Total Hypothetical Here...

[El Duderino]

I've said it before, there are probably about 5 guys I'd trade Castro for straight up.

 

ETA: I had no idea how expensive he's about to get.

Who?

 

 

I can only think of one: Strasburg

[SouthSideRyan]

Off the top of my head, all I've got is Longoria.

 

Probably Harper and Moore.

[toonsterwu]

I tend to think they will eventually deal him. It's a deep system in quality pitching, as the trio of Hultzen/Walker/Paxton look very good, and Michael Pineda looks like a potential stud. If only one of the trio develops to go with Pineda, they should be fine, and if more than 1 develops, then they are in a good spot.

 

That said, with Felix signed down for 3 more years as of now, I think they take a look to see what their young offensive guys do in 2012. There's some interesting pieces like Smoak, Ackley, and, to a lesser extent, Seagar. They just aren't in a rush to deal Felix, who will net them top end talent next offseason as well.

 

But if there's some stagnation amongst their key young positional talents, and assuming their three young minor league starters look solid, I think they move Felix in the next year (either midseason or next offseason) and try to land a boatload of positional guys.

[Rob]

For one year of Johan Santana, the Twins got jack diddly. Felix has a better contract status, but I have a hard time seeing it be Starlin Castro better.

[SouthSideRyan]

For one year of Johan Santana, the Twins got jack diddly. Felix has a better contract status, but I have a hard time seeing it be Starlin Castro better.

 

Well it turned into nothingness, but a lot of people were dumb enough to think Gomez wasn't awful and that Guerra would become something.

[mookie]

I believe it was already mentioned in this thread, but I would give up my boy Castro IF things got creative and Smoak was coming back.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Man, Castro for Felix straight up? That's a tough one. I really don't know. I guess I'd lean towards Castro because of him being younger and cheaper longer.

 

It is a tough one, but could it be worth the gamble that Junior Lake could take his place in the next year or 2 and maybe use Barney or Marwin Gonzalez as placeholders with Baez, Marco Hernandez and Amaya as backup plans for 3-4 years down the road?

[davearm2]

Hernandez is an elite pitcher, no question, but he's also being paid like one, so the value of his production doesn't exceed his cost by a whole lot.

 

One would think that limits his trade value pretty significantly.

[toonsterwu]

For one year of Johan Santana, the Twins got jack diddly. Felix has a better contract status, but I have a hard time seeing it be Starlin Castro better.

 

Well, there's some differences. Johan was in entering his age 29 season when he was moved and had shown signs of steady decline in his final years in Minnesota - the K rate was declining, and so was the fastball velo. Felix is just hitting his prime years and has a better frame. That said, one does wonder if the workload will catch up to Felix sooner than later.

 

But more importantly, there's 3 cost-controlled years of Felix on hand. Whether or not he deserves Starlin Castro is one question, but if you are Seattle and looking at us right now, Castro is about the only guy that would really entice them, IMO, to give up 3 cost-controlled years of Felix. Maybe I'm wrong. But 3 cost-controlled, even expensive, years of Felix in his prime is going to have them wanting a huge return, and I'm not sure this system has those types of chips right now.

 

Next offseason, this is a completely different story. If some of the low level guys break through, we might be in a better position to try and move on Felix. He'd be a year older, with that much more workload on him.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

But more importantly, there's 3 cost-controlled years of Felix on hand.

 

He's already signed to a contract for those three years, totally $58 million.

[jersey cubs fan]

But more importantly, there's 3 cost-controlled years of Felix on hand.

 

He's already signed to a contract for those three years, totally $58 million.

 

Which means the costs are controlled.

[SouthSideRyan]

Yeah calling them cost-controlled is pretty misleading when he's making that much.

[Serge]

I think people are way too rich with their offers here. King Felix is due roughly 3/60. He's not cheap. Also, he's got a very high injury risk, simply because all pitchers have very high injury risks.

