badnews

Kaz Matsui has been pretty bad his entire career in the U.S., and this year he had worse splits than Jeromy Burnitz in 2004. It's not even remotely worthwhile, even if we bring in the entire Japanese All-Star team.

Gagne was already crapping out his last month in Texas. I think Hendry will finally be able to work off his man-crush on Jeremy Affeldt.

Giving up a 1st round draft pick for Michael Tucker... ho ho ho. Trading Jeremy Accardo for Shea Hillenbrand... ha ha ha. Trading Boof Bonser, Francisco Liriano, and Joe Nathan for one year of A.J. Pierzynski and then getting nothing back for him... har har har. Jim Hendry has nothing to worry about with Sabean on the job!

Giving up a 1st round draft pick for Michael Tucker... ho ho ho. Trading Jeremy Accardo for Shea Hillenbrand... ha ha ha. Trading Boof Bonser, Francisco Liriano, and Joe Nathan for one year of A.J. Pierzynski and then getting nothing back for him... har har har. Jim Hendry has nothing to worry about with Sabean on the job!

Looks like an even deal to me. How long can you give Brad Lidge a mulligan for anyway? He was horrible in 2006 and his save percentage this year was just garbage.

I am fairly unimpressed with Kendry Morales. And Brandon Wood? A 50 homer guy? I am dubious. And look at those strikeouts. Who is he, Brad Eldred's long lost little brother?

I wonder if Marquis can be traded without eating any of the contract. If not you'd be better off waiting until the deadline when maybe you can find some unlikely Rajai Davis type deal.

The numbers don't look like it, and the Baseball America Prospect Handbook doesn't seem to back that theory up either.

This looks like a poor idea to me, but the explanations look badly flawed as well. Are people actually citing Dempster's career numbers? That right there is disingenuous. That 2000 throws everything off. How does Dempster erase the Marquis problem? He still needs to be gotten rid of. That doesn't solve anything. The idea that Marshall has this great trade value is just not accurate. What kind of outfielder or shortstop could Marshall possibly be "packaged" with, even with Murton? Come on. This is what doesn't make sense to me - Marshall is probably more valuable to us than he is in trade. So the idea that we can trade him for help doesn't make sense to me because his trade value is low. Moving Dempster into the rotation to do this makes even less sense. I think it's time to commit to Sean Gallagher and give him a real chance. Or keep Marshall.

Jason Marquis had a 5.58 ERA after the month of May but God forbid Sean Marshall has 3 ugly starts and a bad August. This is simply brilliant stuff. One of Alice's adventures down the rabbit hole should be talking to Cubs decision-makers.

I don't know anything about him, just his numbers don't look particularly good. I don't see Harben's name on any of the Top 10 Twins' prospects lists of the time either. But the problem with that scenario is that Moore is better than when we traded for him.

The problem is, he has production questions and major health questions, but the big trade discount people see out there just isn't there. Baldelli could be Milton Bradley without the bad attitude (though apparently his attitude isn't a plus), where people keep trading better players for him, or it could be like if you traded a talented package for Jody Gerut after 2004. Where's the accompanying glittering adjective-laden trade for Rich Harden topic?

Are you familiar with Baldelli? He was a top 6 draft pick and a top prospect in baseball for a couple years. He's a 5-tool player, and is by no means "gritty". Also, I clearly mentioned Baldelli's full season, which was right at league average.....at age 22. I know he hasn't played much since, but at 26, there's no reason to believe he can't be better. Baldelli could have a Josh Hamilton like resurgence in 2008. He's every bit as talented, and more experienced. Yeah, I'm familiar with Baldelli, and honestly, I don't think this discussion can go anywhere productive because you're just way too high on him. It seems like you're denigrating the term "5 tools," you're exaggerating his positive attributes, you're focused on his shortened 2006 season to the detriment of all else, and saying he can be "as good as it gets" and match Soriano's best seasons just seems unreasonable to me. Baldelli was a top prospect, as many have been. He didn't exactly tear up the minors any better than Felix Pie. For Meph's price, I'd do the trade. But Meph's price is not going to get the deal done. I don't like this business where we go wild over his shortened 2006 and ignore everything else. I don't like this business where we project to the moon just because he's under 30. And I certainly don't like this business where we have to pay a price in trade value like he's had a lot fewer struggles than he actually has had. It's like if we toss enough glittering adjectives around we can convince ourselves he's somebody we need him to be. He's more of a groundball hitter than Matt Murton was this year, but he's going to be this Sorianoesque home run threat? Are these awful legs of his going to hold up midseason in Wrigley, where the field is often as bad as Adam Dunn actually says it is? Is this topic wildly overrated his defense? He didn't get enough playing time in 2007 to say anything significant about his defense. In 2006 he was average in center field. In 2003-2004 he was above average but nothing that blows you away. He got a reputation as having a good arm when he threw out 2 baserunners at home in a row vs. the Red Sox but that was Dale Sveum's stupidity, I actually saw that game. Now all of a sudden we're making him out to be Richard Hidalgo. There's just too many exaggerations here.

