Sez Me …
Winning now, knowing what hand you’re holding, matters. The future, a desperate chip thrown into the pot from the habitual loser, is a baseball prospect. Unknown.
Which is why MLB’s in-season trade deadline should be dead.
It won’t happen, but I say move it to late March, before the season, when your bed has been made and you’re going to jump or crawl into it 162 times.
It’s about billionaires who want to spend money vs. billionaires who don’t want to spend money and don’t mind the embarrassment.
Far too many Major League Baseball teams play not to win it all — or don’t know how to win day-to-day.
NFL teams rarely do much prior to their in-season deadlines and I really don’t care what the NBA does, although championships rarely — if ever — are built through the deadline in those sports. Especially the NFL, where most GMs aren’t fond of admitting they haven’t done enough to get it done during the draft and offseason free agency.
I can’t stand baseball’s because it’s a signal to give up, for those down-and-just-about-outs to rid themselves of their best player(s) — and often those who make the highest salaries — for prospects.
And as the legendary Rick Smith always reminds me, of how I feel about prospects, they’re just that — prospects. In other words, they haven’t done anything that matters.
Maybe they will. Maybe. Bad word.
There’s no question that baseball’s trade deadline creates interest, although often the wrong kind. There is a feeding frenzy as chum is being thrown, rumors galore, big fish going for schools of smaller fish.
As far as I’m concerned, Major League Baseball spoils the sheets. It’s unseemly, rich getting richer, poor poorer, the known moving to contenders for unknowns.
What of the fans? They build relationships with the good players, but because their team stinks, GMs try to get better by trading them away hoping to find a diamond in a barrel of cubic zirconia.
This is what Padres President of Baseball Operations A.J. Preller does. He is Mr. Trade Deadline. He finds prospects and gets rid of the ones who aren’t untouchable.
A.J. shook his top prospect tree and basically emptied it, taking advantage of the weak to bolster his bullpen from the summer charge. It appears he has done so. People saying he gave away a haul can’t know. He brought in knowns.
I don’t believe, as some say, that A.J. is doing this to save his job — although it certainly could be on the line. He has a team in playoff contention that struggles against weak clubs. But at least this G.M. wants to win.
As Preller says: “We are going to trade players.” But, unlike Trader Jack McKeon, he doesn’t swap players just to trade them and secure his reputation as a free swinger. A.J. would not have traded Roberto Alomar.
These Padres have been incredibly resilient, a team unafraid, with spine, playing without some top talent. If Joe Musgrove comes back in form and Fernando Tatis Jr. returns, they will be capable of beating anybody. If Yu Darvish, who has been away for personal reasons, also comes back, the starting rotation and bullpen can be as good as anyone’s.
But, while it may be worth it for some, it isn’t for the struggling franchises, who can do nothing but attempt to grasp straws out of hurricanes.
Glory shouldn’t have to come with a price. It should come with knowing what the hell you’re doing.
MLB has a bad nose. But I know when crap is crap. …
Like Justin Herbert was going to play during the exhibition season anyway. …
I called J. Robert Oppenheimer to help me understand the new NFL kickoff thing, but he told me he was bowling with St. Peter, that it was beyond him, and hung up. …
The NFL will require coaches to submit to on-the-field interviews this fall. Really stupid. Coaches are so wired during games. Oh, how I wish eloquent “Blabbermouth” Bill Belichick had a chance to say: “We gotta play better.” …
To those who hated the Opening Ceremony and therefore won’t watch the Olympics: 1. You never were going to watch them; 2. You’re followers. Grow some vertebrae …
The Ceremony was theater. It was art. It was fun. There was joy. I wasn’t offended one bit. …
Grow the hell up. Why can’t we stand people having a good time without finding sacrilege. …
The U.S. loses the mixed 4×400-meter relay to the Netherlands. Why? As John Nettles might say, the Dutch were faster. Same for Sha’Carri Richardson, who wasn’t fast all week. …
I really like rugby. Everybody should like rugby. I just wish I could fully understand it. …
Track and field tonsils: Inches and yards, please. Metrics have to be mentioned, but all too often these broadcasters pass on numbers we (hopefully) learned in school. They have converters. Use them. …
Nothing in sports frightens me more than the balance beam. I am afraid of lows. …
I am fond of the Aussies. Because they are fond of us. …
They’d be throwing hundreds of millions at Jesse Owens today. But he had difficulty finding work after his giant 1936 Olympics, so he did sideshow stuff, racing horses, calling it degrading. “I can’t eat four gold medals,” he said. …
A kind man. I interviewed Jesse in his Westgate Hotel room prior to the 1976 Olympics. That same week, he and my late friend and colleague, Carl “Andy” Bettis, got stuck in a Harbor Island hotel elevator. …
Considering his international political importance, Owens is the greatest Olympian. But, man, when I consider Emil Zátopek, the remarkable Czech is leaning at my tape. He won the 5,000-and 10,000-meter runs in the 1952 Helsinki Games. He then decided at the last minute to enter the marathon on a lark and won that, too. …
Simple math. Olympic basketball 3×3 equals nein. Or, German for no. …
I guess because so many foreign countries rely on tourism, international basketball refs also encourage players traveling. …
Soccer Nation, all right. Morocco men 4, U.S. men 0. Celebration at Rick’s Cafe Americain. Never gonna be close to our sport. …
Secretariat in the Belmont was Katie Ledecky in the 1,500. …
The Pads coming from five down to beat the Dodgers was the greatest moment of my career. …
… Until the next day, when they beat the Dodgers again. …
Only person happier is in a happier place. Peter Seidler. …
Jerry Coleman always said Ted Williams “could hit better with one arm than we could hit with two.” So he noted that, during the 1950 All-Star Game, Ted ran into a Comiskey Park wall and broke his elbow. “He didn’t tell anyone. He then came to bat and singled.” …
Inflation is all but gone, without recession. Does this mean I no longer will spend $5 on a loaf of bread made out of god-forsaken wheat? …
Upon learning the Seine River was safe as a sewer, the IOC considered moving long swims to the more sanitary Tijuana River estuary. …
The Pershing Drive Miracle Bike Lane Two Mile may be the biggest waste of money in this city’s history. Stop the insanity. …
Studies show that smart people swear more than stupid people. Gosh darnit!
Originally Published: