Finally a First Baseman: Ike Davis Trade Tree

Finally consummating a deal that was long rumored in the offseason, the Pirates have acquired 1B Ike Davis from the Mets in exchange for minor league RHP Zack Thornton and a player to be named later.

Davis, 27, will fill the left-handed hitting half of a first base platoon with Gaby Sanchez. He hit 32 HR in 2012 and sports a career line of .241/.334./.433.

Thornton was acquired from Oakland for RHP Chris Resop, who was a waiver claim from the Braves. No word on who the PTBNL will be, but Jon Heyman tweets it will be a “fairly significant” player.

The Mets side of the trade looks like this:

Another Preview

I answered another set of preseason questions, this time for Reds blog Chris Sabo’s Goggles. Take a look and follow Brian on twitter, @goggles17.

Playing Pepper with C70 at the BAT

I answered some Pirates preseason questions for Daniel Shoptaw on the Cardinals blog C70 at the Bat. Check it out, tell your friends.

Spring Training 2014

Bradenton here I come! Look for updates and pictures on twitter from this weekend’s games. Reach out if you’re going to be there too and want to say hi.

Steroids and Cheaters and PEDs! Oh My!

It’s that time of year again. The BBWAA votes for the Baseball Hall of Fame and the internet complains. If you’re reading this, then no doubt you’ve seen lots of other articles already; each filled with varying degrees of outrage. Listening to Joe Posnanski on the Brian Kenny show Monday morning, I heard Joe call for Baseball (capital B) to give the voters a guideline on how to handle the PED situation. You can listen here in hour 2 of the 1/6/14 show if you like.

Well, Joe, Baseball has given its guideline. Any player with a lifetime suspension from the game is not eligible for the Hall of Fame. Currently, you have to fail three drug tests to earn that sentence. Therefore, every suspected PED user, and even every one who failed a test, is eligible for entry. Done. Sentence served. Let’s get back to baseball, shall we?

Onwards to my vote, which I submitted to the BBA last month. (Results here.)

I see seven no-doubters on the HoF list:
Jeff Bagwell
Craig Biggio
Barry Bonds
Roger Clemens
Greg Maddux
Mike Piazza
Frank Thomas

There are twelve more players with good cases. I pick Edgar Martinez,Tim Raines and Alan Trammell to fill out my ten spots. If you gave me a few more spots I’d take Mike Mussina, Curt Schilling, Tom Glavine, and Mark McGwire. Falling short for me: Jeff Kent, Larry Walker, Fred McGriff, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa.

Baseball Think Factory is doing a heck of a job compiling the results of all ballots that have been released to the public. After 146 ballots Maddux, Glavine, Thomas and Biggio make the projected cut with Piazza just shy of induction. After last year’s shutout, getting four players elected would be a huge deal for the backlog of qualified players. But next year Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Gary Sheffield all become eligible for the first time. So buckle up, this will all happen again in twelve months.

Mark Trumbo Trade Tree

Well, there goes one option for first base. The Angels have traded Mark Trumbo to Arizona in a three team deal with the White Sox. Obviously Trumbo’s power plays anywhere but you have to think they would have been better served getting one of the many available outfield options.

Arizona has used five draft picks, four amateur free agents and one waiver claim to end up with Trumbo, Patrick Corbin, A.J. Schugel and a PTBNL. Most of those parts left via the Dan Haren deal.

Not pictured here is Hector Santiago going from Chicago to Los Angeles. (Click to embiggen)