Deadline Deals

As the midnight trading deadline approached Friday night, there was a stampede of deals made. Herewith is a guide to all the deals and what they mean on the major league level.

The Mets acquired Tony Phillips from the Toronto for minor league pitcher Leoncio Ramirez Estrella.

What this means: The Blue Jays have given up on the wildcard chase. The Mets, who ignored Phillips during the offseason, don't really have a set position in the field ready for Phillips, but will surely play him a lot at various positions in order to bat him leadoff and upgrade the offense.

The Los Angeles Dodgers acquired pitcher Carlos Perez, infielder Mark Grudzielanek, and minor leaguer Hiram Bocachica from the Montreal Expos in exchange for infielder Wilton Guerrero and minor leaguers Peter Bergeron, Ted Lilly and Jonathan Tucker.

What this Means: After losing Ramon Martinez for the season and Ismael Valdes for a month as a result of injuries, the Dodgers desperately needed a quality starter to fill out the rotation, and they got one in Carlos Perez. The Grudz/Guerrero exchange gets the Expos out of an arbitration case this winter, but neither player is likely to contribute to their new team. In exchange for Perez, the Expos acquired three promising prospects. They gave up Bocachica, who is almost an ex-prospect by now.

The Cubs acquired left-handed pitcher Felix Heredia and minor league pitcher Steve Hoff from the Florida Marlins in exchange for third baseman Kevin Orie and minor league pitchers Todd Noel and Justin Speier.

What this means: The Cubs add another mediocre lefty to their bullpen, while the Marlins add some decent prospects to their farm system.

Milwaukee acquired pitcher Bill Pulsipher from the Mets in exchange for minor league infielder Mike Kinkade.

What this means: The Mets had to get rid of Pulsipher once Steve Phillips realized that the pitcher was out of options. In exchange they pick up a player who could be a useful bench player in the future.

The Blue Jays sent third baseman Ed Sprague to the Athletics in exchange for minor league pitcher Scott Rivette.

What this means: The Athletics must be extraordinarily desperate to replace Mike Blowers at third, and they sent the Jays a non-prospect in exchange for the "privilege" of picking up Sprague's salary for the rest of the year. Billy Beane says that Sprague is not that old, but what he doesn't mention is that he is that finished. The Blue Jays finally get to give Tom Evans a third at third base.

The Blue Jays also sent pitcher Juan Guzman to Baltimore for pitcher Nerio Rodriguez and minor league outfielder Shannon Carter.

What this means: The Orioles will try and insert themselves into the wildcard race by putting the unpredictable Jose Guzman into the rotation - Guzman is a risk but he does have a high upside. Rodriguez has a good arm and the Jays expect more from him than the 8+ ERA he had for Baltimore.

The Red Sox acquired Orlando Merced and Greg Swindell from the Twins in exchange for minor league pitchers Matt Kinney and Joe Thomas and minor league outfielder John Barnes.

What this means: Swindell will definitely help stabalize the Sox bullpen, while Merced will provide a decent bat for the bench. In Kinney, the Sox have given up a decent prospect, while Barnes at this point is a longshot prospect.

The Astros acquired Randy Johnson from the Mariners in exchange for minor league infielder Carlos Guillen, minor league pitcher Freddy Garcia and a player to be named later.

What this means: This? This is all the Mariners got? Garcia and Guillen are both good prospects, but they're not world-beaters. We'll see who the ptbnl is. Johnson obviously strengthens the Astros staff this year, especially if this trade gets his head on straight. Johnson also may make the Astros far more dangerous in the playoffs. It's going to be very interesting to see Johnson pitch in a pitcher's park.

The Mets traded outfielder Bernard Gilkey and minor league pitcher Nelson Figueroa to Arizona for Willie Blair and Jorge Fabregas.

What this means: The Mets dump Gilkey, who has stunk ever since the Mets signed him to a long term deal. But in exchange they get Blair, the most overpaid 5th starter in the world, and he'll reportedly end up in the bullpen for now. And the acquisition of Fabregas, the Mets' umpteenth catcher this year, sends poor (and worthier) Todd Pratt back to AAA again. In Figueroa, the Diamondbacks get a pitcher whose has some some good pitches, but it's all slow stuff, and that makes him a long shot prospect.

The Giants acquired outfielder Ellis Burks from the Rockies in exchange for outfielder Daryl Hamilton and minor league pitcher James Stoops. In Stoops, the Rockies get a reliever who has totally dominated A ball hitters but hasn't really been challenged yet by a league with prospects his own age.

The Texas Rangers acquired third baseman Todd Zeile from the Florida Marlins in exchange for minor league third baseman Jose Santos and minor league pitcher Dan DeYoung.

