Talking Baseball

It has been a busy Thursday in the world of baseball with two trades, a Cy Young Award and a managerial extension.

Let’s begin with the two trades. The Marlins sent reliever Kevin Gregg to the Cubs for minor league pitcher Jose Ceda.

Gregg was 7-8 with 29 saves for the Marlins in 2008. The Cubs could be preparing to lose Kerry Wood to free agency with this move. Either Gregg or current Cubs reliever, Wood’s setup man in 2008, Carlos Marmol would take over as closer in 2009.

Gregg was originally acquired by the Marlins prior to the 2007 season from the Angels for Chris Resop.

Ceda was 4-3 with nine saves between Class-A and Double-A in the Cubs system in 2008.

The second trade of the day has not been confirmed but it involves the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox.

The Yankees acquire outfielder/first baseman Nick Swisher for minor league pitchers Jeff Marquez and Jhonny Nunez and infielder Wilson Betemit.

The White Sox also sent minor league pitcher Kanekoa Texeira to the Yankees.

Swisher hit only .219 with 24 homeruns in 153 with the ChiSox.

Marquez posted a 43-40 record with a 3.60 ERA over five seasons in the Yankees organization. He was drafted in 2004 by the Yankees out of Sacramento City College.

The AL Cy Young award went to the Indians’ Cliff Lee to no one’s surprise. Lee, after being demoted to Triple-A in 2007, went 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA in 2008.

He received 24 of 28 first place votes and put up 132 total points. Roy Halladay of the Blue Jays came in second with 71 total points.

Lee was the starting pitcher for the American League All-Star squad at Yankee Stadium on July 15th. He is the first Indian to win 20 games in a season since Gaylord Perry did so in 1974.

He is the second consecutive Indian to win the AL Cy Young after C.C. Sabathia won the award in 2007. He is only the third in Indians history to win the award alongside Sabathia and Perry. Perry won the honor in 1972.

The final big news story of the day comes out of Minnesota where the Twins extended the contract of manager Ron Gardenhire for another two years, through the 2011 season.

Gardenhire led the Twins to an 88-75 record even after trading ace Johan Santana to the Mets before the 2008 season and came within one win of the playoffs.

They lost the AL Central tiebreaker to the Chicago White Sox, who went on to face the Tampa Bay Rays in the first round of the playoffs.

Gardenhire has led the Twins to four division titles in seven years and the team has finished with a winning record in six of his seven seasons as manager.

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