BigbadB

Wow, right before the weekend. The outdoor barbecues will be abuzz of such an impact acquisition. I congratulate Cardinals fans everywhere.

Brian Schneider is talented? Talented might not be the correct word, but the Nats liked him enough to get rid of Barrett some years ago.

Wow! :shock: I've been hearing lots of teams are not impressed with Milledge and actually preferred Carlos Gomez or Fernando Martinez over Milledge, and the Nats are giving up quite a bit of talent for Milledge.

My guess would be that it has happened, and probably on more than one occasion. While '03 Florida did have Juan Pierre and Luis Castillo batting at the top of the order, the rest of their line up featured all RH hitters except for the platoon of Hollandsworth and Conine. That same year, the Cubs only had Lofton (who replaced Patterson) and Simon platooning with Karros. Here was the Cubs roster in 2003: Lofton, Grudz, Sosa, Alou, Ramirez, Karros, Miller, Gonzalez

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20070526/ai_n19179908 Nice find. Needs to be kept in context, though. Lou would like a LH bat that can hit LH pitching. But having a lefty bat to keep the lefty pitcher from getting grooved is obviously not an overarching priority for Lou. If so, he wouldn't have been taking the lefty bats that he did have (Jones, Floyd, Fontenot) out of the lineup versus LHP. It's also clearly not *the* driving factor in Lou's quest for lefty swingers this offseason either. For example, it's clear that the interest in matsui was impacted by his swinging lefty. But not because he'd swing lefty vs LHP and disrupt them, since he bats righty versus lefty pitchers. This is a preference for Lou, not a decision maker. If he thought Jones could hit LHP as well as Craig Monroe, he'd have preferred to keep Jones in the lineup. But even in the final week he was replacing Jones with Monroe because the disrupt-the-pitcher preference was outweighed by the Jones-can't-hit-lefties factor. In the case of the lefty outfielder that they want, I'm sure they'd really like a guy who could be an every-day guy and didn't need to be removed every time a lefty pitched. But for the lefty infielder they want, I think somebody who can hold his own versus RHP while batting lefty will be hard enough to find, getting one who can hit lefties while swinging left-handed, those are rare and more expensive than Hendry is likely to afford. Aside from the fact it's a waste of roster space to have a bunch of outfielders that can only hit right or lefties.

I don't think so. I think we have in house candidates that might be better. Kroeger, Patterson and Fuld all hit lefty and should be slated for AAA.

The only impact bat that I see that meets the Cubs requirements outside of Fukudome is Milton Bradley. Geoff Jenkins is probably next in line, but I think I'd rather see them grab Jose Guillen over Jenkins, but they won't do that.

You mean like a lefty batting practice tosser? :D I'm not sure there is a SS upgrade over Ronny Cedeno. Just give the kid the job and have Theriot take the super utility spot. You could have him platoon with Pie in CF (if Cubs management REALLY MUST) and call it good. Murton will not get the starting gig in RF. Cubs management wants a lefty bat, and realistically, that's about the only roster spot they will be able to fill that need. All the talk this offseason has been Fukudome, Crawford and Jenkins, all lefty hitters. Others who might fill that spot are Shawn Green and Milton Bradley.

That would be pretty tough for Hendry to stay involved with Fukudome, I'd think. Getting a LH RFer has been his primary objective since the season ended. Most all teams are trying to shape their rosters and their budgets. Does Hendry really want to freeze that hunt and sit out the winter meetings and all of the roster resolutions that other clubs are making during December in order to wait for Fukudome? Unless he's really confident/sure that he's going to get Fukudome anyway, or that some desirable alternative will still be available in January, wouldn't stalling a Fukudome decision really paralyze absolutely everything else that hendry can do? So much so that Hendry might decide he can't wait any longer, and needs to get what he can here before it's too late? Agreed. Which really makes me despise the Jacque Jones trade even more. To me, you don't trade a commodity unless you have a replacement already locked up.

soxprospects.com Wasn't Sam Fuld rated higher than Ellsbury while in college? Maybe Fuld doesn't have Ellsbury's ceiling, but I find the two somewhat comparable. Granted, Fuld is 2 years older than Ellsbury, but..... Fuld's minor league career numbers: .296 .377 .417 794 Ellsbury's minor league career numbers: .313 .389 .425 814

The problem is that there aren't many upgrade options at SS.

Dave Roberts is also old enough to be Juan Pierre's father.

The Twins don't have to be in any hurry. If they keep pitting NYY vs. Boston, I wonder how high they can get the package upped. I think it would be hilarious if by February NYY was offering Chamberlain, Hughes, Cano and Cabrera and Boston was offering Ellsbury, Lester, Buchholz and Lowrie and Minnesota was still holding out.

