Trading Deadline Advanced

By Metstradamus
Posted Friday, August 1, 2008

All right, Flushing University students ... the trade deadline has come and gone. So what have we learned?

"That throwing a tantrum and loafing to first base is an acceptable way to force a trade?"

Yes, the Manny Principle ... very good. Anyone else?

"Umm, that being a lefty out of the bullpen is the best way to be on a contender every season, no matter how flammable you can be?"

Yes, the Arthur Rhodes Theory ... very good. But what did we learn about Omar Minaya? Anyone? Come on, I'm sure you read this section. Anyone?

"Oooh, I know: Idle Hands are the Devil's Handiwork?"

Wrong. Idioms don't apply to baseball, only idiots. Anybody else? Anybody?

"The inflationary scale of mediocre outfielders is about to cause the crumbling of the foundation of the trade deadline as we know it?"

Yes, but how does it rest against the backdrop of history?

(Silence)

Children, surely an entire class couldn't have been out all night partying and miss this paragraph? You remember past lessons regarding Omar Minaya trading Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips and Grady Sizemore to Cleveland for Bartolo Colon, right? How does this trading deadline refer to that? What has Omar Minaya learned?

"The true value of a prospect?"

Yes! Yes! And what theory is that, students?

"Is it the Scott Kazmir Theory?"

Yes, you have paid attention ... very good. You see, Omar learned from his previous mistake by not overvaluing a 36-year-old outfielder like Raul Ibanez by giving up top farm talent like Jon Niese or Fernando Martinez. Minaya has proven that he has learned from his mistakes.

"But couldn't Minaya have combined the Scott Kazmir Theory with the Manny Principle to have his cake and eat it too?"

No no no. That's a trade deadline fallacy. In today's game there is absolutely no way to have your cake and eat it too ... except if you enact the Yankee Exception, something Omar clearly doesn't have in his arsenal.

"But why wouldn't Minaya work towards immediate dividends?"

Children, all Omar had to gain were junk bonds. Mediocre outfielders and two month rentals that wouldn't have provided the type of production worthy of a top prospect ... the same top prospect that wasn't included in the deal for Johan Santana, a blue chip worth much more than the likes of an outfielder who's just okay and a great outfielder who would have given immediate production but nothing more than that. Minaya has learned about the value of homegrown talent and how not to undervalue it for immediate gain. It's the same type of thinking that caused the housing crisis ... pay now, and have nothing to pay later. Minaya's trading deadline, you see, actually came last winter.

So class, what you've learned is that Omar has learned. Omar Minaya has successfully learned how to stack the value of his own pieces against the pieces made available to him, and has not made a trade for ten cents on the dollar. And that with the help of similarly thinking rivals like the Phillies and Marlins, who failed to take advantage of the Manny Principle, that the bottom isn't going to drop out on the next two months.

"He learned that the best trades are the ones you don't make?"

By George you've got it. Good job children. Remember, pop quiz this October.