Dealing at the Deadline

The Dodgers showed something at the trade deadline they had lacked for some time ... aggression. New General Manager Paul DePodesta pulled the trigger on a deal that sent fan favorite and clubhouse leader Paul Lo Duca, along with Guillermo Mota and Juan Encarnacion, to the Florida Marlins for Hee Seop Choi and the real prize, Brad Penny.

Los Angeles has been outstanding over the past month, but DePodesta was realistic, rationalizing that his team could only go so far with a starting rotation featuring Kaz Ishii, Jeff Weaver, Wilson Alvarez, and Jose Lima. It's a miracle the Dodgers have maintained their current lead.

Brad Penny is a front-line starter. He will supply a much-needed power arm to the staff. There are no doubts about Penny's ability, exemplified by his postseason outings from a year ago.

The issue, though, is did the Dodgers give up too much? If Lo Duca was the heart of the club, Mota was the soul. Eric Gagne only has to get three outs because of how effective Mota has been all season.

Last year, the bridge to Gagne was Mota and Paul Quantrill. Quantrill joined the Yankees in the winter, leaving Mota to shoulder much of the burden alone, which he has done all year. Mota was in high demand, and now Gagne could be asked to get more than his standard three outs with regularity.

Lo Duca isn't just one of the best catchers in the game, he is also the clubhouse leader. Losing him is certainly a risk, but one DePodesta had to make if his club was to have any aspirations come October.

As for the Marlins, they filled every hole they had. Ivan Rodriguez has been an enormous loss for the champs, and Lo Duca brings the same kind of veteran leadership Pudge had with the squad last year.

Billy Koch was brought in to further the rejuvenation project that has existed in Florida over the past few years. Armando Benitez, who nobody wanted, has become one of the top closers in the game. Billy Koch though, remains an enigma.

The problem for the Marlins has been getting the ball to Benitez. Mota offers the middle relief help Koch couldn't provide, and bringing back Encarnacion allows Jeff Conine to move to first, minimizing the loss of Choi.

This is the kind of proactive move that help teams advance to the postseason. With so few sellers on the market, it's extraordinary to see to buyers dealing with each other. Usually, the Royals, Diamondbacks, Pirates, (fill in the blank team who has no shot of the playoffs) selling their best player to the team that can afford him.

It's nice to see a trade not predicated on money, but one that is done in mutual interest. This is what baseball used to be about. Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez for Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar. That was a trade. Carlos Beltran for A's prospects, not so much of a trade.

And Randy Johnson looks as if he'll stay in Arizona. How refreshing it is not to see the Yankees, who have spent $180 million, send their payroll further in the stratosphere by obtaining the five-time Cy Young winner. If that deal had been agreed upon, Bud Selig might have had no choice but to intervene and utilize the best interests in the game clause.

If the Yanks had obtained the big lefty, there is no way they would have been stopped en route to their 27th championship. I don't care how many years the Yankees had gone without winning it all ... the Big Unit would have sealed the deal for the Bronx Bombers.

Finally, being forced to live in the New York area and listening to sports radio incessantly, the one prospect it seemed the Mets would never depart with was Scott Kazmir, until they traded him for Zambrano ... Victor Zambrano.

No, not Carlos, the oft sought-after Zambrano, but the wild and crazy Victor from Tampa Bay. Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson claims he sees a flaw that's easily correctable that will control the hard-throwing Zambrano's wild side.

I don't know much about pitching, but I know Lou Piniella is a pretty smart manager. And something tells me that if the problem was as correctable as Peterson makes it sound, Lou would have stumbled upon it.

Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano? The media made it sound as if the Mets wouldn't trade Kazmir for Randy Johnson ... and he turns into Victor Zambrano? I hope Mets General Manager Jim Duquette knows what he's doing, or it could be another long decade in Queens.

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