Hot after Atlanta

Sporting News, The, August 9, 1999 by Michael Knisley

Most of the significant trade activity--and there wasn't much--took place in the N.L. East because of the presence of one team--those pesky Braves

For the first time since John Smoltz had hair, the Braves are being challenged in the N.L. East. But the two teams in the race with them-the Metz and Phillies--made it abundantly dear at the trading deadline last Saturday that Atlanta still is king of the hill.

The Braves roll along. The others react to the direction of their spin.

The Mets, for instance, took a first-place team into Saturday's deadline games, then G.M. Steve Phillips busted it up. New York was one of the hottest teams in baseball (8-2 in 10 games before a Saturday loss to the Cubs) and seemed to have the Braves on the run. When the Mets won last Friday and Atlanta lost, the Braves fell into second place; Bobby Cox's team hadn't lived below the top of the division this late in the season in five years.

But by the time Phillips finished wheeling and dealing, he had brought in five new players and broken up a bullpen with the highest number of saves in the majors. Why? Because he apparently isn't convinced the Metz were savvy enough to hold on against the playoff-tested Braves.

"We thought experience is important to win," Phillips says. "It allows guys to fall back on something. Down the stretch, we wanted more veteran players to complement our team. I'm not distrustful of youth. I just think we can't be all young and win. History shows that experience is what wins."

Boy, are the new Metz ever experienced. Only two of their everyday players are in their 20s (Edgardo Alfonzo and Rey Ordonez), which also is the number of their key players in their 40s (Rickey Henderson and Orel Hershiser). On Saturday, Phillips traded relievers Jason Isringhausen, 26, and Greg McMichael, 32, for Oakland's 37-year-old closer, Billy Taylor, who in New York will become a side-arming specialist against righthanded hitters. Phillips also acquired Shawon Dunston, 36, from St. Louis for minor leaguer Craig Paquette, 30; and he swapped center fielder Brian McRae, 31, for a 34-year-old replacement, the Rockies' Darryl Hamilton.

The Metz are better than they were in center field, at least. Hamilton for McRae is an upgrade, and the swap erases a lingering clubhouse cold war between manager Bobby Valentine and McRae, who suggested late last season that one of the reasons other teams seem to get up to play the Mets is their dislike for Valentine.

But in the context of a relatively slow trading period, the Metz' moves look like wholesale changes. For a first-place (or close to it) club, that's a big gamble.

The Phillies provide a counterpoint. In the heat of the wild-card chase, if not the pennant race, Philadelphia G.M. Ed Wade couldn't persuade the Yankees to send Andy Pettitte his way for prospects. Nor could he pull off a last-minute swap for a free-agent-to-be "rental" pitcher, thought to be the Mariners' Jeff Fassero. The Phillies will finish the season "as is," and "as is" wasn't good enough in a series loss to the Braves over the weekend.

"As an organization, we're not quite into the `rental player' business yet," Phillies manager Terry Francona says. "The next two months will tell. We've never done this before. But the Braves have done it for the last 10 years. They kind of know where they're supposed to be."

Wade and Francona discount the notion that the Phillies' inability to get better might affect the mood of the clubhouse. But when Atlanta scored eight runs to win on Saturday and 12 to rout rookie Randy Wolf on Sunday, it was difficult to avoid the thought.

"I'm incredibly disappointed," outspoken ace Curt Schilling says. "Pettitte was the guy who was there for us. When you start looking at him on this team, it diminishes a lot of things that were going to have to happen. Now, it's irrelevant.... I think the Mets got a whole lot better. And I think the Braves made themselves better. Common sense would say it's going to be tough for us."

Atlanta made one move, a seemly swap with the Cubs to get veteran pitcher Terry Mulholland and infielder Jose Hernandez. Both additions address specific needs, and G.M. John Schuerholz did it without mortgaging much of the Braves' future. He gave up pitcher Micah Bowie, who spent most of the season at Class AAA and wasn't successful in a few appearances with the big-league club, along with another AAA pitcher (Ruben Quevedo) and a minor leaguer to be named. Next to the Mets' flurry of activity, that deal feels about right for the unflappable Braves.

Around the game, it might not have been a "Bring In Da Noise, Bring In Da Funk" kind of trading deadline. In fact, as the dock struck midnight, there was a kind of hush all over the baseball world, at least compared with last season's raucous rash of deals. Still, a few significant swaps managed to get finalized.

N.L. Central

Standings at the deadline: Astros up by 3 1/2 over the Reds. Everybody else is out of earshot.

If you listened carefully, you could hear a pin drop in Cincinnati. That's the only decibel reading that registered in the division, and it was hardly a sonic boom. How much clatter can a 5-9 record and 4.18 ERA make? Those are the quiet numbers Juan Guzman brings to Cincinnati. But at least he ought to be able to gobble up some innings.