The Gutierrez trade
GL, and the rest of the analysts in the Wilson thread, are nails as usual:
None of the teams that did deals with Z felt like they were being fleeced at the time - they were getting what they wanted out of the deal.
But you're right that a solid MLB ready shortstop will be more costly and harder to come by than an MLB ready outfielder. That's why Z did the Jack Wilson deal in the first place.
Guti, Aardsma, Branyan, they weren't really secrets. Nobody expected Aardsma to gel like he did. Most GM's knew that Guti was a defensive whiz trapped behind Sizemore, and based on his age you would expect his bat to improve a bit.
............
Right. As mentioned in our Wilson / Rizzuto post, not only weren't Gutierrez or Wilson secrets -- these guys are glam players to modern GM's. Wilson's salary, for example, was out of all proportion to the Pirates' payroll.
.............
Guti is another example. Just this last Sunday, Zduriencik told Mentik (sp?) that the problem with the Putz deal was that nobody wanted to give up Franklin Gutierrez. Note well.
The Indians had Grady Sizemore in CF, and I don't care how much you like Guti, he is not going to be the one to disappoint Grady's Ladies in Cleveland. Sizemore is in CF, end of story.
The Indians had Shin-Soo Choo in RF, and Choo is a "pure" RF with a 95-mph pitcher's arm who was coming off a 148 OPS+. Gutierrez was not going to beat out Choo for RF, and he shouldn't have.
In LF also, the Indians liked Francisco, and LF is the "Chance" Yahtzee slot, so Gutierrez wasn't even particularly leading in the 2009 race to start for the Indians -- and yet the Indians had Gutierrez as an untouchable.
..........
Fortunately Zduriencik (evidently) has a lot of street cred in MLB. The Nationals tried to pull this very same thing on Langerhans: "Hey, this guy's a player."
Z, by his own statement, replied "He's worth zero to you. But thanks anyway." The Nats later called back.
Z told the Indians, "He's not worth much to you, but let me know if we can make it work, because I want Gutierrez." This game of hardball took place not because Zduriencik grasps UZR and Mark Shapiro does not. It took place because Zduriencik had a hole in CF and Shapiro had Grady Sizemore in CF.
...........
Zduriencik told Mentik that the Indians called back and said, "Okay, if you can do *this,* we can get you our fourth outfielder."
Interesting thing would be to know what that thing was.
Since the Mariners only sent out Sean Green and Jeremy Reed, plus Luis Albuena, with Putz.
The Indians wound up getting the Mets to add Joe Smith, so either that piece was either Green/Reed to acquire Smith, or the Indians are high on Luis Valbuena (as they were on Asdrubal Cabrera). Seeing as how the Indians pushed Albuena up to the bigs this year, it's probably the latter.
Valbuena wound up starting at 2B for the Indians, who are jelling a Royals-Padres type vulture-circle over our minors :- )
And you might realize with a start that, with our drought on MI's, the Indians plucked a starting MI out of our system that, at the time, we all viewed as a throwin. If there was anybody in the Gutierrez trade who was in on a secret, it was apparently Shapiro in on the secret that Luis Valbuena was a starting ML infielder right now.
None of which is to deny Zduriencik massive credit for Franklin Gutierrez, of course. He gave up a big-name closer, Valbuena, and goodies, and he got back a Moneyball player who is going to be part of his next pennant. He definitely targeted the right ballplayer for his re-direction plan.
..............
But take encouragement. The next time a talking head tells us, "there's nobody in the Mariners' organization who can make this trade happen," remember James' statement that every MLB org has dozens of important prospects. Valbuena, in the Guti trade, was one of those guys.
Cheers,
Dr D