Highlights:
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Trade Winds: Part B (2001 Season)
Continuing on Dealin' Dan's trade adventures...
The Off-Season
Trade #16:
On November 8, 2000 Dealin’ Dan acquired P Ron Villone from the Reds for two players to be named later…which turned out to be Justin Carter and P Jeff Taglienti (received in Lansing deal – Trade #12). Villone would go on to be a utility pitcher for the Rox over the first couple months of the 2001 season.
Villone pitched in 22 games for the Rox making six starts. He posted a 1-3 record with an ERA of 6.36. Villone would be dealt to the Houston Astros on June 27, 2001 (Trade #25). Villone would turn out to be a high price rental as he made $2.8 million that year.
Trade #17:
Dealin’ Dan’s next big off season move came on January 3, 2001 when he traded David Lee to the Yankees for Jay Tessmer and Seth Taylor. This was the trade that would shape the franchise for years.
Okay, I’m full of crap. This was another worthless trade that had little effect on the Rox.
Trade #18:
March 26, 2001 marked the end of the SP Brian Rose’s short lived Rox career. Rose acquired in the Lansing deal (Trade #12) made 12 starts with the Rox before getting dealt to the Mets for SP Mark Leiter. Leiter would not pitch for the Rox as he was dealt away during the first week of the season to the Brewers (Trade #20).
Trade #19:
Four days later on March 30, 2001 Dealin’ Dan sealed a deal that would bring in RP Craig Dingman for a player to be named later (turned out to be Jorge de Paula). Dingman would appear in 7 ball games for the Rox and converted 1 save. He pitched 7 1/3 innings while giving up 11 runs.
2001 Season
Trade #20:
Mark Leiter’s career as a Rox lasted a whopping nine days as he was dealt out to the Brewers along with RP Mike DeJean and Elvis Pena on April 4, 2001. In return for the deal, the Rox received RP Juan Acevedo, Kane Davis and Jose Flores. Acevedo (Trade #33) and Davis (Trade #40) would both serve as quality relief pitchers for the Rox before getting sent out in separate deals by the end of the 2001 campaign.
Trade #21:
Another minor trade took place on April 23, 2001 as the Rox shipped minor league OF Juan Sosa to the Diamondbacks for Ryan Owens.
Trade #22:
Tessmer (acquired in Trade #17) was sent to the Brewers on May 12, 2001 for future considerations.
Trade #23:
For the most part the trades Dealin’ Dan made in the 2001 season have relatively
been insignificant or have slightly favored the Rox, but June 2, 2001 started a chain of some pretty poor trades on the Rox part.
Dealin’ Dan sent minor league prospects C Josh Bard and Jody Gerut to the Indians for OF Jacob Cruz. Cruz was relatively a bench player that would go on to play 44 games during the remainder of the 2001 campaign for the Rox. Cruz batted .211 with 1 HR and 7 RBI’s.
Bard and Gerut however would go on to have pretty decent major league
careers. Both are still playing in the big leagues. Bard is currently with the Padres and has registered 521 games with roughly a .259 average. Gerut also has played over 500 games (542) with a .264 average. Their averages are based at the end of the 2009 year; both players are still active and playing today.
Trade #24:
June 24, 2001: C Brent Mayne to the Royals for Sal Fasano and Mac Suzuki.
If there was a trade that signaled a white flag to the Rox 2001 season, then this trade would have been it. The Rox were two games below .500 at 36-38 at this point in the season and were far from being done. Then out of the blue Dealin’ Dan pulled the trigger on this trade sending his starting catcher to KC for a back-up catcher and a minor league pitcher.
The trade seemed to unravel the pitching staff (Hampton and Neagle the most) and dampened
the team’s moral as they would drop seven of the next nine games and 19 out of the next 24 games.
Sure Mayne wasn’t a super star or an All-Star caliber player, but he was a serviceable player and a class act type of guy. In return the Rox got…nothing. It was like trading a dollar for a quarter.
What was Dealin’ Dan’s thought process? Simple…it was to clear the way for the highly touted prospect catcher named Ben Petrick. Petrick was on the organization’s top prospect charts for a few years. He was a good hitting catcher that needed to work on his defense. BUT…he never panned out the way the Rox wanted and found himself out the door in another trade. See Trade # 57 for more Petrick details.
Fasano and Suzuki ended up being non-contributors to the Rox as they appeared in limited roles throughout the 2001 season. Fasano appeared in 25 games and Suzuki started one and pitched in three games.
The bottom line for the Mayne trade ended up being a horrible mistake for Dealin’ Dan.
Trade #25:
June 27, 2001: P Ron Villone to the Astros for RP Jay Powell.
The dealing of Villone to the Astros for Powell was really a swapping of veteran salaries. Villone was signed at a $2.8 million dollar price tag to start the 2001 season as a starter/relief pitcher. He appeared in 22 games for the Rox (starting 6) and posting a 1-3 record with a 6.36 ERA.
In exchange for Villone the Rox acquired a veteran relief pitcher in Powell…and a cheaper price tag at $1.6 million. Powell delivered for Dealin’ Dan as he appeared in 39 games and posting a 3-1 record with 7 saves and a spectacular ERA of 2.69.
Within the fog of bad trades, Dealin’ Dan did score one shining moment.
Trade #26:
July 3, 2001: OF Ron Gant to the A’s for Robin Jennings.
Prior to the 2001 season the Rox signed the ageless (and kneeless) OF Ron Gant
to a $1.75 million deal to be some HR muscle off the bench. Half a season later he was dumped to Oakland for an OF/1B named Robin Jennings.
Gant was in the twilight of his career and the poster child for why professional athletes should not be screwing around on motorcycles in their prime. He was a former 2-time All-Star with back to back 30+ HR seasons before he badly injured his leg in an accident.
Gant had appeared in 59 games for the Rox while hitting .257 with 8 HR’s and 22 RBI’s. Jennings appeared in 1 game for the Rox and went hitless in 3 at-bats before getting traded 16 days later in Trade #28.
Trade #27:
July 13, 2001: IF Chone Figgins to the Angels for Kimera Bartee.
At the time Trade #27 was a relatively minor trade at the time swapping minor league players for one another. Bartee was ayoung OF prospect who went hitless in 15 at-bats for the Rox before fading away somewhere in the night and never played MLB again.
However the infielder prospect we gave up in the deal happens to still be
playing today. A lot of fans probably didn’t realize that Figgins was dealt away by us, but I’m sure they would be just as upset as I am.
Figgins would go on an win a World Series ring with the Angels in 2002...one year after leaving the Rox. And we got a guy that never hit a single ball for or would ever play again after that season. Figgins is currently going for his second ring as the Angels (as of 1st round of 2009 Play-offs) are still in the post season.
Figgins also led the American League in SB's in 2005 with 62 and became an All-Star in 2009.
Trade #28:
July 19, 2001: Robin Jennings & Todd Walker to the Reds for OF Alex Ochoa.
It had been a couple of weeks since Mayne was dealt away before the Rox fans had been dealt with another sucker punch from Dealin’ Dan. This time it was our great hitting 2B Todd Walker and recently acquired OF/1B Robin Jennings who were sent packing.
Walker and Jennings was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds for OF Alex Ochoa. Ochoa was an athletic OF prospect in which the Rox hoped would develop into an everyday LF. Once again this wasn’t the case as Ochoa hit .251 for the remainder of the 2001 season before being dealt away himself (Trade #38).
Walker hit .304 in his short but productive career with the Rox and continued to be a valuable contributor to many teams he found himself on for years to come.
Trade #29:
July 25, 2001: SS Neifi Perez to the Royals for OF Jermaine Dye.
