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Uni Watch

Same Faces, New Uniforms

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By John Ekdahl

So, today’s the day. Players can still be traded in August by passing through waivers, but 4 PM EDT today is officially the Major League Baseball trading deadline. As a long time Yankees fan, July 31st has become something of a grown up Christmas Day morning in recent years (although Lance Berkman is probably more of a tube-socks-and-underwear caliber gift given his performance in 2010). This year there are some buyers who are normally sellers (Reds, Rangers, Padres) and some sellers who are normally buyers (Cubs, Brewers). There’s been a lot of early movement so far and there’s sure to be some more wild rumors and fireworks today. Remember, it took until 5PM (a full hour past the deadline) for anyone to know whether the Red Sox and Dodgers had gotten the paperwork filed in time for the Manny Ramirez trade to go through. These things tend to go down to the wire.

It’s always a little jarring the first time you see a one-team star wearing the uniform of different team. Roy Oswalt certainly fits that description, although it would look much stranger if the Phillies and Astros didn’t share a dominant-red color scheme. Dan Haren has moved from Arizona to Anaheim. Edwin Jackson is going from Arizona to the Chicago White Sox. Miguel Tejada has gone from Baltimore to San Diego. Jhonny Peralta is headed to Detroit from Cleveland. Scott Podsednik is moving from Kansas City to Los Angeles. Ted Lilly, Adam Dunn and Derrek Lee are among those who are expected to be dealt today.

The Texas Rangers have acquired Cristian Guzman and Jorge Cantu less than a month after adding Cliff Lee and there are rumors of more deals on the way. Someone’s gotta explain to me how a franchise that has filed for bankruptcy can add so much payroll. Although, the daily news coming out of the financial sector in this bailout and deficit recession economy makes my head spin so perhaps it’s not worth the trouble.

Where’s the best place to follow all this deadline action? If you’re near a television, go with MLB Tonight: Trade Deadline Special Live on the MLB Network. Last year I went back and forth between MLBN and ESPN, and MLBN absolutely blows Baseball Tonight on ESPN out of the water. Their analysts are all better (I do like Tim Kurkjian, however) and last year they were about five to ten minutes ahead of ESPN in breaking news. If you’re on the computer, flipping between espn.com, cnnsi.com and foxsports.com always works pretty well. If you like to be ahead of those guys, go with Jon Heyman’s twitter page. He’s really separated himself from the pack in terms of sniffing out baseball trades and signings. The 140 character maximum format of Twitter suits him much better than radio or television, where he tends to turn a simple yes/no question into a rambling five minute answer. He’s also on the live MLB Tonight set and will occasionally pop in with breaking news when he’s not updating his Twitter status (yes, I have seen him do this live on the air).

Happy Trade Deadline Day!

 
  
 
Comments (116)

    Derrek Lee turned down a trade to the Angels, so he’s not going anywhere today.

    And, to nitpick, it’s LILLY, not Lily.

    Good to see a Yankee fan here for a change.

    Here’s how the Tx Rangers are doing it-MLB suits are allowing/encouraging it to happen. Especially the Lee deal, because it screwed the NYY. So called experts never believe this stuff until 10 years later. Like steroids. Or racism ( in Boston ).

    BTW Derrick Lee isn’t going anywhere, he will not waive his NTC for family reasons.

    The Yankees are a license to print money for MLB. Why would they want to “screw” the Yankees….?

    You do realize that saying, “Everyone’s trying to screw us” is as self-absorbed as saying, “Everyone thinks we’re wonderful” or “We’re the best”…right?

    I once had a date with a girl I’d known in high school who, honest to God, said to me, “I used to think everyone was watching everything I did. I’m not like that anymore…but you’ve probably already noticed.”

    —Ricko

    Yes, the Yankees are victims. A decade from now the nation will collectively weep. Hey, why stop at the racism comparison? Surely the MLB suits are Nazis and Bud is Hitler, no?

    BTW: link … link.

