Trading deadline brings back not-so-fond memories for pair

Trading deadline brings back not-so-fond memories for pair

Moyer, Cabrera know what it's like to relocate

By Kirby Arnold

Everett Herald

SEATTLE - It's trade deadline week in major league baseball, which can only mean this:

Jamie Moyer will continue to ignore the rumors - some valid, most not - and go about his duties as a Seattle Mariners starting pitcher.

Mariners infielder Jolbert Cabrera won't be shopping for property because he knows being a backup means never settling in one place for too long.

Moyer and Cabrera, the two Mariners who have switched teams near the July 31 trade deadline, know this time of the season can become a distraction if the players let it.

It's not just because a trade forces them to wear a different uniform and learn a new seat of teammates. Baseball families take a hit during trade time, from either the speculation that surrounds the deadline or the actual transition necessary when a deal goes down.

"The players have the easy part. We still play baseball," Cabrera said. "But your kids go to school and they have friends. You want to keep them as comfortable as you can."

Kids leave those friends and wives often are left with most of the moving arrangements. Even rumors of trades can cause stress at home.

"It's the uncertainty of not knowing what could happen and where you may end up going," Moyer said.

When the Indians traded Cabrera to the Dodgers on July 22, 2002, he sent his two children back to Colombia to live with his mother. His wife, Delbys, joined him in Las Vegas, where he was rehabbing an injury.

"It's hard at first, going to a new place," Cabrera said. "You're used to your surroundings, then you've got to go somewhere else and move your family. It's a little tough."

Nobody knows that better than Moyer.

He has been traded, released, signed and re-signed so many times in his 21-year pro career that he and his wife, Karen, could be professional movers.

On July 30, 1996, he became one of the best deadline trades in Mariners history when they got him from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for outfielder Darren Bragg.

Moyer remembers the day well, especially the feeling that his wife had more to handle than he did.

"I was supposed to pitch in Kansas City that night," he said. "I got undressed, took a shower, went back to the hotel, closed my suitcase, hopped in a cab and went to the airport."

While her husband flew to Milwaukee to join the Mariners, Karen Moyer had her hands full back in Boston with three kids and moving arrangements to make.

"I wasn't at home and she had a lot to handle," he said. "She's done it a lot. It's a big effort and a lot of work, and she really helped it all stay together."

While most players aren't bothered by trade speculation, Moyer has seen it cause some to worry so much that it affected their game. He learned long ago to ignore what he can't control.

Moyer simply prepares for his next start and lets the rumors become fact or remain fiction. It's healthier that way, he says.

"There's a lot of things in this game that can drive you crazy - lack of success and trying to figure things out," he said. "When I look back to early in my career, when I wasn't successful, I ate, slept and drank it. It was making me crazy.

"Now that I've had a little success, I'm able to let it go a little bit. I've got nice distractions. ... I've been traded, I've been released, I've had no job. You experience a lot in this game and I think you learn from those situations. You learn to deal with it."

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