Baseball Musings 11/4/2005

Here we go!

Brian Lawrence (SP) to Washington, Vinny Castilla (3B) to San Diego - Four main things fall out of this trade: (1) Sean Burroughs is not long for the Padres. Look for him to head to Minnesota or Pittsburgh or Boston; (2) It's very hard to believe that in any trade, the team getting Brian Lawrence is the winner. Well, at least he eats innings (I've never really understood that phrase. Heck, I could eat many an inning myself); (3) If this is an example of Kevin Towers trading prowess, I'd like to pass on him becoming GM of the Red Sox; (4) Ryan Zimmerman becomes the Nats third basemen. This I like.

Yankers corner the market on ex-managers - The Yankers now have Joe Torre as manager, Larry Bowa (formerly Phillies mananger) as third base coach, Tony Pena (formerly Royals manager) as third base coach and Lee Mazzilli (formerly Orioles manager) as bench coach. Never has a team had so many chefs ... and we all know where that leads.

Matt Lawton, busted - Hmmm. Again, what are the benefits of the 'roids if your year-end line is .254/.356/.396?

Quickies
Sox resign Mike Timlin - This is good, as long as (a) he doesn't close and (b) never has inherited runners. His ERA with no runners on: 0.90. Runners on: 3.57. RISP with 2 outs: 5.14! Thats not what you need from your #1 bullpen man.

Padres hire Glenn Hoffman as third base coach - How did I miss that Glenn and Trevor Hoffman are brothers?

Finally, Sean McAdam has a good summary of the free agent market this winter.