Carlos Delgado

In his last couple of seasons I had always hoped that Fred McGriff would be able to come back to the Jays and make that final push to 500HR. Fred never came back and he never made 500, finishing 7 short at 493 in Tampa.

That situation makes me think about Delgado, and having him return here to finish out his career in a Jays uniform and get that 500th HR in Toronto. But really where does he fit? Theoretically the Jays may already have problems with finding enough at bats for Lind, Snider and Overbay if you have to add in Ruiz, Dopirak and maybe even Wallace and some others into the picture.

It might make a nice story next year to distract the fans in a lousy year, but we don't need distraction. We need as  many at bats as possible for the guys who are going to be Jays in 2011 and beyond. No matter how bad the team is.

Who knows maybe somehow he will fit-in in 2011. Maybe he'll be a big part of a really good team. That would actually be better than being a distraction, even if we miss that 500th HR.

Karma and the Indianapolis Colts

There is no team I want to see win the Superbowl more every year than the Colts. I don't know if it would be fair to say that they are my favorite team, but I do think they are my favorite team to watch (with the Cardinals being a close second) whether they win or loose. I don't really know how to assess the statistical reality, but I do know that every year that the Colts give up on the last couple of games in a season, it feels like Karma when they lose in the playoffs. That feeling was strong after they screwed the Browns in 07 by losing to the Titans without the starters playing the whole game. And it feels really strong now after they gave up on a chance at a perfect season on sunday.

I don't know whether being safe and protecting and resting your starters vs keeping the momentum going is the right choice. I just know I won't feel bad for them if they loose in the playoffs.

So what's next?

Happy Holidays one and all. I hope you get everything you want for Christmas, as long as everybody involved consents!

After the Morrow deal what could be next for atos to do in this productive off season. He's already added one more potential starting pitcher for 2010 to the staff, and he did it without trading Overbay, so I'm a little stumped. What's he going to trade Overbay for now? More starting pitching? A real closer? Let's guess an outfield prospect instead, although I haven't got a clue who that would be, and I'm guessing somebody else and cash would have to go along. Either way my sneaking suspicion is that except for minor tweaks atos is done until spring training and Overbay starts the season with Jays so they can see if he's finally going to put it together and can maybe draw a serious deal closer to the trade deadline, rather than one where the Jays have to sweeten the pot.

How about some Christmas wishes?

1) Totally unrealistic wish - Morrow proves to be the real deal, McGowan comes back in the spring, Marcum is back to 2008 and healthy for the whole 2010, Romero get's better and somebody from the other near dozen possibilities can be a 5th starting pitcher.

2) More realistic wish - 2 of the above happen.

3) Another totally unrealistic wish - Hill and Lind have the same or better years, Snider has the kind of year they had, and Encarnacion shows he belongs.

4) More realistic wish - Hill and Lind don't fall off a cliff, Snider gets 400+AB and comes close to an 800OPS.

5) A really unrealistic wish - atos swoops out of nowhere and signs Bay to a 5 year deal

Merry Christmas!!!

What's on the Blue Jay's Homepage Today?

So what interesting stuff can we find at propaganda central today?

Hmmm, looks like atos and accardo have kissed and made up and atos has conveyed the message that no, Cito really isn't in charge next season (interestingly i don't think they mention the managers name once in the whole article). I would guess this feeling that the team could go forward with accardo probably made it a little easier to trade away league.

I wonder what's going to happen when the rest of the team finds out about Cito?

Mail Bag! I don't usually bother to look at this at all, but the headline "Who will be Opening Day Starter" just  drew me in. Fascinatingly Bastian did not answer "who in the hell in their mom's basement would actually care". Which reminded me why I never click on this thing. I suppose this is a good feature to draw in the 12 year olds, but as much as I'd like to believe these questions are asked by 12 year olds, I fear they are not. Bastian actually puts together a respectful answer. I would roll out the snark:

"The opening day starter doesn't matter on a good team, it's an invented media issue we came up with because spring training is boring. You did know that they play 162 games in a season right? You need to learn when your being manipulated before you venture into the outside world. When your team is going to lose 100 games, it matters less than who the mascot is. Please don't buy any bridges. Also don't break this out as a conversation topic when talking to a girl, unless you've already made it to third base, because you'll never get further. Or back to first."

I could get used to doing this.

Roy Halladay took out an ad?

