Shaughnessy today focuses on the connection between the San Diego Padres and Boston Red Sox. He provides a laundry list of ex-Padres management officials who are now affiliated with the Red Sox, most notably Theo Epstein. He also shrewdly points out that Ted Williams was from San Diego--a weak tie-in to the main thrust of his column
Precious little insight/analysis. What would have been interesting is analysis comparing the composition of the Red Sox and Padres teams to see if the common ground between the Sox and Padres extends from the front office to the field in terms of org philosphy. Lest I forget, Shank is not capable of such analysis (or if he is, he is too lazy to provide it)
Well, we do get some analysis - he calls the Mirabelli/Meredith/Bard trade one of the "worst deals the Sox ever made". Yep, it ranks up there....let's see....there is Jeff Bagwell, Sparky Lyle, and Cla Meredith.
There were a few potshots...one reference to the gorilla suit but surprisingly not one "Young Theo and the minions" and you would have figured this would have been a prime chance for that Shank Classic
Dan's by line is from San Diego and so we should be expecting a few more articles from the road.
13 comments:
I'm surprised Shank isn't condemning someone for Troy Brown and Reche Caldwell yanking Tom Brady's INT out of Marlon McCree's hands in the AFC Divisional Playoff game or for mocking Shaun Merrimann's stupid sack dance that led to Ladanian Tomlinson's petulant fit.
If that trade ranks among Boston's worst ever, then they've done pretty damn good.
Wonder if The CHB's heard of Babe Ruth.
Oh wait ...
Name a worse trade than Bard and Meridith for Miribelli
Since the trade, Bard has 124 hits. Mirabelli, a situational player, has 43 hits, hasn't been under the Mendoza line for a year-and-a-half, and is a completely inappropriate back-up to an aging front-line catcher. Meredith has posted a single-season ERA of 1.07 in a bullpen tailored to get one of the all-time greats into a save situation.
On top of taking the Sawx to the cleaners on the players, the Padres got cash, and unloaded $1.5M in salary for less than half that spread among two players.
All for a player they were eager to dump.
The sainted Theo got taken to the woodshed on this one, son. Time will tell if it was historically bad, but there's no upside for the Sawx and Bard, 29, and Meredith, 24, have the potential to contribute well into the future, unlike Mirabelli who is pretty close to the end of the road.
Correx:
worse trade since the Bagwell/Andersen deal
A column written just to rip Theo.
Why is it "[o]dd that the Patriots have so much history here and the Red Sox have so little (three games at what is now Qualcomm in 2002)"? It is pretty easy to understand considering the differences in MLB and NFL scheduling.
OB, any trade that involves a 28 yr old catcher with a career 99 OPS+ and a middle reliever, by definition, cannot be very bad. There is much value there to lose. Bad trade, yes. Worth gnashing your teeth over, no
O/b
The point of the trade was that Wakefield needed Mirabelli to be an effective pitcher. It was well-documented in the Globe and Herald that Bard was having a very hard time accomplishing the one thing he was supposed to do, namely catch Wakefield.
What about Bard's albeit brief time here made ANYONE think he could properly do the one job he was brought in for?
The same is also true about Meredith. After his disasterous few appearances in a Sox uniform, he failed to recover anything back in the minors. Again, there was no indication that Meredith would perform a competent job in Boston.
Show me one quote where any of the writers made that did not support the Mirabelli trade.
Ah, the wonder of hindsight...
there isn't much value to lose.
...the wild card to the playoffs, and the Red Sox certainly made good use of that gimmick in 2004.
So did the Yankees for many of their postseason appearances from 1996 to 2996 - the Wild Card "gimmick" is a direct result of the American League going frm two divisions to three....
The Yankees would have finished a distant second to Cleveland in the old AL East alignment for many of their playoff appearances.
Conveniently omitted informations makes that a misleading statement.
Mike's inability to read is absolutely astounding.
"worse trade since the Bagwell/Andersen deal."
It was a lousy deal, whether "the writers" said so or not. But we so luv, luv, luved the Sawx that the Mirabelli cab-ride-return was viewed as the second coming and confirmation of Young Theo's brilliance
It was, of course,a bad trade made worse because the club didn't add a competent back-up, relying on a situational player to relieve a catcher who is over the age where catchers generally begin to break down. Even worse, the club was giving up more pitching after gift-wrapping Arroyo. Where were St. Theo's fantastic scouts? Oh, right, kids playing with computers are more important than people with baseball experience.
As for the Standings of the Clubs, you can't say the Yankees would have finished behind Cleveland in Eastern Division configurations that did not exist, especially in years with unbalanced schedules. A comfortable division lead makes a team's strategy and approach a lot different from the approach it would take in a tight race when it's fighting to make the post-season. This is especially true of August/September games. If a team isn't in a race, the stars are getting more rest, hurlers' arms are being readied for the pressure of playoff pitching, and some pitchers are getting into games just for the work.
OB wrote: "Name a worse trade than Bard and Meridith for Miribelli."
I wrote: "Babe Ruth."
Inability to read? I think not.
As for the Standings of the Clubs, you can't say the Yankees would have finished behind Cleveland in Eastern Division configurations that did not exist, especially in years with unbalanced schedules. A comfortable division lead makes a team's strategy and approach a lot different from the approach it would take in a tight race when it's fighting to make the post-season. This is especially true of August/September games. If a team isn't in a race, the stars are getting more rest, hurlers' arms are being readied for the pressure of playoff pitching, and some pitchers are getting into games just for the work.
OB, yes, you are correct, thanks for making my point even more clear - The 1996 Yankees won 92 games and finished 4 games in first place while Cleveland finished with 99 wins and 14 1/2 games in first place.
You are correct in stating that with such a big lead, Cleveland could afford to rest its players and in a tight race would have likely won even more games in the old two division alignment
In other words, bye-bye to the 1996 Yankees World Series title. The Yankees made clear use of the Wild Card "gimmick" in 1996 and most definitely in 1999.
"Young Theo" and "Saint Theo"?
Bruce are you really, really, really sure that your not Shank.
And what is it with the Axe that you have to grind with the way Theo has put this team together over the years? If I can recall correctly we are still in the middle of possibly the greatest run- counting overall wins, playoffs and championships- that the Sox have put together since before 1918.
Could you please give me reasons why Theo deserves such vitriol from you and Shank (if you are NOT one in the same)?
And also can you please explain to me where there was any evidence that Bard and Meredith would be the quality players that they have come to be in San Diego. No one, not Dan or anybody else in the media, complained about the trade when it was made. Public and media support was extremely high for the trade.
Why are we allowed to kill Theo for it now?
The way the Theo bashers have gone, have any one of them used the line, "Theo won with Dan Duquette's talent"?
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