The Trades

I don’t have a lot of in depth analysis to give you regarding the recent trades, but I will say that I’m optimistic because Dayton Moore is focused on getting good young arms, and based on his experience in Atlanta, he’s bound to be good at evaluating such things.

My only concern is that by trading away guys like Graffanino, Stairs, and Affeldt, is that we leave a void in the clubhouse. These guys have been around long enough to get the full baseball experience—the losing streaks, the winning streaks, the slumps, the hot streaks, the changing of managers, and the changing of general managers, the continual stream of trade rumors, and the criticisms of fans. All of that experience allows them to mentor younger players who have not had the same range of experience.

With that said, we’ve still got Grudzielanek, Mientkiewicz, Sanders, Sweeney, Elarton and Redman, but think about it. Elarton and Redman are really the only experienced pitchers we have, and both of them have only been with the team for half a season, and Elarton is probably done for the season. (Perez has quite a bit of major league experience, but from all I can tell, he’s got some issues to deal with.) I wouldn’t be surprised if Grudzielanek gets traded, even though the deadline has already passed. Mientkiewicz seems to be a great leader, but his days seem to be numbered with the acquisition of Ryan Shealy and with Justin Huber waiting in Omaha. Sanders and Sweeney are both hurt so often that they can’t be available as much as the young guys probably need them to be.

And that leaves us with a team full of guys who aren’t going to have many experienced veterans to turn to, or to correct them when necessary. I’m all for getting good young talent, but I think teams always need to keep a good mix of veterans around as well.