Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff
Usually, when Red Sox fans talk about Manny needing to come through, they’re talking about Manny Ramirez. But with the Todd Helton trade talks apparently dead, the pressure on Manny Delcarmen to be a bullpen stud just increased ten-fold.
By most accounts, the Red Sox unwillingness to part with a top-level prospect is what killed the deal. As we were told by the Denver Post’s Troy Renck last night on SportsTalk Live, the
I am absolutely apoplectic (how’s that for a big word?) over this right now. With what the
And why did Theo Epstein not pull the trigger? Because of Manny Delcarmen, a soon to be (on February 16th) 25-year old middle reliever. Awful…just awful!
I’m willing to buy drawing a line in the sand about Jacoby Ellsbury and Clay Buchholz. Heck, I’ll even give you that Craig Hansen could still become the stud closer we thought he’d be. But Manny Delcarmen? I don’t get it. I simply don’t get it.
The only thing that would make sense to me, and it is pure speculation, is that the Red Sox believe Helton is done or that he has some kind of steroid history. But if that’s the case, why explore a trade in the first place?
Let’s face it; Theo Epstein, who’s had a very good offseason in my eyes, blew this one big time. And the person who’s going to feel the wrath of the Fenway faithful if he flops, is Manny Delcarmen. I’d hate to be in the kid’s shoes right now.
What do you think of the deal falling apart? Would you have pulled the trigger? Is there a chance this one gets re-visited later on?
I think there's a couple of reasons this deal fell apart.
I think #1 is that Theo was extremely upset that the Rockies' owner tossed out Lowell and Tavarez as names publicly and then made his case about "needing more" than that to make a deal. The Rockies, from what I hear, approached the Sox about the trade which seems a little fishy if you then read the owner's comments about "not giving him away". If you don't want to dump him why did you bring his name up in trade talks???
I get the idea they wanted Delcarmen and Hansen in addition to Tavarez and Lowell. If they'd have done it for just Tavarez, Lowell, and Delcarmen then fine as long as you're sure Helton is sound. It looks to me like he's an older player who's hitting the wall and going to go into decline and the Rocks want to give more chances to young players.
Helton will not be happy to go back to Colorado after all of this so I bet the Rockies try again to deal him- probably not with the Sox since they are also still upset about the Bigbie thing a few years back. I just don't see too many teams that can absorb the salary even if the Rockies pay a good portion of it and most of those are set at first base.
Look at the recent trade between Atlanta and Pittsburgh... LaRoche is cheap and young and all it took to get him was Mike Gonzalez- a decent lefty reliever who may not even close for Atlanta. I think Colorado was/is looking for too much for Helton.
DB, you know your hardball. Agree with almost everything you said, especially about the part where he'll get traded at some point...think A-Rod w/Texas.
Where we part is with Colorado asking for too much. Frankly, I'd give them both Hansen and Delcarmen. Buchholz is the future, and with the band-aids of Donnelly, Piniero and Romero, I think we can survive the year without Craig and Manny. Remember, we'd still have Lester and Papelbon, too. At some point, you gotta unload those young arms you're not sure about before they turn into Carl Pavano, Tony Armas JR. and Brian Rose and nobody wants them.
The Sox must beleive that Helton can and should be had for a lot less than what the Rox were asking. Regardless of how many extra arms they have. They value their young arms and aren't willing to part with them very easily. I'm sure this may be revisited in the future, but if it isn't, I'm sure a 1st baseman with a comparable bat (present day Helton) will eventually be available.
Well T2, there's no question THEY think Helton isn't worth Delcarmen. What do YOU think?
Do you really believe what the Rockies were asking for was unreasonable, provided they were willing to pay about $37-million AND take on Mike Lowell and Julian Tavarez' salaries? That's another $12-million or so right there.
Go out on the limb a little there, buddy. Come on, you can do it. You were bold when it came to the Patriots and we liked that. Give me some ammunition to use against you should things turn sour with Delcarmen this summer.
I think the Sox look at Detroit (never thought I'd actually be syaing/typing this about the Tigers) bullpen with much envy (as does every team in MLB). Setup men like Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya getting you to your experienced closer (almost) without fail and looking electifying in the process...
Not to say Manny is anywhere near this class but I think that until the Sox assemble arms of this caliber they will continue to collect them. Once they've got their top 2 or 3 guys up in Boston with some additional ones on the farm then they may start to deal.
Honestly I like the idea of going with the homegrown players as much as possible with free agents to fill in the gaps only making trades where you can deal your surplus for something you're lacking. Now that they are actually willing to pay for guys they drafted I think this is the best strategy to employ- it SHOULD ensure they are in the hunt virtually every year unless the pipeline dries up at some point.