Before I even analyze the numbers here - which I will do shortly, my initial inclination is that this trade will help DB more than it helps JG.
The reason is that DB got rid of essentially a dead player - someone who he does not have to replace, in Howard.
With Thome, Pujols, and Howard only eligible for either 1B or UTIL, unless he was used to fill in on an off-day or take advantage of a match-up, barring injury, DB theoretically could have gone the rest of the season, not used Howard at all, and not been hurt in the slightest.
So from DB's POV, this trade is Beckett for Zambrano and Penny.
There are two ways for DB to look at it - Either he traded Beckett for Zambrano, got a big edge on that, and got Penny for free, or
DB traded Beckett for Penny, which is roughly a standoff, and got Zambrano for free.
Of course, on the other hand.....
JG could argue that for him, Penny was essentially a dead player, because he doesn't really have to replace him.
He can easily make it through the rest of the season using Schmidt, Bedard, Santana, Lackey, and Beckett instead of Schmidt, Bedard, Santana, Lackey, Zambrano, and Penny.
So just as DB could make the argument that he either traded Beckett for Zambrano and got Penny for free, or he traded Beckett for Penny and got Zambrano for free, so JG could argue that he
Traded Zambrano for Beckett, which is a loser, but got Howard for free, or he traded Zambrano for Howard – that’s really the crux of this trade, and what has to be closely analyzed – and got Beckett for free.
Actually, I’m wondering if JG even needed to make the Penny for Beckett part of the deal.
Whose idea was that? If it was JG’s, I’m not sure he got the best of that part. We’ll see.
Actually, unless JG thinks he got the best of that part of the trade, then he was better off, I think, taking the deal which I offered him, which was Adam Dunn for Howard.
Unless JG just thinks that going forward Howard is gonna score a lot more points than Dunn, Dunn would have been a better fit for JG because he plays two positions, and JG needs help in leftfield also.
Not to mention that he wouldn’t have been helping someone who was closer to him in the standings than I am.
And that, I think, is an important consideration.
OK sports fans, I gotta run out for a little while.
When I get back, we’ll plug some numbers in with the names and get a better idea of who really did get the best of this one.
In any case, I'll put this trade through on Saturday, so you have these guys available to you for the games on Sunday.
