Talk, talk, talk
Pulling off a major trade not as easy as it looks
Posted: Monday July 27, 1998 07:16 PM
ST. LOUIS (CNN/SI) -- The talks are on. The rumors are flying. It's about
that time.
Every season, right about now, baseball fans everywhere are getting psyched
up for a whole lot of action as the trading deadline approaches.
They rarely get it.
Once in a while, a big trade is made just before the trading deadline
passes. Once in a while, it works out. But it never works out to be the
trading frenzy that everyone expects.
The problem is there are just so many variables, so many considerations
that each team has to make. By the time all of them are factored in, there
just aren't that many players around to fit the bill. Trading for a player
who can help your team make a run for the pennant is not as easy as signing
some piece of paper.
First off, to get something you have to give something up. It sounds pretty
simple but, when you're a pennant-contender, you really don't want to be
messing with the parts of your team.
When a general manager thinks about getting a hot pitcher or a big bat for
the stretch run, he has to be thinking about chemistry, too. Trading away a
valuable or a well-liked player can hurt a clubhouse, even if the player
you're getting in return can help win a pennant.
And, of course, a GM has to think about how the new player will be
accepted. Say you're a GM and you get a new ace for your pitching staff.
That automatically makes your old ace a No. 2. Most guys would be open to
that. After all, what's the player going to do -- quit? Most guys are
professionals, knowing that if the move helps the team win, so be it.
But it is something you have to mull over before making a trade.
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Johnson is one of several players that may be traded to a team looking to bolster thier pitching staff AP | |
You have to try to figure out how the new player might adapt, too. The
first time a guy is traded is always traumatic. He may have to uproot his
family. He has to get used to sleeping in a new town, in a new bed. He has
to figure out how your team does things. And, while his life outside the
ballpark may be in an upheaval, he's expected to contribute in a big way
during the games.
Those are all things general managers around baseball are considering right
now as they try to find that last, missing piece before the races really
start heating up.
These trades are usually a short-term fix for a club. Most of the time, the
main guys mentioned in the trade rumors are players who are in the last
year of a contract. They have to play well if they want a big-time contract
next year. In the best case, it clicks for everyone.
But trades don't always work out that way. And that's the chance you take
as a GM.
The 6-4-3 with Ozzie Smith: There were lots of questions about
whether Don Sutton deserved his spot in the Hall of Fame.
If anything, Sutton's enshrinement Sunday in Cooperstown shows that
perseverance pays off. Over 23 years, Sutton proved that he loved the game.
He also proved he had to be lucky to stay healthy that long. And he had to
have that strong desire to want to keep on competing.
But, more than that, he had to stick it out.
I've often talked about how a player should be judged for his whole career,
not a hot play or a hot game or a hot couple seasons.
Don Sutton was judged over a very successful 23 years in the big leagues.
And now, as his reward, he's in the Hall of Fame. Ozzie Smith,
a 15-time All-Star, is the baseball analyst for CNN/SI, the 24-hour sports
news network from CNN and Sports Illustrated. His column appears every
Monday exclusively in CNNSI.com.
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