July 25, 2001 proved to be a pivotal day in franchise history and a day that Dealin’ Dan probably would love to have back. Dan would probably love to have the whole 2001 season back, but unfortunately he can’t. On this day the Rox traded their franchise SS away for a future World Series MVP.
So what’s the bad news in that statement?
Well that future W.S. MVP (Jermaine Dye) never played a game for the Rox as he was dealt shortly afterwards for a trio of prospect crap. Dye still currently plays for the Chicago White Sox and is a 2-time All-Star, a Gold Glove winner, and was the MVP of the 2005 World Series. And he was a Rockie for less than a day. Bummer.
Perez had been a home-grown product that had replaced a fan favorite years before, but had firmly cemented his place on the team. Perez was a slick fielding SS
with a rocket arm. He was also a fast, switch hitting ideal lead-off or #2 hole hitter. His career average as a Rox was around the .280’s and ranks towards the top in All-Time franchise leaders in triples. Perez won the 2000 Gold Glove at the Shortstop position.
Once Perez left the Rox, he continued to be a valuable starter for teams and great utility player for the next six years. Perez was also a personal lucky charm for me when I attended ball games. I saw him hit for the cycle as a Rox on July 25, 1998, and witness a good percentage of his HR’s. He even hit a three-run shot and drove in four as a Cub at a random 2005 game I had attended in Chicago.
The move of Perez and his $3.5 million salary was to make room for another highly ranked SS prospect in the organization by the name of Juan Uribe. I have to say out of all the years I’ve been following the Rox, they seemed to have that knack of producing highly touted SS’s. It’s like they’re a SS Factory. Uribe was just another hot-shot kid ready to take the reins. Eventually he didn’t pan out and was dealt away (Trade #63).
Trade #30:
July 25, 2001: OF Jermaine Dye to the A’s for RP Todd Belitz, OF Mario Encarnacion & 2B Jose Ortiz.
Shortly after acquiring Dye from the Royals, Dealin’ Dan shipped him out to the A’s for three players. The key piece in the deal was 2B Jose Ortiz. Ortiz was supposed to be this super stud prospect that was going to play 2B for the Rox for many years to come.
The future plan behind all of the day’s work was to have Uribe and Ortiz become franchise players and play many years at SS and 2B for the Rox. It was the next generation of youth movement. The Rox had two young, athletic power hitting pieces up the middle of their infield…at least that’s what they believed at the time.
There’s a saying that Hind-sight is 20-20. At the time I was a little hopeful that Ortiz and Uribe would be stars for years to come. Obviously things didn’t work out that way. Instead we got two prospects that would struggle and suffer a lot of growing pains at the fans and franchise’s expense.
Ortiz turned out to be a very raw swing-for-the-fence 2B whose career didn’t last more than 118 games. Sometimes when you gamble, you lose; unfortunately O’Dowd bet it all on these two players and lost.
Trade #31:
July 31, 2001: P Pedro Astacio & cash to the Astros for SP Scott Elarton.
This trade marked the end of a surprisingly wonderful Rockie career for Pedro Astacio…and another bad deal for O’Dowd. Astacio was one of the greatest Rox pitchers at the time. He was a
flame-throwing starting pitcher that been a staple and work horse in their starting rotation since being acquired from the Dodgers late in 1997.
Astacio typically gave the Rox thirty-some odd starts a year and around 200+ innings pitched. Astacio was also a strike-out pitcher as he struck out 749 batters in 130 games for the Rox. His success earned him a nice contract which ultimately pushed him of town. Astacio was making $6.85 million on his contract at the time of his departure.
Astacio went on to pitch five more seasons with 6 different teams. He had some success in 2002 with the Mets by posting a 12-11 record with a 4.79 ERA and 152 K's.
Astacio’s subpar 2001 season and large price tag was shipped to Houston for a much cheaper SP named Scott Elarton. Elarton happened to be a local boy as he was a well known pitcher from his high school days in Lamar, CO. Elarton was also struggling for the Astros at the time. In the 2000 season he was a seventeen game winner for the Astros, but was having little success in 2001 with a 4-8 record.
