RammyFanny

I agree the Sox got the better end of the deal (Swisher is young, productive and cheap), but unless Kenny plans to follow this up by improving his rotation and trading for a real SS, I don't see how they compete with Detroit and Cleveland over the next several years. Thome, Konerko and Dye are each on the wrong side of their careers (though Konerko as a full-time DH would be good), and you accurately summarized their pitching woes. If it were me, I probably would have dealth away the tradeable veteran parts and try to land a cornerstone prospect, but that's easy for me to say. They'd lose their fickel fanbase for another 5-7 yrs if they did that. Cabrera won't light the world on fire but I don't see how they realistically upgrade from him without really hurting themselves. There just aren't that many SS better than him available. Maybe you just forgot about him.

I'm more interested in the OBP and OPS+ anyway, which suggests the guy is very good and worthy of a 3 B prospects. None of those guys was close to contributing to the White Sox. It wasn't Pie, Soto and Gallagher. It's lower level pitching prospects and a bat that hasn't done much. I wouldn't mind (as long as the team stood a reasonable chance to contend now). Gallagher is nothing special, and Soto has had one good season. I wouldn't consider Gonzalez a B prospect, and he could have stepped into the rotation this year. The difference between the White Sox 3 and the Cubs 3 isn't as great as you make it out to be. Not to pick on you in particular KCF, but i'm starting to get fed up with how many people say "every system has a Gallagher", "he's nothing special", etc. I'd like those people to show me this huge list of 21 year old or younger players that every team has, who put up sub 2.7 ERAs in AAA with good WHIPs, and who've put up about a solid 3.00 ERA in AA while being young for the league. We're talking about a guy who has a great mound presence, a conistent 93 mph heater, a 11 or 12-6 curveball which is a pretty good pitch that keeps hitters off balance, a tight curve (almost a slider) that projects be a plus pitch, and a changeup that will grade out as at least average. If people are basing this off of last seasons random bullpen performances in blowout games, that isn't the Sean Gallagher you'll be seeing. The guy I saw in the bullpen last year through fastballs and his 12-6 curve, which is good if he keeps it down. Last year, he seemed a little nervous and left a few of those curves up, and they got hit hard. For some reason he didn't make an effort to use his other pitches (probably a little uncomfortable in his first callup at such a young age), which are possibly better than the curve he showed. I know it sounds like i'm making him out to be an ace, but i'm not. I'm just saying a pitcher like him can be very valuable. I'm not trying to compare the two's stuff, but his value will be similiar to a Joe Blantons (guy who will give you a bunch of innings and and ERA somewhere in the upper 3's). Guys like this are worth about 12 million on the FA market these days.

I wonder if Beane would be interested in Murton a little more now in a potential Blanton trade.

Cubs would be idiots to move him to the rotation in his final season, when he could easily fetch a Type A or B as a closer and get us draft picks. Letting him and Howry (or Wood if someone offers him an insane contract) go would be awesome for our farm as we could pile up some great picks and replace them with cheap in house guys who have the potential to be just as good. Oh, and Sean Gallagher's name should be in there, unless we are assuming he won't be on the team.

I could get behind Blanton and he would help the team, but I would rather hold out until some sort of power arm (Burnett?) is available. Contact pitchers without great stuff are unpredictable (see "Jason Marquis--first half"). It's like going to the Casino every month banking on you winning enough to pay off your bills. But, i'm no expert on Blanton (maybe i'm mistaken) and he would help our team with all the innings he could pitch, so I guess I wouldn't dismiss giong after him. Going to the NL might help him too.

I think this does guarentee Blanton is gone, but I just don't know if he's right for us, considering we will have to overpay a little. And I think it would take more than Pie/Marshall/Gallagher like you suggested. I would have done that in a second. Imagine: Soriano DeRosa (Roberts?) Lee Swisher Ramirez Fukudome Soto Theriot

Do you think Theriot gets on base very good?

So, let's play the hypothetical game. What package do you think it would have taken from us? Pie/Gallagher/Marmol?

Gio, Los Santos, and Sweeney.

