MVN: Most Valuable Network

I never did understand why the Cubs parted ways with their valuable spark plug Mark DeRosa in the off season. As other players can fill the void, but You win With Mark DeRosa . At first look, it seemed the Cubs were dumping DeRosa's 5.5 million salary. However, the Cubs GM Hendry has admitted in recent interviews that he was attempting to reduce the number of right handed bats in the cubs lineup : Soriano - R, D. Lee - R, Theriot - R, Soto - R, A. Ramirez - R

I guess the lack of a left handed bat it what sent DeRosa packing. The number of times Ramirez has gotten hurt over the past few years in reason enough to keep DeRosa around as the ball club was not helped in any way with the players the recieved from the Indians for DeRosa.

As a club, the Cardinals always bring in that solid veteran that helps them go over the top and win the division title. This deal giving up a former #1 pick Chris Perez out of the University of Miami who throws in the high 90s is a decent player the Tribe recieved. But in this case, Ryan Franklin is the defacto closer and with another hard thrower in Jason Motte, this was a deal the Cardinals could afford to make.

Mark DeRosa is signed only for the season. However, they have had the void at third base for much of the season, and this will certainly solidify their infield. DeRosa can fill in all across the field, and his 50 RBIs and 13 HRs will fill in nicely.

The Indians did pretty well as far as value, but not as fit. With Kerry Wood signed in the off season as the closer, Perez will have to wait his turn and that could be a while.  For now, he is just another arm for the bullpen. This signals that the Indians are throwing in the towl and building for 2010 and beyond.

As much as I want to lay into the Neal Harrington regime of the Pittsburgh Pirates for trading away the recent face of the franchise in Nate McLouth, its clear they are running the team in what is best for the team in the long term. In this case, McLouth opened up a lot of eyes last season with his breakout year, but seems like he was never in their long term plans.  They signed him to an extension in the beginning of this year, as it was a deal that would neither hurt his overall value, nor was it one that would prevent them from locking up one of their other cornerstone players. 

The Pirates have properly allowed Andrew McCutchen the time to develop in the minors leagues, despite looking like he could contribute to the big league club the past two years in spring training.  With the emergence of Pirates OF Nyjer Morgan as an everyday player, it seems the Pirates were using the strategy of selling high on McLouth. Its not clear if the Pirates were actively shopping McLouth. It does seem like they jumped in on making a deal pretty early in this trade window over the next month or so.  I am not sure there was a better deal out there to make on McLouth.

Based on what we saw in the offseason with the Padres shopping of Jake Peavy for young talent, its not so easy to find a trading partner. Sure, the Braves had much greater talent in their organization to acquire, but they were holding onto those players. The players the Pirates recieved are decent prospects. In particular, Gorkys Hernandez has the potential of emerging into just as good of a player that Jordan Schafer will be.

The Pirates used a similar approach that Andrew Friedman has used in changing the face of the franchise of always acquiring pitching arms to throw into the mix. Charlie Morton has a small sample size at the major league level, but he is sure to get an opportunity to impress with the Pirates. Pitcher Jeff  Locke has drawn the praises of Baseball Prospectus and John Sickels in their writeups on him this off season.

All things considered, this is a trade you can't really properly evaluate today. Two years from now, I think this is a win win deal for both organizations. Its clear to me with the acquisition of McLouth for the Braves, it signals the end of the Jeff Francoeur in a Brave uniform even sooner than once believed.  In the Pirates case, when your are building for 2011 and beyond, and you are offered several players that will help the franchise to better improve the overall talent, you make the deal.

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With the MLB draft  on Tuesday, I participted in the Mock draft at MVN Outsider and selected for The Tampa Bay Rays http://mvn.com/outsider/2009/06/mlb-outsider-mock-draft-tampa-bay-rays-select-andrew-oliver.html

We already considered Joe Maddon as a new age, forward thinking, manager based on embracing of the sabertmetrics. Of course, there is also the infatuation with Malcom Gladwell's Blink as suggested reading for all his players. It was last season Maddon stunned the baseball community in 2008 with his 9=8 math . The Tampa Rays and Joe Maddon came to an agreement for a new contract that keeps him as manager until 2012. The thing I like most about Maddon is he taught this young group how to win. You never know after the ball game if the team just won or they lost based on his statements. He is consistent and he never really throws a player under the bus. He is a good face for the organization and is respected in baseball circles. He paid his dues working for the Angels and the Friedman and Sternberg team made the right decision based on the lack of major league managing experience when he first got the job. The first few seasons with the team were rough time trying to change the outlook of the organization. But, its clear this guy is one of the good idea man in all of baseball.

Last year when the heat was on Mets Manager Willie Randolph, Gary Carter threw his name into the ring as someone who could do the job. The timing of this came out bad for Kid Carter , as it looked as if Gary was adding to the fodder that "Willie Must Go" movement in many N.Y. media outlets. In Carter, you are talking about a Hall Of Fame backstop who called many games in his career. However, he is as ready for being a major league manager as I guess A.J. Hinch is. But, despite his lack of major league managerial experience, its always been thought given the right situation, Gary Carter deserves a shot to manage in the Major Leagues. I beg to differ after seing this quote from his Newsday blog:

Richie G: Do you know all the new stats like FIP/VORP and what do you think of them? I don't know those stats and there are way too many stats to be concerned with to get caught up in that. The most important categories for me are batting average, home runs, RBIs and strikeout-to-walk ratio. Those are what I focus on the most.

Where do we start on this one? There have been books, articles, and even now movies devoted to the fact that the old school statistics are not as meaningful as once believed. If Carter was serious about managing in Majors, he would learn as much about the resources available to him. This is not 1979. Today, almost all MLB organizations have staffers devoted to the new age of statistics, known as sabermetrics. Its clear The Kid has no idea.

Jorge De La Rosa came onto the Colorado Rockies scene last year, and the team wisely stuck with him even despite his struggles. In 2008 he had an ERA approaching a 5.00, but managed to win 10 games and struck out 128 batters in 130 innings pitched.

It was the Cool De La article over at Fantasy Phenoms this off season that put De Rosa on my radar again. In 2009, De La Rosa owners are being rewarded with his breakout thus far giving up only 15 ER so far in 42 innings pitched. Along the way, he has more than a strikeout per inning pitched with a WHIP of 1.17.

Last night, in a dominant performance against the Pirates, it looked as if De La Rosa would once again be on the receiving end of another loss due to bad run support. He pitched 7 strong innings striking out ten with only one run given up. When he left the game, it looked like he would be in line for a fourth decision, all in the loss column. But, Brad Hawpe would have none of this and belted a home run which took De La Rosa off the hook and Rockies went on to win the game.

This goes to show you how little win and loss records really mean in evaluating pitchers. The Cy Young voters should pay a little more attention to the pitching peripherals than they do to this outdated win and loss record. 

This string of bad luck of Jorge De La Rosa with his 0-3 record made me think of Anthony Young  (A.Y.), the New York Mets pitcher who holds the record of bad luck.  Young lost 27 consecutive games in which he had a decision.

Lets hope De La Rosa gets some luck from here on out and gets some decent run support. These are the type of pitchers its fun to root for.