It's been a dreamy, otherworldly kind of season so far for the Orioles, the White Sox and the Nationals. Nobody figured these teams would be this good this far into the season. Nobody figured they'd be in first place.
If these guys are going to stay there, though, if this is going to turn out to be more than a nice midseason story, the few weeks running up to the July 31 trade deadline will be critical.
Here's what these three teams are thinking ...
Ailing Orioles seek pitching
The Orioles are just trying to get healthy. Starter Erik Bedard is still on the disabled list, as is outfielder Luis Matos and catcher Javy Lopez. The O's are sitting on a three-game lead in the American League East. But the Red Sox lurk, and the Yankees and Blue Jays aren't far behind them.
The last thing the O's can do is stand pat.
"I know that our opponents probably aren't going to," said Jim Beattie, the O's executive vice president of baseball operations. "We have to stay ahead of the curve there."
The Orioles don't have a lot of holes but, like a lot of teams, the one they have is big enough to swallow them whole. More than anything else, the Orioles could use a veteran starter. They've been relying on still-unproven arms such as Bruce Chen, Rodrigo Lopez and Daniel Cabrera. Their so-called ace is Sidney Ponson, who has a 5.36 ERA.
But good, veteran starters will be hard to come by. They always are. Barry Zito of the A's isn't on the market yet -- he may never be -- but guys such as Pittsburgh's Mark Redman, and the Colorado trio of Joe Kennedy, Jason Jennings and Shawn Chacon all could be.
"I think the market is probably going to be pretty fair. I don't know if there's an ace pitcher out there that's going to be available," Beattie said. "But there are plenty of position players, and some No. 3 starters."
The Orioles are willing to take on some salary to get a trade worked out and, like all teams, they're already talking. They may have to strike quickly, if for no other reason than to keep division rivals Boston and New York from getting key players.
Still, there's a lot of time before the deadline, and nothing's going to be done easily.
"We would like to do something sooner rather than later, so we can get the maximum benefit. But, at this point, so many teams are still in it that they're not ready to part with players, to go down that road and go ahead with it," Beattie said. "That's what the wild card has done. It's kept more teams in it."
White Sox won't disrupt chemistry
The White Sox were in first place at this point last season, so they know what needs to be done. Not that what they tried last year did them much good. Before the break in '04, the Sox traded for starter Freddy Garcia of the Mariners and, on July 31, got Jose Contreras from the Yankees for Esteban Loaiza.
Chicago was 46-38 at the break last year, a half-game ahead of the Twins, but the Sox went 37-41 afterward and finished nine games back.
The White Sox have the best record in baseball this year, but the Twins are right on their heels. Sox general manager Ken Williams is happy with first place, but he's a little uneasy about how things have played out.
"Honestly, we have greater capabilities. The players will tell you we have not been clicking on what we consider to be all cylinders all year," Williams said. "And I say that with as much humility as I can."
The Sox are not a dominant offensive team, ranking fifth in the American League in runs scored. They have been carried by their pitching staff, especially the starters, who have compiled a 3.79 ERA. Therein lies a problem: No team in the AL has gotten more innings from its starting rotation. So the Sox could be looking for a boost there, they could be looking for relief help and they probably are looking to add punch to their lineup, too. They have some players rumored to be on the trade block. Third baseman Joe Crede has been disappointing, and either Carl Everett or Frank Thomas could be dealt, too.
Williams, for one, isn't getting into specifics.
"I've always thought it's kind of disrespectful to the guys that have gotten you in the position to consider a move," Williams said. "So if you come out and say I need X, Y or Z ... they deserve better than that."
Whatever Williams ends up doing, he will do it with a clear eye toward keeping the team's chemistry intact. Manager Ozzie Guillen has been credited with getting the Sox on the same page for the first time in years. With slugger Thomas humbled now after months on the disabled list, Carlos Lee traded away to Milwaukee and Magglio Ordonez in Detroit, this is a team of low-wattage stars.
"I've learned some lessons in that area. I haven't been in a clubhouse as supportive as this one, with these guys, in a long, long time," Williams said. "For us to change any part of [that], it would have to be, for me, a knockout, a no-brainer type. You don't want to risk upsetting the chemistry, the flow we have out there."
'Nationals will have 'some flexibility'
The Nationals may be the wildest card among the surprise division leaders at this point. Statistically speaking, the Nats have no business sporting a winning record, let alone leading the highly competitive National League East.