    Maybe Oswalt was uncomfortable last night wearing road grays? I’d imagine there haven’t been too many times in the last few seasons where he pitched away from his home ballpark in anything but the brick red jersey.

    how exactly did the lee deal screw the yankees?

    other than they can’t just have every player they want…

    nice post ek!!

    Bill Smith and Joe Mauer, after Mauer re-signed with Twins, shared a good laugh over how they’d screwed the Yankees.

    Was in all the papers.
    (eyeroll)

    —Ricko

    Well you know, the Yankees wanted Cliff Lee and they didn’t get him. They wanted Dan Haren and they didn’t get him. Clearly Bud and the Illuminati are hard at work conspiring against the Mighty Pinstripe Nation…

    Remember, the Cubs were part of a corporation that was taken through Chapter 11 last year, and nobody said they were broke. It was just the legal process of getting them detatched from Tribune Co. so they could be sold free and clear of Tribune debt. And sold they were, for a huge price. So too, will the Rangers be sold — having monopoly rights to run an MLB club in Dallas-Ft Worth has some significant value, and the team there this year is a pennant contender.

    All true, but there are some reports that the terms of the bankruptcy settlement allow the Rangers to avoid paying some of their deferred contracts (since they are officially “creditors”) which is a pretty sleazy thing to do. All while adding current payroll. I know that no one is going to lose any sleep if A-Rod doesn’t get paid, but there are other players on that list as well. Something tells me that Michael Young might not be too eager to sign an extension if his deferred money (something he did as a good-faith gesture) goes up in smoke.

    Although, the daily news coming out of the financial sector in this bailout and deficit recession economy makes my head spin so perhaps it’s not worth the trouble

    Spoken like a true economic ignoramus.

    agreed marty, but at least we know drew is smort, because he has called someone else dim, that’s what proves it.

    drew: clearly, as you have insinuated here, you are one bright cat, so why was it so difficult to read betwixt the lines? all the man did was say it was a complicated issue that he didn’t want to get into. um, it was a short post about a topic that wasn’t economics at it’s core. good grief.

    Actually, Andrew’s point is correct.

    His thoughtful, reasoned critique of my overly simplistic comment clearly shows that I lack the cognitive ability to understand the complexities of both macroeconomics and our financial markets.

    Or it was just an off-handed economy jab on a sports uniform website. Whichever.

    woulda maybe sent him a private message but like all trolls, he provided a fake email

    “I can’t picture so-and-so in that uniform” is always a favorite topic of mine (i.e. Fran Tarkenton in Viking purple) that can go on for hours. The premise is always a player associated with one team getting traded to another near the end of his career, and he looks strange in the new uniform. Obvious picks are Joe Namath in a Rams uni, Willie Mays in Mets garb, Babe Ruth in Braves togs, etc. etc. Endless hours of fun…

    -Jet

    Indeed.

    Joe Montana as a Chief
    Ronnie Lott with the Jets
    Emmitt Smith in Arizona

    It’s funny how differently the original fans react depending on the new team. I remember hating Marcus Allen as a Chief even though he’d been one of my favorite players with the Raiders, but I didn’t really mind Tim Brown playing his final year as a Buccaneer.

    Yeah, Emmitt Smith in that Cardinal red mono probably is a close second to Unitas in Charger gear.

    Although, for those of us in Minnesota Harmon Killebrew in a Royals uni just really didn’t compute.

    I imagine there area all kinds of regional mind-messers like that.

    Imagine if Jackie Robinson had played for the NY Giants instead of retiring after the trade? That would have been really weird considering the iconic image of him in Dodger blue that extends far beyond baseball.

    —Ricko

    We also have to factor in legendary players in another uniform who weren’t wearing their original number from the prior club. In the weirdness category, it’s tough to beat Franco Harris wearing #34 for the Seattle Seahawks in 1984.

    Dennis Rodman wearing 91 for the Bulls?

    Then again, by that point he was rather weird looking regardless.

