MaizeAndBlueWahoo

July 9th, 2010 at 9:28 PM ^

Yeah, we'll see how legit he is going from one of the consistently best hitters' parks in the league to one of the worst.  Would be asking a lot for him to rake like Boesch but he's not even batting at Danny Worth levels.  .209!  He's like a poor man's Rob Deer this year.  He'll improve in the future, you'd hope, but really if I were a Mariners' fan I'd figure the main thing is they had Lee for barely half a season, so the real comparison is what they gave up vs. what they just got.  But I wouldn't be jumping up and down about Smoak.

Steve Lorenz

July 9th, 2010 at 9:58 PM ^

Given the M's had almost no shot of resigning Lee and what they gave Philly in return for him during the offseason, I'd be pretty happy if I was Seattle.

Also, FWIW, Seattle is not nearly as bad a hitters park for lefties as it is for righties, especially when it comes to power.

Also #2......for fantasy owners....Chris Davis will likely get another call to play first at Texas. He's hitting .356 in AAA with 10 bombs since his demotion in April. He's worth a speculative play yet again.

rlew

July 9th, 2010 at 11:44 PM ^

You just don't know much about Smoak, other than reading his batting line this year, some 70 games and 235 ABs into his first major league season.  If we're talking "real comparisons" then you have to look at what the Mariners gave up to get Lee and what they just got in return.  They traded three prospects to the Phillies and hoped to contend this year.  They didn't, so they just flipped Lee to the Rangers for four prospects.  No one would accept those three prospects the Mariners sent the Phillies in exchange for Smoak, let alone Smoak and three additional prospects, which is what the Mariners just received.  In essence, Seattle just turned three good/ok prospects into Smoak and three more good/ok prospects.  And, Smoak's a guy who was probably on everyone's top ten prospects list heading into this season.  So, if you're going to ask for prospects in exchange for Lee, you could not have hoped to do much better than Smoak, let alone Smoak plus three. 

cadmus2166

July 10th, 2010 at 11:19 AM ^

Regardless, Arlington is widely known as a hitters' park, whereas Safeco is a pitchers' park.  I certainly don't think Lee will do horribly, he'll probably do pretty well.  I just don't think he'll be as dominant as he was with Seattle.

david from wyoming

July 9th, 2010 at 5:57 PM ^

Are the Rangers the team to beat in the AL this year now? Great offense, Cliff Lee pitching twice a series in the playoffs and they will most likely get the wildcard team for the first series.

M.I.Sicks

July 9th, 2010 at 5:59 PM ^

He doesn't go to the Yanks,Twins or Sox. As a Tigers fan, if we couldn't land the guy then this is the best case scenario. Been reading the Tigers may make a play for both Haren and S. Drew from the Diamondbacks.

david from wyoming

July 9th, 2010 at 6:01 PM ^

I've heard about Stephen Drew to the Tigers as well, but I don't get why the d-bags would trade an above average 27 year old SS.

david from wyoming

July 9th, 2010 at 6:11 PM ^

Ah, something I never thought of, but a google search only turned up this guy in Low class A ball.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statistics/players/cards/?pl_id=89328

I thought the firings that the D-backs just did were in part due to a awful farm system.

 

Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE for the Tigers to trade for Drew, but I don't see why it would make sense for the D-backs.

M.I.Sicks

July 9th, 2010 at 6:12 PM ^

It reminds me of the old threads on the ESPN boards before they got that place under control. You'd see a thread title such as this. You'd open it and there's a link. You click it and BAM Meatspin! Followed by a virus with pop-ups and screaming audio saying "HEY EVERYBODY,I'M WATCHING GAY PORN".

TheLastHarbaugh

July 9th, 2010 at 6:21 PM ^

As much as I hate the Yankees, it would have been more Cleveland schadenfreude had Lee gone to the Yanks. That way, Cleveland could watch as their two former aces lead another team to the world series (They already had to watch them pitch against each other in the world series but this would be that much more salt in the wound).

Also, I believe that the world series coincides with the first week of the NBA season, meaning they would have gotten to watch Lee and Sabathia pitching the Yankees to a world series title, while LeBron stars for the Heat, all in the same week.

Delicious tears of unfathomable sadness!

hockeyguy9125

July 9th, 2010 at 6:46 PM ^

IMO, at least. He did not go to the Twins or ChiSox, and did not go to the Yankees. I am feeling alot better about the Tigers' chances now than 24 hours ago.

 

Rumor from foxsports.com that the Tigers are shopping Porcello around that the Tigers might try to acquire Dan Haren from Arizona...that would make me feel even better about the Tigers chances, but I will take what I can get since I still have not been alive for a Tigers Division Championship.

Jeff

July 10th, 2010 at 2:29 AM ^

Personally, I'm not sure how I feel about the move. He will probably get more wins, but it won't be that large of an improvement.  He already has 8 wins and he missed all of April.  I don't think his wins pace is going to improve that much.

On the other hand, he goes from one of the best pitcher's stadiums to one of the best hitter's stadiums.  I would be curious what the statisticians' prediction for his second-half ERA is. Half a point higher maybe?

When I heard that the Reds were one of the teams in the running I got very excited.  It would still be a hitter-friendly park but at least it's in the NL.  Plus being in the NL Central (rather than the East if the Mets got him) would have been nice.  When you don't have to pitch against the Reds, pitching in the NL Central looks like it would be great. Pittsburgh and Houston are pretty weak, Chicago is average to below-average, St. Louis and Milwaukee are aboverage to good.

I was doing everything in my power to send him to the Reds.  I'm definitely disappointed that it didn't work out, but I haven't decided how I feel about the Rangers yet.

Steve Lorenz

July 10th, 2010 at 10:32 AM ^

Depends on what you drafted him for. His ratios will rise just because Texas is a bigtime hitter's park. His Ks should probably stay around the same and as you said his wins will go up. I drafted him for his ridiculous WHIP, so I am not necessarily enthused by the move even though he's a top-10 option regardless of where he pitches.