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A view from both sides
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As a kid growing up in New York, I was as big a Mets fan as there was. Having lived in Cleveland for 10 years now, I can honestly say that I root equally for the Indians and Mets. Which is why I feel compelled to give my analysis of the Robbie Alomar trade from both sides.
First of all, Tribe fans, let me say that as far as trades go and letting free agents walk, the Mets fans have had their share of heartache too. I remember as a youngster seeing them trade Nolan Ryan to the Angels for a guy named Jim Fregosi. They traded Tom Seaver to the Reds for Pat Zachary, Doug Flynn and Dan Norman. Who? Exactly. After sucking for 10 years, they became a contender again with the likes of Dwight Gooden, Gary Carter and Darryl Strawberry.
Gooden and Strawberry wound up walking via free agency -- just like Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez. The Mets traded David Cone for Jeff Kent, who was horrible until being dealt to the Indians in the Carlos Baerga trade. More recently, the Mets sent Octavio Dotel and Roger Cedeno to Houston for Mike Hampton, who took them to the World Series before bolting to the Rockies and leaving a gaping hole in the rotation.
Trading Matt Lawton, Jerrod Riggan and three hot prospects for Alomar and two more prospects was a gamble for the Mets -- a gamble that they will win it all this coming season. With Edgardo Alfonso, Mike Piazza, Alomar and possibly Juan Gonzalez, they will have a powerful lineup but still lack World Series caliber pitching. Sound familiar, Cleveland?
Meanwhile, the Indians received a relatively young spark plug of an outfielder in Lawton, insurance in the bullpen in Riggan, and two of the Mets' prized farmhands in Alex Escobar and Billy Traber. Escobar supposedly has Sammy Sosa-esque potential. Traber is a hard thrower the Tribe can maybe pencil into their 2003 rotation. Cleveland may actually be exciting to watch with some youth injected into the 25-man roster. And frankly I would take Bartolo Colon, C.C. Sabathia, David Riske, Danys Baez and Chuck Finley over the Mets' starting five in a heartbeat. Al Leiter and Kevin Appier are the equivalent of Dennis Martinez and Orel Hershiser as Indians.
All that said, I like this trade from both standpoints. I love the fact that the Mets are attempting to re-establish themselves as a baseball powerhouse and compete with the cross-town Yankees (Tribe fans, I hate them just as much as you do). I also believe Cleveland can still win the Central division, trimmed payroll and all. And more than anything, it will be exciting to see how things unfold for both teams in 2002 and beyond -- at the very least it's something for all of us to talk about.
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