Backtobanks

Agreed. On a related note: Why don't the Cubs just move Soriano to RF where he belongs? I've become tired of the "wonder if he can play RF" posts when we have a guy in LF that would be the best RF option of anyone that might be available this offseason. You're absolutely right triple B. I keep thinking about Bruce Miles' article the morning after the Cubs signed Soriano. Bruce was convinced Soriano was brought in to play RF. From all accounts, he was going to play RF, until he volunteered for CF and then eventually moved to LF. They probably would have been much better off if they just started the season with a L/C/R of Murton, Jones, Soriano. I agree. I think they didn't do that because he already failed at CF and they didn't want him to have that negative baggage with him to right. Hopefully they'll be able to move him to right in 2008 unless they find a guy that can play it better. Not only move him to RF, but move him to the middle of the batting order(5th) .

I'm not so sure. The Cubs may match up very well with the Twins. I think many of us undervalue Hill. In only his first full year, Hill posted a 1.19 WHIP and a 3.92 ERA. That is not too shabby at all. Hill is cheap for another year or two and could be a solid #2. (He would be an immediate upgrade over Garza, Silva) If I'm the Twins I look real hard at a guy that put up those numbers in the majors in his first full year. For the Cubs to consider trading Hill, Pie, plus whoever else for Santana, they would have to first sign Fukudome for CF and go with a cheap RF platoon (Murton & Luke Scott/Seth Smith). Also, don't forget that trading for Santana, signing Fukudome, and probably signing Matsui adds about $30 million to the budget for the new owner. I don't think that's going to happen without dumping a lot of salary (Marquis, Dempster, Eyre, etc.).

Ken Rosenthal's latest column suggested that the Twins might reconsider trading Santana and possibly try to be competitive in 2008: "For Smith, that could mean adding a shortstop, third baseman and center fielder to his core — no small feat. But it's a manageable quest if his goal is to compete next season rather than deconstruct". I wonder if the Dodgers and Twins could get together: Kemp, Laroche, Hu, Kershaw/Billinsley for Santana. That would be a real blockbuster, but would solve a few of the Twins problems and give them a real shot at 2009 and beyond.

As long as you have the Red Sox - Yankees paranoia going, the Twins will insist on and get any prospects they want. As a back up plan, the Twins have the West Coast (Angels - Dodgers) paranoia. These four teams have the young players and the money to lead the Santana/Cabrera sweepstakes.

Fukudome seems like a quality lefty bat, but not a power bat.

Can he play RF? define "play" If Floyd can handle RF with his gimpiness, I'm pretty sure Burrell could. Burrell's worse. He's terrible in the OF. Burrell has a terrible time in LF. There's a reason he's called "Pat the Bat".

From MLB Trade Rumors: Matt Garza For Delmon Young Blockbuster Close Wow! That rumor really didn't die! La Velle E. Neal III says the Twins are close to a multiplayer deal. They'd send Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett, and Juan Rincon to the Rays for Delmon Young, Brendan Harris, and Jason Pridie. I can't remember any kind of young player blockbuster like this in recent memory. It's exciting to see Bill Smith pull the trigger on a deal to get that possible elite slugger. Will he be more hesitant to trade Johan Santana now? Or maybe it doesn't matter since he'd require an elite young hurler like Phil Hughes in return. Beyond Young, you also have to applaud Smith for getting Pridie, who immediately becomes the Twins' center fielder of the future. The 24 year-old came back from injuries this year to rake in Triple A. Just like that, the Twins have an outfield. Meanwhile the Rays suddenly have an awesome young trio fronting their rotation in Scott Kazmir, Jamie Shields, and Garza. Rincon's ability is questionable at this point but he could be the setup man the Rays are craving. Since the Rays are trading their 2B, perhaps this could lead to the Cubs going after Crawford and offering a package using one of our dozen 2B.

The last news I saw said that he may not decide before the first of the year. If I were Fukudome's agent, I would make sure he makes a decision sooner than that. Some teams will drop out of the bidding because of trades or signings they make in the next week or two. Obviously, the more teams that are interested, the bigger the contract.

The Twins want Melky Cabrera plus one of Chamberlain/Hughes/Kennedy from the Yankees. If the Yanks can surrender Kennedy rather than Hughes or Joba, they've done a nice job. Sounds like they would consider giving up Hughes though. After reading some of the speculation from MLB Trade Rumors, I do wonder if the Cubs could be in the running to match the Yankees offer. Of course it would start with Pie and Hill and probably include Patterson plus Cedeno/Theriot (?), but if the Cubs ended up with Fukudome and traded for someone cheap to platoon with Murton (Luke Scott, Seth Smith, etc.) it might be worth thinking about. Of course, the budget would go through the roof, but having Zambrano, Santana, and Lilly as your first three starters would really be dominating. As for the Yankees' offer, Cabrera hasn't shown much and Chamberlain/Hughes/Kennedy all have great potential but Hill has done it at the major league level. I'm sure it won't happen, but it is interesting to think about.

I'm really surprised that the White Sox have never been mentioned as a team interested in Fukudome. He has the speed and OBP that would look good in CF for the White Sox. He doesn't have the power numbers of Hunter or Rowand, but it looks like his contract could be more affordable than Hunter, Rowand, and Jones. He certainly projects to be a better player than Crisp without having to trade players for him.

I agree but it will also depend on if those teams want to part with their prospects plus what the Marlins want. Speaking of teams not wanting to part with their prospects, everything Hendry has said in the last year makes it sound like Pie and Hill are pretty much "untouchables" so I can't see him giving both of them up plus 2 or 3 more top prospects for either Santana or Cabrera.