The Scott Elarton Era began in Colorado and over the course of the next four seasons the Rox received 23 games worth out of him. Elarton ended up being a broken down pitcher with major arm problems as he missed extensive periods of time. Apparently the Astros had foreseen this coming or the Rox were just plain unlucky when it came to Elarton.
Elarton battled through injuries and bounced from team to team before ending his career in 2008. During a stint with the Cleveland Indians in 2005, Elarton battled back and proved he still had some juice left in the tank and posted a 11-9 record for the Tribe in 31 starts. Of course...it was a year too late for the Rox.
Trade #32:
August 6, 2001: P Juan Acevedo to the Marlins for Josue Espada???
Just because the trade deadline had past didn’t stop Dealin’ Dan from making any more moves. This time he sent a reliever out of town for some guy I never heard of. I remember Acevedo being a well thought of arm in the Rox system during the early stages of their franchise. He was once shipped away in the deal that brought in Brett Saberhagen and he found his way back to Colorado.
Acevdeo was just another average relief pitcher the Rox had. He was nothing special nor was he horrible. I can’t say too much about him other than he was serviceable. Acevedo became just another victim in Dealin’ Dan’s trade tirade.
As for Espada...I couldn't even find out what position he played. Regardless, he never played MLB or gave the Rox anything.
Trade #33:
August 23, 2001: A Player to be Named Later (OF Ender Chavez) to the Mets for C Gary Bennett.
After 17 previous trades setting up the 2001 campaign, Dealin’ Dan managed to pull off one last trade to finish the season. His 18th trade of the 2001 season involved one of those exciting “A Player to be Named Later” trades.
Instead of throwing some nobody away in exchange for some nobody, the Rox actually got a useful player in the deal. Coming over from the Mets in the deal was C Gary Bennett. Bennett played a good portion of the remainder of the 2001 season and filled in pretty well in 2002 while high prospect Petrick failed. In return we gave the Mets a guy named Ender Chavez…not such a bad deal after all.
To Be Continued...
The Off-Season
Trade #16:
On November 8, 2000 Dealin’ Dan acquired P Ron Villone from the Reds for two players to be named later…which turned out to be Justin Carter and P Jeff Taglienti (received in Lansing deal – Trade #12). Villone would go on to be a utility pitcher for the Rox over the first couple months of the 2001 season.
Villone pitched in 22 games for the Rox making six starts. He posted a 1-3 record with an ERA of 6.36. Villone would be dealt to the Houston Astros on June 27, 2001 (Trade #25). Villone would turn out to be a high price rental as he made $2.8 million that year.
Trade #17:
Dealin’ Dan’s next big off season move came on January 3, 2001 when he traded David Lee to the Yankees for Jay Tessmer and Seth Taylor. This was the trade that would shape the franchise for years.
Okay, I’m full of crap. This was another worthless trade that had little effect on the Rox.
Trade #18:
March 26, 2001 marked the end of the SP Brian Rose’s short lived Rox career. Rose acquired in the Lansing deal (Trade #12) made 12 starts with the Rox before getting dealt to the Mets for SP Mark Leiter. Leiter would not pitch for the Rox as he was dealt away during the first week of the season to the Brewers (Trade #20).
Trade #19:
Four days later on March 30, 2001 Dealin’ Dan sealed a deal that would bring in RP Craig Dingman for a player to be named later (turned out to be Jorge de Paula). Dingman would appear in 7 ball games for the Rox and converted 1 save. He pitched 7 1/3 innings while giving up 11 runs.
2001 Season
Trade #20:
Mark Leiter’s career as a Rox lasted a whopping nine days as he was dealt out to the Brewers along with RP Mike DeJean and Elvis Pena on April 4, 2001. In return for the deal, the Rox received RP Juan Acevedo, Kane Davis and Jose Flores. Acevedo (Trade #33) and Davis (Trade #40) would both serve as quality relief pitchers for the Rox before getting sent out in separate deals by the end of the 2001 campaign.
