Two columns from ESPN's website from Trade Deadline Day last season.
I know I'm just mouthing off about the way I think things should be. Maybe I get lucky and hit a good idea once in a while.
But I'd suggest that people read these two columns, then ask themselves if in playing OOTP against the AI, they feel like they were in anything like what was described in these two columns.
Peter Gammons, Aug 3, 2002 "Going inside on Deadline Day"
http://espn.go.com/gammons/s/2002/0803/1413691.html
Jayson Stark, July 31, 2002 "Deadline Day goes quietly, but dealing not likely done"
http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/stark...n/1412625.html
Some quotes from each
Stark ----
A few weeks ago, the Cardinals didn't seem to have much to deal. But when they were through, they'd won the Scott Rolen Sweepstakes for a very modest price
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General manager [CLEVELAND] Mark Shapiro knew early he'd be trading a bunch of veteran players. So he did a study of all the deadline deals of the last 10 years -- and concluded the best trades were usually made for prospects who were years away.
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But fellow GMs complain that [TAMPA BAY]Chuck LaMar slapped Mercedes price tags on the Hyundais on his lot, and he aggravated many potential customers.
We asked about Esteban Yan, and he told us it would take two top-quality prospects, and a fringe major leaguer," grumbled one team. And we heard similar talk all over both leagues. As for LaMar's most marketable player, Randy Winn, he's so young and cheap, we probably would have driven a hard bargain for him, too. One disgruntled GM said: "What's he need him for? So he can stay there and help them win 50 games?"
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But two major-league sources say [KANSAS CITY]Baird went down to the wire talking about a potential three-team deal that apparently would have involved the Mets and Blue Jays. The Mets would have gotten Byrd. It appears the Royals would have wound up with Toronto's big-time second-base prospect, Orlando Hudson. The sticking point may have been the Mets' reluctance to part with their best pitching prospect, Aaron Heilman.
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Always-active Mets GM Steve Phillips had potential deals flying all over the map. Another trade reportedly would have sent relievers David Weathers and Mark Guthrie to Anaheim for Schoeneweis.
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Names being shopped on Deadline Day
In the hours before the deadline, these were some of the names that reportedly were being dangled actively but never went anywhere:
Tom Gordon, Jeff Fassero, Doug Glanville, Delino DeShields, Roberto Hernandez, Tanyan Sturtze, Bubba Trammell, Lenny Harris, Matt Stairs, Brandon Larson, Neifi Perez, Mark Redman.
Gammons ---
The Yankees, you see, could have had Floyd, but Steinbenner so overreacted to Enrique Wilson's mishaps in right field in a game against the Mets on June 29 that he overruled the sensibilities of "his baseball people," called Toronto owner Paul Godfrey and then bought Raul Mondesi on July 2. If Steinbrenner had waited an hour, he'd have found out that as the Mondesi deal was being completed, Marlins team president David Samson had Floyd's agent Seth Levinson in his office informing him that that they could not re-sign Floyd and he would be put on the market that afternoon. Then earlier this week, Steinbrenner found out the Red Sox were the leaders in pursuit of Floyd and he tried to jump in to block the deal.
"It got down to the Yankees and Boston," says Expos GM Omar Minaya. Montreal asked the Yankees for outfielder Juan Rivera and first baseman Nick Johnson. "They chose not to do that," says Minaya, "and we went with Boston."
Oakland had the best players to offer for Floyd, but there were two roadblocks: Floyd has a no-trade clause to Oakland he wouldn't waive, and the A's also needed the Expos to take back the final $2 million in the deal; Minaya wanted the $2 million to use to acquire a closer in case, as he puts it, "we get back into the race."
Oakland then tried to get Atlanta interested in taking Floyd at the end of a three-way deal, but that didn't work, leaving only the Red Sox and Mets. And Minaya did not want to improve the team with whom he is competing in the wild card and the NL East.
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"Even as a seller, it's more complex than many realize," says one NL GM. "It's understandable that some teams wanted to wait, but obviously the returns diminished the closer we got to July 31. It's all about buyers who could take on contracts. It'll be the same thing in August, with claimings."
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Most GMs believe there is a major market correction working, with very few teams willing to go spend on free agents this winter. If the Indians, Cardinals and Red Sox tried to sign Thome, Rolen or Floyd right now, they would have to do so at 2001 prices. Thus they have to wait and let the market dictate their value, which in each case may be far less than they expect, despite each player's ability and character.
"A classic example is Johnny Damon," says one GM. "He essentially signed with Boston for what he turned down in Kansas City. It wasn't his fault. The market shifted downward."