Given that i would rather try and learn chinese from the tags in my clothing than read the Sun, I had no idea, so h/t to the drunk jays fans.

I agree with everything they wrote here by the way.

Taking a closer look at the Morrow Trade

I've had some more time to look at the stats and I think you have to be fairly impressed with Morrow. Obviously dude is not considered anywhere a sure thing by Seattle given his up and down performance and injury problems over his first 3 part seasons. But the 15 starts he has made show promise, and he was very good pretty much everywhere in the minors, so it's not a case of "finally showing his talent at the major league level". Clearly the Jays are going to give him the ball every 5 days next season until he hurts himself or proves he can't be a starter because he ain't got it or he can't stay healthy. After that he has shown he has potential as a reliever, about as good as League was, if not better (he actually has more career saves than League, not that that really means anything).

The only way this ends up looking bad is if he can't stay healthy and never shows anything, and Chavez turns into a really good player. Because it's not like the farm system is crawling with top outfield prospects right now. If it goes well Morrow replaces McGowan, who I really think will never pitch again.

Throw in the "under control longer than League", "younger than League", "frustration with League's potential" stuff and this is a pretty good trade.

Crazy closer idea

How about try David Purcey?

Dude has 1 relief appearance in his pro career, but let's be honest, looking at his 6 year pro career you have to wonder how he maybe hasn't had more. Yeah there's tons of talent there, but maybe it's time to start focusing on 1 or 2 pitches and 1 inning. Maybe he could actually focus on that, because he certainly has trouble with the starting.

Minor league stats
Major league stats

6 seasons of minor league ball and he's gotten his whip below 1.3 twice, and one of those seasons was over a total of 12 innings.

This has probably been suggested many time before and being ignorant I have never noticed, but still I would like to throw it out there.

Morrow for League + Chavez

So I wake up this morning and the Jays have traded Brandon League and a prospect to the Mariners for Brandon Morrow. I suppose we need to check if the Jays have any players in the minors who have either the first name Brandon or the last name of League or Morrow to see if there will be any "humour" injected in this thing. Apparently not, the prospect appears to be Yohermyn Chavez

Anyways you have to assume that the Mariners see League as usable piece right now and that Chavez has some potential (Last 2 years in A ball, last year very good). Both the Brandon's certainly could benefit from a change of scenery. Beyond their metrosexual first names, they also share a "well that's been fairly disappointing" sort of aura. I'm going to say the Jays come out slightly ahead, in that if Morrow can't make it as a starter, he can still be tried as a reliever. League is kind of running out of opportunities to make himself more than a journeyman of the "million dollar arm ten cent brain" variety. Chavez may be the big upside player in all this, but again you always say thay in this kind of trade.

Anyways, you can make that list I just did 14 players long now.

Why the Jays will be better by 2011

There is a lot of work for atos and his boys to do, no question. You cannot deny that the minor league system, even after last weeks 3 top prospect infusion, is weak. But the Jays have 2 strengths that can allow them to rebound quickly. 1) They do have a lot of decent pitching prospects. 2) The ownership has shown, and continues to show, a willingness to spend enough money to avoid being embarrassing for extended periods.


First the pitching, and especially the starting pitching. Here's a sort of ranked list of potential starters the Jays currently have, who could make it to the Majors in 2011:


Romero
Cecil
Rzep
Marcum
Drabek
Update: Brandon Morrow
Ray
Mills
Stewart
Jenkins
Perez 
Litsch
Purcey
McGowan

Now let's be realistic here, of these 13 guys really only McGowan, Drabek and Jenkins may have any chance at being an ace, and McGowan may never pitch again. Purcey may have already used up his last chance, and Marcum and Litsch are damaged goods. Even then, you'd have have to be pretty pessimistic to believe they won't find at least 3 starting pitchers, in all that. Basically they have to be right about 2 and get lucky on 1 of 13. And be wrong or unlucky about 10.

That's where the money comes in. Assuming Rogers is going to be willing to spend at least $80-100mil per year again for a couple of years, they will be able to get a #1 or 2 type pitcher to complement what they develop in house. If a miracle happens and they can actually can find 4 or 5 good starters from that list, well then even better.

Again, they are going to be bad in 2010, but hopefully in that they'll be giving lots of opportunity to as many of these guys as possible to find those starting pitchers.