Trade #21:
Another minor trade took place on April 23, 2001 as the Rox shipped minor league OF Juan Sosa to the Diamondbacks for Ryan Owens.
Trade #22:
Tessmer (acquired in Trade #17) was sent to the Brewers on May 12, 2001 for future considerations.
Trade #23:
For the most part the trades Dealin’ Dan made in the 2001 season have relatively
been insignificant or have slightly favored the Rox, but June 2, 2001 started a chain of some pretty poor trades on the Rox part.Dealin’ Dan sent minor league prospects C Josh Bard and Jody Gerut to the Indians for OF Jacob Cruz. Cruz was relatively a bench player that would go on to play 44 games during the remainder of the 2001 campaign for the Rox. Cruz batted .211 with 1 HR and 7 RBI’s.
Bard and Gerut however would go on to have pretty decent major league
careers. Both are still playing in the big leagues. Bard is currently with the Padres and has registered 521 games with roughly a .259 average. Gerut also has played over 500 games (542) with a .264 average. Their averages are based at the end of the 2009 year; both players are still active and playing today.Trade #24:
June 24, 2001: C Brent Mayne to the Royals for Sal Fasano and Mac Suzuki.
If there was a trade that signaled a white flag to the Rox 2001 season, then this trade would have been it. The Rox were two games below .500 at 36-38 at this point in the season and were far from being done. Then out of the blue Dealin’ Dan pulled the trigger on this trade sending his starting catcher to KC for a back-up catcher and a minor league pitcher.
The trade seemed to unravel the pitching staff (Hampton and Neagle the most) and dampened
the team’s moral as they would drop seven of the next nine games and 19 out of the next 24 games.Sure Mayne wasn’t a super star or an All-Star caliber player, but he was a serviceable player and a class act type of guy. In return the Rox got…nothing. It was like trading a dollar for a quarter.
What was Dealin’ Dan’s thought process? Simple…it was to clear the way for the highly touted prospect catcher named Ben Petrick. Petrick was on the organization’s top prospect charts for a few years. He was a good hitting catcher that needed to work on his defense. BUT…he never panned out the way the Rox wanted and found himself out the door in another trade. See Trade # 57 for more Petrick details.
Fasano and Suzuki ended up being non-contributors to the Rox as they appeared in limited roles throughout the 2001 season. Fasano appeared in 25 games and Suzuki started one and pitched in three games.
The bottom line for the Mayne trade ended up being a horrible mistake for Dealin’ Dan.
Trade #25:
June 27, 2001: P Ron Villone to the Astros for RP Jay Powell.
The dealing of Villone to the Astros for Powell was really a swapping of veteran salaries. Villone was signed at a $2.8 million dollar price tag to start the 2001 season as a starter/relief pitcher. He appeared in 22 games for the Rox (starting 6) and posting a 1-3 record with a 6.36 ERA.
In exchange for Villone the Rox acquired a veteran relief pitcher in Powell…and a cheaper price tag at $1.6 million. Powell delivered for Dealin’ Dan as he appeared in 39 games and posting a 3-1 record with 7 saves and a spectacular ERA of 2.69.
Within the fog of bad trades, Dealin’ Dan did score one shining moment.
Trade #26:
July 3, 2001: OF Ron Gant to the A’s for Robin Jennings.
Prior to the 2001 season the Rox signed the ageless (and kneeless) OF Ron Gant
to a $1.75 million deal to be some HR muscle off the bench. Half a season later he was dumped to Oakland for an OF/1B named Robin Jennings.Gant was in the twilight of his career and the poster child for why professional athletes should not be screwing around on motorcycles in their prime. He was a former 2-time All-Star with back to back 30+ HR seasons before he badly injured his leg in an accident.