What this means: The Rangers have rebuilt the left side of their infield. Zeile's no great shakes, but he's a bit better overall than Tatis has been this year. The Marlins waited months before they found a taker for Zeile, and it shows; the prospects they got are nothing special, though Santos has more of a shot at the majors than DeYoung

The Rangers acquired shortstop Royce Clayton and pitcher Todd Stottylmyre from the Cardinals in exchange for third baseman Fernando Tatis, pitcher Darren Oliver and a player to be named later.

What this means:Clayton is a major upgrade defensively over Elster, and Stottlemyre will also help a faltering pitching staff in Texas, assuming his 7 ERA over the last month isn't a sign of a serious problem. The Cardinals get a struggling talent in Tatis, and they figure their chances of signing Stottlemyre as a free agent this winter haven't changed much. Meanwhile, they were ready to replace Clayton anyway.

The Red Sox traded minor league pitcher Joe Hudson to the Brewers for minor league infielder Eddy Diaz.

What this means: Not much.

And in the previous few days these trades were also made:

The Red Sox acquired designated hitter Mike Stanley from the Blue Jays in exchange for minor league pitchers Peter Munro and Jay Yennaco.

What this means: Stanley's return gives the Sox a good right-handed DH and a bat on the bench. The Jays get back a solid pitching prospect in Munro.

The Braves acquired first baseman Greg Colbrunn from the Colorado Rockies for minor league pitchers David Cortes and Mike Porzio

What this means: Very little

The White Sox traded relief pitcher Matt Karchner to the Cubs in exchange for minor league pitcher Jon Garland

What this means: The Cubs get a decent middle reliever, but overpay with a good albeit faraway pitching prospect.

The White Sox traded catcher Charlie O'Brien to Anaheim for minor league pitchers Jason Stockstill and Brian Tokars

What this means: Charlie O'Brien is a slight improvement over what the Angels have, which is Matt Walbeck, but that's because almost anybody who can catch is. But the Angels gave up little, which may still be too much for O'Brien, but it really doesn't matter a whole lot.

A SABR story

 Late last month I spent four days attending the annual Society of American Baseball Research convention just outside San Francisco. This was the first time I ever fully attended this annual convention, though I had shown up to a few events when the convention was here in New York years ago. The experience was, for this baseball fan, a great privilege.

SABR, as the organization generally refers to itself, has been around for almost 30 years. It was founded in August 1971 by 16 individuals whose aim was to foster and further knowledge about the game. Since then, the organization has garnered a roster of almost 7000 members.

The heart of the organization is its research committees, which cover subjects such as ballparks, 19th-century baseball, women in baseball, statistics, oral history, and much more. These committees have contributed a great deal to our overall knowledge of baseball, and corrected and added to the historical record many times.

SABR publishes several books a year for its members. SABR's oldest annual publication is the Baseball Research Journal , which has been published every year since 1972. This is where SABR has published much of its members' research. For example, this year's Journal was headlined by a story showing that the oft-told tale of Bill Veeck trying to buy the St. Louis Browns to integrate baseball in the early 1940s was a total fiction. SABR also publishes other books annually, such as The National Pastime, and has published several collections of articles for the general public as well as such books as The Home Run Encyclopedia.

SABR members meet in a number of different ways, and a membership directory is regularly issued so that everyone finds everyone (who wants to be found). Besides the annual convention, there are get-togethers at varying intervals of the over 30 regional groups which exist; these get-togethers sometimes include guest speakers and presentations and always feature lots of baseball talk.

I had a blast at the SABR convention in the Bay Area. There were a number of fascinating research presentations on such topics as the Polo Grounds, platooning and the players union. There was a players panel led by former Giants star Orlando Cepeda. ESPN broadcaster Jon Miller gave a very entertaining presentation. Not surprisingly, there were ballgames at the stadiums of both the San Francisco Giants and the San Jose Giants (an A ball team), as well as a tour of the Oakland Coliseum. Also featured was a play on Christy Mathewson and a trivia contest. Open during most of the convention was a marketplace with many dealers selling lots of neat baseball stuff, especially books. And near the end there was a wonderful banquet at which members were honored and longtime baseball man Bill Rigney spoke about baseball both old and new.

Despite all this activity, the majority of my time was probably still taken up by baseball talk, often late into the evening. The level of commitment to SABR varies among its members. Certainly the majority of members never do any real research or writing. But everyone who joins is a serious baseball fan and benefits from the work of the organization. All the amazing conversations I had with an wide variety of people certainly confirmed that.

You can find out more information about SABR at the official SABR web site.