On that $6mil

Reading through the excellent djf wrap-up of the trade, I realized I had forgotten to make any comment about the transfer of funds from the Jays to Phillies. (I would also like to point out that their summary came out suspiciously after mine, hmmmm). I also hadn't realized that there is some kind of uproar over this, though of course there would be.

Djf handles the explanation of the situation pretty well, but I think they fail to make it crystal clear. $6mil was the cost of getting Drabek included rather than some guy who posts a 7ERA in 3 mlb starts and then disappears into a life as a High School gym teacher. The media may have reported it as the Jays helping the Phillies pay Roy's 2010 salary, but that's because you're not allowed to buy other teams players. Be thankful Rogers, whatever they are, are not as bad as the owners of the Twins or Indians.

Clear?

Things I would like to see

Nick Johnson as the everyday DH of the New York Yankees.

Somehow I don't think this has Boras and Damon shaking in their boots.

My one and only thought on Tiger Woods

It's golf, so really I care even less about it than soccer, but one thing really jumps out at me.

None of these things seem particularly "courageous"

1) Cheating on your wife with many women behind her back

2) Taking the ball home and sulking because you don't like the fact that people found about 1)

3) Letting your stick of a sweedish wife beat you up with a golf club

4) Fleeing from your stick of a sweedish wife at all, let alone in a vehicle, because she has a golf club and your worried about more of a beating

Tiger will be back someday, and when some idiot media member praises his "courage" for hitting a little white ball, and I accidentally have to hear it, I will be physically sick.

Dust Settles, Time to Peer into the Future and Get Things Wrong

So the press conferences are done and the Roy Halladay era is over. All in all I am thankful that he is gone to another league for a couple of years at least, and next year won't be some kind of "we suck but here's Roy until we trade him" farewell tour.

So obviously there is a lot to do, to put it mildly, and that must mean you the reader want me to predict what I think will happen next so I can be wrong! So here goes, mixed in with some advice to the Management:

First off, this team will suck next year - 100 losses suck - just get over it now. Anybody suggesting that any move be made to make the team better next year that might create a negative impact in future years needs to be smacked in the back of the head.

1) The only mildly interesting things I got out of the djf's excellent summary of yesterdays press conference (what you thought i would actually watch that thing myself? ahahahaha!) was that they see Wallace as a 1b no question, and that he will start at AAA, Drabek at AA and the musketeer will start in Dunedin. I guess that would be open to change if Drabek and Wallace wow in spring training, the musketeer is years away. I can't see Drabek making it to the majors before next September unless he is ridiculous. Why start his clock? I think Wallace actually has a good chance of making the team out of spring training, if they think there is no chance he can be a 3b and he can hit major leaguers in the spring, what's the point of keeping him back?

2) I think this means that Edwin Encarnacion probably sticks around for at least another year and they really see whether or not he can play 3B, stay healthy and post an +800OPS. I think the guy really has some potential and could be pretty good over the next couple of years while he is in his "prime". I think he could actually make a decent #2 hitter in a power/OBP/no speed offence, which seems to be what the Jays are building. It would be good if they can find a 3B for the next couple of years, because the only thing worse than trying to find a good ss is trying to find a good ss and 3B at the same time.

3) I think the Jays are trying to move Overbay, but I don't think they will do it just to do it. If he can pick it up next season and get back to what he was before the hand injury he could make for a very nice trade deadline deal, especially as he is coming to the end of his cheap deal. I can't see getting much for him right now, especially for just him.

4) I think they should keep all their young pitching unless something special can be gained by including some of it in an Overbay trade. Otherwise keep all those guys and give Marcum and Romero a full season and everybody else as close to 20 starts as you can, even Purcey and Mills. By everybody I mean Litsch (if he get's back), Cecil, Rzep, Ray and the other 2. Richmond I'm not so sure about. I honestly doubt McGowan is ever going to pitch again, sad but true.

Get these guys as much experience as you can and gather as much information as you so can to try and make intelligent decisions for 2011.

If they do take a flyer on a cheap free agent starter (Bedard? somebody RH?), then obviously that's going to cut into everybody else's opportunities, but I don't really see that as likely.

5) Trade Accardo. If he is with the team again next year and they jerk him around again, I can't see him staying nice and quiet about it. I don't think they have the option to send him up and down again so if they just never use him in the MLB bullpen it would suck if the only news they generate next year is some kind of incident with him. The chances are probably low but still, it's not the kind of press they need. If they actually plan on letting the guy pitch and show what he's got then fine, but I just don't see that happening for some reason.

