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From: radio@spuxll.UUCP (Rick Farina)
Newsgroups: net.sport.baseball
Subject: Unusual Occurences in the NL East
Message-ID: <652@spuxll.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 23-Apr-85 13:41:40 EST
Article-I.D.: spuxll.652
Posted: Tue Apr 23 13:41:40 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 24-Apr-85 03:57:29 EST
Organization: AT&T Information Systems, South Plainfield NJ
Lines: 27

Some very odd moves have been made in the NL East recently,
most notably involving the Phillies and Cardinals. I can't believe,
after all that they've been through, that the Cardinals gave those 
megabucks to O. Smith. Why bother? Trade him to someone who'll gleefully
pay him, like George, and get some more Willie McGees in return. 
Whitey says Ozzie's glove is worth 100 rbi's. Maybe. But does it save
40+ games? I mean, the Cardinals lost Hernandez and Sutter 
(and, long ago, Carlton) because they did not want to fork out 
big beer bucks to these guys. Are they any less deserving 
than Ozzie??? 

Days before Ozzie's signing, the Cards trade for two more shortstops, 
guys who'd start on just about any other team: Oquendo -- sort of a 
Poor Man's Ozzie -- and DeJesus. You can never have enough starting 
shortstops on the roster, you know. Phillies fans will remember DeJesus -- 
he was the guy they stole from the Cubs for Bowa and Ryne-what's-his-name. 
So, anyway, the Cardinals give up Rucker, a fairly decent reliever, 
for DeJesus, now destined for a career of much bench-warming and 
occasional pinch-running. And what do the pitching-rich Phillies 
do with Rucker? They option him to AAA! Meanwhile, Oquendo, who lost
his job to Raphael Santana whom the Cards traded because of Ozzie,
plays in AAA waiting for the day he'll be traded because of Ozzie.

I don't understand any of this. Both clubs were, not too long ago,
power-houses in their division. Now both make moves that appear confused
and uninspired. Meanwhile, the Mets and Cubs, ex-doormats, continue 
to pull away...