Saturday, April 02, 2005

Ginter gone

In a two team blockbuster, Matt Ginter has been traded to the Tigers in exchange for 26 year-old reliever Steve Colyer, shifting the balance of power in the NL East arms race.

I keed, of course. With the acquisition of Ishii and the eventual return of Trachsel, Ginter wasn't going to be getting the call very often for the Mets, so I can't imagine he'll be sorely missed.

But it's becoming evident that it is now official club policy to acquire only pitchers with atrocious control. Zambrano, Ishii, Colyer... It makes me wonder whether Dae-Sung Koo (or Mr. Koo, as he's become known) walked 5 per nine in Japan but, like so many other imports, hasn't yet been able to duplicate those numbers here. If Rick Peterson really is a shaman of some sort, why didn't Oakland go after such guys, who could charitably be called "buckwild"?

Again, it's not a big deal, but the bullpen is not so bad that Omar needs to ship off a serviceable 5th/spot starter to add this kind of "depth".

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i cant believe anyone could/would be upset about this. ginter was mediocre at best. he will never be a great one and the mets had too many arms in the bullpen. i wish it was heredia that was gone, but how do u trade that contract? aybar looks better than ginter and there is heilman and sao that are probably just as well suited as ginter. ginter would have had to clear waivers while heilman and sao could be sent down. id rather get a minor league arm than nothing for ginter or even heredia for that matter. not to mention that if ginter actually was that good, why do the tiggers have him being a spot starter and a long man? their rotation is nothing special and if he cant crack that what future does he have in ny?

Brian Doyle said...

None now, bu as I said, "I can't imagine he'll be sorely missed."

My point was that Colyer is, like other recent additions, unusually wild.

Ginter, especially in light of his spring, was looking pretty useful. In the eyes of the Tigers, so to speak, he's a greater asset than Colyer, who looks sub-mediocre, and I happen to agree with them.

In any case, it was certainly a minor deal where reasonable people could differ on its merit.