Is it just me, or has there been an insane amount of trades in the last year?
The blockbuster trading winds first started blowing exactly a year ago today, when word circulated that Kevin Garnett was getting traded to the Boston Celtics, making the Cs an instant favorite to win the Eastern Conference.
Out West, the Lakers got in on the fun when they traded next to nothing for Pao Gasol, a move that landed them in the NBA Finals.
The Gasol trade sparked the Suns to trade for Shaq, the Mavs to deal for Jason Kidd, and then there’s all of the free-agent action that’s taken place in the offseason: Elton Brand heading east, Baron Davis flying south, Josh Childress heading overseas to play in Greece of all places. Then there was the Ron Artest deal this week, although it doesn’t appear Yao approves of the Rockets’ new “ghetto” star.
In the NFL, Miami dealt dancing phenom and disgruntled defensive end Jason Taylor to the Washinton Redskins for a couple of draft picks: Jeremy Shockey was shipped to New Orleans … and who knows what’s going on during Day No. 83 of the Brett Favre saga.
Today’s the trade deadline in Major League Baseball, and one of the finest players of our generation has just been dealt to Chicago. That’s right, Ken Griffey Jr. has been traded to the White Sox.
This comes on the heels of deals that sent Ivan Rodriguez to the Yankees, Mark Teixeira to the Angels and Casey Blake to the Dodgers – and we haven’t even mentioned the A’s trading away their entire pitching staff.
The Dodgers have also been rumored to be going after Manny Ramirez, and after reporting those rumors were dead in the water, ESPN is now reporting Manny is heading to L.A. after all. Joe Torre and ManRam, together in L.A.? Crazier things have happened.
Look at all of those above names, some of the biggest names of their respective sports.
Which makes me wonder, am I just getting old and all of these studs I collected cards of growing up are too? Or are we witnessing a new era in professional sports, where the young guns are cheaper and better for the long run, and if teams aren’t going to win right now they’d rather throw up the white flag and rebuild right away.
It’s probably a combination of the two. Call it Money Ball 2.0 – out with the old, in with the new, cheaper labor in hopes of turning a better profit. Sounds like the corporate world, more specifically the newspaper business these days. Cut, cut, cut. Trim, trim, trim. Cheaper is better for the bottom line, even if readers, or in this case fans, aren’t getting what they paid for.
It’s great for the fans of teams in contention, but for every Laker or Angels fan out West, there’s a season ticket holder in Oakland gouging his eyes out with his free Billy Beane bobblehead doll as the A’s slide into oblivion in the AL West.