Gant had appeared in 59 games for the Rox while hitting .257 with 8 HR’s and 22 RBI’s. Jennings appeared in 1 game for the Rox and went hitless in 3 at-bats before getting traded 16 days later in Trade #28.
Trade #27:
July 13, 2001: IF Chone Figgins to the Angels for Kimera Bartee.
At the time Trade #27 was a relatively minor trade at the time swapping minor league players for one another. Bartee was a
However the infielder prospect we gave up in the deal happens to still be
playing today. A lot of fans probably didn’t realize that Figgins was dealt away by us, but I’m sure they would be just as upset as I am.Figgins would go on an win a World Series ring with the Angels in 2002...one year after leaving the Rox. And we got a guy that never hit a single ball for or would ever play again after that season. Figgins is currently going for his second ring as the Angels (as of 1st round of 2009 Play-offs) are still in the post season.
Figgins also led the American League in SB's in 2005 with 62 and became an All-Star in 2009.
Trade #28:
July 19, 2001: Robin Jennings & Todd Walker to the Reds for OF Alex Ochoa.
It had been a couple of weeks since Mayne was dealt away before the Rox fans had been dealt with another sucker punch from Dealin’ Dan. This time it was our great hitting 2B Todd Walker and recently acquired OF/1B Robin Jennings who were sent packing.
Walker and Jennings was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds for OF Alex Ochoa. Ochoa was an athletic OF prospect in which the Rox hoped would develop into an everyday LF. Once again this wasn’t the case as Ochoa hit .251 for the remainder of the 2001 season before being dealt away himself (Trade #38).
Walker hit .304 in his short but productive career with the Rox and continued to be a valuable contributor to many teams he found himself on for years to come.
Trade #29:
July 25, 2001: SS Neifi Perez to the Royals for OF Jermaine Dye.
July 25, 2001 proved to be a pivotal day in franchise history and a day that Dealin’ Dan probably would love to have back. Dan would probably love to have the whole 2001 season back, but unfortunately he can’t. On this day the Rox traded their franchise SS away for a future World Series MVP.
So what’s the bad news in that statement?
Well that future W.S. MVP (Jermaine Dye) never played a game for the Rox as he was dealt shortly afterwards for a trio of prospect crap. Dye still currently plays for the Chicago White Sox and is a 2-time All-Star, a Gold Glove winner, and was the MVP of the 2005 World Series. And he was a Rockie for less than a day. Bummer.
Perez had been a home-grown product that had replaced a fan favorite years before, but had firmly cemented his place on the team. Perez was a slick fielding SS
with a rocket arm. He was also a fast, switch hitting ideal lead-off or #2 hole hitter. His career average as a Rox was around the .280’s and ranks towards the top in All-Time franchise leaders in triples. Perez won the 2000 Gold Glove at the Shortstop position.Once Perez left the Rox, he continued to be a valuable starter for teams and great utility player for the next six years. Perez was also a personal lucky charm for me when I attended ball games. I saw him hit for the cycle as a Rox on July 25, 1998, and witness a good percentage of his HR’s. He even hit a three-run shot and drove in four as a Cub at a random 2005 game I had attended in Chicago.
The move of Perez and his $3.5 million salary was to make room for another highly ranked SS prospect in the organization by the name of Juan Uribe. I have to say out of all the years I’ve been following the Rox, they seemed to have that knack of producing highly touted SS’s. It’s like they’re a SS Factory. Uribe was just another hot-shot kid ready to take the reins. Eventually he didn’t pan out and was dealt away (Trade #63).
Trade #30:
July 25, 2001: OF Jermaine Dye to the A’s for RP Todd Belitz, OF Mario Encarnacion & 2B Jose Ortiz.
Shortly after acquiring Dye from the Royals, Dealin’ Dan shipped him out to the A’s for three players. The key piece in the deal was 2B Jose Ortiz. Ortiz was supposed to be this super stud prospect that was going to play 2B for the Rox for many years to come.
