Idiots Write About Sports

On a less despairing note…

I’m not sure if the Dodgers’ big trade is good or bad. (Joe Morgan says he hates it, so I’m predisposed to like it — and by the way, I hear that Paul DePodesta was Billy Beane’s ghost writer on Moneyball.)

What I find most interesting about the trade is that DePo didn’t think the team, as it was constructed, was worth staying with and “letting it ride.”

And I think he was probably right. The teams in the NL West were all, as I see it, evenly uninteresting. The Giants went on a tear and then fell back into reality; the Dodgers are on a tear now, but would it have really continued? I wouldn’t have bet on it — and neither did DePo.

Or to put it another way, he didn’t let the standings in late July and one hot streak dissuade him from his beliefs that the Dodgers needed serious work if they were going to contend.

I’m not sure if it’s going to work, but damn if I don’t admire him for being bold.

That first trade was a set-up trade to prep for Randy Johnson. They wound up not getting him. I just can't see it working.

And seeing as you haven't said anything about it yet: NOMAAAAAHHHHHHH!

I keep hearing people say that, but I don't believe that DePo made the trade assuming he'd get Johnson. I believe he felt was doing two things:

a. Helping his club if he couldn't make the Johnson deal

b. or maybe getting Johnson

But if this trade had been contingent on Johnson, he would have made it contingent on getting Johnson (Randy, not Charles, who he also didn't get!). I think DePo figured he was good with the guys he got, and if he got RJ, then that was a bonus.

At least, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it... for now.

NOMAH! He wasn't going to re-sign with the Sox, so it's best that they dealt him when they did. And they got Cabrera, which could be reeeal good.