I personally feel Ensberg was an awesome pickup for the Padres!!! He just needed a change of scenery, and going to a playoff contending team will certainly re-ignite the pilot light in one's personal focus/drive/excitment again!!!!
I personally feel Ensberg was an awesome pickup for the Padres!!! He just needed a change of scenery, and going to a playoff contending team will certainly re-ignite the pilot light in one's personal focus/drive/excitment again!!!!
2003 Hybrid World Champion (115-47 reg season, 11-4 playoffs)
TBL: Anaheim Angels 2006-present (238-244 regular season, 1 division title)
MSL: St Louis Cardinals 2013-present (2734-2936 regular season, 5 division titles, 2 championships)
TSSL: Seattle Mariners 2006-2029, Pittsburgh Pirates 2030-present (209-277, 5 division titles w/SEA, 1 championship w/SEA)
Sorry about the lateness of this. But I've been planning a rebuttal but never got around to it.
I agree with the second part, trading away a commodity, in order to pick up something for the future. It's a valid plan that many quality GM's have undertaken, and with great success.
I also agree with your point about addressing a weakness in your team. It's called making your team better, which I believe is key to winning, which is part of the sport. Though some GM's are good at this, others may be not.
The part I have a problem with is the compensation of others moves. Take for instance the Gagne to Boston deal. Yes we knew that Gagne was going to be moved in the most likely hood. What we didn't know was where he would end up. I don't recall anyone mentioning Boston as a final destination. Maybe other GM's may have heard this, but these are people in the know. They hear alot of stories about who is going where, and I don't think that they ever make a deal to compensate on someone's word.
In baseball we saw that the GM's made their move late, leaving little time for reaction from others. That's why I believe you can't consider these teams that didn't make a move losers, they were just unfortunate. What were the Yankees, or Jays to do in the wake of the Gagne deal. Ya the Jays couldn't pull anything out for themselves, but they barely have a clue how too. But the Yankees have the ability to do something, but didn't, and I am sure that Cashman, and "The Stein" had an inkling of what was going to go down.
Kudos to one of the consistently outstanding franchises in MLB... Atlanta! They may just rent Tex for a year or two, but they have the balls to go for the playoffs.
The Orioles and others seem to be stuck in neutral.
Gagne asplode.
http://strike3forums.com/forums/phot...pelbon2006.jpg
Then out of fairness to the others you will be Slagathor.