Aqua4Ever04 said:
You may be right Alex. But you can't tell me that you were comfortable with the Becket trade and what not when it happend. I think Girardi just has those young guys playing the game the right way and it's just paying off.
Alex may not be able to, but I certainly can.
Josh Beckett is immensely talented and Mike Lowell is one of the best Marlins all-time, both in production and longevity. But Beckett had been DL'ed 8 times, I think, from 2002-2005. This will be the first year he makes 30 starts in his career, and the blister problem wasn't going away in this humidity. More importantly, Lowell drastically underperformed last year to the point that he may have prevented us from making the playoffs, and we needed a way to trade his $9 million contract and still get something in return, and putting the two of them together allowed us to grab a huge return. Let's take a look.
Hanley Ramirez was touted as the best prospect in baseball by some, a 5-tool stud by others, and not ready for the big leagues by others. He's hitting .270 with 12 HR and 40-something RBI with 40+ SB and competent defense with a flair for the dramatic as a rookie. He's 6'3", so we expect his power, which ranges all over the field, to increase to 25-30 bombs a year. His errors (18 this year, I believe) occurred mostly in the first 6 weeks of the season and were usually on plays where he lost his focus. In other words, his defense has been reminiscent to Orlando Cabrera, 2002 vintage, when he committed 29 errors. In the years after, that number decreased to 18 to 15 to 7. I expect a similar progression for Hanley. He maintained a .340 average for almost two months, went into a prolonged slump, and has since kept his average around .270 with a .340 OBP. This is as a 22 year-old rookie.
Then there's Anibal Sanchez, who only shut out the Yankees in the Bronx in his major league debut. The guy's got an assortment of pitches, a great head on his shoulders, and a boatload of humility. As a 22 year-old rookie, he's 5-2 with a 3.41 ERA. Take out his one relief appearance, in which he got shelled, and he's got a 2.68 ERA as a starter. Bingo! Oh, and he and Miggy Cabrera are childhood friends from Maracay, Venezuela, and the difference in Miggy's demeanor since his buddy's been up has been notable to the tune of a .400 average in August with a team-record 31 RBI.
And just for kicks, Boy Wonder Epstein figured Guillermo Mota would be a good reliever, so we traded him for two fireballing relievers who have both been very strong in A-ball this summer.
I was comfortable with the trade at the time, if not disappointed that Beckett, one of my favorite players, was gone. Now that the two headliners in the deal have turned up aces for the Fish, I'm thrilled. Cabrera needed to move back to third, Lowell was not part of the future of this team, Beckett's got a 5 ERA and is giving up gopherballs like nobody's business, and we're closer to the playoffs than Boston is. Beckett and Lowell next year will make $15 million next year. Hanley and Anibal will make $750K and might outperform them. I'll take it.
