What insanity? Why, Jose de Jesus Ortiz writing again, that insanity.
The Chron has sent Ortiz to Nashville to cover the baseball winter meetings. And he’s been feeding breathless info about possible Astro trades that the magician Ed Wade is close to pulling off, including a possible two-team trade that has turned into a three-team trade which in turn has turned into a possible four-team trade.
Now, Mr. Ortiz won’t name names, but he’s mentioned that numerous teams are interested in Chris Burke, Luke Scott and Wandy Rodriguez (which means the Astros aren’t going to be getting anything in return). And he’s also mentioned that Roy Oswalt, Carlos Lee and Lance Berkman are untouchable in the trade market because they have no-trade clauses. Which is kind of funny, because Alex Rodriguez had a no-trade clause when he played for the Rangers, yet he was traded to the Yankees. We saw how untouchable in the trade market he was. Same thing with Eric Gagne, who got a no-trade clause in his contract, last season, with the Rangers, yet somehow was traded to the Red Sox during the season. So, Ortiz, just because a guy has a no-trade clause doesn’t mean he can’t be traded.
But that’s not the insane part. No, Ortiz had a sit-down with manager Cecil Cooper. And guess what Ortiz breathlessly reported: Cooper likes Ed Wade, telling Ortiz, “I think Ed Wade has done a tremendous job as GM to this point.” Wow. Earth-shattering. But, I ask, just what does anyone expect Cooper to say? Did Ortiz think Cooper was going to call Wade a frigging idiot who hired Charlie Manuel when he could’ve hired Jim Leyland?
This isn’t big news. All clubs make a big deal of how well management gets along. Even when management doesn’t get along. So Cooper liking Wade isn’t news. And it should be strange that Ortiz thinks this is news. Then again, this is Ortiz we’re talking about. – John Royal
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.
