Now Torres has been traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, but according to reports, he may retire rather than report to his new team. Quoth the soon-to-be-36-year-old:

It’s a giant move, and I have to make a decision if I want to go forward… This is going to change my life, my family’s life. If I leave them here, they’re going to have to be without me for a full year. If I take them with me, they’re going to be affected.

Wait, wasn’t Torres just asking for a trade, like, five months ago?

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Who are these guys? Glad you asked.

Guzman once was known as Pedro De Los Santos and played second base in the San Diego Padres organization. Then when the visa crackdowns came along, his name changed and he aged a few years. Guzman has decent on-base skills and is fast. His ceiling is a poor-man’s Juan Pierre, but really, he’s a fourth outfielder. Actually, so is Pierre, but I digress.

Shelton spent all of 2007 in the minors after batting .273/.340/.466 for the Tigers in ‘06. The guy has some serious power from the right side of the plate. He came up through the Pittsburgh Pirates organization as a catcher but primarily has played first base in the big leagues, although he did log six games behind the dish back in 2004.

Neither of these guys should be impact players for their new teams, but both could contribute. Shelton has more offensive upside, while Guzman provides stronger defense.

Hey, they can’t all be blockbusters.

Other Voices

• Detroit Tigers Weblog
• BBTF’s Transaction Oracle

Post from: Knuckle Curve

The Pirates, meanwhile, continue to be a complete mess. They need to lose 3 of their final 22 games to assure their 15th consecutive losing season. There’s some decent young talent in the organization, especially pitchers — Tom Gorzelanny, Paul Maholm, Ian Snell, Matt Capps — but not enough to turn things around in the immediate future.

Whoever gets the permanent job as Littlefield’s replacement will have their work cut out for them. First item on the agenda: figuring out a way to get rid of Matt Morris and his contract. Good luck with that…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

I’ve given everything I have to the team, to the city of Pittsburgh, and I would like nothing more than to be part of a championship there.

Last championship? 1979. Last winning record? 1992.

On his current elbow injury:

I don’t have a problem with the diagnosis or the treatments. But they told me it would be up to me to tell them when I felt good enough to come back. Now, all of a sudden, I hear about another month. I feel like I’m being blackballed from the team.

And the 35-year-old journeyman reliever saves his best for last:

I’m just tired of being treated like this. I’m tired of the lies. I gave this team everything. I bought a house in Pittsburgh to be part of the city. But, if you’re going to lie to me, trade me.

The article goes onto note that Torres is “making $2.7 million this season and will make $3.2 million next year.” So, I say to the Pirates: please, please, lie to me. For $5.9 million, I’ll listen to anything you want to tell me, no questions asked. Deal?

Right. Well, it was worth a shot…

Post from: Knuckle Curve

Every year, even 64 slots seem too few for the truly deserving. Virtually half of those are already committed, one per team, minimum. It devalues the honor when a player is handed an All-Star uniform for no more reason than the simple – and regrettable – fact that he plays for the Pittsburgh Pirates or Kansas City Royals.

Yeah, that part never sat right with me. Either we’re fielding two teams of the best players in baseball or we’re not. You can’t have it both ways.

With cable, the Internet, and interleague play, I still don’t see the need for an actual game (well, it probably generates a ton of revenue), but if you’re going to play one, then why water it down with inferior talent placed on squads for the sake of “making it fair” for everyone or some such nonsense. Are we trying to honor the most deserving players or trying to make everyone feel good about their team regardless of whether its merited (sort of like making kids sing “if they don’t win it’s okay” in “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”)?

I suppose I could live with that (and did for many years), but what really gets me is this bit, which Jenkins absolutely nails:

The most bogus aspect gives home-field advantage for the World Series to the league that wins the All-Star Game.

Seriously, what’s the deal here? I know Bud Selig didn’t like the fact that a game ended in a tie several years ago and decided to imbue it with some Greater Meaning, but if the present solution isn’t a huge overreaction, then I don’t know what is.

Ask yourself, honestly, which makes more sense: that how an individual team plays over the course of 162 regular-season games determines who gets home-field advantage in the World Series or that how a “team” full of individuals plays in one exhibition game does so. It’s asinine. There’s really no other way to put it.

I took a dig at the “if they don’t win it’s okay” line a few paragraphs ago. But if there’s one place I think it might actually work, it’s at an All-Star game. Meanwhile, so long as the outcome affects the World Series, I’ll continue to have nothing to do with it.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Enjoy the game on Wednesday, or whenever it is…

Post from: Knuckle Curve