CardsFanInChiTown

Considering Matty Mo's biggest problem is the long ball Pac Bell is a good fit for him. I wish him luck.

I think a pretty good arguement could be made that he is not one of the top ten players in the game. If he is not he is close. And he is the best SS in professional baseball, until Rodriguez decides he wants to play short again. Tejada was 39th in MLB in OPS, and he plays average at best defense. 12th in VORP And around 20th in VORP rate, but I don't like VORP anyways. I'm curious, what don't you like about VORP? Do you just perfer rates in general?

I think a pretty good arguement could be made that he is not one of the top ten players in the game. If he is not he is close. And he is the best SS in professional baseball, until Rodriguez decides he wants to play short again. Tejada was 39th in MLB in OPS, and he plays average at best defense. 12th in VORP

Best of luck Matt!

It seems like the Cards were willing to expand payroll in order to get Burnett they might do the same for Miggy and Morris? I agree it doesn't completely make sense. *sigh*

...if you get a full season out of ARam pretty much an unnecesary quip, but I'll play as if the Cardinals thirdbaseman is the picture of health. the best thing that could have happened to his knees is his shoulder injury. Aram gets the nagging pulls that don't go away, but Rolen has two chronic knees and now a shoulder that may never be the same. I would trade Rolan for Miggy.

Don't worry, the Cards main focus seems to be adding pitching not subtracting it therefore I don't think Walt would be interested in this trade. Another thing, I doubt we can afford to add Miggy's contract.

C'mon, he's a Cards fan. He just doesn't know any better. :D I agree with you completely. The guy's our best offensive player by quite a bit, in my opinion. And I will hold that opinion until Lee can show me that 2005 was not a fluke. Hah yeah, you are probably right about me overrating his injury history.

Tejada for Mulder & Wainwright and move Eck over to 2nd. Why would the Cards want to trade Mulder? Sure he has one year remaining on his contract, but the strength of their rotation hinges on a Carpenter/Mulder repeat, especially if Marquis is used in a trade and/or Morris signs elsewhere. Additionally, your offense is already ridiculous. Why must you insist on trying to make fools of us all with Tejeda? :wink: I doubt we are going to lock Mulder up long term. Mulder is overrated anyway. We have a young pitcher named Reyes who will fill in if we trade him. I'd do the deal.

Tejada for Mulder & Wainwright and move Eck over to 2nd. Yea, Mulder is going to want to make a long-term commitment to the Os. :roll: He asked what the "wanna-be GMs" were thinking so I answered. Honestly I think this trade is more realistic than just about everything thrown around here.

...if you get a full season out of ARam

Tejada for Mulder & Wainwright and move Eck over to 2nd.

If the Cubs had a decent 3rd base option I would do it considering ARam's health issues.

