think they'll continue on the timetable they set before the season, except now Toronto will hold on to Kelvim Escobar, Cory Lidle and Shannon Stewart. If the Blue Jays somehow get buried in the next three weeks, then they should move some people who don't figure to fit in their budgetary/on-field plans for 2004-2005. It seems that the Angels are getting no attention this season despite having won the World Series last year. Do you think Anaheim can turn things around and make a run in the AL West? Will the Angels be sellers or buyers at the trade deadline? How could they go this long without upgrading their rotation, which is mediocre at best?
The Angels aren't out of contention because they still have some of the best grinders in the business. They won't pack it in. I think Anaheim's only problem is that it needs so much help now. The Angels need the rest of the field to come back to them in order to have a chance. As for their rotation, I don't see much help available to them. Rather, their answers have to come from within, such as John Lackey stepping up his game. As everybody knows, Carlos Delgado is having a monster first half. But, in the recent past, Delgado has had a tendency to come out of the gate strong and then fizzle in the second half. Do you think his great play will continue for the rest of the year, or will he tail off down the stretch?
I think Delgado's locked in the way he was in 2000 and is re-energized by the team around him. I don't foresee a big dropoff in the second half. With the Cincinnati Reds outfield as stacked as it is, and Jose Guillen seeing the least amount of playing time among the group, do you think manager Bob Boone owes it to Guillen to either play him on a more regular basis or let him go to a club where he can show what he's capable of with regular playing time? For a guy who plays an average of one out of every three days, Guillen's numbers are very impressive. What are your thoughts?
The Reds aren't about to give the guy away just because it's the charitable thing to do. To be honest, I don't have a problem with how they're using him only because I'd rather not take at-bats away from Austin Kearns, Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn.
Roger Clemens has stated that if he's not wearing a Yankees hat at his Hall of Fame induction, he might boycott the ceremony. Why does he have to be that way? I am a Red Sox fan and rooted for him even after he left for Toronto. However, I couldn't continue to be a fan when he turned to the money machine known as the Yankees. I, and probably 99 percent of the Red Sox faithful, disagreed with then GM Dan Duquette's decision to let Roger go. Now Clemens seems to be holding us responsible for the shortsightedness of a business man who had no reason to be in the position of making baseball decisions. Whether or not it's right, I have now taken the stance of detesting Roger Clemens. What is your take on his statement and should writers show him the same consideration and not vote for him on the first ballot?
Clemens has spent as much time with the Yankees as Hall of Fame Yankee (not Athletic) Reggie Jackson did. The Red Sox didn't want the Rocket. The Red Sox don't want to retire his number. Fans kill Clemens when he goes back to Fenway. The Yankees will want him back as a guest instructor every spring training. Clemens has adopted New York as his baseball home. OK, now tell me what you would do: choose Boston only because of the statistical imbalance or choose New York? Give me a break. I love all these people telling a Hall of Famer what he should feel in his heart about a decision for perpetuity. Feel free to disagree, but I think you have to respect the player's decision, short of Wade Boggs representing the Devil Rays and Mike Piazza the Marlins. Tom, what do you think of Dontrelle Willis' performance thus far? Can he hold up for the rest of the season, considering that this is his rookie year and he is a member of the cursed Marlins pitching staff?
Willis is a joy. Electric. Fun. Enthusiastic. Dynamic. I love watching pitchers who don't throw with cookie-cutter sameness in their delivery and still get the job done. Every hurler is a surgery waiting to happen, so who knows? I just hope we get to watch the young left-hander for a long time. I hear that players will not be wearing their hometown uniforms in the All-Star Game this year. Could Bud Selig ruin the contest anymore? Personally, I will be boycotting the All-Star Game until the players are dressed in their proper uniforms. The All-Star game is supposed to provide a sense of pride and identification for every region that has a baseball team. By forcing the players to wear American and National League jerseys, all of that is taken away. Now the ballplayers will look just like football and hockey players wearing only their team hat.
I agree 100 percent. I think Bud has floated this idea and is now reconsidering based on the backlash. It's a stupid idea and it unabashedly reeks of more greediness from the marketing minds of Major League Baseball. I'm always puzzled when baseball keeps trying to parrot the other sports. Baseball is unlike anything else and that uniqueness should be cherished, not trashed. One of the things that makes baseball's All-Star Game so great is seeing all those different uniforms out there. Dressing All-Stars like softball players just to make a buck is dumb, dumb, dumb. Not so much a question as a comment on your column about the Dodgers. Getting Carlos Beltran, Roberto Alomar or anyone else won't help L.A. I've been a Dodgers fan for 45 years and there's one thing I know to be true: nobody hits for the Dodgers. Guys come to L.A. to have career low years in hitting. Sometimes it takes a couple of years for this to develop (Shawn Green). Sometimes it happens right away (Fred McGriff). Sometimes we develop a bad hitter in our farm system and then send him elsewhere to flourish (Raul Mondesi, Paul Konerko). I guarantee you that if Adrian Beltre goes to another team, he'll hit .300.
Interesting. I've heard this same complaint from Mets fans about how players get worse once they get to Queens. Don't discount the park factor in both places. Sports Illustrated senior writer Tom Verducci covers baseball for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com. Click here to send a question to his Mailbag.
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