Interesting comment from MLB trade rumors: My coworker Jonathan makes a good point - thought the Sox wouldn't give four-year deals to pitchers? They made a huge fuss over Mark Buehrle. Suddenly Scott Linebrink is worthy of breaking the rule again? Way to build team morale! [-X

As many posters have pointed out, we just don't have the players to get Cabrera or Santana. I'm sure either deal would start with Pie, Hill, Colvin, etc. Those other teams involved have better prospects that aren't part of their everyday lineup. I guess we can dream though.

- Joe Jackson threw a baseball 396 feet on Sept 27, 1917 at Fenway Park during a contest, defeating Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, and Babe Ruth. (Be interesting to have a long toss contest nowadays, I'd think, but it's obvious why they wouldn't). I think they ought to havethe contest. I nominate the first two players: Juan Pierre and Jacque Jones.

I have trouble believing this: Graziano On A Yankees/Santana Trade Recently I asked the Newark Star-Ledger's Dan Graziano about a realistic scenario under which the Yankees could acquire Johan Santana. His take was a bit different than the standard packages we've been hearing. MLBTR: Give us your take on a reasonable trade package for Johan Santana that the Yankees would consider offering and the Twins would consider accepting. Dan Graziano: The Twins will need at least one good, proven, major-league player and a couple of prospects in exchange if they decide to deal Santana. Many people have suggested that the Yankees would need to include Robinson Cano in a deal, and that's certainly possible. But the Twins have a young player (Alexi Casilla) they believe can play second base, and their greater need may be in the outfield, especially with Torii Hunter now gone off to Anaheim. To that end, Melky Cabrera might be more appealing to the Twins than Cano. Let's assume the Yankees don't want to include Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes in the deal (though Santana might be the only player for whom they'd consider dealing one of those guys), and that Brian Cashman also wants to hold onto Ian Kennedy. The next best pitcher in the Yankees' system is probably Alan Horne. I'm thinking the Yankees could offer a package of Cabrera, Horne and outfield prospect Jose Tabata for Santana. That could be appealing to the Twins, though they might ask for a better pitcher than Horne (or another, such as Marquez, in addition to him), though it would depend on the packages being offered by other interested teams such as the Mets and Red Sox. The thing to remember in dealing with the Twins, however, is that they might not always be after the prospects everybody knows about. The Twins pride themselves on being able to identify and acquire big-time prospects at the Class A level. Players who have come to the Twins' system at the A-ball level over the years include Jason Bartlett, Lew Ford and Joe Mays, as well as Johan Santana himself and a skinny little hitter whose name at the time was David Arias but later changed his last name to Ortiz and went on to achieve some measure of fame with the Boston Red Sox. Earlier this year, when the Mets and Twins were talking trade for Luis Castillo, we were trying to figure out who the Mets might have to give up. We were thinking of usual suspects like Kevin Mulvey and Phil Humber, but the Twins ended up dealing Castillo for AA catcher Drew Butera and Class A outfielder Dustin Martin. These were guys I didn't know much about, but I'm not going to be surprised if Dustin Martin ends up being a good big-leaguer someday. The Twins' scouts can spot talent when it's very young. So there may be some players in the Yankees' system (and in those of other interested teams) that the Twins would like and we don't even know about yet.

Crawford, Griffey, and Tejada are okay depending on the cost. Bradley is fine as long as everyone understands his role (4th OF, platoon, pinch hitter).

I'm a big KW fan, but you can't sign players because there's a possibility they will be good with another team. If you did that we would spend a ton of money on Wood, Prior, Corey Patterson, etc. I want him back, but make him a decent offer and move on if he doesn't accept it.

Let's correct the situation and deal Infante for Hunter plus cash.

I think it would be easier for the Cubs to do the deal than it would be for the Dodgers or Angels. The Dodgers and Angels prospects rank higher than the ones the Cubs would be giving up. Hill is the best player in the deal and the Cubs would have to move to replace him somehow, but a line-up that includes Soriano, Lee, Ramirez, Cabrera (and I'm not uncertain that I wouldn't want that to be the 1-4 in the line-up) would be very, very potent. It would hurt, but I'd probably make the deal. Why would it be easier for the Cubs to make the deal than the Angels? The Angels would be giving up a sub OF and three prospects, in other words not affecting their current team. The Cubs would be giving up their #3 starter (with the potential to be #2), their current RF, their "lights out" late relief man, and one of their top OF prospects. That would leave 2 big holes in the pitching staff for the current team.

Let's wait until the winter is over before naming the worst GM in Chicago. Personally, I think KW will prove his claim to the title by spring.

There has been a lot of discussion about players like Fukudome, Bradley, Church, and Hamilton. All of these players could play RF and fill in at CF if needed. Also, a player like Fukudome could play CF against a tough lefty with Murton in RF and then go back to RF when facing a right-handed pitcher and let Pie play CF.

This discussion goes back to a point I've been trying to make for years. Since some writers go by the definition of MVP meaning most valuable to the team, while others go by the definition of best player in the league, there ought to be two seperate awards. MVP would be the player most valuable to their team picked from players on teams finishing 1st or 2nd in their division. Player of the Year would be the best player picked from any team. As you can see by my screen name, I was a big fan of Ernie Banks who was MVP in 1958 and 1959 for last place teams. How valuable could he have been since the team finished last? He should have been named Player of the Year.

Who's side are you on? We have enough 2B, but no SS.

I don't remember where I read it a few weeks ago, but I read something about Griffey will finish his career in Cincinnati. Actually, I always thought getting Griffey would be a great fit, but something would have to be worked out on all of that deferred money.

Thank God! I was afraid we wouldn't have a 2B to start the season. :lol: