The Ted Turner Memoirs Part 4: Rise Of The Powers That Be

[ACMilan99]

Regardless of the stats, you're right, giving up a three run home run is NEVER good.

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[lilbiggio]

Nope can only think of one moment when giving up a 3 run home run is a good thing and that's when it leads to a trash, bum of a pitcher in losing his role or a coach being made to be a jackass for overmanaging... but that's a discussion for another day.



While our Braves limp like Old Yeller' the goofed up on painkillers version. Up North, there was a stirring.. A rustling of papers... a wrong that needed to be right, an I that I must say good friends, needed to be dotted..




Going into the All Star Break the Milwaulkee Brewers had a problem. Prince Fielder. While the slugger for the past 3 years has been right in the thick of the NL MVP Race finishing 4th behind our very own Jason Heyward, and 2nd in 2010 behind Mr. Pujols... he was starting to become a cancer up there. A fan favorite yes... but a cancer nonetheless.


Now anytime a underpaid, loudmouth free agent to be starts to run his gums, you be best served to get that guy out as soon as possible with as big a return as you possibly can. Sure you could try to ride it out Mark Texieria in LA style.. but you run the risk of getting your hand burnt if you play those cards.



No the Brewers are a smart organization. They buy low, and try to sell high. In the past they made a mistake. It was 2008 or 2009.. when they got CC for peanuts and rode him to the playoffs before letting him walk for nothing knowing he was just a rental all along. They weren't going to make that mistake twice with Fielder.




Now ain't that a damn shame... just like IRL, Fielder, the Brewers.. ah snap, they can't GET RID OF THIS GUY. Nobody wants him except Washington. And frankly Washington was not really in the market for a superstar when they already A. have 3 (Strasburg, Darvish, and Harper) and B. sit in last place in the NL's East.

So it looked like as of Monday morning this deal was not going to happen, and then out of nowhere a new team entered into the fray...

[lilbiggio]

Later that very same day, the HR derby took place. And well Jason Heyward was at his old antics once again, pulverizing pitch after pitch as he coasted through the first round.

So far J-Hey has 35 HR's and 84 Rib Eye Steaks. While batting .311 and sippin' lemonade. These are great first half numbers. The question of whether he can keep pace will surely be answered, but for now... we can only dream that Atlanta can once again be the home of the Home Run King...

... but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's get it back to what we're here about. The HR DERBY in DC!





Last year Heyward got the better of Miguel Cabrera blasting balls left and right all over Kauffman Stadium. Let's take a quick trip down memory lane shall we?

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That stadium seemed a bit smaller to my eyes. And it was a massacre of homeruns.. This year... ? it looked good through 2 rounds. And then he started to tire... and Longoria, a guy who's always in this contest it seems went absolutely H.A.M-tastic in the final frame knocking in 17.




Nothing easy about being asked to hit 17 homeruns just to tie. Heyward's reign as the champ is OVAH! Longoria finally gets the burden of failing in the Derby off of his back after winning in his third try.

Damn...I love people being oppressed in pissing contests.

[lilbiggio]

The next morning, as we were about to find out... all the **** hit the fan concerning the Brewers, Prince, and the newest episode of Weeds.



Now just a day earlier we showed an inconspicous photo of Fielder hitting the cages at Nationals Park in DC. Today, we get yet another photo of Prince talking with what appears to be his hitting coach along for the festivities.. but the conversation looks very testy.. heated indeed. You just know we gotta ease drop on this nonesense:

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Fielder ... So I'm supposed to just not play tonight? It's the f**kin All Star Game. Whaddya want me to do just switch t-shirts and play for the AL?!

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Inconspicous Coach Yeah, uh... I think this is different Prince. I told you earlier, this is not like the beltran situation. THEY really don't want you playing tonight to avoid some contrived ESPN controversy.

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Fielder: ...

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Inconspicous Coach Look this happens all the time, ask Ken Griffey Jr. We'll just fake an injury, scratch you from the game, and then wait and see what happens. There's just too much smoke going on right now for us to take a chance on the Brewers organization and baseball being embarrassed tonight. This is too big of a stage for a player and organization to be placed in this situation.

WELL DAMN!

I knew the trade talks were heating up when it took 3 days for the original trade of:



... 3 days to approve this?! You KNEW something else was in store, and as a result the secondary trade involving the Brewers which both teams needed to make this **** work was going to spillover into the All Star game possibly. But never did I think we'd have a situtation where an All-Star really could get traded so close to the game that his role would be questioned upon which team he'd play for. Well thanks to the Tigers/Nats/ and Brewers... we got that moment in history.

[lilbiggio]

BREAKING NEWS: Prince Fielder Traded to Tigers
Three Team Trade Reaches Agreement Hours Before First pitch

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... And just like that the Tigers just got stronger. Literally, the Tigers put the finishing touches on a 3 way deal that just added another power bat to a lineup that was starting to lag behind Chicago and Cleveland due to Miguel Cabrera having zero protection in the Tigers lineup ....

So here's the deal broken down




A player to be named later (Brandon Allen) will be sent to Washington in exchange for Armando Galaragga. It was pretty complicated. Took atleast 30 minutes to make it fair, and logical but here's the reasoning I'll break it down as it happened:


Washington
In third place, truly wanted Fielder, but had no logical need for him, given their standings, positions, and relative need.