D.C. has one of the lowest-scoring lineups in the league, ranking last in homers, and the Nationals' pitching staff is being held together with a little resin and a lot of prayer. The staff has a 3.83 ERA, fifth in the league, but its relievers have logged 193 innings this season, fourth-highest in the NL. The Nats need another starter, bullpen help and a big run-producing bat for the middle of the lineup.
The best thing the Nationals may have going for them -- besides a rabid fan base that already has run more than 1 million fans through the turnstiles at RFK Stadium -- is an aggressive general manager who doesn't know how to spell "sit still." Jim Bowden is pretty sure that he'll have the ability to add to his payroll with a trade, even though the team is still owned by the other 29 Major League Baseball owners and all those budgetary moves have to be approved.
"I think we'll have some flexibility," Bowden said. "Certainly, our revenue is beyond what we expected. There should be some dollars there. I will take it to Tony Tavares, our president, and if it's the right player, at the right time, at the right dollars, I have every confidence he will OK it."
Unlike a lot of GMs, Bowden would like to jump on trades as early as possible. There are several reasons for that, first being his generally aggressive nature. This is the same GM who brought Dave Burba, Mark Portugal and David Wells to the Reds before the '95 trading deadline.
Bowden already has landed one of the more coveted infielders available, Junior Spivey (trading pitcher Tomo Ohka to the Brewers to get him), and claimed former Texas right-hander Ryan Drese off waivers. Spivey has been instrumental in a couple of Washington wins, and Drese threw eight solid innings in a 1-0 win over the Angels on Wednesday.
Striking quickly serves a couple of purposes for Bowden. One, it keeps the good players away from his NL East opponents. Two, players are cheaper in late June than they are a couple of weeks before the deadline. Of course, pulling off a trade in June has its consequences, too, especially if someone better is made available closer to the deadline.
Bowden has a list of players he's targeting and checks up on their availability on a daily basis. And he'll keep it up, to the deadline and beyond.
"There's always competition," he said. "But, at the end of the day, I'm only going to make a trade if it makes us better. If I can make it today, I'll make it today. If I can make it July 31, I'll make it then. But I'm never going to make a trade just for the sake of making a trade."
John Donavan Inside Baseball S.I.com
If these guys are going to stay there, though, if this is going to turn out to be more than a nice midseason story, the few weeks running up to the July 31 trade deadline will be critical.
Here's what these three teams are thinking ...
Ailing Orioles seek pitching
The Orioles are just trying to get healthy. Starter Erik Bedard is still on the disabled list, as is outfielder Luis Matos and catcher Javy Lopez. The O's are sitting on a three-game lead in the American League East. But the Red Sox lurk, and the Yankees and Blue Jays aren't far behind them.
The last thing the O's can do is stand pat.
"I know that our opponents probably aren't going to," said Jim Beattie, the O's executive vice president of baseball operations. "We have to stay ahead of the curve there."
The Orioles don't have a lot of holes but, like a lot of teams, the one they have is big enough to swallow them whole. More than anything else, the Orioles could use a veteran starter. They've been relying on still-unproven arms such as Bruce Chen, Rodrigo Lopez and Daniel Cabrera. Their so-called ace is Sidney Ponson, who has a 5.36 ERA.
But good, veteran starters will be hard to come by. They always are. Barry Zito of the A's isn't on the market yet -- he may never be -- but guys such as Pittsburgh's Mark Redman, and the Colorado trio of Joe Kennedy, Jason Jennings and Shawn Chacon all could be.
"I think the market is probably going to be pretty fair. I don't know if there's an ace pitcher out there that's going to be available," Beattie said. "But there are plenty of position players, and some No. 3 starters."
The Orioles are willing to take on some salary to get a trade worked out and, like all teams, they're already talking. They may have to strike quickly, if for no other reason than to keep division rivals Boston and New York from getting key players.
Still, there's a lot of time before the deadline, and nothing's going to be done easily.
"We would like to do something sooner rather than later, so we can get the maximum benefit. But, at this point, so many teams are still in it that they're not ready to part with players, to go down that road and go ahead with it," Beattie said. "That's what the wild card has done. It's kept more teams in it."
