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Hey this is something I actually emailed to Rob Neyer, he never got around to replying to me. Probably will talk about it in tomorrow's column but just wondering what you guys think.
OK let's say that Alomar hits .320, 90 RBI, 115 runs, 15 HRs, 25 SB, and gold glove defense. And nothing comes from Bacsik and Peoples.
What kind of performance do you expect from the people we get, and at what points in the future so that you feel like the Tribe came out on top in this trade?
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Oh and yah if you look at the stats that Lawton put up last year...he is a high OBP guy. I mean although he hit in the high 270s, he still had a 380+ OBP plus 400+ slugging percentage. And remember how important he was to the Twins offense.
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One weird side benefit to this.
Omar openly ridiculed the Twins style of beating the ball into the carpet at Twins Stadium as a "cheap" way to get on base.
I mean, Omar is the little guy around Robbie, Thome, Juan, Ellis, Branyan, Heck even Kenny wanted to homer.
Perhaps seeing a guy like Lawton hitting choppers for base hits will not seem like such a bad idea to Omar, who could work on his .257 batting average.
Ok, I'm reaching for straws.
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Alex
Haha...yah Omar has to realize that runs win ball games, not pop ups to short left.
Anyway...any thoughts Alex on what you would like to see from what we received to make this a good trade from the trade? Like...let's say next year what do you want to see from Lawton and Riggen? And in 2003, what do you want ot see from Escobar? And in 2004, Trabber?
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I'll stick to Lawton for now...
.320 average, .410 OBP...20 homers, 100 runs scored, 30 stolen bases, 75 runs batted in.
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Alex
But, will they keep Lawton beyond next year? I have my doubts, especially if Lawton has a good year. Sound familiar? Face it, we're now the Flying Dutchmans of MLB.
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All indications are Tribe intends to sign Lawton to multi-year deal which would be an excellent move! Some post above indicated Lawton was to make 5 mil this year. I'm not sure this is correct. I believe Lawton currently has no contract for 2002 and is arbitration eligible and expected to get around 6-7 mil in arbitration.
Also no crying over Peoples/Bacsik. Peoples is a total zero and will be 6-yr free agent after next year. Bacsik is a nice soft-tossin' lefty but no great shakes. At best maybe a 4 or 5 starter. Traber & Riggan are both better pitchers.
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I posted above with the $5 mil Lawton number. Yes, he is arbitration eligable. However, it was Shapiro himself who said all indications were that Lawton would recieve $5, and not $6 mil in arbitration. However, Shapiro also said in the conference that he was almost finished on a mulityear extension with Lawton, and he would not have done the deal if he could not have gotten Lawton long term. So, he will be staying. Also, I have now heard that Pat Strange is the likely other player in the trade. If that is the case, that would mean that the Indians would have taken the top 4 prospects from the Mets minor league system. Their top rated prospects, in order, were: Escobar, Strange, Riggen, Traber. That's all 4. That would be like us giving Sabathia, Baez, Westbrook, Riske away in a deal. So, it may look as bad as some may think. I actually like the deal for the 2003 season. An outfield of Lawton, Bradley, Escobar with experience from 2002 could be awesome. Plus, a future rotation of Sabathia, Colon, Baez, Strange, and Traber with a bullpen of Riggen, Riske, DePaula, J.Wright would be great. Good move for the future, and the near future.
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Hope your right about Pat Strange. That woould be excellent. It doesn't diminish their value at all but BA had Traber #8 and Riggan #12. Also don't forget Escobar had a disappointing season and seemed to regress on his plate discipline. Is their a link regarding Strange as being part of deal? That just might change my perception of the trade as a whole if true.
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No. I heard it on Kenny Roda's radio show when he was talking with the guy from Baseball America. Also, that was the guy who said Traber and Riggen were that high among Met prospects. Him and Kenny seemed pretty confident that Strange might be the other name. He has to be someone on the 40 man roster, according to the report. Among prospects on their 40 man, that only leaves Strange and Grant Roberts.
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