You should hesitate to bring that up. :D Hendry should just make a last ditch effort to get Fukudome to sign, and if he plays games, he should focus his energy on signing Milton Bradley and start working the phones for an improvement at SS.

6/150 That's why only the Red Sox and Yankees are talking to Minnesota. At the same time, I'd laugh at Boston for offering Coco Crisp, Buchholz and Lowrie about as loudly as I would laugh at the Yankees package that excludes Hughes and Chamberlain.

We might not like his game, but it's not fair to call Kaz a loser. Because he's clearly the winner here. The Cubs still lose, because now they probably move on to plan B from Kaz, which could only be worse. I dread Plan B. I'm so frustrated with Hendry, that I'd just as soon they don't make any moves this offseason, because I probably won't like anything he does. Call it an offseason now before any more damage gets done.

Agreed. I don't understand why teams continue to deal with the Yankees. Sure, money is great. But, if it keeps a team from getting deep into the playoffs, find a different team to pillage. If I'm Minnesota, as soon as the Yankees state "We will not part with Hughes or Chamberlain", I say, "pleasure talking to you, call me when you change your mind, good bye".

Yep. I wanna know who done did it. Especially the one's who did it and still sucked. :D

You are still taking my post out of context. But, whatever. I have no desire to attempt to explain it any further.

Here is what I said, word for word. Antonelli, Matt I'll be shocked if he's with the big club opening day. None of our 2b's are guys who block Antonelli. I think I heard the Padres lost Blum also. Infante would be a guy they could use to hold down 2b until Antonelli is ready and then as a back up later. Obviously, Infante would not be one of the major trading chips for Peavy, however.

Instead of sitting back and making smart ass comments, how about reading the entire posts rather than just skimming? Where in my post did I say anything about one of our 2b's being a valuable trade chip? Where? Quote me on it and post it here. Please. I'm dying to see it. Where in my post did I say anything about you saying anything about one of our 2b's being a valuable trade chip? Where? Quote me on it and post it here. Please. I'm dying to see it. You poked fun at my post after taking it out of context. Did you not? That's certainly the way I read it. "The irony is delicious" comment clearly meant to poke fun at the reference that San Diego would take a stop gap 2b in exchange for Peavy when I clearly said that Infante wouldn't even be a valuable chip in the trade. If that is not what you meant, please clarify what you mean by "the irony is delicious".

There is already a Prior Discussion thread in this forum.

cuz they have 8 home dates, not 81 While your point still stands, they actually have 10 home dates in the NFL. They charge full price for preseason games. Heh. While your point still stands, you originally said "college FB" which doesn't play in the NFL. College teams only typically have 5 or 6 home games. :D

Instead of sitting back and making smart ass comments, how about reading the entire posts rather than just skimming? Where in my post did I say anything about one of our 2b's being a valuable trade chip? Where? Quote me on it and post it here. Please. I'm dying to see it.

Jason Bartlett is a nice pickup too. The Rays terrible run prevention last year wasn't just bad pitchers. The defense behind those pitchers was just awful. Bartlett is a very good to elite defensive SS. Even if he isn't any better than replacement level on offense, he has a lot of value for Tampa. And if Brignac shows he's completely ready, Bartlett isn't so good you can't bench/trade him for the new guy. As a Rays fan, I like the deal. Trade from a source of depth to get lots of value where we're weak. I hate to lose the potential of someone like Young, but I feel it's worth it. I don't think Garza will ever be a #1, but that's not what the team needs. A solid #3/possible #2 is exactly what the team does need. Another good thing, in my opinion, is this deal reinforces what I've believed for a couple years: There's almost 0 chance the Rays will trade Crawford for prospects. It never made any sense to me that people thought the team would trade him unless it was for an elite pitcher(Oswalt, Santana, Zambrano. etc.). He signed a below market deal to stay in Tampa. He's been an all-star and the face of the franchise. Only way it'd make sense to trade him is if 1) he was in the last year of his deal and 2) he refused to sign an extension. Neither of those things are anywhere close to being true. I agree with you. Delmon Young is young and he will likely improve. However, he has a long way to go to be an elite player. His patience at the plate makes Rocco Baldelli look like a patient hitter. Young was promoted too quickly, and an argument can be made that the Tampa outfield will be better with Crawford, Upton and one of Dukes, Gomes or Baldelli out there rather than Young. And when you couple in the fact Longoria could end up being better offensively than Young, where is the drop off in offensive production when you exclude Young from the picture? What Tampa needs more than anything is pitching. And they just got a solid arm to add to the youth. Tampa can start this coming season with Kazmir, Shields, Garza and fill the last spots with Sonnanstine and possibly one of the prize young prospects coming through the ranks.