 

I don't think he gets dealt, unless maybe if Hal Steinbrenner decides to meddle on behalf of the Yankees. The Mariners aren't going to deal him unless they get a "King's Ransom." And rightly so, that fanbase is pissed off enough, dealing their one star for a mediocre package would cause riots. However, no well run team(again, except maybe the Yankees) is going to pay what he would cost, because when you account for his salary and his risk for injury, he doesn't have a ton of surplus value. In some magical world where pitchers aren't giant injury risks, yeah he's worth a ton. Something like Jackson, Mcnutt, and Vitters, plus maybe a bit more. However, we don't live in that world. In this world pitchers get hurt, constantly, and there's very little way to tell who will and who won't. I'm not sure he's worth that much more than Jackson alone when you account for pitcher attrition. He's certainly not worth Castro, that's absolutely laughable.

 

Trading the farm for King Felix would be a Jim Hendry move, not a Theo Epstein move.

[jersey cubs fan]

Trading the farm for King Felix would be a Jim Hendry move, not a Theo Epstein move.

 

I don't think people remember the Jim Hendry all that accurately.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Trading the farm for King Felix would be a Jim Hendry move, not a Theo Epstein move.

 

I don't think people remember the Jim Hendry all that accurately.

 

I keep reading about how he signed elite free agents every offseason.

[jersey cubs fan]

Trading the farm for King Felix would be a Jim Hendry move, not a Theo Epstein move.

 

I don't think people remember the Jim Hendry all that accurately.

 

I keep reading about how he signed elite free agents every offseason.

 

nothing but the best Clark

[Clem Fandango]

Would love to have him, but the money to pay him can be better spent elsewhere and I'm not really down for gutting the system for one player. I know he's an unbelievable pitcher, but I kinda want to see how resourceful Theo can be with what he's been given.

[jersey cubs fan]

Would love to have him, but the money to pay him can be better spent elsewhere and I'm not really down for gutting the system for one player. I know he's an unbelievable pitcher, but I kinda want to see how resourceful Theo can be with what he's been given.

 

turning the Cubs second rate high level prospects into an ace would be pretty damn resourceful.

[ScrubMD]

If stupid Cashner hadn't gotten hurt, he probably would've been in a great spot to headline a package for Felix with only having to throw in like Vitters and Lake.

[Serge]

Trading the farm for King Felix would be a Jim Hendry move, not a Theo Epstein move.

 

I don't think people remember the Jim Hendry all that accurately.

 

If you don't think the problem with Hendry was that he overpaid for players based on past performance rather than future value, then I don't think you really understand the problem with the Jim Hendry era.

 

Sending significant player value to Seattle for King Felix would be an excessively risky, short-sighted move intended to provide a patch job to a fundamentally flawed roster. It's not something that a team like the Cubs that's so low on the win curve should be looking to do. And luckily with Theo in charge we can be sure we've got someone smart enough to realize this.

[Sammy Sofa]

Trading the farm for King Felix would be a Jim Hendry move, not a Theo Epstein move.

 

I don't think people remember the Jim Hendry all that accurately.

 

If you don't think the problem with Hendry was that he overpaid for players based on past performance rather than future value, then I don't think you really understand the problem with the Jim Hendry era.

 

When did Hendry ever "trade the farm" for that type of player? The Pierre trade is pretty much the only big bad one he had.

[gus_dog]

Castro is a keeper. Essentially, he is untouchable at this point unless you just absolutely ream the other team talent-wise.

 

Castro's ceiling is so high, it's just not smart to move him, IMO.

[Guest]

 

If you don't think the problem with Hendry was that he overpaid for players based on past performance rather than future value, then I don't think you really understand the problem with the Jim Hendry era.

 

 

 

Aside from Soriano, Pierre, and MAYBE Zambrano, when the hell did he do this?

 

He also got guys who performed at a level well above the cost that was paid for them in Barrett, Ramirez, Lee and Dempster (in terms of how he was originally acquired).

 

The biggest problem with this team has been the lack of high end talent coming from the farm system as a result of the fact that they were doing player development the wrong way. We don't suck because we spent a lot of money on major league payroll. We suck because we couldn't produce any really good cheap players... only a few decent ones.

[jersey cubs fan]

If you don't think the problem with Hendry was that he overpaid for players based on past performance rather than future value, then I don't think you really understand the problem with the Jim Hendry era.

 

so you've decided to latch on the "past performance" part of the press conference. Okay.

[bukie]

Off the top of my head, all I've got is Longoria.

 

Probably Harper and Moore.

I'd probably do Bumgarner, too. Maybe Upton.