The Colletti Watch: How Much Would You Pay for a Shortstop?

· Steele: <a href="http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/10/06/curt-flood-an-extraordinary-man-of-principle-and-conviction/">Man of Conviction | <a href="http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/10/06/hank-greenberg-could-relate-to-flood/">Greenberg Relates
· Moore: Flood's Peers Owe Him Apology
· Blackistone: <a href="http://kevin-blackistone.fanhouse.com/2009/10/06/curt-flood-belongs-in-the-hall-of-fame/">Cooperstown Should Open Doors
· Fletcher: <a href="http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/10/06/curt-flood-a-hero-to-todays-players-those-who-know-his-name/">Modern Players Know Little of Flood
· Stradley: <a href="http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2009/10/06/for-curt-flood-antitrust-meant-exactly-that-at-supreme-court/">Antitrust Meant Just That

It is July. The trade deadline approaches. Which GMs are poised to destroy the near future of their franchise for a quick fix? Quis custodiet ipsos Collettus? The Colletti Watch, that's who.

The general manager: Lest you misunderstand the title, the Colletti Watch will be looking at GMs from all across the league as the trade deadline approaches. Today, we start with Ned Colletti for the same reason that the feature is named after him; he values "grit" over talent, his owner is desperate to win, and the Dodgers are are tied for first place in the NL West, despite a losing record. This scenario is tailor-made for bad things to happen.

The key rumor: Colletti wants Jack Wilson. He obviously wants a shortstop and there's all kinds of evidence to imply that he's targeting Wilson. The thing is, both Colletti and McCourt are talking about trading their young talent, which is defined by most as Matt Kemp, James Loney, and Andy LaRoche. Would Colletti really trade a good, under-25-year-old talent for a 30-year-old shortstop with a career OPS below .700? The answer kinda seems like it might be yes.

The Doomsday Clock: Two minutes to midnight. Colletti is both a bad GM and a desperate one, which is generally a recipe for trade deadline disaster. He has some good assistants (Kim Ng, Logan White) who might be able to talk him out of hitting the big red button, but with McCourt pushing him, I wouldn't count on it.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-10-2008 @ 6:41PM

Mike said...

No, I don't think Colletti is that stupid to dump Kemp or Loney straight up for Wilson. He would do something like trade LaRoche (easy to do considering Torre refuses to play him instead opting for the gritty DeWitt) and Meloan for Wilson. McCourt (for all the grief he gets from Dodger fans) does not appear to be allowing Colletti to trade young studs like Kemp, Loney, Martin or Billingsley.