rawaction

I was hoping Atlanta might take Marshall, Cedeno and another pitching prospect. Don't know if that would fly for the Braves. I'd like for the Cubs to keep Theriot as a utility guy. Who else is in the market to upgrade at SS this offseason? Cards? Astros? White Sox? Giants? Nats? Reds? Blue Jays? A's? Twins? I think all those teams could use a SS, except for the Reds. Keppinger or Alex Gonzalez will start there. I think that will drive Renteria's price up. I think it will take a starter the Braves can plug in their rotation and another starter pretty close, that can compete for their 5th spot at some point in the season. I'd trade Marshall, Patterson, and a guy like Atkins/Holliman for Renteria and a lower level prospect.

Ya think? I think Mike White's experience from last season will help him get playing time to start the year, and if he performs, he will stay in the rotation. Holman is so raw right now. I really hope he contributes big time (wingspan is amazing), but I'd imagine at best, he'd get 4-5 minutes/game with possibly more if DJ is in severe foul trouble. I think McGhee will redshirt. He's scrawny and IU has a lot of talent in his spots (2G, SF).

well said, excellent post... Taking a page out of CRs book. My projected starting lineup: F/C- DJ White- 6'9 Senior F- Lance Stemler- 6'8 Senior G/F- Jamarcus Ellis- 6'5 Junior (JC Transfer) G- Eric Gordon- 6'4 Freshman G- Armon Bassett- 6'2 Sophomore Key bench players: G AJ Ratliff- 6'3" Senior F Mike White- 6'6 Senior F DeAndre Thomas- 6'8, 300lb Junior (JC Transfer) G Jordan Crawford- 6'4 Freshman Key losses: Roderick Wilmont (12.6 PPG, 5.8 RPG), Earl Calloway (9.6 PPG, 4.3 APG).

Best team in the nation, IMO.

INDIANA! 3rd in BigTen last year. Eliminated in 2nd round of NCAAs against the eventual Final 4 UCLA Bruins. This year, return 5 players who started games from last year's team. DJ White a year further removed from 2 broken feet. Bring in a top 3 recruit in the nation. Bring in a top 3 JUCO transfer. 2 potential 1st team All-Americans. Top 10 team in the country. Picked to finish 2nd the BigTen. One of the easier schedules in recent school history. Potential Final 4 team if it all comes together quickly, especially on the defensive end.

Cubs biggest need is a middle of the order hitter. Arod would obviously be the ultimate. But there are plenty of options to fill the SS/RF/CF positions. My realistic goal would be to greatly upgrade 1 position, while managing to upgrade another, making the team better all-around. I believe this can be done relatively cheaply w/ SS the likely high priced position. Any combo of Renteria/Church, Furcal/Ethier, Tejada/Baldelli would likely make the team better in 2 spots.

Keppinger, Hamilton, and Votto need to play everyday. They should trade Dunn and Hatteberg for pitching.

Wouldn't the best lineup have Lee leading off, since he was the most productive hitter and therefore would get the most PAs? Lee, Ramirez, Soriano, etc.

On one hand, Theriot was a horrible 2 hitter, but on the other. Lou had to use what he had. Theriot was probably the best option for SS for most of the year. Down the stretch you could argue for Cedeno, but he has never shown the ability to get on base as much as Theriot did. Plus, he had to balance the lineup in some way. Derosa would have been the ideal #2 hitter, but then you have a 6-7-8-9 of Jones, Theriot, Kendall/Hill/Bowen, Pitcher, which is horrible. Soriano's leadoff spot was set in stone. Lee at 3. Ramirez 4-5. Floyd, Ward, Murton were set at 4-5. Derosa, sadly, was the "power" out of the rest of the lineup. It was kinda pick you poison with #2 hitter assuming Lou wanted Derosa 6th to drive in the middle of the order. Would have been nice to have Soto up earlier, but the Cubs lineup was a mess all year.

I'm leaning toward this way too. While he does offer a LH bat, that and the millions of dollars in salary difference isn't justified when you could have Murton for cheap. I still think Abreu can improve on his 2007 numbers, but I'd rather go cheaper and younger.

