Change of Address….Better Results.
No one knows why these things happen. Why a baseball trade will rejuvenate a player. Why the same deal will help a team. Why sometime later, the young player in a deal develops into a star.
The Padres-Yankees…Padres-Angels deal within the last week have started to pay dividends.
San Diego has had a pleasant surprise, in 3rd baseman Yangervis Solarte, who had been demoted by the Yankees. The Dominican journeyman, started like a house-afire in April and May in New York, then cooled off, then was optioned to the minors.
By the time New York decided to include him in the Chase Headley trade, he had been hitting (.153). Not so now. Since putting on Padres colors, he is (7-16) showing power and hitting at a (.350-clip), and has a bunch of extra base hits..
Pretty impressive, so we will wait to see if it continues.
Headley by the way, has a 6-game hitting streak, and is hitting an amazing (.348). This is the same guy who spent months hitting in the (.180s) in San Diego, after last year’s disappointing campaign. Surrounded by better players, less pressure in the batting order, or maybe just health, he is hot for sure..
The Padres-Angels trade netted San Diego three young lower minor league players, and a Triple A player. It has not been a good start for Taylor Lindsay, the supposed 2nd baseman of the future. A (2-21) start in El Paso. If you cannot hit in the Pacific Coast League, that’s not very good.
Huston Street moved to the 949-Angels bullpen area code, and has 3-saves in his lst week, pitching in a pennant race.
Sometimes you never know about deals.
Back in the day, the Tigers, desperate for a starting pitcher, shipped a lower minor league pitcher for a veteran. Doyle Alexander-a long in the tooth right-hander, helped get them to the postseason. John Smoltz went to the Braves and won 300-games.
The Red Sox needed a reliever and went after Larry Anderson, then of Houston. They traded a minor leaguer for him. Anderson pitched 2-months then left Boston. The minor leaguer became slugger Jeff Bagwell, an Astro likely headed to the Hall of Fame.
Waiting to see what the Padres deals turn out to be, maybe a year from now, 3-years from now.
Change of Address for Headly-Street..good. Will see what the young phenoms are like when and if they arrive in San Diego.
Sadly, Lee, the Padres had to trade away some of their established players for minor leaguers because by the trading deadline, the team is out of the race. My roommate keeps telling me that it’s only July and the Padres are in 3rd place, but I had to remind him that though they are in 3rd place they have an under .500 record. Meanwhile the Dodgers and Giants continue to win in the NL West, so I guess we’ll have to wait until next year.