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Thursday, October 20, 2005

The Worst Of All Possible Worlds

On the one hand, we have the Snakes getting permission to talk to Padres GM Kevin Towers. As one of the commenters in the BTF thread put it, this means Moorad wants a guy to run his minor leagues for him, but who will leave the signing of free agents to Moorad.

On the other hand, we have this Peter Gammons story indicating that Arizona wants to move the freshly-signed Troy Glaus. (AZ Snakepit gives a bit of confirmation, quoting the print edition of Baseball America as saying "The Diamondbacks, frustrated with third baseman Troy Glaus' work habits, will shop him this winter, only a year after they signed him.")

Now, if you were going to get somebody to make quality free agent signings, why keep Moorad as that guy, especially since he's already rueing his 2004/5 signings? And then, if you were going to get somebody to run your minors for you, wouldn't Kevin Towers be the worst possible guy to do it, simply because the Padres ranked 27th in Baseball America's latest system rating?

Does this not sound like a recipe for complete and utter disaster?


Comments:
maybe that's why the Angels let him go not counting what they would have had to pay him
 
It certainly sounds that way. There was a lot of noise about him not recovering fully from his 2003 injury in Minnesota; one wonders whether his discipline had anything to do with it.
 
As I recall, the issue wasn't his recovery... it was his decision to have surgery that took him away from most of his walk year, that upset Arte. Particularly in light of the fact that he played through a similar injury the year before.

Kind of a "me first" decision.
 
Well, that "me-first" decision put his free agent value at considerable risk, which everyone acknowledged at the time. But his work habits were good enough so that he was a factor in the stretch drive, and just about the only guy on the team that produced in the ALDS.

And he managed to play 149 games this season at a pretty high level. If Arizona can get value for him, he's expendable, but it's not like Troy Glaus was dragging that team down.

-Chronicles
 
Yeah, I was gonna say, if it was a "me first" decision, it was a mighty stupid one. He should have had the surgery at the end of 2003 for sure.
 
Running the minor leagues isn't a particular strength of Towers. He is best at identifying good pitching and finding talent in unusual places (independent leagues, international, waiver wire, etc.).
 
Hot Stove League has started early this year. I wouldn't believe anything you've read.

Having said that, given AZ's logjam (of its own making) at the infield and outfield corners, Glaus is the one "veteran" whom the Diamondbacks could probably hope to get something halfway decent in return (or at least wouldn't have to pay most of the salary of). Who would've thought Chad Tracy would start developing into a potential All-Star?
 

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