Did Cliff Lee cost the Rangers too much? Are the Angels looking at their three consecutive division titles as a finished run? Did the Mariners install the foundation of dynasty this afternoon? If this was the Premiere League, would the Oakland A's be a Double-A team yet?
Rangers get: Cliff Lee and 27-year old reliever.
Mariners get: Justin Smoak and Blake Beavan, plus 2 other guys that not only did not make John Sickels' Top 20 Rangers Prospects List, neither made his "Grade C Honorable Mentions" list either.
So first, take the two C- Texas prospects and make them an inconsequential trade for Seattle's nothing reliever. Okay, done boring deal. Yawn, whaddevah.
Now look at the trade of 3 months of Cliff Lee for Justin Smoak and Blake Beavan. Only two words can need be uttered by an Angels fan over this: "AH CRUD".
That is "Ah Crud" for this season and "Ah Crud" for 2011.
Blake Beavan's ceiling is a righthanded Joe Saunders with more MPH still finding bats and quick groundball outs to gloves. In Seattle that is a #2 starter this season and solid #3 stuff for the next fives seasons.
Sickles had Beavan as the #16 preseason Rangers prospect. The closes thing to a Beavan we have in Sickels' C+ range is Trevor Bell and Beavan is 2+ years younger.
Justin Smoak... Hmmm... let's see, what did SBN's John Sickels have to say about Smoak before the season began?
2) Justin Smoak, 1B, Grade A-: I'm not too worried about what happened in Triple-A, given everything else he's done. Still expect him to become an All-Star first baseman.
FYI, that #2 is Sickels rating Smoak as the Rangers' #2 prospect. Neftali Feliz was his preseason #1 for Ron Washington's cakewalkers and that has sure been some #1 9th inning frosting for them.
The Rangers get CLIFF LEE. Basically, the best pitcher in baseball at the moment, lotsa groundballs, lotsa strikeouts, no walks to speak of. The Rangers also get the first round pick of the team that signs Lee next season, suppose that will be the Yankees, so for Smoak and Beavan they get Lee and the 30th pick in the Jule '11 draft and a supplemental pick in the late 30s or early 40s.
ANY HOPE FOR THE HALOS?
Lee sucks pitching in Arlington. Might be a small sample size, might be fortuitous for those who do not want to concede him 8 or 9 victories wearing the white stripes of the Cocaine Cowboys.
Smoak has not broken out comparable to Feliz' dominance, and the missed opportunity has occurred in a great hitters park compared to his new home south of Pike Place Market. Beavan is one of a hundred or more C+ prospects.
If anyone says that Toronto got less for Roy Halladay than this understand that Kyle Drabek just pitched a no hitter in AA ball so understand that the jury is still out, these things take time.
This likely delays the Angels pulling the big trigger (the SELL or BUY lever) until July 30-31. If they make up ground, Prince Fielder or Adam Dunn may be the answer. What will that cost in prospects? In the words of John Fante, Ask the Dust. And that should be easy for Angels GM Tony Reagins, as he was left in it this afternoon.
0 recs | 14 comments
I voted "buy"...but I don't think we will be 2 games back by 7/30.
sothball - July 9, 2010
I don't have a freaking clue
but I like the Fante reference
Not everyone who comes into this dive is a bum
Reminds me of HH
Raaddad - July 9, 2010
Our only choices would be Prince or Adam?
May as well stand pat unless someone sends a years supply of Nutri System to Prince and bans him from the buffet lines. And say we did get a rental bat, we will all still be yelling at the t.v. as Sosh makes the slow walk to the mound and signals for an arm to come in from the bullpen.
steelgolf - July 9, 2010
by then
Kohn would be up, Thompson will be dominant, and the bullpen will return to its former glory. Also, I have a feeling that Sosh is still gonna try and make Prince steal as “Angels baseball”. The only reason why Matsui doesn’t go is cause of his knees. Prince has no excuse.
phoenix15 - July 9, 2010
Or Prince Adam, prince of Eternia. Only then can we defeat the evil forces of Skeletor...
On a serious note, after watching the Nats for the past six weeks, Adam Dunn is currently on fire and I wouldn’t mind seeing him in a Halos uni.
By the power of Grayskull…I have the power!
