Completely hypothetical trade suggestion

[Old Style]

I am stuck in Rangers territory and had a discussion with a friend last night about potential trades. Just for fun I asked him if he would trade Ian Kinsler for Ted Lilly. He said no way and then I asked if he would trade Kinsler for Zambrano. Again he said no. Considering that the Rangers have plenty of hitting and virtually no pitching, I told him he was crazy. What do you people think from a Cubs perspective?

 

Would you trade Ted Lilly for Ian Kinsler? What about Zambrano?

[Eric Clipperton]

Perhaps your friend is crazy, but I am going to take a guess as to why you came up to the conclusion you did. My guess is that you completely ignored contracts, because otherwise there is no way in hell you would come to the conclusion you did. Kinsler is signed for $3 million this year, $4 million in 2010, $6 million for 2011, and $7 million in 2012. Not to mention the fact that this utter gift of a contract also includes a team option for 2013 at $10 million. Of course, in one year of Z's contract, he makes nearly as much as Kinsler makes over the next four years. So you should probably buy your friend a beer and apologize for your massive, massive oversight.

 

Player-wise, eh, I'd say all three are in the same ballpark of relative value. So I don't see Hendry being offered a Kinsler for Z anytime soon.

[Old Style]

My guess is that you completely ignored contracts, because otherwise there is no way in hell you would come to the conclusion you did.

Yes, I was just thinking player personnel-wise.

[RammyFanny]

Would you trade Ted Lilly for Ian Kinsler? What about Zambrano?

 

Yes, and yes, even with contracts aside. It's a no brainer from my POV and i'm not sure of any argument that would say otherwise unless you have a very good 2B and weak pitching...

[Clem Fandango]

Are you guys really saying Kinsler is equal in value to Ted Lilly? Really? I mean... really? Really.

[Mephistopheles]

While Ian Kinsler's a stud, I wouldn't trade Zambrano for him. I would hesitate to trade Lilly for him as well.

[Clem Fandango]

While Ian Kinsler's a stud, I wouldn't trade Zambrano for him. I would hesitate to trade Lilly for him as well.

 

I would. If the Rangers are dumb enough to do that trade, then you could send Kinsler elsewhere for a pitcher much much better than Lilly. I'd do that trade, then send Kinsler in place of Vitters in a Peavy deal

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

From purely a player stand point, a Kinsler for Lilly or Zambrano trade would be interesting. I think Kinsler has a little more value due to his age and that he may not have hit his peak yet, while I think we've seen the best of both Zambrano and Lilly. I still expect both to be good a few more years, I don't expect much improvement from them. The Rangers could use pitching, and so they might bite on such a deal.

 

When the value of contracts is added, there's no way any team would trade Kinsler for either Zambrano or Lilly.

[Mephistopheles]

While Ian Kinsler's a stud, I wouldn't trade Zambrano for him. I would hesitate to trade Lilly for him as well.

 

I would. If the Rangers are dumb enough to do that trade, then you could send Kinsler elsewhere for a pitcher much much better than Lilly. I'd do that trade, then send Kinsler in place of Vitters in a Peavy deal

 

not possible

[TruffleShuffle]

While Ian Kinsler's a stud, I wouldn't trade Zambrano for him. I would hesitate to trade Lilly for him as well.

 

I would. If the Rangers are dumb enough to do that trade, then you could send Kinsler elsewhere for a pitcher much much better than Lilly. I'd do that trade, then send Kinsler in place of Vitters in a Peavy deal

 

not possible

 

it's very possible. in fact, if you're a team like the padres, you'd be thrilled to death to get a low-salary proven stud hitter like kinsler in a trade for peavy.

[Clem Fandango]

While Ian Kinsler's a stud, I wouldn't trade Zambrano for him. I would hesitate to trade Lilly for him as well.

 

I would. If the Rangers are dumb enough to do that trade, then you could send Kinsler elsewhere for a pitcher much much better than Lilly. I'd do that trade, then send Kinsler in place of Vitters in a Peavy deal

 

not possible

 

it's very possible. in fact, if you're a team like the padres, you'd be thrilled to death to get a low-salary proven stud hitter like kinsler in a trade for peavy.

 

I agree, but since we have to predict what he's thinking, I think he's saying that because Kinsler is a product of Arlington. However power output stays virtually the same. He's played 199 career home games and 197 career away games..

 

Home: 31HR

Away: 30HR

 

Home:105RBI

Away: 107RBI

 

Home: 36SB

Away: 31SB

 

So his HR and RBI are relatively the same, but he just sorta drops off from there

 

Home: 165R 254H 63-2B 6-3B .333/.398/.553/.951

Away: 121R 193H 35-2B 2-3B .252/.323/.420/.743

 

His power output doesn't really change but everything else does. He's only batting .130 with a .607 OPS this season away from Arlington, while he's .467/1.376 at home. But he has 5HR at home and 4HR away.

 

Perhaps his extreme splits is why Meph thinks he can't provide much value in a deal like that.

[Mephistopheles]

Nope. There's no arbitrage. If Kinsler could be traded for a better pitcher than Z, the Rangers and the other team would cut out the middle team.