Young Talent Dominates The Trade Market

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

Rejoice! Baseball’s annual winter meetings, which concluded yesterday, may have revolved around the lurid and unseemly spectacle of the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox vying for Johan Santana, the best pitcher in the sport, but this already tiresome drama was little more than a distraction from a real shift in power that took place this week. The rich, despite their best efforts, did not get richer this week in Nashville, Tenn., while the wretched of the earth prospered. Four teams, none of them great powers, all won big in Nashville, while the world champion Boston Red Sox and New York’s two comically self-regarding clubs did nothing at all. These are bright, cheery days for baseball.

The week’s biggest winner were the Washington Nationals who, for the price of an obscure A-ball pitcher, added a 23-year-old potential batting champion to their roster. The newest National, outfielder Elijah Dukes, was available for good reason. He’s physically attacked managers, teammates, and umpires, and he’s notoriously threatened to kill his own wife and children this year. He’s legitimately vile and dangerous, and I wouldn’t have him in my house.

Still, the key to this deal is that the Nationals not only gave up next to nothing; they incurred no obligation. They won’t have to pay Dukes a dime over the league minimum for two years, and they can thus release him at will for the price of a pitching machine. If Dukes hits and doesn’t act like a sociopath, the Nationals could have a franchise player. If he doesn’t hit, or if he does something unspeakable, they’re out nothing. That’s a win.

The Nationals rate above the Detroit Tigers only because Detroit lost an awful lot of talent Tuesday, including center fielder Cameron Maybin and pitcher Andrew Miller, both among the better prospects in the game. For that price, though, they added Hall of Fame talent: Miguel Cabrera is 24 and has hit like Frank Robinson and Hank Aaron for half a decade. No price is too high for such a player. That the Tigers were also able to net 25-year-old Dontrelle Willis, at worst a highly durable fifth starter, made the deal mildly surreal, given the prices that injury-prone sixth starters who are 10 years older are netting these days.

Four years ago, the Tigers lost 119 games. Last year, they won the American League pennant. Now, they’ve traded prospects as good as any in the game — acquired because they were willing to spend great sums on amateur talent — for a 24-year-old who has every chance of being the league’s best hitter for the next decade. In doing so, they’ve raised their payroll past what the Mets and the Los Angeles and Chicago teams, among others, are willing to spend. Every team that whines about how it can’t compete because of its city or stadium or past bad management has been shown up as utterly fraudulent by Detroit’s superb management team.

The third big winners were the Minnesota Twins. They didn’t trade Johan Santana, and thus not only still have the best pitcher in the game and a team quite capable of winning the World Series, but they enormously increased their leverage over any executives lusting after the two-time Cy Young Award winner. Every day that goes by without a trade is a day in which it is more likely someone will meet the Twins’ demands for a package of young talent that is commensurate with Santana’s value, the kind of talent that could keep the Twins competitive well into the next decade.

Last comes Florida. Cringe-inducing as their constant fire sales may be, one has to admire the Marlins’ shamelessness and their determination to compete on their terms. While there is nothing especially admirable about not trying to win, if you make that decision, you should at least commit to it wholeheartedly and not bother hanging on to marketable veterans. Teams such as the Baltimore Orioles and the Pittsburgh Pirates are pathetic year after year and spend tens of millions to be so, while the Marlins are quite willing to be pathetic while fielding a team with a payroll of less than $10 million. They hoard as many prospects as possible, go for everything once every few years when the stars have aligned just right, and have world championships to show for it. This makes a certain amount of sense. Like the Nationals, the Tigers, and the Twins, the Marlins are willing to take risks. It makes for a welcome contrast to some of the wealthier teams in baseball who, if they know shame, have an odd way of showing it.

tmarchman@nysun.com


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