Modicum of Moves Made;
Analysis Abounds

Jason Michael Barker

Whew! Recovered from the past week's activity yet? OK, so it wasn't exactly July 31 all over again, but there were some notable transactions worth, well, taking note of. The final day of August marks the deadline for teams to set their playoff rosters, and a couple of waiver-cleared trades occurred before that first day of September. Two other teams, each far from qualifying for post-season play, extended the contracts of current big-name players in an attempt to solidify the future. Finally, a struggling team looking for hope in an otherwise lost season fired their manager. Read on...

Cleveland deals 2B David Bell to Seattle for 2B Joey Cora
In a rare move that makes a ton of sense for both teams, the Tribe added the second sacker they've been looking for all season. They must not have looked very hard, as super prospect Enrique Wilson has been waiting in the wings all year, but Cleveland feels they've found their man in Cora. Right now he's a better hitter than the player he's replacing (Bell), and is probably just holding the spot until Wilson's ready next season. GM John Hart might be in for a surprise once he gets a better look at Cora's defense, but a .360+ OBP hitter batting ninth is always a good thing to have.

In Bell, the Mariners get a solid utility man who can play the entire infield (not all at once, however). He's young, cheap, and will provide insurance for next season in case 2B prospect Carlos Guillen isn't ready. Considering Cora wasn't going to be brought back next season, getting anything at all for him was a bonus.

Anaheim acquires LF/1B Gregg Jefferies from Philadelphia for a PTBNL
The Phillies were ecstatic to dump the free-agent-to-be and his $6M salary, while the Angels felt they needed another bat for the postseason. The problem is that Jefferies brings with him an empty .300 batting average - he doesn't walk or hit for power (~.400 SLG). He will probably be the Angels' regular LF down the stretch, with Darrin Erstad moving to 1B to take over for the departed Cecil Fielder.

That leaves slugger Todd Greene out in the cold. The former catcher had been playing LF, and Tim Salmon is already the team's full-time DH. The Angels would be wise to get Greene's potent bat into the lineup at all costs, possibly taking at-bats away from either Jefferies or overrated RF Garret Anderson. Of course, they would have been better off trying to add a starting pitcher to the mix, but so would nearly every other contender.

Detroit fires manager Buddy Bell
Chalk this one up to "you can't fire the team." In 1996, Bell's first season as manager, the Tigers lost 109 games with a truly horrible team. Last season they rebounded to go 79-83, Bell was hailed as a genius for turning the team around, and there was talk of the Tigers building a solid team. What many people failed to consider is that the Tigers got career years from several players last season, notably DH Bob Hamelin, CF Brian Hunter, and pitchers Todd Jones and Willie Blair. Blair and Hamelin are gone to free-agency, while Jones and Hunter have failed to live up to last season's performances.

It's not unusual for a team to slip after taking a tremendous step forward the season before, but Bell's Tigers lost too many players from a team that wasn't well-stocked to begin with. Blame should be placed on the Tigers' lack of offense (aside from Tony Clark and Bobby Higginson) and starting pitching (aside from Justin Thompson and Brian Moehler) rather than on Bell, but that's not always the way baseball works. It certainly is easier to fire the manager.

Colorado extends the contract of Dante Bichette through the 2001 season
One of these days the Rockies are going to hire a GM who understands park effects, and they're going to be a damn good team. But until then, they'll keep signing players such as Bichette and Vinny Castilla, who don't perform nearly as well away from the friendly confines of Coors Field.

Bichette is the poster boy for park effects, as evidenced by his home/road splits. I hope you're sitting down for these, because they really are quite disturbing. Home OPS 1.074, vs. .710 on the road. Yet the Rockies gave him three years at $7M per, despite the fact that he's already 34 years old and can't hit outside Denver. Larry Walker is a very good hitter. Likewise Todd Helton. Castilla is certainly helped by Coors Field, but still has a .836 OPS away from home. But Dante Bichette?! Certainly there's a GM out there who understands park effects, or at least is smart enough to look at a hitter's splits.

Montreal extends the contract of Vladimir Guerrero through the 2003 season
GM Jim Beattie deserves a standing ovation. It's refreshing to see the Expos able to lock up their young stars (Guerrero, Rondell White, Ugueth Urbina) to long contracts instead of losing them to free agency or being forced to trade them before they can file for arbitration. In fact, it's nice to see any team able to pull this off with their young stars, like the Indians have with Manny Ramirez, or the Phillies with Scott Rolen.

For Montreal these contracts are particularly important, as the team will be moving into a new stadium for the 2001 season. Expos fans might actually have a decent team to watch at the new Labatt Park, instead of dreaming "what if": what if they still had Larry Walker, John Wetteland, Pedro Martinez...

I'll be you didn't know that Jason Michael Barker held the American League record for home runs in a season until Babe Ruth hit 60 back in 1927. Call him on this obvious fabrication at jmb@strikethree.com, unless you're content to believe his lies.