Ranking Mets GMs All-Time
Well, it's official. Sandy Alderson is the 12th General Manager of the New York Mets, bringing joy to the corners of the globe patrolled by stat-savvy Mets fans, and misery among those who heard...
View ArticleJack Of All Trades: Rickey Henderson
When future generations see the ludicrous offensive numbers Rickey Henderson put up, they are going to be shocked when they see how many times he changed teams during his career. Thirteen times, Rickey...
View ArticleTop Five Phillies GMs Since 1960
As Philadelphia prepares to present Ruben Amaro, Jr. with his weight in cheesesteaks, it is important to remember that for all of the Phillies' 10,000+ losses, Amaro's got some worthy competition among...
View ArticleJack Of All Trades: Manny Trillo
This man, born on December 25, inspired cheering in many cities over a long period of time. You may think I'm referring to Rickey Henderson or Jesus, but the man in question is actually Manny Trillo....
View ArticleJack Of All Trades: Esteban Loaiza
As the year 1971 prepared to close, and Nixon Now's 1972 dawned, a baby named Esteban Loaiza entered the world in Tijuana, Mexico. This Baby New Year would go on to pitch for eight teams over 14...
View ArticleJack Of All Trades: Bert Blyleven
Wednesday's announcement that Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar earned election to the Hall of Fame was notable not merely for the successful Internet campaign on Blyleven's behalf or Alomar's...
View ArticleJack Of All Trades: Baseball’s Tallest
As Chris Young found out this week, baseball doesn't pay its players by the yard. Though he checks in at 6'10", Young signed a deal for just $1.1MM guaranteed. Meanwhile, noted tiny person Dustin...
View ArticleJack Of All Trades: Baseball’s Roundest
They are the men who made you question the aspect ratio of your television. They are the men who cried out in the night about the cruel, one-size-fits-all nature of per diem meal money. They are the...
View ArticleThe Madoff/Wilpon Mess: A Simple Guide
Maybe you're wondering: why do I need to follow the lawsuit by Irving Picard, trustee for Bernie Madoff victims, against Fred Wilpon and his business partners, who own the New York Mets? Regardless of...
View ArticleCan Teams Find Love On Valentine’s Day?
That big red day on our calendars has arrived. For some of us, the night will be filled with various distractions to keep our minds from the inescable fact that we are alone in the world. For those of...
View ArticleJack Of All Trades: My Birthday Edition
As someone who shares a birthday with Michael Jordan, Lou Diamond Phillips and Paris Hilton, the talents I bring to the table should be obvious. Yet I look to those baseball players born on my birthday...
View ArticleJack Of All Trades: My First 2011 Pack
While much of the attention has been focused on the anniversary that Topps is celebrating- 60 years of selling baseball cards- I, too, reached a milestone. I've been collecting baseball cards for 25...
View ArticleJack Of All Trades: Non-Roster Invitees
We all have that possession we once paid a lot for, but would now have trouble giving away. Maybe it is a suit we wore too many times that sits in a pile at the back of our closet. Perhaps it is a...
View ArticleJack Of All Trades: Oliver Perez
It's been a rough week for Oliver Perez, and given his overall tenure with the Mets, that is no small feat. Thanks to his 9.00 spring ERA and inability to throw strikes or reach 90 miles per hour with...
View ArticleReliving Rickey Henderson Trades With Alderson
Current New York Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson described Rickey Henderson as the best player he's ever had in any of his organizations. And yet, Alderson managed to trade Henderson not once, but...
View ArticleYour Alphabet Of 2011 Storylines
With Opening Day so close I'm having hot dog-based fever dreams, I decided to face a pair of problems squarely. One is how to properly organize my thoughts about the critical storylines we'll be...
View ArticleRevisiting Early Managerial Changes
When should Terry Francona go? Obviously, whenever he wants. The two-time World Series winner isn't going anywhere; nor should he. Still, with the Boston Red Sox starting 0-4, the worry in some corners...
View ArticleTim Byrdak Has An App For That
Let's face it: our constant desire for baseball transaction news is insatiable, but there isn't much logic to it. Whether our favorite team signs a left-handed reliever in December or January will have...
View ArticleHow Do Teams Replace Sudden Losses?
When the Tampa Bay Rays suddenly found themselves without Manny Ramirez, it was assumed that the production fallout would be extreme. After all, who ever heard of Sam Fuld? Now, of course, everybody...
View ArticleTransactions And The Movies: The Babe
In my recent column about how teams replace sudden losses, I wrote that I had some problems with that movie. I figured this would be a relatively uncontroversial statement, but loyal reader Ernesto...
View ArticleFrom Glory To Goodbye: No-Hitter, Then Traded
Earlier in the week, we showed how no-hit pitchers arrived at their place of immortality. But when Francisco Liriano pitched a no-hitter Tuesday, he did more than just assure himself a permanent spot...
View ArticleJack Of All Trades: Jose Bautista
In my new book, Taking The Field, I have an entire chapter devoted to the July 30, 2004 trade of Scott Kazmir. But fascinatingly, Kazmir may not be the most valuable player the Mets dealt on that day....