I think that those teams would be looking for those ideally, but the question of how realistic those expectations are comes up. Long post ahoy! Regarding Tejada, the word is that he has a bad relationship with Ramon Hernandez and the Orioles knew about it. Yet, they still decided to bring him in. The Orioles also are looking like the 4th best team in the AL East. Their farm system has very few good players in it who are at most a year away from being ready. Their pitching staff is young, unproven, and/or sucks. They have good offensive players, but not enough to make up for the pitching problems. If anything, I think the Orioles are a few years away from competing for the AL East again. Tejada is angry at them and would likely be a distraction in the clubhouse if his relationship with Hernandez is as bad as I've heard it to be. Yet, Tejada is also signed to a good contract and has trade value. They could get some top prospects for him, especially pitching, which the Cubs have. However, given that the market for him is not that strong (I'd say it's Boston and Chicago with Atlanta as a dark horse), I don't think that they could reasonably demand a Zambrano or a Prior, if they are set on trading him. I don't think money is the issue with them, either. As for the Phillies, they're in a slightly different bind. It was mentioned earlier in the offseason that the Phillies would like to get out from under two of their three large contracts (Thome, Burrell, and Abreu). They already unloaded Thome, but in the process they got an extra outfielder, causing them to have a bit of a problem in terms of a logjam. Michaels, Rowand, Abreu, Burrell, and Victorino (with Bourne waiting in the wings) all will vie for playing time. Yet, with Burrell and Abreu's contracts, something tells me both will start no matter what, which could be problematic since they might not be able to start their best OFs. Now, in an ideal world, the Phillies would trade Pat Burrell, shift Rowand to left, and play Michaels in CF until Victorino or Bourne are ready next year. However, I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally don't think there's much of a market for Burrell, especially given his horrifyingly bad contract and his recent inconsistency. They could pawn him off on some team, but they'd still have to consume at least a portion of his contract. Also keep in mind that this is a team that should make a run at the NL East next season if they solidify their bullpen and rotation. They could also use a third baseman and a catcher in the near future. Abreu is the kind of guy who could help plug those holes and the Phillies wouldn't have to pay a dime of his salary. He has two years left and is towards the end of his prime, so they should get good value for him. I think the Cubs could provide the pitching they need as well as some help at 3B (Scott Moore) and C (Geovanny Soto) that could help at a cheap price down the line. I think there's a more reasonable chance they could get a stud pitcher for Abreu than Tejada would, given the market for a RF. There's more of a chance that some team will overpay for Abreu. However, I personally do not feel like he is worth Prior or Zambrano. His age is enough of a factor to make me pause and wonder how much longer he could keep it up. You bring up lots of interesting points. Some I agree with some that I don't.... I agree but I dont think they see it that way. Why do I think this? The Hernandez signing. Maybe as you suggest they won't find an impact player and they are forced to just get prospects but we shall see... The Cubs do not have any top pitching prospects. They have lots interesting arms but nothing A level one of these teams would likely require. They do have an interesting problem and you bring up points I hadn't considered but there's no way they need to dump salary after getting Thome and not signing Wagner. They want a very good pitcher or they will stand pat, but as you suggest something has to give... The Phils need a very good pitcher and nothing the Cubs are willing to offer them seem to fit that bill. I agree.

When it's all said and done I think we'll look like a 90-95 win team. Really, that's all you can ask for.

I wouldn't assume either of these clubs are looking to dump salary (maybe the O's should but I don't think they see it that way). I *think* in order to get one guys the Cubs will have to give up an impact player in the majors. i.e. like a Aram for Miggy deal or Wood for Aberu (Yes, I know Wood has a NTC but I'm trying to give an example). I could be wrong, just throwing it out there. edit - my 1k post! WooWee!

Assuming Mora could move to SS. Would you trade Aram for Miggy? Aram is cheaper and younger however he can't seem to stay healthy. You could move RC over to 2nd then sign Nomar for 3rd.

Yeah but Boston has a lot of really good pitching prospects...

I'm really beginning to seriously doubt the effectiveness of the Cubs minor leauge development and coaching staffs. ...but we developed Mark Prior. :roll: Zambrano and Wood don't count? Is wood really a testament to our minor league system? he had all the talent in the world coming in and can't stay healthy b/c of mechanics, which probably should have been altered when he was younger. great job on Z. that's one solid pitcher in how many years? How do we know that for sure? What if his bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons , etc aren't great?

I do, Hendry is willing to be brash. I just don't think the Cubs match up real well with the O's.

So he can't opt out and become a free agent? Diffusion's post says otherwise. I'm confused.

From BP here

The price for Bradley is going up. According to Gammon's L.A. rejected Todd Walker trade.

My list > yours. I humbly disagree... 2B Brian Roberts (1 year wonder?) 3B Alex Rodriguez LF Albert Pujols RF Vladimir Gurrero 1B Derrek Lee (1 year wonder? Gettng older?) SS Miguel Tejada (is 30) CF Andruw Jones (overrated) C Joe Mauer (Martinez is better) SP1 Johan Santana SP2 Roger Clemensv (old) SP3 Carlos Zambrano SP4 Dontrelle Willis SP5 Jake Peavy Closer = Eric Gagne Set-up = Brad Lidge

Why do you say they were going to suck. Before the fire sale they had one of the best pitching staffs in the majors. They also had a top 5 outfielder a very good 2nd baseman. They would have compteted, especially with what is going on in Atlanta. I totally disagree with that. They could not afford to keep delgado and their core together. Something had to give. edit - when I said they couldn't contend it's because they couldn't afford to keep everybody.