Saturday, August 1, 2009

The State of Baseball

The Okra Blogs wishes to apologize for the 2-3 days of silence recently. I was returning home with not enough time before I had to get up the next morning. Still, I have two new posts for your perusing.

There has been some serious shake-ups in the world of baseball this week. Here's a quick look:

Roy Halladay, still a Blue Jay (I called that one).

Jake Peavy is now a member of the White Sox. I forgot all about Peavy as nobody had made offers since the spring that came close to what the Padres wanted for him. The Sox gave up four young pitchers. Clayton Richard, who is 25 years old, has appeared in 26 games this year (14 of which were starts) and put up a 4 and 3 record with a 4.65 ERA. Aaron Poreda, who is 22, was sent back to the minors July 21. Before that this year he was 1 and 0 with a 2.45 ERA in 10 appearances out of the pen. He was a first round pick by the Sox in '07. Dexter Carter has been pitching at A-ball. The 4th pitcher is Adam Russell who made 22 relief appearances for the Sox last year with a 5.19 ERA. This year has has pitched at Triple A.

Cliff Lee is now a Philly. The Phils got him for a steal, but I have doubts about his effectiveness.

The Pirates shipped Ian Snell, Jack Wilson, Freddy Sanchez, and Adam LaRoche. Earlier they sent Nate McLouth to the Braves. Quick, name another pirate player. waiting.....waiting..... that's what I thought. What is this team's plan?

By trading a younger shortstop for Orlando Cabrera, the Twinkies showed they want to win. He wins everywhere.

Scott Rolen goes from the Jays to the Reds. When healthy and in the N.L., he is fantastic. He is older now that before.

The Red Sox made lots of news. In trades, the acquired Victor Martinez. He can give the captain, Varitek some time off behind the plate, He can DH, and he can play first. Big win for the BoSox. They also traded for Casey Kotchman, who I believe is as good as anyone at first with the glove. Move Yukilis over to third and these Sox are right back in it with the Yanks.

Kotchman was traded for Adam LaRoche, who returns to the Braves. If LaRoche has a typical second half, this is a decent move for the Braves. If he hits .250 which is less than we get from Kotchman and costs us even a little with the glove I will be unhappy with the deal.

There was a little bit of other news surrounding the BoSox this week. More of the notorious 2003 list was revealed. On the list was Manny Ramirez (no real surprise considering his suspension this year), and David Ortiz. I really thought Ortiz was clean and that his decline was due to Dominican age tricks. I guess I was wrong. This whole list is a shame. Performance enhancing drugs are bad for baseball. I hope the MLBPA figures out how to fix things.

Trade particulars from ESPN.com

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