    Guy Lafleur in a New York Rangers jersey

    Gary Carter – at the end of his career – wasn’t he a SF Giant at the end.

    Forgot to mention another strange event-Mike Webster in a Kansas City Chiefs uniform playing against the Steelers, this may have been 1989.

    oh, man, I saw him play at MSG. No helmet! The crowd went nuts every time he touched the puck.

    for some reason I remember him wearing 44; was there a controversy with him wearing 10 on the rangers that was eventually resolved?

    Lafleur wore 44 in training camp but did switch to 10 at some point; the previous wearer of number 10 was Pierre Larouche who retired during camp.

    Forgot:

    Perez wearing #5 for the Red Sox and #37 for the Phillies instead of his traditional #24.

    Fran Tarketon belonged in Viking purple. He did it twice – before AND after he was a Giant.

    But hands down, the most jarring image was Johnny U as a Charger.

    I wish they’d get rid of that crap. Just move the clock 30 minutes and quit screwing around with it.

    wrong! just keep the daylight savings year round so we can have that little bit of extra light in the winter when wee all have the blues, and need it.

    If there’s no change it’s no longer “savings” is it?

    How about we switch it so the extra daylight is during the winter and it gets darker a little sooner in the summer?

    That would be precisely contrary to the original reason for daylight savings time. It was conceived to give an agrarian society more time to work the fields during the growing season. And it still serves that purpose.

    Ben Franklin was the first to propose it.

    Everything hasn’t always been as it is today.

    —Ricko

    so you are saying something just to say something? why less sun in the summer? don’t you like to do things outside? no, saving all year long. which yes, as you pointed out eliminates the need for the term savings, but none the less articulated my point.

    rick, that was pointed to jeff, it just showed up after yours. but rick, all that aside, and i think everyone knows the reason for daylights savings, it’s also great for non farmers too in our non~agrarian society where even farmers have access to equipment that makes the savings largely pointless. but who cares?! the savings is much appreciated, and there is no reason to roll it back at the end of the summer. jeff is just being uber jeff, he isn’t trying to get us to think out of the box(as he can sometimes claim), and he surely does not need a history lesson this time by pointing out something that is commonly known. with regards to this topic i know two things 1) i have long “celebrated” the roll back day as the worst of the year because there is no reason to take it away. 2) jeff is just speaking to speak in this case. is there anybody, and i mean anybody that is happy that it get’s dark an hour earlier as the days get shorter?

    Here is one Yankee fan that does NOT wish to see any other new players in Yankee pinstripes this year. I didn’t even think we needed Berkman…and he will not play much anyway..

    But I do think we need to see LESS players in Yankee pinstripes…mainly JOBA! Send him ANYWEHERE….he would look good in LA blue!!

    Wow. Nitpicking is the order of the day, eh?

    Now if you’ll excuse me, there are some unbroken panes in this glass house of mine and I’ve got a big bucket of rocks.

    Dammit, DJ Carrasco traded to D-Backs….no more of those wonderful Pirates’ logo stirrups (although he went long pants in the Colorado series)

    What’s the name of the place you all order from? Might want to see if the AZ logo is one they make.

    i enjoyed today’s post too, but couldn’t you just have said you enjoyed it, and the concise nature of it is one of the reasons why along with whatever else it was you liked? i personally would add the topic, since i often cringe at something like a favre in viking poiple too, but maybe there was something you liked. instead you took the opportunity to do nothing but jab, classy. i thought i would read comments again today for the first time in a while since i had the time, but i am going to go back to not reading the comments, they make me ill.

    that was in response to comment number, uh, casey in davis. perfect for semi~retirement, stayed one comment too long in a changing comment world.

    Atlanta Falcons have unveiled a secondary logo. Another Atlanta team going with “ATL”. As a Falcons fan, I wish they wouldn’t have spent time and money on this ridiculous logo and spent time and money switching the team’s uni to last years’ throwback full time.

    link

    That’s… something.

    With their regular logo already looking like an F, it won’t take a whole lot to swap the T for an I and make a nice Falcon themed FAIL shirt.