White Sox won't disrupt chemistry
The White Sox were in first place at this point last season, so they know what needs to be done. Not that what they tried last year did them much good. Before the break in '04, the Sox traded for starter Freddy Garcia of the Mariners and, on July 31, got Jose Contreras from the Yankees for Esteban Loaiza.
Chicago was 46-38 at the break last year, a half-game ahead of the Twins, but the Sox went 37-41 afterward and finished nine games back.
The White Sox have the best record in baseball this year, but the Twins are right on their heels. Sox general manager Ken Williams is happy with first place, but he's a little uneasy about how things have played out.
"Honestly, we have greater capabilities. The players will tell you we have not been clicking on what we consider to be all cylinders all year," Williams said. "And I say that with as much humility as I can."
The Sox are not a dominant offensive team, ranking fifth in the American League in runs scored. They have been carried by their pitching staff, especially the starters, who have compiled a 3.79 ERA. Therein lies a problem: No team in the AL has gotten more innings from its starting rotation. So the Sox could be looking for a boost there, they could be looking for relief help and they probably are looking to add punch to their lineup, too. They have some players rumored to be on the trade block. Third baseman Joe Crede has been disappointing, and either Carl Everett or Frank Thomas could be dealt, too.
Williams, for one, isn't getting into specifics.
"I've always thought it's kind of disrespectful to the guys that have gotten you in the position to consider a move," Williams said. "So if you come out and say I need X, Y or Z ... they deserve better than that."
Whatever Williams ends up doing, he will do it with a clear eye toward keeping the team's chemistry intact. Manager Ozzie Guillen has been credited with getting the Sox on the same page for the first time in years. With slugger Thomas humbled now after months on the disabled list, Carlos Lee traded away to Milwaukee and Magglio Ordonez in Detroit, this is a team of low-wattage stars.
"I've learned some lessons in that area. I haven't been in a clubhouse as supportive as this one, with these guys, in a long, long time," Williams said. "For us to change any part of [that], it would have to be, for me, a knockout, a no-brainer type. You don't want to risk upsetting the chemistry, the flow we have out there."
'Nationals will have 'some flexibility'
The Nationals may be the wildest card among the surprise division leaders at this point. Statistically speaking, the Nats have no business sporting a winning record, let alone leading the highly competitive National League East.
D.C. has one of the lowest-scoring lineups in the league, ranking last in homers, and the Nationals' pitching staff is being held together with a little resin and a lot of prayer. The staff has a 3.83 ERA, fifth in the league, but its relievers have logged 193 innings this season, fourth-highest in the NL. The Nats need another starter, bullpen help and a big run-producing bat for the middle of the lineup.
The best thing the Nationals may have going for them -- besides a rabid fan base that already has run more than 1 million fans through the turnstiles at RFK Stadium -- is an aggressive general manager who doesn't know how to spell "sit still." Jim Bowden is pretty sure that he'll have the ability to add to his payroll with a trade, even though the team is still owned by the other 29 Major League Baseball owners and all those budgetary moves have to be approved.
"I think we'll have some flexibility," Bowden said. "Certainly, our revenue is beyond what we expected. There should be some dollars there. I will take it to Tony Tavares, our president, and if it's the right player, at the right time, at the right dollars, I have every confidence he will OK it."
Unlike a lot of GMs, Bowden would like to jump on trades as early as possible. There are several reasons for that, first being his generally aggressive nature. This is the same GM who brought Dave Burba, Mark Portugal and David Wells to the Reds before the '95 trading deadline.
Bowden already has landed one of the more coveted infielders available, Junior Spivey (trading pitcher Tomo Ohka to the Brewers to get him), and claimed former Texas right-hander Ryan Drese off waivers. Spivey has been instrumental in a couple of Washington wins, and Drese threw eight solid innings in a 1-0 win over the Angels on Wednesday.
Striking quickly serves a couple of purposes for Bowden. One, it keeps the good players away from his NL East opponents. Two, players are cheaper in late June than they are a couple of weeks before the deadline. Of course, pulling off a trade in June has its consequences, too, especially if someone better is made available closer to the deadline.
Bowden has a list of players he's targeting and checks up on their availability on a daily basis. And he'll keep it up, to the deadline and beyond.
"There's always competition," he said. "But, at the end of the day, I'm only going to make a trade if it makes us better. If I can make it today, I'll make it today. If I can make it July 31, I'll make it then. But I'm never going to make a trade just for the sake of making a trade."
John Donavan Inside Baseball S.I.com
