Is it time for the annual lopsided trade between a last place Kevin and a contending Dressel already?!
You know Rob, I have to take great exception to that, that is not fair. Geez I even had to catch this static last year when I traded Manny Ramirez for Jake Peavy and Ben Sheets, and I got raked over the coals in that trade and finished 5th. Kev got the way better deal in our last one. Ramirez went .321 35 HR 102 RBI before getting hurt and sitting out the last 30 games, meanwhile Peavy and Sheets sucked.
You recall these as quote/unquote "lopsided trades", and in reality they have been basically even talent for talent, and fair. Check your facts, please.
And a very average Thome who can't even be plugged in at 1B...
Oh my God give me a break! Do you think you could be a little more one-sided Rob? Come on. When he wanted Thome, Kazmir and my SP/RP closer for that I was grappling over it but I but I feel like I need to take that risk at this point. Okay I know you admitted that baseball is the sport that you know the least about and that's fine, but
Thome was DL'd for 25 games in April/May and that's why his numbers are "only" at 15 HR 45 RBI. I mean, do you check this stuff before you come in guns blazing? Howard missed a little time too, but AB for AB, Thome and Howard have power numbers that are roughly equivalent, but Thome is at .280 and Howard at .260, and that's with a Howard hit streak, 2 weeks ago when we first started talking trade he was at .245 or so. Kev said Damon and Lugo are being benched and dropped respectively with Ordonez being inserted in OF and Thome at DH.
A 6 win, Kazmir with decent K's and a crap ERA and WHIP...
Decent K's and a crap ERA?
What?! Kazmir does not have "decent" K's he's
7th in the majors. As in, when you're looking for strikeouts, there are only 6 players in the sport that are better, none of which you were willing to trade him. And that's only if you take straight absolute K's, if you look at K's/9, he's tied with Peavy and Santana. And a 4.18 ERA ranks Kazmir 21st in the AL, not sparkling but not "crap". Kev needs a pitcher badly (or three!), Kazmir has as much upside as anyone in baseball. Look at his stats last year, I parted with Kazmir because of his inflated WHIP and Scott grabbed him and he was the best pitcher in baseball next to Johan Santana, Francisco Liriano and Brandon Webb for the next 4 months.
a 1 Win, 5 Save Hennessey with a modest ERA and WHIP
I'm putting Hennessey in there because I'm content with where I am in saves, another FYI Hennessey was installed as closer recently and that's why he has "only" five saves. With the coveted SP/RP tag to boot.
Kazmir and Thome are 2 superstars, and that's star talent for star talent despite what you say, and I'm only getting one back in Howard (who has not lived up to expectations so far I might add) and Brandon Phillips has a grand total of 1/2 of a year with star numbers under his belt and this could completely backfire on me. I'm actually taking more of a risk than Kev is, and
this is clearly not one of those grossly disproportionate trades that the veto function was meant for. I would appreciate a little respect on this one.
The only thing "lopsided" here was your post and objections. The point is not to decide if you would like that trade for your team. The point is to evaluate the talent and upside based on past, present, and future performance and to see if the talent is close to being equal on the 2 sides of the trade. Clearly this trade is close.