OK, so you believe you know exactly what move(s) every GM in baseball should make in order to be next year's version of the '03 Marlins or '02 Angels.
Now's your chance to prove it with Da Box's One Move Challenge. Read on, make a move, mock the moves of others ... play along.
A former Jay in Beantown? A Hall of Famer headed to Wrigley? A salary dump DeepInTheHearta? You betcha. It's all in the magic of the Hot Stove's ONE MOVE.
OK, three simple rules:
- You can make ONE MOVE PER TEAM. A trade, a free agent signing, a managerial change, anything of that nature counts as your ONE MOVE.
- Your move MUST BE REASONABLE. "The Mets should trade Steve Trachsel to the Cardinals for Albert Pujols" does not qualify. Pay attention to budget considerations.
- Your move should not be about RE-SIGNING A TEAM'S OWN PLAYERS becuase, well, that's boring. "The Yankees should re-sign Andy Pettitte." Yeah, duh. "The Oakland A's should re-sign Miguel Tejada." Could be an argument there, but still a snoozer.
Remember, it's one move. "[Fill in team here] should trade player X for player Y then sign player Z to replace player X" is TWO moves. How the ONE move affects players currently on the team should be considered, and mentioning that a player currently on the team will have to change positions to accommodate the ONE move is OK.
Here are some starters:
The Dodgers should sign Vladimir Guerrero. Need offense? You can't spell "The Impaler" without "L.A." Hey, you can't spell "Vlad" without "L.A."! Shawn Green can play left. Or first, and Paul LoDuca can catch. Dodgers win the West.
The Yankees should trade Alfonso Soriano to Kansas City for Carlos Beltran. This already-rumoured deal would allow Bernie Williams to move to left and Hideki Matsui to play right; and since we won't break the rules here by expanding the ONE MOVE to include the Yankees signing a 2B to replace Soriano -- which would happen -- the idea of Aaron Boone and Erick Almonte splitting 2B and 3B duties with Enrique Wilson as the backup is not entirely unfathomable.
The Chicago Cubs should sign Greg Maddux. Sure, the future Hall of Famer has long been rumored headed home to San Diego, but fronting a Cubs rotation where Kerry Wood is your #3 guy ... that's scary. What Billy Goat?
The Boston Red Sox should name Paul Molitor manager. Yes, seriously.
The San Francisco Giants should sign Rafael Palmeiro. He wants to play in the field; he wants to play for a winner; Barry Bonds needs protection in the cleanup spot. Any questions?
The Minnesota Twins should sign Bartolo Colon. With the contracts of Kenny Rogers, Rick Reed and possibly Shannon Stewart coming off the books, this lands the Twinkies the ace pitcher Brad Radke and Eric Milton have never quite been and hurts a divisional opponent, the White Sox.
The San Diego Padres and Texas Rangers can help each other out ... the Padres, rebuffed in their bid for Maddux will want a drawing card to pair with Brian Giles in the new stadium while the Rangers want to cut payroll and get younger. The Padres should deal Dennis Tankersly and Khalil Greene to the Rangers for Alex Rodriguez. If Greene isn't ready until '05, Mike Young can play short while Hank Blalock mans second base and Mark Teixeira plays the hot corner.
In a similar cost-vs.-attraction move, the Seattle Mariners should suck it up and trade Rafael Soriano to the Cincinnati Reds for their new starting DH, Ken Griffey Jr.
I got a million of 'em ... and they're all brilliant. Reactions? Suggestions? Magic ONE MOVE revelations of your own? Speak up, ZLC-GMs.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20031028032512999