Thoughts on the Clark Trade
I have long expressed my feelings that Tony Clark has been overvalued by many D-backs fans. I was happy when the D-backs let him sign with the Padres this offseason. And I’m still a little miffed about Bob Melvin’s decision to reduce Conor Jackson’s playing time late last season.
And Jim Gintonio’s piece on the trade being Clark back to the team sums up the entire case for bringing back Clark in one sentence:
What Tony Clark brings to the Diamondbacks goes beyond statistics.
That’s it. No mention of his woeful .307 slugging percentage this year with San Diego. But somehow, TC is a magical spark whose very presence will charm the Snakes out of their recent woes.
Also nevermind that the team traded away a pitching prospect with 127 strikeouts in 94 innings in the minors.
This smells like yet another decision by the front office to convince fans that they are doing “something.”* Let the kids play and stop whining. No one expected this season to be perfect — and perhaps we all jumped the gun a little early when the D-backs were playing like the best team in baseball.
*And yes, I realize I have been supportive of some of these kinds of moves in the past (the Eric Byrnes extension, for instance). But I think the point still stands.
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One Response to “Thoughts on the Clark Trade”
July 21st, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Nick, I couldn’t agree more. I just flipped when I saw they gave up that kind of a prospect. The knuckleheads at the AZ Republic just fluffed it off and concentrated on the bench magic great to have Tony back angle.
I’ve been a big fan of J. Byrnes - since I’m a transplanted native clevelander and he was groomed both there and under former indian hand Dan O’dowd in Colorado (before his last stop in Boston)- but I don’t like what I’m seeing here.
I love Dan Haren but the Backs got totally fleeced in the deal - they way over paid. Look at the A’s latest deals -Bean’s NOT EVEN FINSHED YET - and it’s all because Byrnes gave up too much. Because Eveland and Smith have performed so solidly he could swap out an oft injured ‘ace’ - and max out on the trade value.
Plus we are supposedly eyeing Ibanez from Seattle to ad some pop to the lineup?
I wonder if giving the GM a contract extention thru 2015 was such a wise move. I mean it all looked fantastic in April and early May. Now they are back to their streaking selfs with a lot of holes in the hitting - and about ready to let LA take the division away from them.
Tony Clark is a great guy and all, and certainly a huge improvement over Chris Burk, but that is about it.
They should never have given the Pad’s any level of pick on this. It’s a very bad sign the GM is blinking.
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