Big Easy Halofan - July 9, 2010
If we are 2 games back on July 30, buy relief pitching with our catching depth
A good bullpen can absorb a Kazmir – I mean a bad start – every 5 days.
Otherwise, file the season and use the 10-15 mil we should have left after arbitration to fix our pitching problems this winter.
Commander_Nate - July 9, 2010
I HOPE THIS IS THE LAST CLIFF LEE STORY OF THE DAY.
It is depressing enough already. It is like having to listen to the 714-Tickets jingle over and over and over.
44FAN - July 9, 2010
Why would the Angels front office not do everything they could to get Lee, i’m sure we have 2 nobodies in our minors we could have thrown in, hell we probably have 2 on our current roster,sheesh
peteyweestro - July 9, 2010
we have no prosepct as highly rated as Smoak
we could not have gotten Lee.
Rev Halofan - July 10, 2010
You apparently have no understanding of what the Rangers gave up for Lee
This is almost like the Angels trading a healthy Kendry of 2009 in July for the promise only of Lee for the remainder of the season. Smoak is a player the Rangers fans have been waiting for, and losing him on the cusp of what might become a great career, with just three months of Lee in return, is a tough pill to swallow.
My guess is that any discussion with the Mariners began and ended with Trout. Are you willing to give that up for three months of Lee? And before you answer, remember how sure everyone was that Arte could re-sign Teixeira.
George Kaplan - July 10, 2010
I for one am thrilled with this trade.....
Sure Texas go ahead and give up Smoak and 3 other legit prospects in return for Cliff Lee. You only weakened yourself.
1. Justin Smoak>Chris Davis
2. Cliff Lee doesn’t gaurantee the playoffs
3. The M’s are so far removed from competing that the load they brought in will matter little.
4. Lee can’t pitch for you every game. You need 4 other starters, and all 4 are faltering.
5. The Rangers bullpen isn’t fresh. If Cliff Lee manages to pitch well in Arlington (big if) that only results in one extra day of rest for those guys in the pen.
The only thing Cliff Lee does, is make the last series between the Rangers and Angels all the more important. They’ll try to “CC Sabathia” us and throw Lee on short rest in hopes of shutting us down and not relying on their other terrible starters. This just means the Angels will have to take the lead before October 1st.
I am fully confident that we can and will.
Halowood - July 10, 2010
Cliff Lee must be deliriously happy to get away from the Mariners
Lee began the season on the DL. From the time he was activated to the time of the trade, the Mariners were a putrid 23-40 (.365). The Mariners’ record during this time in the 13 games not started by Lee was a craptastic 14-36 (.280).
How good has Lee’s control been this year? Here are the yearly MLB leaders in K/BB ratio since 2000.
2000: Pedro Martinez (8.88)
2001: Curt Schilling (7.51)
2002: Curt Schilling (9.58)
2003: Roy Halladay (6.38)
2004: Ben Sheets (8.25)
2005: Carlos Silva (7.89) Say whaaat?!?!?! No. It’s true.
2006: Curt Schilling (6.54)
2007: CC Sabathia (5.65)
2008: Roy Halladay (5.28)
2009: Roy Halladay (5.94)
2010: Cliff Lee (14.83)
stat source
What if Lee is able to maintain this ratio all season? How would it rank historically?
It would be the best of all time.
The current single-season K/BB ratio record is 11.0, accomplished by Bret Saberhagen during the strike-shortened 1994 season.
Historical K/BB Single Season Leaders
Fan Since 1981 - July 10, 2010
As an addendum; Lee will sign with the Yankees as a free agent.
It’s pretty much a done deal. How do I know?
(From the Associated Press)
“Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia were convinced they were about to become teammates again.
How much? THEIR WIVES WERE ALREADY TALKING ABOUT PLACES TO LIVE IN NEW YORK.”
(I added the shouting.)
Think about it Angel fans!
Recall the power of Mrs. Teixeira and Mrs. Lackey during free agent negotiations. ;-)
Now mull over:
mega free agent cash + New York City shopping for the Mrs.
It’s over. Done. Other teams need not even bid.
He’ll sign with the Yankees.
Fan Since 1981 - July 10, 2010
Had an amusing thought that no other team bothers
and the Yankees don’t have to offer him the sun, moon, and stars.
opiejeanne - July 10, 2010
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