Reflecting on today's MLB trades

While many eyes in the sports world are focused on the opening of training camps, and Rachel Nichols is still camped out on Brett Favre’s lawn, I can’t bring my attention away from the trade rumors in baseball. Yesterday, I called for the Twins to trade for Freddy Sanchez. Today, it appears that the Giants may be the closest to acquiring the doubles-hitting second baseman. But Twins GM, Bill Smith, always plays very close to the vest and we only hear about trades involving the Twins after the transaction has occurred.

The Phillies, after kicking the Roy Halladay’s tires for weeks, have acquired the next best thing in Cliff Lee. Lee, after all, is the reigning Cy Young award winner and didn’t come at the expense of Kyle Drabek or any of the other top prospects the Blue Jays were demanding. No, Cliff Lee isn’t Roy Halladay. But he’s darn good and has to make the Phillies the favorite to win the pennant.

That’s not a shot at the Dodgers and their wonderful, young position players. But Philly now has the pitching to go along with that extremely potent offense. Jamie Moyer and Pedro Martinez are question marks going down the stretch, but Lee gives them the depth required for a deep run in the playoffs. And here’s a stat to note – Cliff Lee has a career record of 12-2 with a 3.18 ERA against NL teams.

So if that is one of the better trades we’ve seen this season – one that benefits both teams – we also saw a trade today that goes down as one of the worst and most one sided (if that isn’t being redundant) of the season. Pittsburgh unloaded troubled pitcher Ian Snell and the nimble Jack Wilson and his $7.25 million contract to Seattle for a slew of prospects. I’ve followed the Pirates since 2002 and instantly was a Wilson fan. Perhaps it was for his stunning defensive plays, or maybe it was for his goofy answers to questions that they’d play on the scoreboard between innings. It was most likely a combination of both.

It’s sad to see him go, but let’s be real about who Jack Wilson is. He’s a great defensive shortstop, but has a career .687 OPS. He’s not exactly a threat offensively and despite not losing any defensive range with age, he’s due to make $8.4 million next year. This is a great trade for the Pirates. They got a pile of prospects in exchange for an emotionally troubled pitcher and a light-hitting web gem machine.

But all this begs the question: what the heck are the Mariners thinking? They’re 7.5 games out of first place and trade for…drum roll…an aging, expensive defensive shortstop? Teams just don’t do this. Why take on contracts of guys who can’t put you over the top? The Mariners won’t contend this year. They don’t have the talent of the Rangers or the deep pockets of the Angels.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the Mariners war room today. That would be ripe for an SNL skit.

Are more moves to come for the Mariners? They already have Carlos Silva, in one of the worst contracts on record right now, wrapped up for four years at $48 million. Perhaps they’ll trade for the remaining years on Barry Zito’s contract (averaging $18 million a year with an ERA over 4.50 since joining the Giants). I could go mining for other awful moves for them to make but it’ll be more fun to sit and watch for their next move. Or, shockingly, their last move of 2009 will be this trade. And that will look awfully silly when they finish the year over 10 games out of first place with a farm system devoid of several of its best prospects.

This was yet another of Pittsburgh’s many great moves this year. Does this reflect really well on Neal Huntington or extremely poorly on David Littlefield? I’d say both, but mostly the latter.