Murphy making it soud like they gave up alot, as they should have. I wonder if it's another one of those 6 prospects deals again, or something. Wow.

holy hector wow

Well, he's put up over an .800 OPS since he's stopped, including a .900 OPS season. And you honestly consider "the farm", Gallagher and Ptterson? I don't want to lose Gallagher, but you have to give something to get something. I could really care less about Patterson, considering we have Thomas in the organization who I believe is a better prospect than EPatt anyways. Then it comes down to Murton, who won't get any playingtime whatsoever this year, so it depends on how you perceive his trade value, and the reality is nobody knows. It might not be that much. For a team wanting to win, giving up a grand total of one player who would probably help you next year (Gallagher...and you don't even know how good he'll be) for a legit 2nd baseman who allows less at bats for the rest of our sucky players via DeRosa, I think it's alright, and certainly not giving up the farm. If there's any way to keep Gally, sign me up, but if it hinges on him being the main piece in the deal, i'll still take it.

Geovany Soto.

Roberts? Could that hitter be Tyler Colvin? Could the Cubs be trying to go after Roberts + Cabrera? Just pure speculation on my part, but it's been really slow here lately, so I want something to talk about. Sonny is legit. The insiders are Peace21, Belkast, BigBird, Sonny, and DiggetyDon, though he rarely posts anything. Peace is the one who called the Tejada trade that morning, at least 3 or 4 hours before any media picked it up, and named the exact players.

Sonny Gray's getting Jarrod Parker comps, wouldn't be surprised if Wilken took him if he's still there at 19.

Cedeno's got the potential to be a good fielder, but Hu is already GG calibur. With both, you get the chance they hit for something, and if they don't you atleast get premium defense at the position with Hu.

One of the O's guys said in a update on some things that his guy didn't think there would be a Bedard/Roberts deal to the Cubs when he asked him about that possibility. I'm assuming he meant a package of that, not one or the other (I did as him, still waiting for his repsonse).

Well, he split his time between AA and AAA last year and hit a combined .325, 14 HRs, 40 doubles, slugged .505, and was selected Dodgers' Minor League Player of the Year. Sure sounds like he has the potential to be a very good major league SS. As for Crede being garbage, the Dodgers are rumored to be thinking about Rolen (expensive, injured garbage). Also, getting anything out of Crede would be worth ditching Pierre (plus $15 million) and the other $21.5 million owed to him. a sub 850 OPS in Vegas is pathetic. That James Loney and his .727 Vegas OPS in more games than Hu must really suck too.

Well, I finally ponied up the cash and got a BA subscription. One thing I found interesting is that they mentioned Vitters' hitting as a 70 on the scale, and his power as 70 as well. For comparison, Jay Bruce's hitting was 65 and power was 70. Maybe they were talking about potential hitting and power, because as much as I like Vitters, I would be thrilled if he came close to Bruce's production.

On the Orioles board most of them want Hart, Parra, plus an A ball SS.

Would we be considered the surprise team? We've been linked to Bedard already. Other NL teams Reds---already been linked Dodgers---already been linked Mets--haven't heard anything about them interested in Bedard, but we know theyre interested in Santana, so makes sense. Nationals?---would they deal with the "cross-town rival"? They'd like to make a run at it with the new stadium. Rockies? The rest of the NL either doesn't need another starter, isn't in a position to contend in the next couple years, or doesnt have the players that'd tempt the O's to be interested IMO. Like I said before, I think we could be. We've been half-assed linked to Bedard some this offseason, and we know Hendry has liked him for awhile. Orioles board thinks it might be Milwaukee, Colorado, or us.

Belkast:

only 15 more spots until he would get to us :wink:

More orioleshangout stuff, nothing directly linking us to Bedard but for some reason I get the feeling that we're the 1 "NL team". http://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56908&page=2 If we can't get Bedard, i'm all for Roberts, but if we can get Bedard, don't even try to get Roberts with him. A Pie/Marmol/Gallagher/Murton for Bedard package is right up there with the Cueto/Votto/filler and Adam Jones/fillers packages being discussed.

Let's just get this out of the way. Erstad has grit. Therefore many predictable jokes will come. Please refrain :D