Quotent Quotables – MLB Trade Rumors

Article On Boras

Tim Dierkes — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 13:27:04 +0000

Came across an article on Scott Boras, via Will Caroll. One quote from Boras struck me:

The Cardinals not signing Jeff Weaver is how you don’t win divisions, and my prediction is the St. Louis Cardinals won’t win their division this year.

I can see the Cards missing the playoffs, sure, but not signing Jeff Weaver for $8 million won’t be the reason. Now if you want to argue that if the Cardinals had signed Weaver, they’d be in last place instead of fourth and in line for a better draft pick in ’08, I can buy that. Boras should’ve went with that.

Another interesting section is the last page, where Boras proposes replacing the World Series with a nine game series in a different city each year. Cities would compete for the right to host it. That’s kind of cool.

Injuries the Cause for Lack of Trades?

Tim Dierkes — Wed, 30 May 2007 05:52:04 +0000

When Tim asked me to cover MLBTR.com today, in exchange for 20,000 Schrutebucks my first reaction was "Sure, why not? It’s not as if there is anything to write about anyway…" To many a baseball fan, it certainly seems as if there is little to no discussion of trades to be had anywhere.

If you are like me, you always wonder what might be going on behind the scenes that the average fan doesn’t hear about. I always assume that even though nothing is leaking out, surely MLB’s general managers are scheming and exchanging clandestine phone calls and emails. After all, many of the trades that come about are ones that we never saw coming

But if Pat Gillick is to be believed in a recent interview with Sports Radio 950 in Philadelphia, then where there is no smoke, there really is no fire at all. Show host Jody MacDonald, asked Gillick how much discussion of trades was going on around the league, not just as it pertains to the Phillies, but in general. Gillick’s response was, "below minimum."

Gillick typically plays his cards close to the vest, but in this case, there would be no reason to play coy. Furthermore, Gillick cited an abnormally large number of depth-depleting injuries as the cause and if you peruse the daily reports, it doesn’t look like he’s wrong.

Tom Goyne is the author of Balls, Sticks, & Stuff, a Phillies-centric site, and maintains the Phloggers’ Pheeds page, a source for the latest commentary from around the "phlogosphere". Recently, he teamed up with his brother to launch Roto Front Office.

Ichiro On Matsuzaka

Tim Dierkes — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:48:03 +0000

I know this is a translation, but this quote from Ichiro regarding Daisuke Matsuzaka is worth a mention:

"I hope he arouses the fire that’s dormant in the innermost recesses of my soul."

That is a strange thing to say in any language. At any rate, it doesn’t sound like playing for the Mariners excites him.

Wednesday’s Mariners-Red Sox game is shaping up to be a classic. Matsuzaka vs. Felix Hernandez at Fenway, plus the Ichiro angle.