WV23 Supporters

Find superb Cubs tickets for the 2010 season from OnlineSeats and enjoy a day game at Wrigley Field. Also look for other MLB baseball games, like division rival Cardinals tickets for Busch Stadium and Brewers seats for Miller Park.

Find the biggest selection of MLB Memorabilia on the web.

Catch all the fun in person! Getting Toyota Center Tickets, Reliant Stadium Tickets, Reliant Arena Tickets, Houston Rockets Tickets, Houston Aeros Tickets, Houston Dynamos Tickets, Houston Texans Tickets, Houston Astros Tickets, was never easier, Visit Myticketin.com for last minute deals and unbeatable prices.

Experience the real world auto shopping, try the Cars configurator at PSCars.com, research, compare and buy New Cars or Used Cars and get quote for a New Honda, New Ford, New Toyota, New Chevrolet, New Nissan, New Audi, New Jeep or a New BMW.

WV23's Most Popular
To Trade Or Not To Trade? Phil Knows (Sorta)
Written by wrigleyville   
Monday, 20 July 2009
We need to get Phil Rogers a context machine - a contextualizer, if you will. His latest effort essentially says midseason trades are rarely worth it for contenders (except when they are) and uses the Rich Harden trade as an example:

Rich Harden was a celebrated acquisition. He turned in some of the best work of his career after joining the Cubs a little more than a year ago.

Yet you would imagine the Cubs would have made the playoffs without that deal -- they were 56-37 and 4 1/2 games ahead when he made his first start in blue -- and Harden eventually played his role in the Dodgers sweeping them.

His impact in 2009 has been minimal. The Cubs are 8-7 in his starts, and the veteran forced out of their plans, Jason Marquis, is having an All-Star season for the Rockies. ...

In the talk-radio, Internet era of media coverage, all but the best teams face public pressure to make July trades to fill holes exposed during April, May and June. It's an exciting proposition, although more often than not a search for pie in the sky.

So, acquiring Rich Harden was bad? How can we judge that without knowing what the Cubs sent to Oakland? Let's take a look:

Sean Gallagher. The centerpiece of the deal, Gallagher didn't make the A's rotation out of spring training this year, eventually made six relief appearances and two starts, and posted an 8.16 ERA before being the player to be named later in a trade to San Diego for Scott Hairston.

Matt Murton. The man-crush of many Cubs fans has been, well, Matt Murton. He went 3-for-30 for the A's before being traded to Colorado in the offseason for a minor league infielder. For Colorado, he continues to thrive at Triple A while batting just .267 with the Rockies.

Eric Patterson. He's playing well in Triple A for the A's.

Josh Donaldson. Having a nice season in Midland (Double A).

So, at worst, they gave up two decent prospects for three sterling months (and an erratic at best 2009) of Rich Harden. I'd make that deal again in a heartbeat (not that they let me).

And let's look at Phil's conclusion:

The Harden deal was one of 20 contenders made last July and August. A few of them, such as the ones that sent CC Sabathia to the Brewers, Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake to the Dodgers and Joe Blanton to the Phillies, paid off. Most, however, did not.

History long has said midseason deals favor the sellers, not the buyers. Only about one of three midseason trades achieved a short-term objective last season.

Phil, of course, doesn't show his work, so we have no way of knowing whether this is true without much work on the Internet machine. But history also tells us that Rick Sutcliffe, Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton were pretty good midseason acquisitions for the Cubs (to pick a team randomly).

And the inclusion of Sabathia and Manny in the above list would seem to rather disprove Phil's whole point, since - with Harden - they were the two of the three biggest acquisitions in 2008 and all three teams went on to the playoffs.


Digg! Reddit! Facebook! Technorati! StumbleUpon! BallHype: hype it up!
< Prev   Next >
 

WV23 On Twitter


Search WV23

About Bloguin

Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics.

Advertisers

The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.

Bloggers Wanted

The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.

The Bloguin Login

The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account!