The Mustached GM Adds Former ROY Runner-Up

The Los Angeles Dodgers traded two minor leaguers to the Kansas City Royals for 2005 all-star Scott Podsednik.

The Dodgers gave up triple A catcher Lucas May and A-ball pitcher Elisaul Pimentel. The Dodgers will also pay Podsednik's remaining salary this year. In 73 triple A games, May has a triple slash stats line of .300/.356/.500. He turns 26 years old this year, however.

When I first heard about this trade on the radio, my first thoughts were, and I am channeling my inner Ned Colletti by the way, former All-Star (one time), rookie of the year runner up, former stolen base leader and owner of a shiny World Series ring.

Here's Colletti's take:

"He has been a World Series champion with the Chicago White Sox [in 2005]," Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said. "He brings speed, he is a good hitter, he can play left field or center field if necessary, and he can drive in runs. With Reed Johnson and Manny being out and not knowing exactly when they'll be back and not knowing if they will have additional issues the rest of the season, this is a safeguard against them having any trouble staying on the field."

World Series champion is meaningless. Certainly the pitching, Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye had a much larger role. Podsednik played well for the Chicago White Sox during their World Series run, but in said World Series, he got on base 28.6% of the time--I know only 22 plate appearances but still meaningless to include that as the reason to trade for him.

He does steal a lot of bases, but he also gets caught stealing a lot too--leading the league in that category two times and the leader this season. For his career, he has stolen a base at a 75% rate. This year, he is at 71.4% and last year he was at 69.7%. He is 34 years old, so it isn't unreasonable to note that his speed has diminished somewhat.

Podsednik isn't a useless player, but it is a mildly useless trade. He fills in nicely as a bench player and an okay pinch runner. It's not as bad as giving up Carlos Santana for Casey Blake, but it's just a ho-hum typical Colletti move--trading away young players for old veterans who once upon a time played in a World Series or an All-Star game.

One more thing. The article ends with this pearl:

"Podsednik is expected to arrive in time for Thursday's game against the San Diego Padres, and the Dodgers will announce a corresponding move at that time. The club probably will do one of three things: (1) Option outfielder Xavier Paul to Albuquerque, (2) designate veteran outfielder Garret Anderson for assignment or (3) send a reliever to the minors, thus reducing the pitching staff from the 13 the Dodgers have carried for the past week to the more conventional 12."

If you had to rank those, wouldn't you rank them (1) designate veteran outfielder Garret Anderson for assignment, (2) designate veteran outfielder Garret Anderson for assignment and (3) designate veteran outfielder Garret Anderson for assignment?

While Anderson used to be an All-Star, he does own a .182/.206/.277 31 OPS+ stat line. While it is ridiculous that the Dodgers carry 13 relief pitchers, keep in mind Joe Torre goes through relief pitchers recklessly. Chad Billingsley pitched the Dodgers first complete game on July 21st since the 2008 season.

What did the Dodgers do? They designated pitcher Jack Taschner for assignment. Sure, that's not a bad idea, but somehow, someway Garret Anderson is on the roster.

The Yankees Waste $2 million on Randy Winn

The New York Yankees signed Randy Winn to platoon with Brett Gardner and replace Johnny Damon. Certainly one year of Randy Winn is better than three years of Johnny Damon, but zero years of Randy Winn is better than one year of Randy Winn.

Sure, the Yankees can afford to throw away $2 million, but this is the day of making good moves. Jack Z! That is, unless you are Dayton Moore, Omar Minaya, Ned "The Mustached GM" Coletti or Brian Sabean. (If you click on the link, you get to see one bad move they made this off season). Let's put it this way: Randy Winn was so bad last year that even Sabian wouldn't sign him.

Rob Neyer does a good job outlining the bad of this trade. Here are the key points from his article:

"...He's been almost exactly league-average, as a hitter, in his career, and at (almost) 36 he's not going to suddenly become better than average. So there's your baseline: Slightly below average."

He then adds:

"Unfortunately, it is might slightly more than slightly. Winn's spent the last four seasons in the National League. Two of those seasons were slightly better than average, two were substantially worse. He's older and he's moving to the tougher league and he's leaving a good hitter's park for one that is good for power hitters . . . and Winn's not a power hitter."

Winn was ridiculously bad last year with split stats of .262/.318/.353 and a 75 OPS+. At 35, he was starting his downhill trend. He has never been a superstar and has posted two good hitting seasons in his career. As an everyday outfielder, there is no hope for him to be average, and it is more likely that the atrocious numbers would, at best, replicate. He's not going to be an everyday outfielder. Can the partnership work?

Well, last year Damon .282/.365/.489 line with a 126 OPS+. Winn's really bad hitting stats came against left-handed pitching. Against right-handed pitching, Winn had a .292/.354/.397 line. Gardner overall was .270/.345/.379 and a 93 OPS+. Against left-handed pitching he hit .291/.381/.400. Looks nice, but then you realize that was in only 65 plate appearances.

You're looking at a very weak hitting left field spot with okay on base skills. They won't be able to replace Damon, but one year of below average play in left field is better than overpaying for a few years in Damon, who is not exactly a spring chicken. Besides, the Yankees are going after Carl Crawford next year, right? In the meantime, this signing looks pretty pointless. Might as well just let Gardner play full time.