During a Marlins rain delay, announcer Boog Ciambi stated that an internet sports news setvice was reporting the trade of Jeff kent to the Steinbrenners - any confirmation?

I am watching SportsCenter as I type and they've not reported anything. Besides, the Yanks have no need for Kent. (Not that that's ever stopped Herr Steinbrenner!) Soriano is having a career year at second, Ventura already has more RBI at the break than all last season and Jeter is, well, Jeter. If Jeter's injury was more serious I might give this rumor more thought. Amazing that these broadcasters would report an Internet rumor without some sort of confirmation.

[ July 07, 2002: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

"An internet sports news service"? Would that be you, WURM?

Stupider things have happened, but this one would make no sense either from the buyer's or seller's perspective.

First, a second baseman has not been on the Yankees shopping list this season, as was a right fielder (Raul Mondesi) and a fourth starter (Jeff Weaver). A team should not trade for chronic malcontent like Jeff Kent unless they plan on playing him everyday. Kent strikes me as the type who would stir up serious trouble if he were left sitting on the bench.

Second, for the Giants, getting rid of Kent at this juncture, with the team still contending for a play-off spot, makes even less sense. Kent's been on fire lately (NL Player of the Month for June). Kent's a malcontent, but Dusty Baker has kept the team focused through a couple of seasons of this sort of crap from Kent and the team's other resident superstar. And if shoving Barry Bonds gets Kent to hit .414 and slug .667 (as he did for the month of June), then Dusty'll let him get a few pushes in every now and then.

With Arizona starting to show signs of wearing down, and with neither the East nor the Central showing signs of producing a wild card contender (until Cliff Floyd and Ryan Dempster head north to Quebec), this would be a strange time for Brian Sabean (best GM in the NL but only the second best GM in the San Francisco Bay Area) to start tearing this team apart.

CitT - I only wish I was deriving fees from such a service - T'was not me (the Wurm internet service is usually too busy rating the looks quotient of NCAA quarterbacks)

In fact Ciambi said it twice - the first time I had just arrived at a restaurant parking lot, the second time was after the meal, just as the rain delay was ending. He's a younger announcer familiar with the Web - he doesn't strike me as the type that would put an unsubstantiated rumor on the air.

As a Giants fan since 1963, I certainly see no advantage to Brain S pulling this trade (unless there's some off-the-field matter we don't know about). There's no way, when you're only 4.5 games out (assuming they complete the win against the DB's tonight), that you throw in the towel. And it hasn't hurt that, since Kent moved up to third and Bonds to fourth in the lineup, Kent's getting better pitches

More urgent on Sabean's list is to try to move Livan - apparently a lot of salary $$$ becomes guaranteed soon, and with a couple of young pitchers down in Fresno just about ready, this is the time to get some value out of the fading pitcher.....

Oh!!!!! The guy said Jeff Kent in Pinstripes, I thought I heard:

Jeff Kent pinned down to & striped to jock...
opppppsssss!!!!! sorry....

The Giants are not going to trade Jeff Kent. He's on fire now after the publicity stunts. In fact, the Giants are starting to look really good. JT Snow always picks up in the second half after the All-Star break if he doesn't get injured or sick, and Bonds is getting over about a 1 month slump. The last 2 games against the D'Backs looked strong and the Giants chalked up enough wins in the first half to be a very serious contender in the NL West.

I'm not really sure if Dusty and Brian are considering ANY major trades this year. No real feel for it from out here in SF. Livan is questionable, but you know how loyal the Giants are to their veterans. In my opinion, they need to dump Shawon Dunston, but he's Dusty's best buddy and a conduit between Dusty and the players. Shinjo's really starting to contribute, Bell is very strong at 3rd base. I just don't see any major shifts.

Of course, Dusty and Brian can pull some surprising things at the last minute. We'll just have to wait and see!

Kent to the Yankees would make no sense. First of all, Alfonso Soriano is having an amazing year; at age 22 he's a future superstar who will be playing second base in The Bronx for the next ten or fifteen years. Second, as much as I liked seeing Jeff Kent shove Barry Bonds, it's symptomatic of a general disposition that's just not tolerated on Torre's Yankees (see: Curtis, Chad, or Hayes, Charlie).