Monday, July 7, 2008

Matt LaPorta Is My Worst Nightmare

Im kinda sick right now, I think I just inherited all the Cheeseburgers that the Captain left behind in the American League when he was traded to the Brewers for Matt "Babies Are a Snack For Me" LaPorta. Personally, I cant understand why you do this trade if you are the Brewers unless you have the money somewhere to sign him. He is going to cost 100 mil plus, so you better start getting out the checkbooks. Basically, you have traded your future OF bomber for half a year of a guy that hasnt been ALL THAT GOOD for the first half of the season. The Captain has shown flashes of his Cy year, but he has also cemented his status as a BIG FAT BABY as well. Plus, he may pull a "Johan" and not adjust well to National League style of play.

EDIT: Johan is still the man, I made a stat lookup mistake on the Mets' website. My bad.

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On the other side of the trade you have Matt LaPorta, who in all seriousness will be much better than Corey Hart, but will still take a few years of polish before he can start. Ryan Braun is your Left Fielder for the next hundred years, so you have to put him in right or in center. He isnt much of a center type of guy, so I would say they wouldnt have groomed him that way. LaPorta has a huge-mongous bat and has clobbered AA pitching at a .286/20HR/66RBI clip. For a second year guy, thats huge(mongous).

Sidenote: As Cleveland has a GLARING hole at LaPorta's position, I have a feeling this guy will be a Magglio in the Twins' side. Or at the very least, a Casey Blake. I can only fathom how many moonshots he will hit in the Dome or whatever the new park will be called.

Now, here is the situation that I may do this trade:

It is a day before the deadline and you are a first place team ahead by 5 or less games, and you know the team behind you has a lot of fire power to close that ground. You know that if you can get good pitching (the key to championships) you will be able to hold and extend your lead. You sacrifice your top prospect, but you make the playoffs instead. You will get 5 draft picks in the first 35 if Sabathia and Sheets walk at the end of the year, though most likely they will be Yankees or Red Sox picks in the lower half of the first round.

See, thats the thing, I dont see the Brewcrew making it to the playoffs ahead of the Cubs, Cardinals, Rockies, etc. etc. Can you imagine what will happen though if they indeed dont make it? Chaos, as they have traded away a God for some cheeseburgers.

Card wise, I see a huge jump for LaPorta's stuff as the JCs will no doubt fight it out over his shit now that he has garnered national attention. I mean, his sick MOJO CARDZ must be awesome if the tribe was willing to give up the captain for him...

CC has never sold well, mainly because he is a BFB, but also because he has only had one amazing year. Look at Johan Santana, his cards sell for bunk because he is(was) a small market guy with a team that never did anything (other than win 3 straight division titles and 2 Cy youngs). Plus, as I always say, chicks (and Joe Collectors) dig the long ball, and pitchers dont hit home runs.

13 comments:

  1. You think the Rockies have a better shot at the playoffs than the Brewers? Have you seen the standings recently? I kinda like that the Brewers are going for it all this year. C.C. definitely improves their chances of winning the World Series, and as great of a prospect as LaPorta may be, it's not hard to find good outfielders.

    I smell a Tampa Bay vs. Milwaukee World Series this year ... small market teams rule!

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  2. How can you say Johan hasn't adjusted to the NL?

    So far: 1.19 WHIP, 2.96 ERA, 109/32 K/BB ratio.

    He has gotten shit for run support for a fair number of his starts, if he had more run support in those games there would be more W's at this point.

    What more do you want?

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  3. As a Tribe fan I am excited to get LaPorta. Don't know much about him though. I am sad to see The Colonel go (that's right, I promoted him). He was a fantastic pitcher to see develop. The best I've ever seen in a Tribe uniform actually.

    The best case scenario that I can see (through my rose colored glasses) is Cleveland signing Sabathia after this season anyway. Probably not much of a possibility but hey, I can dream can't I.

    Now if you'll excuse me I have to head on over to ebay. I'll bet if I look hard enough I can get a Laporta jersey card for $30 even though the BV will be closer to $50. I rule.

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  4. You know you are right about Santana, I pulled up the wrong guy's stats on the Mets' website, my bad.

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  5. As for the Rockies, I think that Holliday and company will pull things around. I can see them turning things around to the point that they can win the wild card. I really wish their pitching was better, but I guess if you give up 17 runs and can still win, pitching isnt needed, right?

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  6. If you quote BV again on here, I will ban you from comments.

    Besides, who wants a LaPorta jersey card anyways?

    I would say the best Laporta card is the new Bowman auto because the design fucking rocks. Have you seen the red /5? The colors just work. I love it.

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  7. You didn't think I was serious did you? I know it drives you crazy.

    As a twins fan are you happy to get BFB out of the central? As much as you dislike him you have to admit he is a hell of a pitcher. And, especially hard on the Twins (last year at least).

    I'll have to check out that Bowman card. I'm too new at this to be able to picture it off the top of my head.

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  8. From the Brewers side of things, they are definitely in win now mode and now have a top of the rotation that can go head to head with anyone in the league. But remember, if they don't re-sign C.C. (very likely) or Ben Sheets (also very likely) then there is a very good chance that will have five of the top 35 picks in next year's draft. Plus they have an ace in waiting in Gollardo recovering from injury so they wouldn't be in terrible shape.

    They also got him fairly early in regards to the deadline. He's going to make two starts for Milwaukee this week alone. Losing LaPorta for three and half months of CC is a gamble but not as big as some of the moves that have been made in previous years.

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  9. You think I can ban people from commenting?

    I am happy that he is gone, if only for the continued health of the players in the division. His bean balls hurt when you bunt.

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  10. Harvey, I will agree with you on Gallardo, but I am never a person who will trade prospects for a few wins. Gallardo is one person - you need five. Dave Bush and Manny Parra are good, but they arent the front end guys that you think about when putting together a WS type rotation next year. As a team that doesnt have the money the Yanks and Red Sox do, its very tough for me to say its okay to gamble away your future for the shot at a playoff spot. Especially with a guy like LaPorta who should amount to another big OF bat that hits for power and average. They do come a dime a dozen in OF prospects, but I think LaPorta will be above the production that normal OF guys have.

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  11. I was reading I think cnnsi.com in regards to the trade. The columnist stated there was already a log jam of players where LaPorta would be most fit to play on the Brewers: LF and 1B. Who are there currently? Fielder and Braun. Obviously no DH for LaPorta in NL. It doesn't seem like he could play any other of the positions.

    Brewers are set at those positions for the foreseeable future.

    But that doesn't mean I agree with the trade. LaPorta could have gotten them more from someone else. C.C. is a rent-a-player like others have stated and they gave up a top prospect for him.

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  12. You just traded a propect, and 3 no ones for last year's Cy Young winner? If you think LaPorta is going to be anything more than Geoff Jenkins, you are nuts, meanwhile, you have an ace on your pitching staff and are now loaded for a playoff run. So it costs you a 0.290/30/90 guy. You have so many of them does it really matter? Truth is in 3 years you won't be able to afford LaPorta anyways so the point is mute. Enjoy your first true ace since Sheet's early days.

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  13. Gellman - you have moderation turned on for comments, don't you read each one before it gets posted?

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