The trade deadline has come and gone, and Heath Bell is still a San Diego Padre. Surprising everyone involved, the All-Star closer most of all (Bell had said he was “99.5% gone”), the Padres decided to hang onto Bell for the final two months of 2011, and have even made overtures toward signing “The Heater” to a multi-year deal.
Meanwhile, Mike Adams is back in his home state of Texas, where he becomes the setup man to Neftali Feliz as the Rangers aim for back-to-back AL pennants. The Padres received a pair of AA starting pitchers in exchange for arguably the best setup reliever in baseball. Elsewhere, Ryan Ludwick was dealt to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a sack of beans/treadmill/player to be named later or cash considerations.
As promised, we delayed last week’s 619 Sports Padres Podcast from Friday until today to bring you post-deadline reaction. Yesterday, I was at Petco Park and returned these two videos. First, Jed Hoyer discusses the deals he made (and didn’t make):
Next, I got reaction from Ryan Ludwick and Heath Bell, as well as a one-on-one interview with Chase Headley on the deadline brouhaha:
All this leads up to the double stuffed mega-podcast with not one but two special guests! First, we speak with one of the country’s best baseball writers, Sports Illustrated’s Joe Sheehan. Joe tells us why he thinks Hoyer made a major strategic blunder by hanging on to Bell, as well as why he liked the Mike Adams deal. Next, we gain the local perspective on the trades from the Avenger In Chief, on loan from his website AvengingJackMurphy.com. We talk about the San Diegan’s angle on trade day: is it worthwhile to have Bell around for future seasons? What’s the real lesson the Padres need to be taking out of this season, and why is August 16th a more important deadline than July 31st?
Plus, Avenger In Chief and I get into the Padres Failed Trade Acquisition Bobblehead Series, why Ray Lankford was such a jerk, and bigamy. It’s all ahead on a special 619 Sports Padres Podcast! Don’t forget you can download all our podcasts via ITunes.
Craig Elsten -
Chainsaw -