View ArticleJack Of All Trades: Roger Maris
After writing about Jose Bautista last week, I got to thinking about some other shocking home run totals that followed trades. And one that isn't getting enough attention is that of Roger Maris, whose...
View ArticleOwners Say The Darndest Things
Much of the baseball world was abuzz this week over the comments Fred Wilpon made in The New Yorker about his players and team. The attention is understandable, since the comments appear to be both...
View ArticleThe End Of The Affair: When Top Picks Get Traded
Oh sure, it'll all be joy and Pirate jerseys when Pittsburgh uses its top pick tonight on, it appears, Gerrit Cole. There'll be projected arrivals, dreams of nights spent together, a limitless future....
View ArticleWhen Batting Champions Get Traded
It shouldn't come as any surprise that if Jose Reyes, the current National League leader in batting average, gets traded, the move will be almost entirely unprecedented. Generally, players at the top...
View ArticleWhen Winning Managers Go, Are They Hired Again?
Washington's 1-0 victory yesterday did more than just accentuate the shock resulting from Jim Riggleman's decision to resign. It meant that the Nationals were making a managerial change despite a...
View ArticleManaging While Old
With the hirings of Jack McKeon, 80, and Davey Johnson, 68, it appears a new trend may be afoot: old managers are the new market inefficiency. Much is likely to come from this, with teams using Willard...
View ArticleJack Of All Trades: Mike Cameron
Mike Cameron, acquired by the Marlins from the Red Sox for some salary relief this week, will probably be remembered for a trade – and it won't be this one. But a legacy of simply "the guy once traded...
View ArticleJack Of All Trades: Columbia Lions Edition
In a continuing effort to round up all the best-educated baseball players, the New York Mets signed Fernando Perez this week, outfielder formerly of Tampa Bay, Chicago (N.L.) and Columbia University....
View ArticleCarlos Beltran: Difference-Maker
Lost in all the excitement, opinion and analysis following today's Carlos Beltran trade is just how rare it is for a player having a season as strong as Beltran's to be dealt. Since 1980, there have...
View ArticleTrade Targets Separated At Birth: Broglio/Jimenez
Time for a new segment, where we analyze recent trade targets and compare them to their historical ancestors. First up: the recent Ubaldo Jimenez deal, and its historical twin: the trade of Ernie...
View ArticleTrade Targets Separated At Birth: Pence/White
Since the Philadelphia Phillies traded four prospects for Hunter Pence last month, things couldn't be going better – Pence is at .344/.408/.557 in his first 16 games. Still, the price was awfully steep...
View ArticleWhen Great Sluggers Get Traded
With the Twins and Indians discussing a Jim Thome swap, the big slugger could join some elite company. Thome's 601 home runs would be the fourth-largest total ever traded. And the pattern of a...
View Article1993: The Year September Trades Mattered
My colleague Ben Nicholson-Smith pointed out, rightly, that September trades haven't amounted to much in the past decade. But there was a glorious summer-turned-fall for trades back in 1993. As Yasir...
View ArticleDo Owners, GMs Learn From Bad Contracts?
Earlier this season, Mets owner Fred Wilpon explicitly compared the impending free agency of Jose Reyes to the contract that Carl Crawford signed last winter. That seven-year, $142MM deal was supposed...
View ArticleReturns For Trading The Manager
So it appears that the Florida Marlins, a team not known for friendliness to Twitterers, have acquired Ozzie Guillen, one of the most outspoken Twitter users in MLB. It's going to cost the Marlins a...
View ArticleLosing Your Best Ever At A Position
Every year at about this time, teams all over baseball prepare for free agency with the understanding that they could lose some of their players. But something feels different this year: the choices...
View ArticleBaseball’s Spookiest Transactions
It is virtually impossible to think of two more closely-related things than baseball transactions and Halloween. After all, the holiday falls just as the baseball offseason dawns. The wrong moves can...
View ArticleManaging After A Sabbatical
Well, it's official: Bobby Valentine will be the next manager of the Boston Red Sox. Lost amidst the stories of fake mustaches and real candor is the reality of just how long it's been since Valentine...
View ArticleThe Mystery Team Position By Position
It's been a puzzling winter. Some have speculated that the big winners have been the Miami Marlins or the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Others will hold up the Rangers as the true offseason giant...
View ArticleFree Agencies Separated At Birth: Jackson & Schmidt
It is fairly astonishing that we are entering the month when teams report for Spring Training, and Edwin Jackson remains as homeless as Thomas Jane in Arrested Development. This is particularly true...
View ArticleLeap Day In Transaction History
Like the rest of you, I resent leap years. An extra day of winter, an extra day of waiting for Opening Day, an extra day before I can start wearing my "It's March!" shirts without getting strange...
View ArticleJack Of All Trades: Jason Marquis
To paraphrase the prominent philosopher Chico Escuela, "Jason Marquis been berry, berry good to MLB Trade Rumors." Marquis has played for seven teams, and been rumored to go to countless others....
View ArticleTag Team Value: Compensation Draft Picks
As a fan, free agent compensation draft picks can feel like an extra slap in the face from Major League Baseball. "You're losing one of your key players. But here, take a guy who can't help you for...
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