Getting Some Help for the Low Post...

So, Ned Colletti went shopping yesterday, and got the Dodgers... a power forward?

Jae Seo, Dioner Navarro, and a player to be named later were sent to Tampa Bay for Toby Hall and Mark Hendrickson, who played four years in the NBA before deciding to change careers. Not exactly an earth-shattering deal, although to listen to some of the hue and cry over at DT, you'd think that Neddy had gunned down a line of baby ducks with an AK-47.

It's a simple enough deal. Ned wanted Hendrickson, a lefty starter in the middle of his best year (although that's not really saying much), and Tampa has been lusting after Navarro for a while. Seo, a pitcher who's been maddeningly inconsistent in his brief time with LA, and Hall, a catcher, are the throw-ins to balance things off. The thing that has a number of folks incensed is the inclusion of Navarro in the deal. Navarro is young, moderately talented, and inexpensive. He is also, perhaps, the shining symbol of the DePo era, in that he was acquired by jettisoning fading star Shawn Green, and Green's enormous contract as part of DePo's housecleaning. What. Ever.

Don't get me wrong. I think Navarro is a decent player. He is not the second coming of Mike Piazza. The emergence of Russell Martin made him expendable. Martin is as good or better as a hitter, is better defensively, and apparently calls a better game than Dioner. Navarro wasn't going to be the starter for the Dodgers again unless Martin got hurt. He had value, and we didn't need him. It really doesn't matter whether Navarro was one of our treasured prospects or not. He was a treasured prospect who was projected to be our back-up catcher of the future (and really, I'd prefer a back-up catcher who's a little better defensively).

Do I think Ned got equal value? Nope. The problem Colletti had is that the Dodgers needed a pitcher who can go seven innings (something in really short supply in Dodger Stadium of late) more than they need an expendable catcher, no matter how talented or cheap, and in the current baseball marketplace, mediocre pitchers are more valuable than young, moderately talented catchers. People keep spinning the trade as if it's Navarro straight up for Hall, and viewed that way, it's a terrible deal for LA. But it's not that. It was Navarro for Hendrickson, with Seo and Hall as the throw-ins. Is that a good deal? Maybe, maybe not. It depends upon what other teams were offering for Navarro, if anything. Only Ned knows that. It's also going to depend upon how well Hendrickson pitches. It's certainly not worth the apoplexy some of the DT posters are displaying.

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From the Griddle comes this link to an article by Coulter wannabe, Lisa Fabrizio, at The American Spectator on the liberal infiltration of baseball.

So Bud Lite is fine with the gansta [sic] rap behavior exhibited daily by many ballplayers and celebrated gleefully by ESPN.

Gangsta rap? From all them white boys? Or is it all the Latino and Asian players of whom she speaks? One of the dismaying things about the current state of baseball is how few African-Americans are actually playing. The Dodgers have only two on their roster, Lofton and Kemp, as do the Yankees, the Sox, and the Mets. Still, I suppose in Ms. Fabrizio's teeny little mind, two blacks are two too many. There is far more wrong-headedness that I could comment on, but it's just not worth the aggravation. What an ignorant bunt.

Well, there is one thing...

While it's always been true that most baseball men have been known to wrap their tongues around an obscenity or two, it's most likely that these words were used off-the-record as modifiers and not central to a highly public press conference.

Someone needs to play Tommy Lasorda's opinion of Dave Kingman for Ms. Fabrizio.