It'll probably take a couple of years to know for sure, but I don't like the George Sherrill trade. I had the thrill of seeing Josh Bell this winter at the Dodgers offseason camp and he's got one of those bats that makes a sound that grabs your attention on contact. I've been following him ever since, and the switch-hitting third baseman has continued to progress this year at AA Chattanooga, and is considered the best power hitting prospect in the organization. Or I should say WAS. Watch for him as an Oriole, much the way Adam Jones has blossomed into an All-Star for the Orioles this season as the centerpiece of the Eric Bedard deal with the Mariners. Ironically enough, George Sherrill was one of the five Mariners in that deal, and went on to become a two time All-Star himself, and had 51 saves the last season and a half as the Orioles closer. He signed a one year deal to stay in Baltimore this offseason, which is the main reason I wouldn't have made the deal, not that I wouldn't want Sherrill, but that I wouldn't give up Bell to get, or most likely, rent him for two months. I'd want something more substantial for that sizeable bargaining chip, especially when you throw in Bell's teammate from Chattanooga, 21-year old Steve Johnson, who is a potential future big league starting pitcher, with big strikeout numbers... That said, Sherrill's is an incredible, and extremely rare story. When I first sat down with him Monday, I asked if he kept a journal, and he said no, and I told him he should have, because his story isn't all that dissimilar from Jim Morris, the Texas school teacher who got to the Big Leagues as a 35-year old with Tampa. Dennis Quaid starred in his biopic,”The Rookie."
Sherrill went undrafted out of Austin Peay, and toiled for five years in independent leagues like the Frontier, and Northern Leagues, where teams have no affiliation with Major League clubs, and guys like Rickey Henderson go to play out the string when they just can't give it up. The Memphis native was an Evansville Otter, a Sioux Falls Canary, and a Lincoln Salt Dog amongst other things, before being traded to the Winnipeg Golden Eye. That's where he caught the eyes of both the Mariners and the Yankees, who he was on the eve of signing with. Imagine that background, and ending up a New York Yankee?! But Sherrill is shrewd, and his instincts and listening to trusted advisors in the game steered him to Seattle. The Yankees were going to send him to high 'A' Tampa, the Mariners to their 'AA' team. But what really made the decision for him was when he was reminded that July of 2003, that when the Yankees go looking for pitching help, they just buy it, they don't go poking around their minor leagues for help in a pennant chase. He had a better chance of making the majors as a Mariner, and by the next summer, he did. Despite his circuitous journey, Sherrill does not lack for confidence. I asked him if now he's pitching the best ball of his life, and he said not necessarily, he's still pretty much the same pitcher with the same approach he had in the Frontier League.
One more important example of his keen instincts. Sherrill is marrying his longtime girlfriend this fall, and even though he's never been in a pennant race past August, he knew he didn't want to schedule the wedding for October. His fiancé' wanted to tie the knot on November 7th, but knowing the 7th game of the World Series could go to that weekend this year, he said November 14th, just to be safe. The man's got a knack with his hunches. Let's hope he's right about this one, and then I'll have NO problems at all with this trade.