    Take the A by itself and slap it on the helmet or the sleeves, and I don’t think it would be the end of the world. Might even look OK.

    I suppose the A by itself looks alright, but it just seems kinda pointless.

    If they were a baseball team, it might work – the regular F-Bird for home games and the A on the road. But obviously they aren’t.

    I think that would work. The F at home and the A on the road. Just hope they don’t work it onto the Jersey like the Hawks.

    The weakness of designs like that is that the bird would be facing backward one side of the helmet.

    good point…that will never work…just go back to the throwbacks full time and call it a day

    So? Helmet designs don’t have to be symmetrical.

    If they don’t like the bird going “backwards”, they could do like the Steelers & have a one-sided helmet.

    couldn’t have happened to a nicer team or guy

    too bad the phillies will realize too late that oswalt’s just not very good…and unless he can dictate his own trade terms (like he was trying to do to st. looie), he’s not gonna play very hard or very well for anyone

    Wow, Phil. Not sure where that came from. He still has a lot in the tank, yesterday not withstanding. He’s had a good percentage of quality starts this season.

    But I really wonder where the personal criticism comes from. I’ve had the chance to work with Roy O since not long after he came up here in Houston. He’s about as good a guy as has ever worn a uniform. NEVER shirked a commitment even when it would have been easy/convenient to do so. You’ll never know how hard it was for him to get into this whole ‘trade request’ cycle. Just not his style. If you want to place blame for his ‘dictating’ of terms you’ll need to look farther up the Astro food chain.

    I think the ‘same face, new uniform’ is always interesting when you look back and say “oh ya, he finished his career with THAT team” – Bobby Orr playing his final 26 games in Chicago is a good example.

    A couple weeks ago, this was part of “His Name was Amadee”…
    link

    And look who’s in the news this week…
    link

    —Ricko

    Makes for a great trivia question, doesn’t it:
    Who was the only 76-year-old grandfather to win an MLB RBI title?

    Remember link? Or link? Those didn’t really happen, did they? That was just some kind of mass hallucination, right?

    Oh, and Daylight SAVING Time — it’s not a bank account.

    *plenty of rocks left*

    BTW, there is a very good reason for not doing year-round DST. It really sucks for those of us who wake up before sunrise in the winter to have to wait an extra hour for it.

    Bob Cousy with the Cincinnati Royals(he came out of retirement briefly, bad idea)

    Willie Stargell with the Atlanta Braves(first base coach, still very odd)

    Elroy Face with the Montreal Expos

    Bobby Hull with the Hartford Whalers

    Carl Eller with the Seattle Seahawks

    Archie Manning with the Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings

    Juan Marichal with the Boston Red Sox

    If we’re going to include first base coaches, how about Robin Yount? From the Milwaukee gold and blue to the Diamondbacks’ purple and teal. Wow.

    Wow – long since forgotten Bobby Hull ended up as a Whaler – also agree with Pete Rose in an Expos jersey was a very strange site.

    Pete Maravich with the Celtics

    John Mackey with the Chargers

    Steve Carlton with the Twins

    Marcel Dionne with the Rangers

    The Oakland A’s went through a phase where it seemed like they claimed or signed every name player on his way out the MLB door.

    That made for a whole string of greats and near-greats who suddenly trotted out wearing green and gold with white shoes…
    Felipe Alou, Matty Alou, Rico Carty, Vic Davalillo, Dick Allen, Joe Morgan, Orlando Cepeda…

    —Ricko

    ATTENTION STIRRUPS SEEKERS!

    Might be a bit late for this season, but found a place to buy TC Knitting socks on line, with no miniumum order. Not a lot of stripes, etc., but several solids available (I didn’t to a TON of digging in the site, however)…

    link

    —Ricko

    Weird ones I witnessed were Scottie Pippen as a Blazer, Rickey Henderson as a Mariner and Jerry Rice as a Seahawk. (Rice’s was especially unclassy, as he took Steve Largent’s number out of retirement.)

