Jim Cowan

Sands took advantage of his vacation in Erie by striking out 4 times.

Hey look, there's Meryl Streep in a baseball uniform. Unsurprisingly, he's a pretty good baseball player, having played in the Intercounty League as a teenager.

I love the rainbow on the cover, let's not forget for one minute who the truly evil people are.

I find myself not caring which course of action he chooses.

Lol...step by step...

That was uninspiring.

When I saw that Jim Price was in the Northern League in 1962 it occurred to me that he played against Willie Horton. If you check the Duluth Superior roster that year it has an amazing number of future major leaguers on it. The outfield was Horton, Northrup, and Stanley.

Do you know who I feel bad for? Candelario. Yes, he knows it's a business, and he's going to make his $5 million one way or another. But still..."that's all you could get for me?". That has to sting a little bit.

So it seems like here is a lesson for future GMs of lousy teams...don't sign a deadline bat in November. Nobody wants one in July. Sign a couple of deadline arms instead.

So perhaps we could all dismiss the Candelario discussion by saying that, surprisingly, the Nationals got Sweet FA for him, which is not more than the Tigers received. Both teams received the same in exchange for him. Sweet nothing. No, the Nationals did not receive more. They got nothing. Same as the Tigers. Which apparently is the market price.

Ha! Better than Lugo, am I right?

Absolutely. Don't trade him for Dawel Lugo, keep him here, try to do something with his contract. Now, here's what everyone knew at the time Dombrowski wasn't going to let him sign with anyone except the Red Sox. I don't understand the whole compensatory draft choice thing but I would have happily stood at a microphone after the deadline and said "I talked to JD, and I listened to offers, and I think that the best course of action is for JD to stay here for now, and for the long term we hope". Getting some terrible players in exchange, instead of getting nothing in exchange...well those are exactly the same thing in my opinion.

That JD transaction was the behaviour of someone who was frightened of public reactions to his movements. All he knew was that he was going to get tarred and feathered in the media, "social" and "mainstream", if he didn't "get something for JD, otherwise he walks and we get nothing" which I don't think is strictly true because there might have been a compensatory draft pick, but I have no expertise there. A compensatory pick had a decent chance to be better than Lugo. Anyway, he got Sweet FA for JD, just like the Nationals got Sweet FA for Candelario. Nothing. They got nothing. Their return for Candelario is exactly the same as the Tigers' return. Zero.

When you look at what they got for him, you have to think that their objective was sImply to save $2 million in payroll. That Double A pitcher walks about 5.5 per 9, Harris would have just laughed at that. The 20 year old shortstop in High A is a teeny little guy who doesn't do much with the bat, he'd better be a magician with the glove. So, this is the baseball equivalent of "nothing". I'm surprised, but I guess that no specific contender had an obvious need for a third baseman.

I'd rather have kept JD than traded him for the junk that came back in return. Let the fans enjoy him, probably get a draft pick? Getting something for JD was not better than zero.

Is he injury prone? This is the first time he has played 100 games.

Who is this Codify guy that doesn't understand L R L R L batting orders?

Oh by the way...why is Shane Greene pitching for the Cubs in the Arizona Complex League?

I thought that the Nationals would get something decent for Candelario. Oh well, good for him, he's having good results and might make some money.

Yes and I am so naive to think that after about 1985 there were a bunch of guys out there with a bat, a glove, and an arm. Maybe one or two but 90% of them were playing point guard or RPO quarterback.

They have very little pitching and very little hitting. I would prefer hitting. They have emphasized pitching in the draft for 30 years and for the most part have SFA to show for it. Let's find some guys who have a bat, a glove, and an arm.

It sounds like more than one team is interested in Lorenzen and Rodriguez, which is good. If you only have one dance partner you're kind of screwed.

This will be the first offseason in 3 years where people won't be carping about his contract, and challenging the front office to find "creative solutions". That's what I'm looking forward to.

It's true. Hard to believe.

Marlins aren't very good. Why would they trade for David Robertson? EDIT - because they hold the last wild card. So go for it I guess.