Silly Season is Over Today. Thankfully.

By Ed "In Westchester" Semlies
Posted Tuesday, July 31, 2007

By the time this is posted here at F.U., Silly Season, aka the non-waiver trade deadline, will have passed. Monday saw some movement by the Braves, trading the cream of their farm system in catcher/first baseman Jarrod Saltalamacchia (thus saving Mets fans from having to come up with non-lame nicknames), shortstop prospect Elvis Andrus, and two other minor leaguers (apparently pitchers) to the Texas Rangers for first baseman Mark Teixeira and reliever Ron Mahay. The big question of course is how will Julio Franco react to not getting his at-bats, or does he really expect Bobby Cox to sit Teixeira for him to get at-bats? They also were close to trading Kyle Davies (Cy Young against the Mets, Kyle Davies against the rest of the league) to the Royals for Octavio Dotel. Of course, the media, and many Mets fans, were concerned over what the Mets were going to do in order to counteract these moves.

Late Monday, the Mets landed second baseman Luis Castillo from the Twins for Drew Butera (a catcher) and Dustin Martin (an outfielder). This, depending on your point of view, was a good move (a solid defensive second baseman, albeit one who is not as good as he was) and solid #2 hitter (albeit one who does not hit for much power), or an awful move (let Gotay play, he is tearing the cover off the ball, oh great, now Milledge is gonna be stuck at #8 as Castillo hits #2). On some sites, it was a battle between the fans who feel experience should be considered, and those who value stats above all else. Now, I’m not a numbers guy for the most part, but I do understand some of their points. However, as an old-timer (sorta, I’m only in my late 30’s), I do value experience. So, while I will miss Gotay’s bat, I do like this deal, as I like Castillo’s experience, and hey, he will net us a draft pick if he leaves (assuming we offer arbitration, which we will, and he will decline, since he is on record in the past as saying he didn’t like the idea of playing in NY).

Me, I’m just glad the deadline has passed. For the past couple of weeks, we kept hearing Omar had a "jones" (no pun intended) for Livan Hernandez, Jose Contreras, Jermaine Dye, or any number of other high profile players rumored to be available. The press was printing stories every day that had pretty much every young pitcher being moved, all the while printing words from Omar where he said “I’m not trading any of my young arms for a rental, guys, how many damn times do I have to tell you?” We had His Pompousness and the Screaming Ninny, along with the other WFAN talking heads, saying the Mets need to trade Milledge for outfield help, ignoring the fact that half of the Mets outfield is on the DL, and the player they were advocating to get back, Dye, has been battling leg ailments all season long (not to mention he has, how can I put this nicely, ah, the hell with it, he has sucked this year). Now, we all know Mike kneels to the Yankee altar, and The Ninny is a Giants fan (Hey Chris, how’s Barry Zito doing?), so we should by now take what they say with a grain of salt. But no, fans still listen, pay attention, AND call in with similarly stupid trade proposals like “Trade Milledge for Joe Blanton.”

Nobody is immune from silly season. Not the papers, not talk radio, not the WWL (ESPN), not the fans (yes, even I think silly thoughts). The key though is to have some faith in your GM. Some felt that the Castillo trade was done solely due to the Braves deal. Now, let’s think about this for a second. Omar has been GM for a couple of years now. Has he ever made a trade solely because another team made a deal? Did he do it last year when the Braves traded for Wickman? Nope. Did he do it at the start of the season when the Braves traded for Mike Gonzalez? Nope. So why would he do so now? Look, I like Ruben Gotay. He has done a nice job for us in limited duty. But let’s face some facts here fans, Gotay could very well be playing well over his head. Do you really think that a guy, who had fallen so far in the ROYALS system that he was traded for Jeff Keppinger is a 340 hitter? The guy is untested at this point, and his defense is suspect (he did make an error in the Dodgers series right after Valentin went out, remember?). I for one was not fully confident in his ability to maintain his torrid hitting. Omar and Willie apparently felt the same way. There are times when you need to trust in your management, this is one of those times. This is not a GM that is prone to making panic moves. He has a plan, and he works at it methodically. I for one tend to trust a GM and manager who have combined more experience in baseball than I have been a fan.

This is not to say I will give them a free pass on everything (I for one want Shawn Green riding the pine when Beltran comes back so that Milledge plays 90% of the time, and I would not be in favor of trading Humber or Pelfrey for a rental or Joe Blanton). I will complain about lineups and substitutions. Yes, Omar has made a couple of bad deals and signings, but the good outweighs the bad at this point. This team is built to win now and probably for the near future. This is due to Omar. The days of trading young pitchers for overrated damaged goods are gone.

Silly season sees fans face off, like the Castillo deal above, or those who are willing to sacrifice the future in a win now mindset. Younger fans complain they have never seen a World Series win. Well, I know it’s been hard, but that is part of being a fan. You take the good with the bad. Trading away the future for a shot to win it now gets you Victor Zambrano sometimes. I think we all agree that was a bad deal, right? Don’t get caught up in the silliness. Don’t trade the farm, or overvalue our prospects. Don’t fret over all the moves the Braves make or the Phillies make without looking at their team as a whole. For example, the Braves still have starting rotation issues. The Phillies traded for Kyle Lohse, how do you think he will fare at Citizens Bank Park? As for the Castillo deal, once August 1 came, the Phils and Braves would have claimed any halfway decent second baseman that a team put on waiver so the Mets couldn’t trade for them. Remember that when you think about Castillo.

And be thankful that Steve Phillips is toiling on ESPN, and not in Flushing.

Ed is old-school and not ashamed to admit it. These newfound stats scare him. Read more about it at The Blue, Orange & Green Cafe or in the forums here at F.U.