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08:47 PM on Wednesday Jul 30, 2008I don't want to be a downer on the C.C. Sabathia trade but I would like to point out the last time the Indians dealt a heavyset pitcher. Bartolo Colon and Tim Drew from Cleveland to Montreal for Lee Stevens and minor leaguers Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee and Brandon Phillips -- June 27, 2002 ---Notice the names in bold.....now I don't know if Matt Laporta, Zach Jackson, Rob Bryson and Taylor Green will amount to the players that Phillips, Sizemore and Lee are but don't applaud this trade until a few years from now. ---This is an excerpt from Jerry Crasnick's column about trade deadline deals. ---Notice the similarities between Montreal and Milwaukee....both teams were desperate to win. ---Also, notice that Colon won 10 games for the Expo's but the team didn't make the playoffs. "Minaya works some magic" (Montreal Gazette) With the Expos 6½ games behind Atlanta in the National League East and a contraction guillotine reportedly hanging over the team's head, general manager Omar Minaya raids the farm system to acquire Colon, who is 10-4 with a 2.55 ERA in Cleveland. In the pre-blogging days, when Baseball America is the only outlet monitoring every breath that prospects take, Minaya is widely praised for his coup. Montreal columnist Jack Todd refers to him as "brilliant" and says he has "utterly changed the way the Expos do business" since coming over from the Mets. Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro resides in a different place -- at the wrong end of talk-radio hell. While Indians fans go on a universal rant, Colon's teammates are crushed by his departure. Several Cleveland veterans speculate that they might be the next to go. "This has leveled all of us," reliever Paul Shuey tells the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The postscript: Even though Colon won 10 games in Montreal after the trade to give him 20 for the season, the Expos faded down the stretch and finished 19 games out in the NL East. Colon won a Cy Young Award with the Angels in 2005, but health and weight issues have put a damper on his career. Cleveland, meanwhile, hit the jackpot with the trade. Sizemore is a two-time All-Star and a Gold Glove Award winner at 25, and Lee is 68-38 in six seasons with the Indians. The only downer is that the Indians bailed too early on Phillips and gave him away to Cincinnati in 2006. Contact Jim at Jrutledge@madisonsportsradio.com Back |
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