6) Find a way to go back on this Cito farewell tour thing. Really, what is the good of letting him be a lame duck for a year even if you know you are going to suck. Unless somebody on the staff is really the new Manager in waiting and will really be running things, can't we just be rid of him? I wouldn't care who the guy was that they were doing this with, I would not publicly ride out a season like this unless my team was a stone cold lock veteran world series contender. I know I usually say I don't care who the manager is, but in this situation the Manager could actually screw up all the things that do matter for a rebuilding team. I mean i'm sure there will be a message from on high to play young players with a future over veterans who suck, but why should that message even need to be sent. I worry, I see no upside to this, only down.

7) Find a shortstop of the future. This should be atos's prime goal until he finds one. There should be no stone left unturned. They should draft like 5 ss's in the draft. If he can find 2 that would be great, because one can then play 3B. Until he has one he should wake up thinking ss and go to sleep dreaming about one.

8) Stop whining about attendance or ratings. Fire anybody who does. You sucked as an organization. You blew the last 5 years by not going for it when the opportunity was there. Whether that was JP or upper management getting in his way or whatever, you blew it and you are responsible for the fact that nobody wants your product. Stop blaming them for your mistakes. If anybody asks anybody then the answer is "we know things will get better when we play better", that is that. If the media wants to make a point of it, which of course they will, then don't get involved and again: "WE KNOW THAT WHEN WE PLAY BETTER THINGS WILL GET BETTER". If you do anything else but this, I will not believe that you are serious about building a contender. I will not believe that atos is anything but a diversionary tactic while you try to make as much profit as possible while spending as little as possible. In short I will not believe that you care at all about the final product on the field.

The Jays are not the padres, nationals, royals or (shudder) pirates. They have talent, and especially pitching talent. And they have ownership that can spend when the time is right. There is no reason the team can't be 500 again in 2011 and a legit contender in 2012-13. Now buck up and don't worry about next year.

More thoughts on the Halladay deal

Don't let the door hit you on the way out

No really I mean it.

It was great, thanks for the help, congratulations on your new deal and your future success, we wish you the best.

Now go away so we can worry about us, because we're pretty sure you're worrying about you.

I know there is crying and gnashing of teeth going on out there but really why. This is frankly best for the Jays. As I have stated before, it doesn't make any sense at all for the Toronto Blue Jays to be guaranteeing $20mil per year to any pitcher in his mid 30's or above, it's just dumb.

Could the Jays have gotten a 3 year extension only (with options) from Halladay? Maybe, if they had actually gotten over the hump in 2007-08 and at least made it to the first round of the playoffs. But they did not, and Roy ran out of patience. This as much as anything should be one more lesson to upper management that when opportunity presents itself you have to grab it, not sit around and hope for the best.

But that's not the situation, and even if it was, any time you want to tie the future of your organization's hopes to any pitcher going into his mid 30's, you are taking a huge risk. Is anybody pointing this out at all? Does anybody realize that by guaranteeing this money to Roy for the next  3-5 years, you are probably making it impossible to retain any other player you develop that is anywhere near that good that can become a free agent in those years?

The Jays got 3 good prospects who look to all have + mlb potential. I would have rather let him walk and gotten 2 picks than taken the risk of singing him till he's 39.

The plot thickens and things get even better

Michael Taylor was sounding pretty awesome, maybe like Frank Thomas with speed or an Alex Rios that could live up to the hype (without so much speed?). But all the chatter is that the atos is going to flip him to the A's for Brett Wallace, who may have even more offensive potential, is a year younger, bats left handed and might be able to play 3b. He has no speed however.

If Wallace really can spend even a couple of years playing average 3b defense, before being moved to 1b or dh or something, and can show the kind of offense in MLB that he has shown in the minors, the Jays are assembling a hell of a middle of the lineup with Hill, Lind, Snider and Wallace. Wallace should get a chance in the majors right out of spring training you would think, especially if they can move Overbay and or Encarnacion.

Which makes me wonder 2 things:

What could you get for a trade of Overbay, Purcey and maybe Encarnacion?

Why not try Encarnacion in RF? He has a hell of an arm by all appearances, and though he is not fast, he isn't a statue either.

