Baseball: 2004 MLB trading deadline - we discuss the deals

I'm sure all the Dodgers fans are pretty displeased right now, to say the least.

They were the kind of guys that make you want to go to the ballpark or to flip the TV on and watch the game. Not a very good move by the Dodgers brass, neither financially or on the field IMO.

[Edited on 7-31-2004 by ProudAmerican]

ESPN's Jayson Stark's trade deadline winners and losers.


Well, another trading deadline has come and gone. And who'd have believed that while we were all waiting for Randy Johnson to get traded, it turned out to be Nomar Garciaparra, Brad Penny, Guillermo Mota and Paul Lo Duca who called the moving vans?


Biggest Winners

1. Marlins
2. Cubs
3. Red Sox
4. Mets

Biggest Losers

1. Dodgers
2. Pirates
3. Yankees
4. Twins

Click on the link for Stark's explanation of each team.

sports.espn.go.com...

General manager Paul DePodesta majored in economics, not munitions, but he doesn't cringe when told he's just taken a first-place team and blown it up.

"Partly," DePodesta said Saturday, after continuing his remaking of the Dodgers roster. "I told people if we were in second or third this would have been easy to do. If we stood pat and been caught, it would have been my fault for not doing anything. If we make these moves and we don't win, it will be perceived as my fault for doing something."

"I think we're better prepared, not just to get to October, but to do something once we're there," said the first-year general manager. "I inherited 60 players in the spring and it's logical that this year there would be more activity than any other to bring in more of my players."

DePodesta bristled at the suggestion that he does not consider clubhouse chemistry in his decision-making.

"This isn't rotisserie," he said. "I'm very sure of that. It's been very emotional. I absolutely take chemistry into consideration. So is having guys make other people better. It was very calculated that the players we got have playoff experience and success. That's critical to chemistry going forward and we didn't have a lot of postseason experience."

DePodesta, with the most dramatic deadline trading for a first-place team in memory and the most controversial dealing since Mike Piazza was also sent to Florida in 1998, has put his stamp on the club.

Since inheriting a roster from predecessor Dan Evans, DePodesta has acquired seven of the current 25 Dodgers Major Leaguers. The moves underscore DePodesta's affinity for hitters with power and high on-base percentage. He said he added several million dollars with the moves but still has financial flexibility for an August waiver addition.

mlb.mlb.com...


No kidding it's not rotisserie. It would have been an even worse trade (if thats possible) if it had been.

Orlando Cabrera homered in his first ever at-bat in a Red Sox uniform. Unfortunately the Twins got 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th to beat Pedro and the BoSox.

Oh my...it comes down to this...

DePodesta's trades have crippled the bullpen already that Gagne has to come in and pitch three innings of relief...

Sad.

I've been watching that, unfortunately the offense hasn't been able to get him a run yet.

Ventura knocked one out in the 12th and Gagne got the win. He pitched 3 innings and struck out 2.