Buck Showalter Rambles About MLB Trade Deadline

Buck Showalter certainly wasn’t hired for his writing abilities or even because he possesses a great deal of insightful, analytical skill when it comes to baseball. He doesn’t. In fact, he wasn’t even all that successful as a manager. The Yankees and the Diamondbacks (two of the three teams he managed) won the the World Series the very year after he left. That being said, ESPN didn’t hire him because they thought he had any of these skills, but because he’s a Baseball Lifer. It’s the ESPN way. Whatever. They still shouldn’t let him write. Observe.

Around the trade deadline, the math is simple: The more money you take on, the fewer prospects you have to give up. This equation is why the Yankees are always players at the deadline and the Pirates aren’t. The big-market teams are always willing to add more money to the payroll.

Hold onto that first thought there. Because it’s basically the last bit of sense you’ll hear from old Buck. First of all, the Pirates are always players at the deadline. They sell, sell, sell. They’re sellers cause they suck, yes, but still, they are players, and it’s not that they can’t bring on FAs or eat some money at that time (just look at the Matt Morris deal! #7). Suffice it to say, Buck’s thesis is fatally flawed.

For instance, look at the Dan Haren trade between the Diamondbacks and Angels. Anaheim took on Haren’s contract, and gave up Joe Saunders and a few minor leaguers. Let’s face it — the Royals aren’t making that deal, and they have just as good of prospects to give up.

1.) It doesn’t make sense for the Royals to trade for Haren because they’re gonna lose anyway. They have Zach Greinke, who is awesome, and they still lose all the time. They need those prospects to build their team. That’s why sucky, small-market teams (like the Pirates, Royals, etc.) shouldn’t go after veterans in trades, because it won’t help them improve.

2.) The Diamondbacks got fleeced, absolutely fleeced in this deal. I can’t tell if Buck thinks it was a fair deal or not, but it wasn’t. Just want to make that clear.

The Astros are holding out for a deal that will get Oswalt’s ticket paid and good prospects in return. That’s probably not going to happen. So they have to decide what is more important — freeing up money to use themselves or getting worthwhile prospects back.

That’s why a team’s preference list — where scouts rank the best minor league prospects from the other 29 clubs — is so important. It can determine whether or not teams such as the Astros eat some of Oswalt’s salary to get better prospects in return.

Really? You don’t say? Teams have a list of really good prospects? And you say this list is important? Fascinating.

Say, Buck, since you seem to know so much about baseball, how’d you like to manage a team?

Sadly, this will happen. At least then he’ll only torture Batlimore (or whoever) fans instead of everybody.

These decisions involve every level of the organization. A lot of times, the baseball people and the talent evaluators are ready to pull the trigger on the deal, but the owner isn’t.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

It’s a really tough time of year for the players and their families, especially in this media age. Every guy in the clubhouse knows who’s rumored to be traded. They come in every day expecting something to happen, someone to get moved. Before they have even arrived at the ballpark, they probably have talked to 20 people about potentially being moved. You have to be very sensitive to that. They’re not trading managers or coaches; they’re trading players. Anything that magnifies the business part of the game makes players uncomfortable.

Blah blah blah. Poor guys. They’re gonna have to make millions of dollars in some less awesome city and leave all their teammates for a new batch of (usually better) teammates. (By the way, if you want to feel sorry for anybody here, and you don’t have to, because all these guys, you know, get PAID for playing baseball, but if you want to, you should feel sorry for the Minor Leaguers).

I don’t get why trading Managers or Coaches is somehow different, aside from the fact that it just doesn’t happen.

That last day of the deadline, you don’t want to be walking through the clubhouse telling a guy he has just been traded. As a manager, that’s the worst feeling. I remember David Dellucci was traded from the Rangers when he was in the dugout for the last exhibition game of spring training. That was very uncomfortable for me.

It was really uncomfortable for the rest of players that had to watch Buck climb into the shower with Dellucci and sing out the theme from Annie one last time.

Also, Dellucci was traded like a hundred times, so I wouldn’t feel too bad.

Managers have a different relationship with the players than the front office. You’ve got to be careful what you tell your players. You can’t assure them one way or the other because, oftentimes, you don’t know the deals being discussed. When I was with the Yankees, I wouldn’t be brought in on potential trades until they were almost finalized. In Arizona and Texas, I was a little more involved.

I don’t think any manager wanders around the clubhouse pulling on a bottle of Jack and randomly spouting off trade rumors to his players.

Although that wouldd be awesome.

Guys like Bobby Cox, Ozzie Guillen, Tony La Russa, Mike Scioscia and Jim Leyland know everything going on with their teams around the deadline. But I don’t think any manager really has veto power, nor does he want it. Sometimes with the trade deadline, ignorance is bliss.

Here is a list of (possibly) great managers. It gives credibility to my ramblings.

By the time the deadline passes, everyone will have shown whether they’re in or they’re out. Probably half of the teams will be eliminated from playoff contention. I’ll tell you this: It’s a lot more comfortable in the clubhouse when the uncertainty is gone and you know what you’ve got.

Sometime after the deadline passes, some teams will be in the playoff hunt and some will not. People won’t be getting traded. There will less uncertainty. Illuminating. Thanks for the semi-incoherent ramblings, Buck! If I didn’t know any better I’d say Joe Morgan wrote this.