More Trades

Wow, this has been a pretty eventful offseason in MLB. It's surprising that the big superstars being traded aren't commanding more, given the dearth of quality talent available on the free agent market. Carlos Delgado and Jim Thome have been moved to the Mets and White Sox, respectively. Delgado's probably the better player to have, simply based on projected health. But the Phillies have much better alternatives behind Thome than the Marlins do behind Delgado. And the key is that it looks like the Phillies are picking up much more of Thome's contract than the Marlins are of Delgado. ESPN is reporting the White Sox will be on the hook for $21M over three years for Thome, which seems pretty reasonable to me. On the other hand, the Mets are on the hook for most of Delgado's backloaded contract. I don't know the quality of the Mets prospects, but Aaron Rowand is nothing to speak of (the White Sox have this history of generic 28 year old mid level outfielders). So bottom line, while I'd rather have Delgado than Thome, I like the deal for the White Sox more than for the Mets. That's particularly true given Minaya seems insistent on loading up on contracts of older players, which is not how to build a contender. I think you need to genuinely put a lot of money into the farm system and developing and signing young players, and then use that to build a team on up. Signing a bunch of veterans and getting on the hook for their 37 and 38 year old seasons is not how you build a contender to me.