Stretch of What?

What do you do in a wild card race when the most un-clutch pitcher of his generation, Kenny “The Gambler” Rogers, turns you down”? You make another move for the stretch drive. You acquire a guy who’s 4-9 with a 4.55 ERA and a reputation for being soft, a guy whose last start went walk, walk, walk, HOMER before he even retired a batter. And you book a golf vacation for October 1. The Cincinnati Reds may as well do that after acquiring Shawn Estes from the New York Mets for two prospects with great names (Pedro Feliciano and Elvin Andujar).

Lee Sinins, who runs the daily Around The Majors mailing list, wrote of the trade, “Actually, this is a nice trade for the Reds. They get one of the nicest players in baseball. Estes isn’t one of those self centered players who only thinks of himself and his teammates. He helps the competition by consistently giving them more runs (both earned and unearned) than the league average, adjusted to his parks, which have been some of the best pitching parks in the league.” Ouch!