Detroit
Enter Detroit, a team that nobody thought would need Fielder as they already have an All Star 1B in Cabrera. However Miggy can play third apparently and the Tigers needed help in their lineup as a team with one of the best rotations in baseball was falling out of the playoff race.

Brewers
currently had Prince, would not unload him unless they recieved a dumptruck full of prospects and a competent 1B in return.

Detroit
Detroit has the dumptruck full of prospects but were not willing to part with Cabrera for Fielder.


Washington
Washington who was in the original conversation sees a chance to gain better players by getting rid of this little 1B problem. Because their rotation was so mediocre and Detroit's was so good, the asking price for 1B Tyler Moore was high... but both sides realized a win was in store by giving a little. When Detroit got rid of 2 really good pitchers sitting in AAA for basically Morse and a competent SS both sides felt like they won a little.

[lilbiggio]

The FINAL RESULTS

Washington: Gets

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CF Clete Thomas - From DET SP Vin Mazarro- From DET 1B Brandon Allen - From MIL

The biggest loss Washington took was from losing Bixler, but Allen more than makes up for that as an upgrade at 1B over Moore. They lost Colby but gained a prospect in Mazarro, that should help a last place club in the future. Finally, asking for Thomas was a masterstroke espeiclally when Detroit would not part with Austin Jackson. Thomas will be the best OF in Washington not named Harper.

Detroit: Gets

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1B Prince Fielder - From MIL SS Brian Bixler - From WAS

Clearly Detroit wanted Prince, and gave up a ransom to get him. But the Detroit management made sure to cover their *** with not taking anything less than a serviceable Brian Bixler from Washington. Ian Desmond was the top priority but Washington wouldn't budge on their stance that it would be a take it or leave it unless Jackson was up for conversation. Since a side deal should not become the main deal... Detroit took Bixler and went on their merry way.

Milwaulkee: Gets

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SS Elliot Johnson - From DET 1B Tyler Moore -Fom WAS SP Colby Lewis - From WAS SP - Armando Galarraga - From DET SP - Tom Moody - From DET

Milwaulkee lost Fielder and Allen, tried to make up for it with the acquiring of Moore, and then went absolutely bananas with the pitching as they now have revived the career of Armando, and could possibly have an ace in potential with Moody.



Elliot Johnson is the gem in all of this as he is an All Star talent so far with the Tigers and will give the Brewers about what Fielder was producing minus 10 -20 homeruns.

We will revisit this trade at the end of the season before awarding any winners or losers in this ordeal.

[lilbiggio]

The 2013 ALL-STAR Game
Washington, D.C.

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The hometown folks in Washington made sure to take care of their very own Ryan Zimmerman, and Ryan returned the favor hitting a 2 run homerun to help the National League secure homefield advantage in this season's world series. I watched the game thanks to the suggestion by TheNumber35 in his very own Tigers dyansty, and to be honest although I thought it'd be boring watching... it actually was the least stressfull All-Star game played so far plus I got some work done around the house.

DOUBLE Win!

As we set out to the second half of the season when **** on the field starts getting mildly interesting and intriguing. Here's the first half standings for the NL East after one sim through the rotation.



What the hell is going on?!

[lilbiggio]

So Jordan Schafer is about 2 weeks from recovery, and to be honest we need him in the worst way as the team is going through one of the worst midseason slumps ever experienced in these pages of the Memoirs.

The runs are still not coming easy. Up in Chi Jair Jurrjens saw a brilliant preformance go to waste as we once again have too many guys not being able to get guys in from 2nd base.



4 hits? You kidding me? When Heyward has 2 of them, which are at this point complimentary because of his dominance, you are telling me this team only mangled 2 additional hits in 3 trips through the order? That ain't going to win you many ballgames.


The next time out was a bit better. Out in Arizona Kris Medlen had his best start of the season striking out 8, and only allowing 3 hits. But... get this, the Braves only had 1 run on the board mainly because the DBacks are so terrible of a team they gifted us a run on a wild throw to first.

Then Burroughs came up, we'd been nursing a 1 run lead all game into the 7th... John Boy Rocker brought in as the lefty specialist. And he gets boomsticked on. Yes, this is madness guys.. we're going to lose this ballgame right here at the end on some nonsense changeup that didn't drop in the zone.




This game was a bit better result though, as Heyward went yard first for a 2 run shot to tie the game in the 8th, and then Kid Clutch. The 45 million dollar man with only 12 homeruns through 3 months finally came through. Brian McCann welcome to the 2013 season. We've been waiting on you as the team has free fallen into second place in the NL East you fool.

[lilbiggio]

So we're sippin' coffee and eating a fine donut from some hole in the wall donut shop here in the desert. Things just might be picking up finally.. and then, the worst news since we learned Derek Lowe would not be pitching for us in 2010. So bad that it deserved it's own post:

[ACMilan99]

Quote: Originally Posted by lilbiggio

So we're sippin' coffee and eating a fine donut from some hole in the wall donut shop here in the desert. Things just might be picking up finally.. and then, the worst news since we learned Derek Lowe would not be pitching for us in 2010. So bad that it deserved it's own post:

Well, you're screwed. Got any plans to get a replacement starter?

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