Trayvon Robinson Come On Down

The thing about Stat Boys is even when proven wrong by, you know, actual events, they'll argue until their parent's cellar burns down around them. 


I laughed out loud yesterday when I read someone still mad about Ned trading Trayvon Robinson for Tim Fedx, Stephen Barney Fife and Juan Rodriguez. The argument then and today is still it doesn't matter how the trade actually, you know, turns out, the point is the Dodgers didn't get enough value back for one of their top prospects.


WAH.


Tim Fedx will most likely be the Dodger backup catcher next year, Fife has won two important games this year for the Dodgers and Rodriguez is still at Top 20 prospect in the Dodger organization. Meanwhile, Trayvon continues to do what he does best - strike out.


Ned, who we all know has a spotty record, had a reasonable explanation for the situation. The Dodgers needed a catching prospect. Trayvon had been passed up by Jerry "I'm Still In The Minors" Sands. A couple pitchers thrown in. Why not. Obviously the Dodger organization didn't think Trayvon was going to be a star otherwise they wouldn't have traded him. I bought into it just because I had no expectations for Trayvon. And I knew it wasn't Ned doing the scouting.


"But they didn't get value!" 


Is that the same as it didn't look good on paper? Whose paper? What color is the paper? Who gave you the paper? Did you even see the paper? Maybe Stat Boy Patron Saint Keith Law told you what was on the paper and you bit. How does anyone on AssClown Island know anything about prospects except what they read on their 'puter.


No one knows what's going to happen with prospects except that only a tiny percentage will ever start a major league game.


I expect a lot of these Stat Boys try to emulate Keith Law. Here's what he had to say on the matter.


The Dodgers get … I’m not really sure what they get. Tim Federowicz is a catch-and-throw specialist who isn’t likely to produce enough at the plate to be an average regular, but is plus across the board behind the plate (including a career 34-percent caught-stealing rate) and is no worse than a good backup in the majors. Stephen Fifeprobably profiles as a right-handed reliever rather than a starter because he lacks the out pitch to start; he’ll touch 95 as a starter with a fringe-average curveball. Juan Rodriguez has a plus fastball, no average second pitch, and below-average command and control — a nice arm to add to your system but a reliever at best and not a high-probability guy either. Unless Robinson was somehow burning a hole in their pockets, this doesn’t make a ton of sense to me, as they didn’t get any prospect as good as he is in the exchange.


Keith Law is a professional. Don't try this at home. BTW who told Mr. Law that Fife throws anything close to 95.


Poor Jerry Sands


One of the reasons I applaud players like Luis Cruz and Elian Herrera at every opportunity is that they never got anything handed to them. They persevered and when they finally got a chance showed that they could play Major League baseball.


For that they can't be mentioned without the accompanying lifetime minor leaguer reference or something insulting like that.


I'm even more bitter about it when Elian gets sent down even though in many, many ways he's a better player than Juan Uribe. That's some giants mounds of BS right there.


Elian may never get to the Majors again, yet, come hell or high water Juan Uribe gets to keep sitting on the bench offering nothing at all to the Dodgers.


So now Jerry Sands hits two grand slams and people start talking again about putting him in left field. This Spring the Dodgers were begging him to win the left field job. Instead, he sucked. He got another chance early in the season. He sucked.


I want Jerry Sands to succeed but now he's got to prove it. He's hitting below the Mendoza line (.290 is the Mendoza line in that league) for the Isotopes. Some people speculate that it's his stubbornness that's holding him back. I don't know. Just don't be surprised if he doesn't get a September call up. The Dodgers might be pissed off enough with him to give him the Ivan DeJesus Jr. treatment.


Don't Do It Ned


I think the Dodgers need Dempster. But if the cost is Alfonso Soriano and any significant part of his contract run away Ned. FAST. The thought of paying Soriano, even Uribe money for the next two years is frightening. Hey maybe it pays off. Still, frightening.


Just because the new Dodgers regime has a lot of cash it doesn't mean it should potentially sacrifice some important free agent signing money. Hanley, obviously yes. Alfonso, please no.