muntjack

The lowest OPS Hunter Pence has ever put up at any level is .864. He is good.

I was suggesting packages like this a month ago and getting mocked. :cry: It's pretty obvious now (as it was then) that Santana's relationship with the Twins has soured a bit, leaving them with less pull in any negotiations. The names being thrown out there as centerpieces are fairly ridiculous, though. Jon Lester has meh peripherals and cancer and Coco is a 28yr old with a career OPS < .740. I think a package of Hill + Marmol + Pie is significantly better than Melky + Kennedy + Tabata or Crisp + Lester + Lowrie. Not sure I give that up, however. I'd give up any 2 prospects in place of Hill, though.

Pretty much. Get that BABIP up a little and he's looking at an .850 + OPS.

I would kill for Ricky right now, lol. Heck, I'd take AGonz.

I've been stating this repeatedly on here for 2 years. So why are they letting Murton rot away and simultaneously decreasing his trade value?

That line is a bit better, but doesn't Matt project to improve his numbers a little with regular playing time and natural progression as he enters his prime years? I would be thrilled with Fukudome in CF, but only if we could spin Pie off in a package for a BIG improvement at SS or RF, otherwise he's not worth it, imo.

What I gather from all this is that Fukudome projects to be a LH Matt Murton. (albeit considerably older and more expensive) ~ .295/.360/.440 Poor Matt.

I like Carl Crawford, but if I'm giving up Hill for a LF, I want a ~.900 OPS guy, even if it means throwing in Gallagher or Colvin.

Obviously we don't have the prospects that some of the elite farms can offer. What we DO have however, are young, cheap players who have already shown promise at the big-league level. Marmol had a comparable year to F-Rod, Murton has always hit when given regular PT and Hill was one of the best LHP in the NL in his first full season as a starter. These guys should have a good bit of value. The Marlins have already gotten half of their staff via Chicago, why not grab Hill and Marmol as well? Hill in particular could put up some great #'s down there where his HR/9 figures to drop dramatically. Florida could spin off Dontrelle to someone else and still have a young, talented team while vastly lowering payroll. I would start by offering Hill, Murton, Gallagher and EPatt and when Florida says they need Marmol I replace Gallagher with Marmol and there we go. I really think that is a solid offer. The question is, does this handicap our pitching staff too much?

Baltimore needs a CF, and I think they would require Pie over EPatt. They would also want Marmol, whom they could slide into the closer role, pushing Chris Ray to setup. I think they'd also need a replacement starter ala Marshall/Gallagher. This is just for Bedard, but I think it's a good package. BTW, why does everyone act like we have nothing valuable to offer in a trade? What if Marmol was a Yankee and people on this board wanted to acquire him to close for us? How many people here would claim "Marmol isn't going anywhere, he is young, dirt cheap and had obscene #s".?

If you say so. When you're trotting a Santana out there instead of Jason Marquis, the offense does not have to score as many runs in order to win. Ahh, I see. So an offense that doesn't have to score as many runs looks better. Makes perfect sense. When you picked up the paper today did you read "Man that Mike Lowell had a real nice win lastnight"? Makes as much sense as your claim that "a pitcher will win more games and hence look better. " If his peripherals are the same, he's THE SAME pitcher who wins more games due to the offense. It works both ways.

If you say so. When you're trotting a Santana out there instead of Jason Marquis, the offense does not have to score as many runs in order to win. Oh, see, I thought we were talking about what would help this team the most.... Lol. Cause Derrek Lee was a Free Agent and Ramirez was a product of the farm, I forgot. Teams like the Orioles, who aren't going to be competitive next year would never trade a guy approaching free agency coming off a career year to a team that can fill multiple needs. Never happen.

