Guardado for Travis Chick
The Mariners have traded Eddie Guardado and a large amount of cash to the Cincinatti Reds for RHP Travis Chick.
Chick started his career with the Marlins, was traded to the Padres for Ismael Valdes and had the best 42 innings of his life after the deal, all in low-A ball. He’s never come close to matching that form, and the Padres didn’t really mind giving him to Cincinatti this year.
Chick’s a sinker-slider guy without enough stuff to miss bats more than occassionally. He’s an arm with some potential, but less promising than a guy like Yorman Bazardo was last year. More than likely, he’s a guy who will be a Triple-A arm, maybe find a spot in the bullpen for a few years.
Basically, the M’s gave away Eddie Guardado, just like I suggested below. Well done.
Heh, I saw the last couple of innings of that game (whatever game I was watching switched over to show it) and also his Top Ten appearance on Letterman (#6. “Can walk up to guys who have thrown no-hitters and whisper: ‘Loser!'”). But I actually looked it up before posting it because I had a weird memory that the last guy he struck out in that game was E. Perez. It was, but it was Eddie Perez (late of the Braves) not Eduardo Perez, now with the M’s.
I just checked out that Jack Chick guy. That is some scary, scary stuff. It’s hard to believe it’s for real.
More of a thrower than a pitcher, profiles to middle-relief unless his changeup gets better.
“Mr Chick, welcome to Spring Training. Meet Mr. Moyer. You two have a lot to talk about.”
Willie … I AM YOUR FATHER ….
Aaron Guiel made his Yankees debut in right field Thursday night in Cleveland. “I’m kind of a gritty player who takes pride in defense first and tries to play all the facets of the game hard,” he said.
I’ve never heard of a player referring to HIMSELF as “gritty.” That’s just weird.
Yeah, it’s a violation of the gritty, selfless player code.
I typed “Willie Bloomquist” and “grit” into Google and got back 685 results.
I did a similar Google and came up with a 1998 article from CNNSI referring to a “gritty” performance by the Sun Devils in a CWS game, featuring a quote by ASU 2nd baseman Willie Bloomquist. Willie’s performance was particularly gritty, going 1 for 6 in the leadoff spot.
Chiming in late. I think (and it looks like most of y’all agree) this was about the best we could have expected for Guardado. I also echo the “Thanks Eddie” sentiments and wish him well.
Chick has teh crazy eyes. Hmmmm…I think I said that in college a few times.
I can only wish Eddie the best. It was time, but he will be missed. He will definitely be missed. Although I must say that there were persons in the clubhouse that needed to go more than Eddie, but this is better for him.
As for Chick, here’s to hoping he amounts to something.
OHTHANKGODDD.
The way Eddie’s chucked up the ball this year, he’s worth a barrow of landfill, which is all he brought back. It wouldn’t surprise me at all for Guapo Guardado to bounce back a bit somewhere next year. His velocity, while not great, is much where it’s always been, his K rate is still respectable, and for most of the year he’s been finding the strikezone. He has no movement on his pitches now, so his approach of pounding the zone is suicide, but if his shoulder clears up at all and he gets some of the wiggle back, he could be a solid set-up guy for a couple of years yet. He’s a good guy, who came here too old, and we got what one should expect out of that.
Remember that Mariners media campaign to the effect of “COME SEE RICHIE, AND EDDIE, AND ADRIAN PLAY THEIR HEARTS OUT!”? There’s now goodbye and don’t let the screendoor hit you in the but trailer to that slough of adverts. The Ms _have_ to cut loose Eddie, he’s hurting the team, but they look like the patzers they are in doing this.
Dave how long do the Mariners have before they have to call someone up?
THANK GOD!!!!! GUAR’S GONE!!!!
GUAR? Isn’t that a comically theatrical death-metal band?
KHAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!
that’s GWAR.
I’ve never seen a man eat so many chicken wings.
FWIW, the team site now has an article which mentions Chick will be sent to San Antonio.
“I’ve never seen a man eat so many chicken wings”
But what would Brian Boitano do?
hey, I won the poll a while back. what do we win?
er, wait did petagine go first?
darnit! i want swag.
_____________________________
First to go?
* Joel Pineiro (42%)
Joel Pineiro -> 42% (241 Votes)
* Roberto Petagine (23%)
Roberto Petagine -> 23% (133 Votes)
* Carl Everett (19%)
Carl Everett -> 19% (108 Votes)
* Eddie Guardado (17%)
You Have Voted For This Choice – Eddie Guardado -> 17% (97 Votes)
* Gil Meche (0%)
Gil Meche -> 0% (1 Votes)
Total Votes: 580
Can the Ms require Chick to saw off one of his fingers?
This is why people send us email complaining about the crappy quality of the comments.
Gregor: Awesome. I would be honored if we come to refer to Travis as Token Chick.
oh, ok.
I thought the topic was very well discussed, and thought I’d bring your poll around full-circle.
I’ll try again…
The Reds GM is saying that Guardado will get the opportunity to close.
Perhaps they feel they don’t have a lot to lose by trying him there.
The Reds pen is atrocious right now…its almost surreal how consistently awful it is….. in fact, it’s almost comforting now to see it nightly…. it’s definately stressful when their pen does do its job….I have to look out the window to make sure the moon is still in the sky and the world is still turning as it should…
So yes, Everyday Eddie will get a chance to close in Cincy….kudos to the Ms FO.