The future plan behind all of the day’s work was to have Uribe and Ortiz become franchise players and play many years at SS and 2B for the Rox. It was the next generation of youth movement. The Rox had two young, athletic power hitting pieces up the middle of their infield…at least that’s what they believed at the time.
There’s a saying that Hind-sight is 20-20. At the time I was a little hopeful that Ortiz and Uribe would be stars for years to come. Obviously things didn’t work out that way. Instead we got two prospects that would struggle and suffer a lot of growing pains at the fans and franchise’s expense.
Ortiz turned out to be a very raw swing-for-the-fence 2B whose career didn’t last more than 118 games. Sometimes when you gamble, you lose; unfortunately O’Dowd bet it all on these two players and lost.
Trade #31:
July 31, 2001: P Pedro Astacio & cash to the Astros for SP Scott Elarton.
This trade marked the end of a surprisingly wonderful Rockie career for Pedro Astacio…and another bad deal for O’Dowd. Astacio was one of the greatest Rox pitchers at the time. He was a
flame-throwing starting pitcher that been a staple and work horse in their starting rotation since being acquired from the Dodgers late in 1997.Astacio typically gave the Rox thirty-some odd starts a year and around 200+ innings pitched. Astacio was also a strike-out pitcher as he struck out 749 batters in 130 games for the Rox. His success earned him a nice contract which ultimately pushed him of town. Astacio was making $6.85 million on his contract at the time of his departure.
Astacio went on to pitch five more seasons with 6 different teams. He had some success in 2002 with the Mets by posting a 12-11 record with a 4.79 ERA and 152 K's.
Astacio’s subpar 2001 season and large price tag was shipped to Houston for a much cheaper SP named Scott Elarton. Elarton happened to be a local boy as he was a well known pitcher from his high school days in Lamar, CO. Elarton was also struggling for the Astros at the time. In the 2000 season he was a seventeen game winner for the Astros, but was having little success in 2001 with a 4-8 record.
The Scott Elarton Era began in Colorado and over the course of the next four seasons the Rox received 23 games worth out of him. Elarton ended up being a broken down pitcher with major arm problems as he missed extensive periods of time. Apparently the Astros had foreseen this coming or the Rox were just plain unlucky when it came to Elarton.
Elarton battled through injuries and bounced from team to team before ending his career in 2008. During a stint with the Cleveland Indians in 2005, Elarton battled back and proved he still had some juice left in the tank and posted a 11-9 record for the Tribe in 31 starts. Of course...it was a year too late for the Rox.
Trade #32:
August 6, 2001: P Juan Acevedo to the Marlins for Josue Espada???
Just because the trade deadline had past didn’t stop Dealin’ Dan from making any more moves. This time he sent a reliever out of town for some guy I never heard of. I remember Acevedo being a well thought of arm in the Rox system during the early stages of their franchise. He was once shipped away in the deal that brought in Brett Saberhagen and he found his way back to Colorado.
Acevdeo was just another average relief pitcher the Rox had. He was nothing special nor was he horrible. I can’t say too much about him other than he was serviceable. Acevedo became just another victim in Dealin’ Dan’s trade tirade.
As for Espada...I couldn't even find out what position he played. Regardless, he never played MLB or gave the Rox anything.
Trade #33:
August 23, 2001: A Player to be Named Later (OF Ender Chavez) to the Mets for C Gary Bennett.
After 17 previous trades setting up the 2001 campaign, Dealin’ Dan managed to pull off one last trade to finish the season. His 18th trade of the 2001 season involved one of those exciting “A Player to be Named Later” trades.
Instead of throwing some nobody away in exchange for some nobody, the Rox actually got a useful player in the deal. Coming over from the Mets in the deal was C Gary Bennett. Bennett played a good portion of the remainder of the 2001 season and filled in pretty well in 2002 while high prospect Petrick failed. In return we gave the Mets a guy named Ender Chavez…not such a bad deal after all.
To Be Continued...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