The additions to the offense will make the pitching look better? Doesn't this work the other way as well? I think we need to differentiate between the performance of the 2007 Cubs offense and current projections of the 2008 lineup. I understand if you all aren't as high on Soto as I am (lol), but can we all agree he will be a big improvement over Barrett/Hill/Bowen/Kendall? We all saw what happened to DLee in the 2nd half, isn't that a better projector than his (possibly still injured) 1st half? The offense stands to improve as is, the rotation does not. I love the ARod vs. Santana argument because it's really making my point for me. Whether or not ARod > Santana is inconsequential in my scenario, it's whether Renteria/Tejada > Santana, and hopefully we all can agree on that. Again, I'm NOT saying that Santana is realistic (though visions of a sub-2.00 ERA in his first NL go-round are dancing in my head), just illustrating what a #1 could add to this team. How about Erik Bedard? We know Baltimore has needs we can fill (closer/CF). MacPhail is there and we've already established a relationship, Bedard is coming up on free agency and the Orioles aren't close. And we DO have the chips to get this guy, imo. The question is, is he worth Marmol, Marshall/Murton and Pie? 221/57 K/BB, 182IP 141H for a 1.09 WHIP (in the AL East)

You're a fan of the Chicago Cubs, correct?

As realistic as ARod or Bonds. Hasn't Johan said he wants out? I'm really surprised how confident everyone is with the rotation. Hill's results could easily improve considering his peripherals, but: -Lilly had a career year in many respects. Will he have a 174/55 K/BB ratio again? -Marquis' post all-star ERA was 5.73 -Z was up and down all year. Unless his BB/9 drastically improves, shouldn't we expect more of the same? -Marshall should have kept the #5 spot, but as of now that's up in the air. A back end of the rotation with Marquis and ??? has me concerned.

Does Kemp + Kershaw trump Hill/Marmol/Pie/Murton? I'm not so sure. What is our ultimate goal here? Will the NL central be weak again? If so, is our offense good enough to get 88-90 wins IF we add a #1 starter? If that's the case, then a #1 starter should be our top priority, as that is what will give us the best chance to make a run once we're in the playoffs.

Awesome rotation, no doubt, but what does your outfield look like in this scenario? Soriano/ A. Jones/ J. Jones 30 mil for ARod or 20 mil for Johan + 10 for A Jones? Again, I'm not saying either scenario is likely, just trying to illustrate how much more formidable we are with another frontline starter. That rotation with this lineup? Soriano DeRosa Lee ARam A. Jones Soto J. Jones Cedeno/Theriot and I don't see how we lose 70 games. Prior comes back and its lol. Come playoff time, who is gonna beat that 1-2-3?

Why shouldn't we look at acquiring a #1 starter? Anyone who would push Z down to #2 would turn our rotation from solid into a potential powerhouse. I hear the Dodgers have a brilliant GM...... or Hill/Pie/Murton/Marmol for J. Santana? Santana Z Lilly Gallagher/Marshall Marquis

omgomgomgomg. I'm going to throw up.

Ugggh. I'm getting queasy. Soto should hit 6th.

You can't feel a wraith. They're not tangible. If that's my team, I'd bat Lee 2nd, Soto 5th and DeRosa 6th. For your RF, there's no way Floyd is back, and Jones should get dumped, too. I'm hoping for a Marshall, Murton, Veal and Patterson trade for Miggy Cabrera to round out that lineup there, but that's just me. ;-) I'd put him 5th and move Soto and DeRo down a spot. Seriously, the Fish are in awful shape (again), Cabrera could get moved this winter in the right deal. I want in on that, he is criminally underrated because of toiling in Miami. Given his age, I might even want him more than A-Rod. Financially, the fish are a mess, but talentwise, they're dangerous. 6 out of 8 position players OPS over .800. None are over 28. The only reason they're not competitive now is because the pitching is awful. Their two best young pitchers missed pretty much the whole season, and Dontrelle was useless. Nobody on that team makes anything aside from Cabrera and Willis. I think they give it a shot and bump payroll for one year, because with that amount of young talent, they're very close to being competitive. I'm sure the rumor isn't concrete or real as printed, but there are a lot of factors that could hypothetically put ARod in Chicago if he opts out. If it somehow worked out that way, there'd be no excuse whatsoever not to play Murton, Pie, and Soto every day next season. That's exactly why they SHOULD trade Miggy. They would still have a potent offense, and Cabrera could fetch a #1 starter + two very good prospects.

For the love of Electric Jesus, yes.

Iowa comes back from an 8-3 deficit to make it 9-8 in the 8th. EPatt has 3 BB, Cedeno has 2 with a triple and Soto is 2-4 with the HR and 4 RBIs.

I laughed.

Soto 3/5 so far with yet another HR and 4 RBI Pie is 1/2 with 3 BB EPatt is 1/3 with 2 BB