While the trade deadline didn't see the Mariners make any last second moves, it did give us a peak into how Jack Zduriencik valued his trade pieces, as the Mariners watched as 3 players similar to their most valued tradable players were moved today.
Let's start with David Aardsma, one of he and League were supposedly all but assured to be on the way out. It's not even much of a stretch to find the player like Aardsma; Octavio Dotel was traded to the Dodgers for James McDonald and Andrew Lambo. Dotel is a near perfect match for Aardsma, lots of strike outs, lots of walks, closing experience, and a hot fastball that he uses most of the time, except that Aardsma has been doing his work in the AL (though for closers maybe that doesn't matter), is several years younger, and cheaper. Regardless, Dotel netted a talented young starter with control issues and a touted prospect tainted by a positive test for performance enhancers, still, I think most of us would have been content with such a package.
Matt Capps isn't as good a comparison for Brandon League, but I think he'll do. They have about the same strike out rate, and while Capps has fewer walks, League gets more ground balls, of course Capps has the closer denomination. Capps equalled Wilson Ramos (who many would have been happy to get for Cliff Lee) and a high K, high BB, relief prospect. I think Mariners fans would have been content for just Ramos, though Aardsma would likely have netted a similar return with his closer tag. There's also the Giants giving up a combination of John Bowker, Joe Martinez, and Ramon Ramirez for Javier Lopez and Ramon Ramirez
Finally, there's Cristian Guzman going to Texas for a couple of (just glancing at the stats) marginal pitching prospects who have gone back and forth from starting and are a touch old for AA. It's an underwhelming return that makes you glad they held onto Jose (though Jose is much younger, with better power, so he might have gotten more).
Oh, and I almost forgot. During the day a report surfaced that the Mariners shopped Figgins to the Braves, and then it turned out that the Braves had called the Mariners instead, and been told Figgins was unavailable.
The main point of interest for me here, is that it seems like there was willingness to part with quality prospects and even ML players for relief help from at least the Dodgers, Twins, and Giants. At least enough that fans (the internet ones at least) would have been pretty well satisfied with the returns. It's hard for me to believe that there's a real chance of either League or Aardsma gaining value over the rest of the year and being traded during the winter. Even if both pitchers completely fulfilled their potential, isn't the highest point of value for relievers at the deadline, when teams are desperate to scrape together every last win? It seems like, by keeping both League and Aardsma, Jack is quietly announcing that he has a plan to be competitive in 2011.
That would be borderline delusional IMO.
Unless you plan on raising payroll 50% and going all in for '11, contention in '11 is not realisic.
I wish Z would have traded Aardsma, but he may have just gotten beaten in those deals. Aardsma won't be worth his '11 arbitration salary, but he might have value as a closer again next deadline.
Or maybe Aardsma/League's value is so low right now they couldn't have net that package.
That too..
I'm not buying that the Braves asked about Figgins and the M's said "No! He's not available" without seeing who the Braves were offering.
More likely, the M's didn't like the proposed package....
Or, even more likely, the Braves weren't buying....They have Omar Infante hitting .339 in a utility role... and they have Chipper Jones at 3rd and Martin Prado at 2nd (although he is out for 10-15 days..so Infante steps in). Where would they play Figgins this year...unless they were assuming Jones retires after the year.
They needed a CF...so they got Ankiel.
Figgins doesn't fit in this year.
Explain to me how Dotel has more value than Aardsma, he had about a strikeout per inning more and an ERA a quarter of a run lower, sure, but is MORE expensive, has blown MORE saves, and is MUCH older. If a team didn't want to pay Aardsma arbitration next year, they could simply choose to release him and be on the hook for nothing. Capps has a case for being better than Aardsma, sure, but certainly not Javier Lopez and Ramon Ramirez, I think most would agree they're both clearly less valuable than Brandon League, who reports claimed teams were more interested in than Aardsma. Gambling that Aardsma will have more value next year is a bit shaky, as he'll still be the same pitcher as he was this year, but more expensive. Certainly it would make sense. As for Figgins and Lopez, it seems like a take what you can get for Lopez opportunity for Lopez, as odds seem long that he would make it through waivers, or be tradeable during winter after picking up his option if nobody wanted him now. Figgins is the only one that makes much sense to hang on to and let his value improve, though the report is, from Baker, that the Braves were told he was unavailable. I suppose the call could have gone, "Would you move Figgins, while paying half his contract, for some AA fodder?", but I'd be surprised if the Braves wouldn't offer something of value, they have NO speed on the team, and Omar Infante is like Chone Figgins without the speed or patience, and has gotten lucky to post a .784 OPS this season with a .400 BABiP. Still,you might be right regarding Figgins, in that Jack said no, anticpating a low ball proposal would rather Figgins play without trade rumors hanging over his head to further interfere with his performance while he rebuilds value.
Dotel over Aardsma is not logical. Neither are very valuable commodities, but Dotel has been around longer and probably is more of a "proven veteran".
Thats all it takes sometimes. How much you want to bet Arizona valued Joe Saunders over Doug Fister? Not logical, but there you go. Some GMs are still pretty questionable.