Halladay 3 Team Craziness

I'm not going to comment on anything I've heard so far right now about the parts moving around , because who knows until it's for sure. But how do you improve yourself by getting rid of Lee and adding Halladay? Not that I care, it's not the team I cheer for, but it doesn't make sense to me. Both of them on my team makes sense, switching them does not.

Otherwise, out of the division, out of the league - awesome.

Chien-Ming Wang, Hmmmm....

The non-tender deadline has passed and some things have been sorted out. The Jays appear to have a pair of catchers for next season in John Buck and the returning Chavez. They may be contemplating a more 1912 style offense by adding Joey Gathright with a minor league deal, and negotiating a new contract with Jose Bautista. And they intend to continue poking Jeremy Accardo with a sharp stick. So the suckiness takes a little more form.

Here's a thought though. Chien-Ming Wang was non-tendered by the Yankees, as I'm sure everybody must know. Apparently he can't pitch until next April at the earliest, but I haven't read anything that says whether that would be MLB ready or the start of a rehab tour. This situation makes me think of what the Cardinals did with Chris Carpenter, and I wonder why the Jays couldn't do the same thing. It's not like they really need anything out of the guy until 2011. Maybe he can supply some nice warm feelings about the future at the end of 2010. The Jays are going to need a Veteran ace type pitcher from somewhere if they think they are going to compete again.

Maybe it's well known that he is done and will never be anywhere near what he was. Maybe it's well known that he has a very good chance to recover, and he's going to have his pick of suitors at a price he likes. But I think this is something the Jays could really take advantage of just like St. Louis with Carpenter. The guy did win 54 games in 95 starts before he screwed up his foot and hurt his shoulder. Given that they keep saying money is no issue...

The Ultimate in Good News/Bad News

I both love and hate this.

First the good thing Campbell is gone! Normally I don't complain about tv or radio announcers, because I just don't care, really i don't. There is just about no chance you can't find something to dislike about any of them. If God himself was talking to you multiple times a week for hours on end and was telling you only things you agreed with and that you were the most awesomest person ever, in the most pleasing way possible, at some point you would probably get fed up and tell him to shove it. So no, I don't think these guys have the easiest job.

But Campbell was a special case. First of all he didn't seem to understand that he was calling games for TV not radio. I can see what's happening dumbass. Secondly he never got anything right. If you are going to describe something in detail, get the details right. If I can tell it's a lazy fly ball off the bat when i'm watching on tv, or in the upper deck in left field, why can't you? Third, don't try to work in folksy and homey and trite crap until you can master number 1 and 2. I don't care about every players touching personal story if you can't tell the difference between a curve and a change, you don't have the credibility. For all I know EVERY SINGLE THING YOU SAY IS COMING OUT OF YOUR RED HEADED IMAGINATION.

Good riddance.

Now the bad. I think Buck Martinez is a fine broadcaster, I never had a problem with him on Jays or any other team's or network's broadcasts. I actually find him to be quite good. But as far as I know they guy was not in need of a job. Why does this organization have to give everybody a second chance to recapture the glory? It's like the're just coming out and saying: "We know we suck. We know we're going to suck. We have no plans to not suck. Please be distracted by this shiny bauble of past glory while we continue to suck. And when you're tired of that bauble we'll get you another, because we are going to keep sucking."

I used to listen to Buck on satellite radio, and he was good there too. But whenever he would talk about the Jays he seemed very willing to stick it to the people he perceived as being responsible for his failures. I worry that the Jays to some extent are bringing him him to dump as much as possible all over the past management. They seem to like doing that. Again, distraction etc, etc. It would be nice if you had the feeling that they were actually building something shiny and new that they were confident would be successful. This doesn't do that.

A Purists Wet Dream

This is just a rumour, but could you imagine if it was true? Gathright, Gonzalez, McDonald and Batista (if not non-tendered) all potentially in the same lineup. If Wells doesn't improve on 2009 that's 5 lousy hitters, and we don't even know who the everyday catcher will be yet. It would be bunt and steal all the time, because these guys can't do anything else. Gathright and Gonzalez alone at the top of the order makes my head spin.

