Good Trade For Nats

The Nationals recently completed an eight player deal with the Cincinnati Reds. The Nats may face some heat for the deal, as they gave up young pitching for hitters, but I strongly defend this trade. First of all, the regulars the Nationals recieved, Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez, are both under 26 years old. They are both players with significant upside who are locked up for several years.

Now, I recognize that a solid pitching staff is neccessary to be successful, but let's not get carried away here. Gary Majewski is a very good setup man, but that's all he is, a good reliever. Players like that are replaceable. Relievers come and go, and even the best only pitch about 70 innings a season.

I also recognize that trading young pitching, mainly Bill Bray, is always a risk. Young pitchers are the most valued asset in baseball. However, there is no guarantee that Bray will develop into an above average big league pitcher. Lopez is a former All-Star, and Kearns has already put together productive seasons at the major league level.

Getting two regulars, players who can help in 162 games, is huge. Sure, losing relievers hurts, but it hurts short term, and the Nationals aren't in the pennant race anyway. By the time they are, by the time Kearns and Lopez reach their prime, the bullpen will be totally restocked. For a team that still has a long way to go, getting two solid everyday players is a big step toward respectability.

So What?

In recent weeks, much fuss has been made about the inequities of fan voting for the All-Star game starters. Critics point to the American League, where 6 of the 8 starting slots belong to players from either the Red Sox or the Yankees. They complain of an East Coast Bias and that New York fans, for both the Yankees and Mets, are stuffing the ballot boxes. Critics also act as if this is some sort of problem. It's not.

Sure, guys like Joe Mauer and Vernon Wells deserve starting spots over Jason Varitek and Vladimir Guerrero (from another big market, Los Angeles). But it's not as if this is anything new, and it's not always with the big markets. Flash back to the final years of Cal Ripken Jr.'s career, when he was a .250/.300/.400 player, yet still started in the All-Star game. Ripken played in a mid-market, Baltimore, not in New York or Boston. Ripken made it on his reputation. Reputation is the biggest culprit here, not ballot-stuffing. In other sports, reputation plays a big role in selecting all-stars. (How else would Jonathan Odgen have made the Pro Bowl last year?) Fans simply vote for players they've heard of, not the players who are best statistically. This is the real reason for the inequities in the voting.

It just so happens that since the Yankees and Red Sox, because of their consistent presence in the postseason and willingness to pay top dollar for stars, have these guys. Judging by all the boos A-Rod has recieved this year, most of his votes probably come from fans across the country who know how good a player he's been historically, as opposed to Yankee fans who love their third baseman so much.

As an Orioles fan, am I upset that Miguel Tejada is going to lose out to Derek Jeter for the right to start the All-Star game? Mildly, but his OPS is actually slightly higher, and there is no doubt he deserves the honor. Maybe if the Orioles weren't so inept, they'd actually draw people to the games, and Miggy would get more votes from his home fans.

If you buy the argument that the New York fans are stuffing the ballot box, consider this. The Yankees and Red Sox consistently win games. That's why they draw fans. And as a reward for doing so well at the gate, I don't mind if they dominate the All-Star game starting lineups. It's not as if small market teams can't compete at the gate; in 2001, the top 6 drawing teams were Seattle, San Francisco, New York Yankees, Cleveland, Colorado, and Baltimore. Aside from the Yankees, I don't see too many big market teams up there.

That stat, the one that says 10 of the 16 All-Star starters play their ball in New York or Boston, is cyclical. By next year, more fans will be familiar with Joe Mauer and big-time players having bad seasons will be less hyped. And frankly, even if the fans voted justly, there would still be 8 or 9 Boston or New York players starting the game, and ignornant journalists would continue to complain of East Coast bias.