    Was only temporary, but I remember thinking how odd Ichiro looked in the Japan uni during the World’s.

    —Ricko

    Brewers pitcher Chris Capuano is wearing the Brewers blue home alternate that reads ‘Brewers’ on the chest tonite in Houston. The rest of the Brewers are wearing the blue road alternate that reads ‘Milwaukee’

    link

    Berkman got an old jersey from the Yanks–red, white, blue MLB logo on back, not the new gray one

    Seeing as NOB isn’t an issue with the Yankees, the jersey might have had the number he wanted, and in the correct size, so they just went ahead and used it for the time being. That would seem one likely explanation. Will be interesting to see how quicly it gets changed for a current version.

    —Ricko

    Recetnly someone commented that the Seattle Pilots had a farm club called the Co-Pilots.

    Looks what’s new from Ebbets Field Flannels…
    link

    —Ricko

    Which begs the question: How many jersey wordmarks have been hyphenated?

    Must be a pretty sort list.

    —Ricko

    Not exactly like “Co-Pilots” but there’s a hyphen on the jerseys of the Penguins’ AHL farm team:

    link

    Or is it, technically, an apostrophe?
    (oh, lord, let’s not open that can of worms again).

    Having troubles posting tonight so will try this again.

    Ricko – what about this ugly thing?:

    link

    I’m having trouble posting so if this shows up 100 times, I apologize.

    Anyway, I know it’s ugly and detested but there’s a hyphen here too:

    link

    rpm | July 31, 2010 at 2:30 pm |
    “is there anybody, and i mean anybody that is happy that it get’s dark an hour earlier as the days get shorter?”

    I kinda like it. I’m a night person, plus it’s a reminder that cooler weather is coming.

    The Hemogoblin | July 31, 2010 at 8:06 pm | Reply
    “Weird ones I witnessed were Scottie Pippen as a Blazer, Rickey Henderson as a Mariner and Jerry Rice as a Seahawk. (Rice’s was especially unclassy, as he took Steve Largent’s number out of retirement.)”

    Agreed. I was a Largent fan, and that just seemed disrespectful to me. I don’t care if Rice is/was the greatest receiver of all, if you go to a team with a retired number, honor that.

    Gusto44 | July 31, 2010 at 4:39 pm | Reply
    “Willie Stargell with the Atlanta Braves(first base coach, still very odd)”

    Stargell is my favorite player of all time, so that was heartbreaking.

    Larry Csonka as a Giant.

    Andre Dawson as a Marlin.

    Jan Stenerud as a Packer.

    Walt Frazier as a Cavalier.

    Any USFL player in an NFL uni.

    Video of Chris Capuano wearing the wrong jersey:
    link

    7/31/10: Reliever Chris Capuano wears the wrong jeresy in his two-inning outing, bearing the name “Brewers” instead of “Milwaukee”

    And Salty’s a Red Sox member now.

    Hafl-worries anywho for him as they go NNOB on the home unis.

    “The Texas Rangers have acquired Cristian Guzman and Jorge Cantu less than a month after adding Cliff Lee and there are rumors of more deals on the way. Someone’s gotta explain to me how a franchise that has filed for bankruptcy can add so much payroll.”

    They did it by trading two players to SF for Molina, four players to Seattle for Lee, two players to the Nats for Guzman and cash, two players Florida for Cantu and cash. They also traded Salty to the Red Sox for three players and cash.

    The bankruptcy was an attempt to get the sale finished quickly. Hicks did not handle his ownership of the Rangers (or Liverpool) well, and the teams are paying dearly for his bad decisions. Quit taking pot shots at the Rangers — they’re trying to claw their way out of the hole Hicks put them in with his A-Rod and Chan Ho Park deals.

    The lousy bastard Tom Hicks is the one that is failing, the Texas Rangers are doing just fine economically. This Ranger fan will be ecstatic when the team is separated from that d-bag Hicks.

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