Hart's pitch aresenal is way better than that of Aardsma or Cherry and hopefully his FB velocity isn't as sporadic as those two's were. By the way, looking at those old Fausto Carmona descriptions actually remind me of Jeff Samardzia. Raw and unfinished, sinking pitches, throws hard, has the necessary pitches to be a frontline starter, shouldn't be as hittable as he is. Hopefully Samardzija can make the adjustments that Carmona made. Wow. That is pretty good. Never put 2 and 2 together, but that's as good a comparison as I've seen in a while.

Might as well back a truck up to Matt Holliday's home, full of money and naked women. He should be revered like a rock star. And while it wouldn't be horrible to see an exciting young team like the Rockies win it all, deep down it blows to see a team get to the World Series that wasn't even in existence the last time the Cubs made it there. Marlins, Angels, D'Backs, Rockies in recent years. If the Mariners, Devil Rays, Astros, and Nationals win before the Cubs, I will shoot myself.

yeah, still has a high ceiling, but he took a step backwards control-wise at least in the beginning of the year. He's still throws hard with his left hand and has a good #2 pitch.

my team sucks all kinds of ass.

Maybe on Hardy, but Braun was the 5th pick in 2005. Weeks was the #2 pick in 03. Both were very highly regarded from the beginning.

Wasn't the whole premise of this thread that they wanted to replenish their minors? The Pirates aren't trying to win next year, they are trying to become the Brewers of three years ago (at least according to the blog). Bay had a very high BABIP in 2005. I understand what the blog is saying, I just don't think it makes much sense. Granted, that's what the thread was about, but if that's the case, Murton makes no sense either way. It makes no sense for the Pirates to trade Bay in order to replenish their system. They aren't gonna get superstar prospect for him after a down year. What they could get though are players 2-3 years away from arbitration with the potential to help them compete in the weak NL Central. If they aren't gonna get system changing prospects (the Brewers group of Fielder, Braun, Weeks, Hardy, type of guys), then they might as well keep Bay, continue to finish in the bottom of the league and just draft like they want to get better. Their farm system would look very different if they wouldn't shy away from the top guys because of signability issues.

If Murton is the centerpiece, there is no deal. The Pirates wouldn't be getting rid of Bay because they can't afford him. They would be getting rid of him to improve the team overall. The best way to do that is to get better in the positions they are well below average like 3B, C, and SP. If Murton is included in the deal, fine, but there is no benefit to the Pirates trading Bay unless they can improve other areas of the team significantly. It's much easier to replace Bay's production by signing a FA OF than a 3B, C or SP. Those are premium positions which they cannot compete with larger spending teams for.

That really sucks for the Reds. We saw what the Milwaukee Brewers did by building thru the farm system and having them all come up and have the opportunity to play together. Bruce and Votto to go along with Griffey, Phillips, Keppinger, and Encarnacion is a lot of offensive talent in a very hitter friendly park. Harang, Bailey and Cueto is enough pitching talent to shut down the opposition even in GABP. Really interested to see Dusty's coaching staff.

I'm typically viewed as one of the board majority, but I have clearly stated in several places that I would rather the Cubs upgrade RF than SS. I don't really want Murton or Theriot to start. Both are pretty good bench options, though. The offense as it stands can't afford to really have Murton and Theriot out there everyday. We know what Lee, Ramirez and Soriano are gonna do. DeRosa will be a slightly above league average player. But CF, RF, SS, and C are all question marks at this point in terms of what production you are gonna get. Theriot and Murton would do nothing but add to that if they were starting at SS and RF, respectively. If the Cubs can get Hawpe and Church in the OF with Soriano, then I'd be happy with Theriot at SS, hitting 8th. If the Cubs get ARod, I'd be happy with Murton in RF. The fact that more SS options are probably gonna be available for cheap and Theriot is not nearly as talented Murton, is why you don't see people wanting to get rid of Murton in comparison to Theriot. But if generalizations of the board floats your boat, then go for it.

