After making it to the major leagues in Road To The Show as a pitcher for the Angels, I noticed that the landscape of the MLB had changed drastically. Strange trades in Sony’s baseball games are not uncommon, for example, I’ll never forget, as a Yankee minor leaguer, in MLB: 09 seeing seeing Joba Chamblerlain being traded to the Cardinals for Jesus Flores.
While that was akward, to say the least, in MLB: 11 it seems like the rosters fly completely out of wack after as short as one season. Now I understand that people get signed and traded normally, but this is getting a little out of hand.
Here are some players with their new teams:
Jake Peavy, Scott Rolen – Athletics
Mark Buehrle – Mariners
Tim Hudson – Cardinals
C.J. Wilson – Rockies
Derek Lowe – Red Sox
Francisco Liriano, Aaron Harang, Jason Marquis, Ryan Ludwick, Michael Cuddyer – Yankees
Carlos Zambrano, Kyle Drabek, Carlos Pena – Indians
Justin Morneau, Jeff Francis, J.J. Putz – Braves
Joe Nathan – Marlins
Derek Lee, Kerry Wood – Mets
Andre Ethier – Astros
Heath Bell – Brewers
Jose Bautista, Alfonso Soriano – Giants
Ike Davis – Orioles
Pablo Sandoval – Blue Jays
The worst trade effecting my team was when the Angels traded Jered Weaver to the Yankess for Rafeal Soriano. Also, since that trade, for some reason now Rafeal Soriano is the Angel’s ace (No wonder we’re in last place in the AL West).
Something needs to be done about this. A lot of the guys listed above are not going to be leaving their current teams for a long while. There needs to be some sort of loyalty rating that will keep superstar players attached to their current team, but leave room for blockbuster trades to still be made.
Hopefully this gets resolved, because this is getting as out of hand as Mike Piazza on the Marlins or Frank Thomas on the Athletics.
* 5/24/2011 – I’m still in my second season and just faced Jayson Werth on the Yankees.