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We have heard that there are murmurs in scouting circles that Washington GM Pat McLaughlin was beside himself with panic over the poor showing of his Bats in a recent series against California. Many insideres believe that these two teams will meet in the IL Championship series with the winner advancing to an easy victory in the finals against the DL champ.
One scout, who chose to remain anonymous, referring to the deal with Maine reported "I was in shock. McLaughin gave up way way too much in that deal for two months of O'Fallon. The pitcher he gave up, Anastasio Lozano figures to be a solid addition to Maine's starting rotation and sooner rather than later. Washington will come to regret this deal for a long long time to come. And the deal with Pittsburgh, almost as bad. I mean Martin Carlton is a useful piece but he's not a game changer. Pittsburgh got the better of that deal by a long shot."
A spokesman for the Washington Bats expressed a different view of the two trades, however. "Look", he said, "Lozano is a decent prospect and on a bad team he might fit in at the back or even middle of the rotation for awhile. But here in Washington if we'd kept him, he'd likely have spent most of his time in AAA as maybe a second or thrid option in case a couple of our starters went down. Or he might possibly make the big-league staff for a year or two as a spot starter/mop-up guy if he managed to reach his ceiling."
McLaughin's critics also mentioned that the Bats surrendered a second round pick in the deal and suggested that a 6th or 7th rounder would have been more appropriate. But again the Spokesman for Mclaughlin scoffed at this notion as he explained ...
"We're adherents to Money Ball here and it is our view that most of the other GMs in this league over value draft picks, especially those from the late first round through the third or fourth round. For one thing, we're virtually certain that the 1989 pick we surrendered will be at or near the end of the round. By then the top talent is all gone and we'll have several guys left that we like. Fortunately for us, most of the other GMs in this league don't have real strong scouting departments, and probably won't pick up the best player and the guy we want anyway. So we'll just wait untill our next pick and chances are we'll get our man. And if there happens to be a guy we really really like who is available late in the second round, Pat will swoop in and make a deal that allows us to get our man anyway."
The third piece that went to Maine in the deal for O'Fallon was firstbaseman Joe Sierra and once more there was a difference of opinion between the scout we interviewed and the Washington front office. The scout described Sierra's swing as one of the sweetest in the game - "the line drives just jump off Sierra's bat". But once more the Washington spokesman expressed a different view ...
"In his prime Joe was a very nice player and we certainly wish him well in Maine but he is past his prime and only plays first base. If he could cover a couple of additional infield positions, we'd have kept him around as a utlility infielder/pinch hitter. Sure, in places like Davenport or Virginia a player like Joe can hold down a job for a long time but not here."
We have heard that there are murmurs in scouting circles that Washington GM Pat McLaughlin was beside himself with panic over the poor showing of his Bats in a recent series against California. Many insideres believe that these two teams will meet in the IL Championship series with the winner advancing to an easy victory in the finals against the DL champ.
One scout, who chose to remain anonymous, referring to the deal with Maine reported "I was in shock. McLaughin gave up way way too much in that deal for two months of O'Fallon. The pitcher he gave up, Anastasio Lozano figures to be a solid addition to Maine's starting rotation and sooner rather than later. Washington will come to regret this deal for a long long time to come. And the deal with Pittsburgh, almost as bad. I mean Martin Carlton is a useful piece but he's not a game changer. Pittsburgh got the better of that deal by a long shot."
A spokesman for the Washington Bats expressed a different view of the two trades, however. "Look", he said, "Lozano is a decent prospect and on a bad team he might fit in at the back or even middle of the rotation for awhile. But here in Washington if we'd kept him, he'd likely have spent most of his time in AAA as maybe a second or thrid option in case a couple of our starters went down. Or he might possibly make the big-league staff for a year or two as a spot starter/mop-up guy if he managed to reach his ceiling."
McLaughin's critics also mentioned that the Bats surrendered a second round pick in the deal and suggested that a 6th or 7th rounder would have been more appropriate. But again the Spokesman for Mclaughlin scoffed at this notion as he explained ...
"We're adherents to Money Ball here and it is our view that most of the other GMs in this league over value draft picks, especially those from the late first round through the third or fourth round. For one thing, we're virtually certain that the 1989 pick we surrendered will be at or near the end of the round. By then the top talent is all gone and we'll have several guys left that we like. Fortunately for us, most of the other GMs in this league don't have real strong scouting departments, and probably won't pick up the best player and the guy we want anyway. So we'll just wait untill our next pick and chances are we'll get our man. And if there happens to be a guy we really really like who is available late in the second round, Pat will swoop in and make a deal that allows us to get our man anyway."
The third piece that went to Maine in the deal for O'Fallon was firstbaseman Joe Sierra and once more there was a difference of opinion between the scout we interviewed and the Washington front office. The scout described Sierra's swing as one of the sweetest in the game - "the line drives just jump off Sierra's bat". But once more the Washington spokesman expressed a different view ...
"In his prime Joe was a very nice player and we certainly wish him well in Maine but he is past his prime and only plays first base. If he could cover a couple of additional infield positions, we'd have kept him around as a utlility infielder/pinch hitter. Sure, in places like Davenport or Virginia a player like Joe can hold down a job for a long time but not here."
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