What was so good about Harben? I thought the Twins DFAed a guy with a lot better numbers... Alexander Smit, didn't the Reds pick him up?

Comparing his career numbers and what he can expect on the market, I'd rather have him than Rowand or Hunter.

People dumping on Scott Moore kind of annoy me too. I know when we're trading crap we don't get guys back his age at his level with his numbers.

I'll commence to run around screaming now. A question for people who act like this is no big deal - why is it when we trade utter crap pitchers for one month, we don't get 3 prospects back, including guys of Moore's and Renshaw's age/level/numbers? In fact, why don't most teams who aren't dealing with Hendry (or Brian Sabean)?

I wouldn't trade anything so good for Baldelli. There's little reason to assume he does as well as people say, or that he stays healthy. It almost seems like the Ryan Theriot reason. "Hey, he's a gritty white guy who once threw out two Red Sox in a row at home plate, I like him." It's odd how only his good half season counts, not the blah ones. If he were a Cub instead of a Devil Rays player people would be focused on his not-2006 numbers and his injury history instead of his gaudy 2006. Bowden's preposterous prices seldom go down. Kearns may be playing himself out of a job at any rate.

Let's be reasonable. Baldelli can't be obtained for anything less than Sean Gallagher, I say. Furthermore, how can you pry Ryan Church away from Crazy Jim Bowden at a reasonable price? Simply put, you can't.

It's pointless to panic unless we see real proof of this which so far no one has provided.

Remember when Jorge Cantu was "just one season removed from his 118 RBI season?" Or last year Jonny Gomes was just one year removed from his awesome .906 OPS season when we got to hear his heart attack story plenty? The problem with this scenario is this - Rocco Baldelli is one of the most overrated players in baseball, bar none. He's averaged 42 games a season over the past 3 seasons. He's much more likely to put up his 2004 numbers than his 2006 numbers. People have always been inexplicably attached to him for little good reason. His man-crush per unit of production quotient is through the roof. However, the above statement pales in comparison to this: You can't get Baldelli for cheap. Someone is going to give up something for him that drops your jaw. So here's the issue - if you can get him for little, fine. But there is no way, no way, no way, did I say it? No way, you can get him for Matt Murton and a mid-level prospect. Remember when the Cubs were interested in Milton Bradley and people kept trading for him with surprisingly good chips (first Andrew Brown and Franklin Gutierrez, and then, inexplicably, Andre Ethier)? That's what's going to happen with Baldelli. This is like those Sean Marshall for Renteria suggestions. So the point of my post is: * I don't like Baldelli. * He's far more expensive in trade than anyone on here is thinking.

Does anyone else think it's obnoxious that the White Sox and Mariners spend more than we do?

In terms of perceived value, Tabata and Andrus are "bundles." Compare Asdrubal Cabrera's career to Tabata's up to Advanced A. Andrus's career OPS is .697, he's very young but it seems like you should do more than just be young and do okay to be considering a smoking hot prospect.

The Yankees keep shopping their lesser prospects, I'll be surprised if someone goes for those guys. As for the upper tier - Tabata falls into the class of prospects I'm not crazy about, the super young guys who hold their own at their levels, but you can't tell a ton from that. Not as high on Elvus Andrus for that reason. How do the Yankees get Miguel Cabrera without giving up Philip Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, and Austin Jackson? Crazy thing is, that wouldn't hurt them as much as people pretend.

How about this reason. We can't let Prior and Wood go because if we do and they succeed elsewhere, my blood pressure won't be able to handle the accompanying smug-ass Jay Mariotti article, and probably every other hack journalist out there. It will be DEEP HURTING.