With Jack McKeon smoking his stogies and telling folksy stories from his six decades in baseball, Larry Beinfest, the general manager, didn’t get the credit he was due when the Florida Marlins won the World Series a year ago.
His contributions will be hard to miss if the Marlins somehow heat up to again make the playoffs. He worked a near miracle at the trading deadline.
Not only did Beinfest trade for an All-Star catcher, the National League’s best set-up man and an everyday right fielder, but he won’t have to pay any of them this season.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were so anxious to get pitcher Brad Penny, who they hoped to flip to Arizona for Randy Johnson, that they agreed to include $2 million in the deal that sent Paul Lo Duca, Guillermo Mota and Juan Encarnacion to Florida. Those three guys are due only $1.7 million through season’s end.
Florida is a better team than it was but may have already dug itself too big of a hole in the NL East and wild-card races. The Marlins dealt Philadelphia a blow by winning five in a row from them last month but offset that advance by losing five in a row to the woeful Montreal Expos.
And after Beinfest pulled off the Los Angeles deal July 30, sending Penny, first baseman Hee Seop Choi and minor-league pitcher Bill Murphy to the Dodgers, the Marlins promptly lost their next four. So much for inspiration.
Starting pitching is a serious issue. The starters other than Penny have compiled an earned-run average of 4.49. The pressure is on guys like Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett and newcomer Ismael Valdez, acquired in a trade from San Diego, to pick up the pace down the stretch.
Lo Duca should fill a major hole, not only for this year but the future. Ivan Rodriguez’s departure left a major hole at catcher. Opening Day starter Ramon Castro was hitting a whopping .126 when he went on the disabled list in June. Longtime backup Mike Redmond has gotten most of the starts, but he’s hitting a soft .245.
No one is more shocked to be a Marlin than Lo Duca, the 5-foot-10-inch everyman who made himself into an All-Star after eight seasons in the minors. He had been in the Dodgers’ organization for 11 years but was mysteriously moved so Los Angeles could trade for Charles Johnson, who declined to waive his no-trade clause. The Dodgers ended up with Brent Mayne, a .245 hitter who has battled back problems this year.
Lo Duca is looking forward to the Marlins’ visit to Dodgers Stadium on Aug. 16. He understands Los Angeles general manager Paul DePodesta has been under fire since making the deal.
“You hear things here and there, but it’s over with and I couldn’t care less to be honest with you,” Lo Duca said. “I want to go back in there and kick their butts, I’ll tell you that much. And am I rooting against them? Yeah, wouldn’t you? I want this team to win right here and I couldn’t care less what else happens as long as we get to the playoffs.”
It would be a great story, no matter who was telling it.
Getting grumpy
While Johnson pared the bidding down by indicating he wanted to go to the Yankees, he isn’t happy to still be with the Diamondbacks.
Johnson believes Arizona should have taken Los Angeles’ best offer, which would have included Penny but apparently not 20-year-old right-hander Edwin Jackson, whom the Diamondbacks coveted.
“I don’t think a deal would have ever worked out that would have made the Diamondbacks happy,” Johnson said. “Honestly, I don’t. I think their demands were too high. … I keep hearing `equal value.’ Well, what’s equal value? Is there equal value? Apparently not.”
It’s fair to say Johnson isn’t optimistic about the next two months with the Diamondbacks, who were baseball’s most disappointing team before trading Steve Finley and losing Luis Gonzalez to elbow surgery.
“I’m in a boat with no oars and the perfect storm is about to hit,” Johnson said.
It’s possible the Diamondbacks will trade Johnson this winter or at midseason a year from now. But it says here they should have gotten the deal done when they had a chance.
Here to stay
Through the years, some executives have argued to move the trading deadline back, perhaps to Aug. 31. The latest to join the chorus is San Francisco GM Brian Sabean, who wasn’t able to pull off a deal to add a starting pitcher or a run-producing hitter.
“This whole thing is asinine, the deadline, the process,” said Sabean, who believes the increasing parity has limited the number of available players. “I would say half a dozen teams were changing [from buyers to sellers or vice versa] from series to series, week to week, and you can figure them out by the standings and the win-loss records. That’s why I believe that if baseball is going to experience this kind of parity, I don’t know where this deadline is good for business.”
Commissioner Bud Selig monitored the telephones before last Saturday’s deadline. He enjoyed the buzz created by all the activity and has no plans to change the deadline.
“I think [the July 31 deadline] was great for baseball,” Selig said. “It certainly has sparked interest.”
None left over
Milwaukee hasn’t had a left-hander in its bullpen all season. Now the Brewers also don’t have any lefty relievers at Triple-A Indianapolis. They released Joliet native Chris Michalak, who sought his release so he could join Florida.
General manager Doug Melvin doesn’t believe the Brewers have been hurt significantly by not having a lefty in the bullpen. “Maybe a game or two,” he said. “Nothing dramatic. If we had a quality left-hander, I’d like to have one out there. But not a marginal left-hander. I don’t think it helps to have one just to say you have one, if he’s not getting the job done.”
Whispers
With Jerome Williams probably out for the season, the Giants have stepped up their search for a starting pitcher. It’s going to be tough to find help after the deadline. … After giving Rafael Palmeiro a “gentleman’s agreement” that he wouldn’t be traded without his consent, the Orioles let it be known they would move Palmeiro at the trade deadline, but nobody bit.
Numbers
Tampa Bay promoted shortstop B.J. Upton to the big leagues even though he made 91 errors in 228 minor-league games. … Cardinals catcher Mike Matheny had gone 252 games without an error before a wild throw Wednesday. That’s the major-league record for a catcher. … Entering the weekend, St. Louis had won 15 of Roger Cedeno’s last 19 starts. Not bad for a guy the Cardinals got for free from the Mets. … Since giving up four runs to the White Sox on June 11, John Smoltz is 16-for-17 in save situations and has an 0.32 ERA in his last 23 appearances. … Ichiro Suzuki has a chance to finish with a higher batting average than the Mariners’ winning percentage. … Texas’ bullpen is 23-10, the best record in the AL.
The last word
“I feel I have become a part of baseball history.”
–Suzuki after his 51-hit July, which followed a 50-hit May to make him the first big-leaguer with two 50-hit months in the same season since Ducky Medwick in 1936.
