The last few days have brought with them a couple of thoroughly exciting deals. The Mets acquired Shawn Green. The D'Backs acquired financial flexibility. The Phillies acquired Jamie Moyer and Jose Hernandez. The Mariners acquired some guys named Andrew.
Looking first at the Shawn Green and his ugly contract for future LOOGY, Evan Maclane, I'd just like to say that as a Padre fan I'm starting to really not like Josh Byrnes. Carlos Quentin is already better than Shawn Green, so the D'Backs end up losing nothing while clearing some salary and getting a potentially useful pitching prospect. If you're a D'Back fan, you have to like this deal.
From the Mets side of things, you have a team taking on salary to add a guy with a .342 wOBA in a hitter's park. He'll be replacing a guy in Endy Chavez who has put up a nearly identical .339 wOBA hitting in freakin' Shea. On the fielding side of things, Endy's .952 ZR makes Green's otherwise respectable .840 look pathetic. Also, Endy's batted ball data doesn't suggest a collapse, but it would seem the Mets expect one. Otherwise, why bring in a guy who isn't hitting or fielding as well as the guy they already have?
It strikes me as odd to make a deal where you have to count on the guy you're trading for to improve and the guy you already have to regress for it to make any sense. And what little sense it would make in such an event is lost when you look at the money.
Looking to the Phillies, they've managed to acquire Jamie Moyer and Jose Hernandez for a couple live arms in the case of the former and basically nothing in the case of the latter. The Jamie Moyer acquisition is a solid one as Gillick gave up very little and has found a more than adequate replacement for Cory Lidle. Picking up Jose Hernandez means very little as he's just not very good.
From the Seattle side, they acquired a couple of nameless low minors live arms and gave Moyer a chance to go to the playoffs. That was nice of them.