A couple of seasons have passed since the Los Angeles Angels made two of the worst moves in recent history. They let the heart (David Eckstein) and soul (Troy Glaus) of their championship team go to other teams.
Eckstein, who many, including me, think is one of the hardest working and toughest playing shortstops in the game today. Not only is he one of the best leadoff men in baseball, but his all-out hustle all the time is an example of how this game is meant to be played.
Last year, when he went to St Louis, he helped propel the Cardinals to the best record in baseball and is now a fan favorite, second only to Albert Pujols. At present time, he is leading the Cards in hits with 69, has scored 34 runs and is hitting .330 with a .402 OBP. He has four errors in 52 games, and the Cardinals are in first place by five games and have a record of 34-19.
The soul of that championship team, Troy Glaus, one of the best power hitters in the game, was also let go. All he did in Arizona was hit 37 HRs and drive in 97. This year after being traded to Toronto, Troy has 17 HRs and 44 RBIs through 50 games, and the Blue Jays are right in the thick of things in the AL East, just 2.5 games behind Boston and NY. If you compare the five players that have tried to fill his shoes at third base in Los Angeles, it's almost sad. OK, it is sad. Those five players have hit .198 with four HRs and 15 RBI while committing 10 errors to Troy's four.
Those are just some numbers, but if you really measure the two men, it's not just the play but their leadership qualities which can't be measured. The Angels are 23-30 through 53 games and have no other power threat other then Vlad Guerrero. I know many teams think it's all about the money and all about the future prospects, but if you look back on just these two moves, I think they speak for themselves. You never know what you have until it's gone. Sometimes players like Glaus and Eckstein deserve more respect then just money.
I grew up in Cardinal country and relocated to the land of Angels after college. The thing that doesn't make sense to me about the Eckstein thing is that they paid a truck load of money for his so called replacement. In fact there was a 3 team musical chairs situation with the short stops as Edgar Renteria went from St Louis to Boston, Cabrerra went from Boston to the Angels, and Eckstein went from the Angels to St Louis. Of the three of them Eckstein got the least money by far, but he has out produced both of the more expensive players. As a Cardinal fan I think he was the best bargain in baseball last season. With the Angels as my adopted team in my new home I've been very disappointed with Cabrerra. In fact I've been pretty disappointed with the way the Angels have been running things over all lately. Letting Troy Glaus walk away was a huge mistake. It seemed like the owner was willing to spend some money, why didn't he spend it on a proven comodity like Glaus? They also didn't resign Benji Molina, tell me they don't regret that one right now.
I'm a huge St. Louis Cardinals fan. I couldn't have been happier when I heard that the Cards had signed Eckstein. He's definately the type of player that I like to see with the Cards. His all out hustle just makes it that much easier to cheer for him. Great article Dibbs, keep it up.....
OH ebip, YOU CAN BLAME THE ANGELS! They should have let Dallas prove himself the way that Figgins has and not tried to make him a marquee player before even stepping into the box. The losses of Troy Glaus, David Eckstein and Bengie Molina are the worst decisions a front office has made in recent memory. I am a die-hard Angels fan -- but if they continue down this path (ie; the rumored trade to come of Adam Kennedy) -- I may have to move to Toronto and have a vacation home in St Louis. End of story. I sincerely hope every time Glaus hits one deep, Eck gets another hit, and B-Mo guns down a would-be base-stealer or gets the clutch hit, I hope they call Artie and/or Stoneman and just laugh. I miss them. And, ebip -- whoever you are -- I do blame the Angels.
Last edited by belabrande on June 22nd at 11:15 PM.
Has it never occured to anyone that Eckstein might be doing so well with the cardnals because he has hitters like Pujos and Edmonds and Rolen behind him? That they throw different pitches and change their aproach to a leadoff hiter when they have to worry about three big bats coming behind him?
You stick Eckstein back with the current Angels and well... I have a faint feeling he slumps with the rest and goes a la Chone Figgins. (if you don't believe me, look at how Juan Piere is doing with the Cubs minus his Florida sluggers and Carlos Lee).
The Troy Glaus move was bad. But before everyone jumps on the bandwagon of "letting veterans go for prospects" keep in mind that Glaus had just had surgery and had been out half of the season right before free agency. Not exactly the epitomy of reliability. If you blame the Angles for Glaus then you'd better praise them for Vlad (whom also was comming off an injury year and labled "injury prone" due to his back). The same reason Angles got Vlad so cheap is the reason why they let Glaus go when he was offered a contract as if he didn't get injured. Oh and if you remember, everyone said that Glaus was being overpaid. It is unfortunate that it happened, but don't confuse the two stories.
The story should then not be called Money isn't everything, but probably more appropriately called stats and numbers isn't everything. But then again, this is the same team that bought into "heart and soul" just 4 years ago and kept nearly the entire championship team of 2002 only to have that team well suck.
Rob Dibble was named a full-time co-host of BEST DAMN SPORTS SHOW PERIOD in April 2005. The outspoken, all-star reliever is a perfect fit for the most irreverent sports show on television.
Dibble, who is best known as one of the Reds' hard throwing "Nasty Boys," along with Norm Charlton and Randy Myers, won a World Series with the Reds in 1990.
