Linebrink deal was NEVER CLOSE!

[yagsy]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/padres/20060803-9999-1s3padnotes.html

Towers said the Padres were “not close” on Monday to trading reliever Scott Linebrink to the Mets for pitchers Oliver Perez and Heath Bell, a scenario that was depicted as a done deal by one national outlet. He said the Mets initiated the talks shortly before Monday's trade deadline. Perez, however, remains on Towers' radar. “We certainly think Ollie has a tremendous amount of potential,” Towers said of the former Padre. “We felt it would be more appropriate to discuss it in the winter.”

[yagsy]

It's funny how so many people believed this deal to happen because of wishful thinking. But there is no way the Padres would have made the deal as Linebrink is way too valuable right now and honestly I don't see the Padres getting rid of Linebrink. He's proven to be a critical piece to get to Hoffy. All the talk in SD was: sure everyone KNOWS Linebrink is sought after by any and all teams but the Padres simply were not going to budge if they couldn't get a 3rd baseman.

Now I WOULD do a deal of Linebrink for David Wright! :clap: Sure sounds like a ludicrous deal on the Mets part though...

[PopTop]

Yags, was that "national outlet" by any chance ESPN? Jayson Stark is doing a lot of spin work right now trying to cover his dumb ass for making the Clemens to Boston deal look like it was anything more than just rumors among the talking heads.

[yagsy]

Honestly Willie, I do not know where it came from. I do know that Met fans were led to believe they could get Linebrink and to me it was an East Coast thing. But I said a few days ago that noone here was talking about it and I knew from what I had heard that the Pads knew how desired Linebrink was to other clubs...thus if he was to be traded, KT would definitely get a GOOD deal done. But the deals that were rumored made NO sense for the Padres. There seemed to be no credit to KT's intelligence let alone Sandy Alderson's intelligence when it comes to making deals.

KT is the same guy that gave up Adam Eaton & Aki Otsuska to the Rangers for Adrian Gonzalez and Chris Young. KT is the same guy that picked up Linebrink for nothing... KT is the same guy who signed Aki out of Japan when noone heard of him, KT is the same guy that signed Mike Piazza for only a $1Million this season, KT is the same guy that got Rob Bowen and Josh Bard from trades to create the "3 headed catching monster" the Padres have right now.

So when I read crap like Linebrink for Perez/Bell, I KNOW that it's East Coast wishful thinking. Problem is... I don't know who to attribute the rumor to, but it sure took a life of it's own, probably because NYC is a much larger media market.