Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Listening to the Cubs-Brewers game today, I once again heard about the big trade that brought Craig Counsell, Junior Spivey, Chad Moeller, Lyle Overbay, Chris Capuana and Jorge DeLaRosa to the Brewers for Richie Sexson and a couple minor-leaguers.
That trade is the reason Milwaukee was over .500 as long as they were this year.
Nice trade, but for this trade to happen, Gary Sheffield had to sulk and boot a few ground balls.
For those of you wondering why a Yankees outfielder has anything to do with Lyle Overbay, let me remind you that Sheffield was the Brewers' first round pick in the 1986 draft. He was the crown jewel of the Brewers' farm system when he debuted in 1988 at age 19, but he struggled in his first four seasons, and he feuded with Brewers management. Years later, Sheffield said he began to tank it at third base once Tom Trebelhorn moved him there in 1990. (He made 37 errors there in 189 games).
Anyway, the Brewers needed to move him, and they found a taker in the San Diego Padres, who offered pitcher Ricky Bones, shortstop Jose Valentin and outfielder Matt Mieske.
Valentin had the best major league career among them all, but Bones was considered the key to the deal. Bones won 47 games with the Brewers until he was part of a late August 1996 deal to the Yankees, where he and Graeme Lloyd went to the Bronx for Bob Wickman and Gerald Williams.
Wickman quickly became Milwaukee's closer, racking up 37 saves in 1999. He had 16 saves in July 2000 when he was packaged with retreads Jason Bere and Steve Woodard for Paul Rigdon, Kane Davis and Richie Sexson.
And of course, Sexson went to Arizona in the trade we talked about above.
Small-market teams have to do that to succeed: take gambles on prospects, get as much out of them while they can, and then trade them for as many more young, rising stars as you can.
Another example: the Seattle Mariners drafting Mark Langston and getting 74 wins out of him before packaging him with a player-to-be-named to Montreal for Brian Holman, Gene Harris and Randy Johnson, then getting 130 wins and the first division title in franchise history from Johnson before trading him to Houston in that infamous 1998 deadline deal for John Halama, Carlos Guillen and Freddy Garcia. Those three helped Seattle win a few division titles and set an AL record for wins in a regular season. Garcia was traded to the White Sox this summer for youngsters Jeremy Reed, Michael Morse and Miguel Olivo.
If Reed, Morse and Olivo help Seattle to great things, you can thank the scout, who in 1982 recommended the team draft Langston.
The Cubs even can even say they did that once. In 1965, they drafted a left-hander from the University of Illinois named Kenny Holtzman.
He gave the Cubs 74 wins from 1965-1971 until the Cubs traded him to Oakland for Rick Monday, who played five solid seasons in center field, until the Cubs dealt him to the Dodgers (along with journeyman pitcher Mike Garman -- acquired by the Cubs for Don Kessinger in 1975, by the way). The Cubs received fan favorite Bill Buckner in the trade along with Ivan DeJesus and a minor-leaguer named Jeff Albert, who never made it to the bigs. Buckner played for the Cubs from 1977 until mid-1984, winning a batting title and making a couple trips to the All-Star Game until the Cubs traded him to Boston for Dennis Eckersley and Mike Brumley. DeJesus was a decent shortstop for the Cubs until the January 1982 when new Cubs GM Dallas Green sent him packing to Philly for veteran shortstop Larry Bowa and Ryne Sandberg. Bowa's tenure with the Cubs ended with an unconditional release in 1985. Sandberg retired with the Cubs -- twice -- after a Hall of Fame caliber career. Eckersley joined Bowa and Sandberg on the 1984 NL East Division title, a team that laid the groundwork for the position the Cubs franchise is in right now. He, unfortunately, didn't realize the greatness until the Cubs traded him to Oakland for three career minor-leaguers.
Brumley spelled Shawon Dunston in 1987 when Dunston broke his hand and was later a minor part of the deal that brought Goose Gossage to the Cubs in 1988.
So, in essence, the decision to draft Holtzman in the fourth round of the 1965 amateur draft also brought Rick Monday, Bill Buckner, Ivan DeJesus, Larry Bowa, Ryne Sandberg and Dennis Eckersley to the Cubs.
That's what I call value!
As I try to revive this blog, let me test posting from e-mail.
T.J. Brown