I don't know what can be expected of Encarnacion, or if he will even be a Jay next season. But if the only 2 hitters who can give an over 800OPS are Hill and Lind next season, the best we can hope for is a lot of "more speed, bunting and stealing" idiots learn their lesson. Speed is all these dolts have. At least the defense should be solid.

h/t drunkjaysfans.com

Update: bluejays.com now has something up about this, so I guess it must be pretty close to happening. Which I guess means Batista will be non-tendered. But still gaghhhh.

Comparing Imaginary Deals

The Winter Meetings end tomorrow I think, and of course the chances of a Halladay deal are just about nil by tomorrow. But that doesn't keep people from imagining things. So let's delve into the delusions of others and see what we think would be best.

Phillies - This would be my favourite, it takes him to another league, where we'll see him once a year or never again if interleague is cancelled. And the possible prospects look the best to me as well. If the Jays can get one of Michael Taylor or Dominic Brown and one of J.A. Happ or Kyle Drabek, that would be pretty awesome. Of course they might have to take back Joe Blanton too, but who cares if you already know you are going to suck next year anyways. And you can probably to trade him for something too.

Angels - This would be a plus because he's going west, but the rumored parts coming back kind of suck. Aybar and Saunders are at least known commodities, the only special part of that pair being Aybar's glove. Obviously I'm missing something with Bourjos, because looking at his stats I don't think I see anything special at all. Switch out Napoli with one of those parts and I'm a lot more interested.

Yankees - I would have thought this was the last place I would want him to go, but if they can get Jesus Montero in a deal, it might be worth seeing Halladay go to NYC for the next 5 years. Add in one of Hughes or Chamberlain, and something else of value and this might be the best return. You just have to minus the fact it's the Yankees from all the upside.

Red Sox - I thought I would put them above the Yankees, but I have a lot of suspicion of anything they would send back. Is Bucholz really any good? Does this Kelley kid really want to be a pitcher (good) or a hitter (not good). What else have they got? No good feelings here, and the fact it's the Red Sox is a minus about as big as the Yankees minus.

I hold out for the Phillies.

Nothing says "We aren't trying at all" like...

Jose Bautista will probably bat leadoff, if he isn't non tendered, according to Cito. Now that's what I call planning!

I can only assume that Cito gave this up in response to a question, and didn't just offer it on his own. I guess that's a better answer than "who gives a crap", but it's not as honest.

So Halladay wants to decide where he's going and when

With all respect to Roy's no trade clause and his loyalty to the team over the years. Roy and his representation can take this and this as far as I'm concerned and shove it deep. They are looking out for his best interests, the Jays need to look out for theirs.

The idea that a team other than a serious contender is going to be taking a serious shot at him is pretty ridiculous. The idea that Roy gets to decide to pick which one based on where he likes to go to Spring Training is silly. The fact that these stories show up on the Jays website makes me nervous that they are just piling up the excuses in advance for why they ended up trading him to the Yankees for not very much, so everybody already understands he controlled where he was going, and Joba Chamberlain and some 2B that never makes it above AA was all they could get.

The whole trade me before Spring Training or else ultimatum is obviously a crock. What the agent hopes to gain by making a pronouncement like that who knows. Maybe it's good for his office politics or Roy and some of his other clients think he's not tough enough, but it's just bizarre.

In one of these stories it would be nice to see somebody say (maybe Beeston if atos can't) "we appreciate everything Roy has done and know that he has a no trade clause, we gave him the contract, but we are going to look for the best deal for us, at the best time for us. If that doesn't make Roy ecstatic then he can shop his wares after 2010. This isn't the Toronto Roy Halladay's." When does this management team think that it's going to be a good idea to start saying they care about everybody who isn't Roy Halladay?

Why trade Halladay for only prospects

I have been reading on the Jays website that money is no object and they aren't rebuilding. While no schedule is given for when the team will be competitive, sooner rather than later is what seems to be implied. To me anyways, your mileage may vary.

If that is the case, are the Jays considering Halladay deals for youngish or not so youngish star players? The Red Sox want him? Well send along Pedroia, Papplebon, Youkilis or Martinez with some prospects. Yankees? How about Cano and Chamberlain/Hughes and some prospects. Ooohhh, what about Teixeira? Phillies? Send back Cole Hamels.

Why shouldn't the Jays get back somebody guaranteed to help right away in this trade? Why shouldn't this trade really make the team on the other side hurt? One thing for sure getting a star player back that is making or going to be making a lot of money (and paying it) is going to go along way to making me believe they are serious about this.