ESPN's producers get kudos tonight. During the Monday night telecast for the Brewers/Cardinals, Doug Melvin (Brewers GM) joined Steve Phillips and Orel Hershiser in the booth to talk about the trade.
What's neat is that they also got Mark Shapiro (Indians GM) on the phone and they extensively questioned Melvin and Shapiro about how the deal went down.
This was a truly unique perspective. No speculation about how it worked from a bunch of former players in the ESPN studios. The two dealers were there, live, answering questions about all the mechanics of the trade. It was useful also to have Steve Phillips, a former GM, asking those questions. He had a good perspective on the kinds of things that happen during major deals, but also a good sense of what the viewers would want to hear.
