The general managers meeting broke up with only one trade plus a faux pas from the Mets' Bill Singer. The one trade was a great one for the San Francisco Giants as they picked up the Twins' catcher, A.J. Pierzynski for Joe Nathan and two minor leaguers. At first, I was upset for Twins fans at this trade until I broke it down a bit.

Pierzynski is one of the true leaders on the Twins. He is a great defensive player with a lifetime batting average over .300. He has had clutch hits in big games and is in the same class--though he is rarely mentioned that way--with Jorge Posada and Jason Varitek. So why would the Twins trade him other than for money reasons?

First, the Twins have Matthew LeCroy who only caught twenty games last year, but between catching and at DH, LeCroy had 17 homeruns and 64 RBI in only 345 at bats. Pierzynski was great, but he wasn't a big power guy. But even more exciting for the Twins is the world's best catching prospect ready to step in: Joe Bouer. Bouer was the minor league player of the year last year and has all the tools and then some. He is considered "can't miss." That's why the Twins could expend the arbitration eligible Pierzynski.

And! The Twins received big time arm, Joe Nathan. Nathan has pitched through some injury but has a lifetime (four years) record of 24-10. This past year he had more strikeouts than innings pitched and can be downright nasty. Nathan, minor leaguers and the ability to plug in Joe Bouer makes this trade a good one for the Twins and the Giants as Pierzynski will give them a solid presence where few are available other than Bonds.


The most embarrassing moment of the general manager meetings had to be the Mets newly hired Bill Singer making stupid guttural noises to mimic oriental speech in response to meeting Kim Ng, the Dodgers assistant general manager. How childish and boorish can you be? It will be interesting to see if the Mets fire Singer for this really stupid act despite Singer's public apology.

Former players are former players and they all have had sheltered lives. Pampered, set apart and sheltered from the real world for most of their early lives, players can get away with asinine attitudes and be somewhat excused for their lack of exposure to more enlightened thought and experiences.

The trouble comes when a former player now has to act in the real world of business. Let's face it, MLB is a business and general managers are on the business end of things. Singer, a former 20 game winner, now has egg on his face as he has made a major transgression that probably would have generated guffaws in major league locker rooms.