Unfortunately, there is a poetry to abject failure and I fear if Eddie rights the Reds ship we will have lost an unrecoverable beauty much like the baseball world suffered when Boston finally overcame the curse… sure the roses will still bloom their proud promenades but the gleam on the morning dew dripping from their crimson pedals will be less golden… alas Eddie…with victory comes a price…the soul both rejoices and mourns.
The M’s saved about 800k in this deal, too.
I was amused, and at the same time I understand Eddie completely, by the article in today’s Times. In part, it said that Hargrove was making Eddie crazy with that “you’re the closer, but you aren’t going to close games” stuff. Apparently he was really ticked off one day when Hargrove told him he would be the closer that day because JJ was too tired, and then when the time came he had JJ get up to pitch.
I can well imagine that playing for Hargrove would make a thinking person go insane.
“According to several industry sources there is a possibility the Yankees will send the slumping Chacon to the Mariners for right-hander Joel Pineiro.”
-New York Post
Thoughts, comments, insight?
Not that Chacon is that interesting but please Lord let it be true.
“According to several industry sources there is a possibility the Yankees will send the slumping Chacon to the Mariners for right-hander Joel Pineiro.â€Â
-New York Post
Thought #1: It’s the New York Post
Thought #2: Shawn Chacon might be the most overrated pitcher in the majors.
Thought #3: I’d still make that deal in a heartbeat, just because of the financial savings and the fact that Chacon has experience in relief.
Agreed on Chacon — it would be a real, if small, upgrade.
Baltimore just designated CF Luis Matos for assignment today. What are the odds Seattle makes a run at this guy? He’s only 27, covers a lot of ground in CF, and would be cheap. Personally, I’m not a fan of dead-pull right-handed hitters who struggle against left-handed pitching, but I seem to remember Matos having a couple of productive seasons in Baltimore.
Baltimore just designated CF Luis Matos for assignment today. What are the odds Seattle makes a run at this guy? He’s only 27, covers a lot of ground in CF, and would be cheap. Personally, I’m not a fan of dead-pull right-handed hitters who struggle against left-handed pitching
Um. Um. This sounds like a recipe for disaster for Safeco.
Dave, or anyone really in the know… How does this deal (Travis Chick) compare with what was being discussed last July?
One of my big grudges against the FO was in not trading Eddie last year, when he was doing really well before the break, and his trade value seemed to be high. As far as I was concerned, any monkey with two brain cells could have guessed he would fall off the cliff pretty soon. On the other hand, there have been comments that the options back then really weren’t much. But substantive facts seem hard to come by.
Anyway, if the Travis Chick deal is better than what they would have gotten last year, then maybe the did the right thing in not trading him. On the other hand, if the deal was a better prospect than Chick, they lost out.
Ie, I’d really like to compare the no-deal of last July to the Chick-deal of this July, to see which was the better move. Any insight would be great.
FWIW, Krueger opined on KJR this morning (when asked if G. had more value last year) that he didn’t think that Guardado’s value wasn’t all that high last year, as he wasn’t a premiere closer any longer, and other teams had more worry about his shoulder…
Huh. That raises my opinion of Kreuger back to where it was before he said some dumb things this year.
As it is, some of the mass media pundits still question the trade, thinking that we could have gotten more or that it sends out a “mixed message.”
171-
DMZ, is this why we can’t have nice things?
Tahnks for the info, msb.
But can you rephrase the double-negative? Or is that a typo? “he [Kreuger] didn’t think… value wasn’t at all high…” Seems the intent of the quote is that Kreuger thought Eddie’s value was pretty low last year, but I just want to be clear.
But, yes, that’s exactly what I was asking. I was pissed last year, because I thought it was obvious we should have traded him. But, if it’s really the case that getting Chick this year was better than what we could’ve had last year, then I’d have to revise my opinion.
Still, I’d love more specifics (ie, they were offered bozo A and bum b, but couldn’t get goodProspect C), rather than the generic “Kreuger thinks his value was low…”
Thanks!
#185– he also pointed out that last year they also had uncertainty about the closer role going into this year (would Sori be healty, could JJ do the job) and so hangning on to G made some sense, but this this year he is a strong personality without a role in the bullpen (and so without a role in the clubhouse) and they had to move him.
but this this year he is a strong personality without a role in the bullpen (and so without a role in the clubhouse)
You know, this is something “chemistry” proponents and “clubhouse leadership” proponents neglect….
If you don’t contribute to the team, on at least a league average basis, how the heck can you lead? Or provide chemistry?
#187– Krueger thought the outside valuation of Guardado wasn’t very high. Stark was on KJR at the deadline last year and said that the combination of Guardado’s contract (money, closing incentives) and shoulder injury led to fewer inquiries and lowered perceived value. FWIW, Guardado also had the (mostly East Coast) 10-team no-trade list.
I don’t know that anyone has heard what might have been offered and by whom last year….
It seems that our position players often go on to have better seasons elsewhere, Cirillo, Aurilia, Winn, Olivo. This may be park effects, or perception, as I (and others it seems) are bothered by the potential upside realized elsewhere, than grateful for those traded away that did nothing, and eventually left the sport altogether.
I wonder if the same will happen with a Pitcher (a la Fuentes).
Here’s the Red’s view of the trade.
Guardado
Whoops Apologies. Couldn’t get my href/link to work.
http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/index.jsp?c_id=cin
But the Reds contend that Guapo could be their closer and Krivsky is a genious in turning one team’s garbage into Cincinatti’s treasure.
#191: It seems that our position players often go on to have better seasons elsewhere, Cirillo, Aurilia, Winn, Olivo.
Every player you mentioned went to the JV league (aka NL).