What about Andre Ethier? There have been a lot of Kemp trade rumors. But I'm guessing the Dodgers would rather trade Ethier. Kemp has more power and can play CF. There have also been rumors of LA going after one of the FA CFs on the market (A. Jones, Hunter, Rowand). If that happens Pierre moves to LF, and one of Kemp/Ethier probably has to go. Would LA do Ethier and Furcal for Marshall, Theriot and a prospect or 2? They get out of the contract of a bust signing, they get a LH starter to break up the 4 power RHs (Penny, Lowe, Schmidt, Billingsley), and get insurance for 2B/SS, who produced the same as Furcal for 12M cheaper, in case their young MIFs don't work out to start the season.

They can get a lot more than what the Cubs can offer. I'd definitely see if they'd be interested in Marshall, Atkins, and Patterson or a similar deal. If I were the Pirates, I'd see if Jeff Mathis and Ervin Santana were available. It makes a ton of sense for the Pirates to trade Bay. He had a down year, but his previous seasons and contract will be very value to a contending team needing an OF. They can build that team around Laroche, Sanchez, and Nady, who were all better than Bay last year. They can use the money they save to make a trade for a bat to replace Bay's, at a more needed position like 3B (Hank Blalock, Troy Glaus).

Aramis and Soriano clearly did this. They are pretty much guess hitters all season. Aramis was completely off-balanced, because the DBacks' pitchers mixed it up well and he made up his mind he was gonna swing before the pitch was thrown. Soriano is extremely streaky because of his guessing.

I moved this to Baseball Discussions, because I feel it could be an interesting discussion and may get missed in the minors forum. There are some similarities between Gallagher and Carmona. Not too much difference in size. Both feature sinking 2-seamers. But there are some stark contrasts. Carmona's #2 pitch is a slider, Gallagher throws a curve. Carmona's command has always been one of his assets, Gallagher has shown signs of great command, but has had some inconsistencies, in particular in his 2 AA stints. Carmona gets in trouble when he tries to be too fine with his control. Gallagher gets in trouble when he tries not to, and challenges hitters too much. Most important, is probably velocity. Carmona throws a hard sinker about 93-95. Gallagher's is not as hard around 89-91. Sean can get it up to 95, but loses a ton of movement when he does so. The difference in velocity is important as a harder sinker is harder for a hitter to get underneath and elevate. Actually, some guys who Gallagher share(s/d) a lot of similarity with are Jake Peavy and young Greg Maddux. He has a similar repetoire to both (sinker, curve, change, developing slider). He has shown Maddux like durability. And scouts rave about his "knowledge" of pitching. I like Gallagher a lot. But at this point, Kevin Hart probably gives the Cubs just as much. Long-term, I think Gallagher could be the better pitcher, though. I think the Cubs can and should trade 2 of Gallagher, Marshall, Hart for a bat of some sort (I think 2 can net Renteria). The remaining P opens the season as the #5 and at worst competes with Prior, Veal, Holliman, and others later in the year to keep that spot.

Yeah, because why would you want a .393 OBP when you can have Soriano's .337 OBP in the leadoff spot? What about the rest of Figgins' career where he is Ryan Theriot, but with 50 additional Ks/year? And what does Soriano have to do with anything? I don't want him leadoff with the current roster. Figgins doesn't change that. FWIW, I think the chances are slim that Chone repeats his .393 OBP at any other point in his career. Probably about as likely as Soriano putting up a .350 OBP again, as he did in 06.

I wouldn't mind trading Pie and Marshall, especially if the gain is a good young RF or SS. If you get something of value, then I think Jones is a decent stop gap in CF, provided he shows up before summer, before you hand the job over to Colvin or Eric Patterson in 2009. Marshall did a great job, but his durability is in question. I think the top 4 are pretty solid. You can mix and match in the 5th spot, like they did this year, until you find a guy to take over for good. If you can get Hawpe or Hermida for Pie and Marshall, you have to do it. My hope is the get Renteria for Marshall and a prospect and then Hawpe for a combo including Pie, Hart/Gallagher, and others.