Little Slide Rooter

How about Soriano for Dom Brown plus prospect(s,) with the Cubs including cash, with the amount of cash from the Cubs and prospects from the Phillies being dependant upon one another.

Geovany Soto? Geovany Soto?.

Because the bulk of the 2011-2012 offseason was acquiring former top prospects with poor-mediocre MLB track records but are still young enough that there's a glimmer of hope. Each of the players I mentioned fit that bill with the exception of Jurrjens who's only 26 and had a few very good seasons and Moylan who'd be a nice low risk piece for the pen.

Geovany Soto?

Sorry if I'd rather fill the spring training roster with low risk/any type of reward players than AAAA flotsam.

Ever browsed the Target clearence isle and found a once high ticket item for $9.99 and you buy it out of principle? Here's to bargain shopping. Daniel Schlereth, 26. 26th pick of the 2008 Draft. Minor league career 73/149 BB/K in 110IP, mostly as a reliever Mike Pelfrey, 28. 9th pick of the 2005 Draft 2006 #36 prospect. 2007 #20 prospect Manny Parra, 30. Former highly regarded Brewer's pitching prospect. Got his ass kicked on live televison by Prince Fielder for hitting the showers too early. Ryan Sweeney, 32. 27 Former top prospect. Has yet to develope power. Jair Jurrjens, 26. We all know Jurrjen's story. Low risk alternative to Rick Porcello. Pete Moylan, 33. Once very effective sidewinding reliever. Suffered some sort of injury. More to come

Great pick up for the Angels. But wow, the Braves bullpen could be the 1990s Braves starting rotation of bullpens.

Eh, if they're set on Brett Jackson starting at AAA, I'd take a flier out on him if he wouldn't cost anything. Maybe he could platoon with Sappelt in center, especially if the other option is Tony Campana.

If we could get Brett Anderson for Darwin Barney and, say Junior Lake, Jae Hoon-Ha, or Arismendy Alcanatar I'd be beyond thrilled. If we got Peaock straight up, I'd be content. Maybe he'd come with someone like Ian Krol and/or Michael Taylor to due to quesionability of Peacock and we could kick them something from the big league or big league junk pile to balance things out.

As a resident "non expert," it's hard to imagine #1 not being one of the big 3. As far as pure offensive upside, Soler seems to have it. However, Baez and Almora seem to be more complete players, and their positions add value. The only possible dark horse as far as #1 goes could be Vizcaino. When it comes to pure upside, he likely tops any pitcher in our entire organization.

And I'm well aware Barney's value. I'd just be willing to gamble with him unless some teams willing to accept him as the center of a package for a young SP that's more of a sure thing.

Not overvaluing or undervaluing anyone. Barney is a virtual lock to be a quality MLB player, if not as an everyday SS as a utility guy. Peacock, on the other hand is more of a long shot but has the upside to be the type of SP that we need going forward. While his results haven't been there, he's always had great K rates. We're not going to get a young, sure thing big league starter like Anderson, Hellickson, or Hanson with Barney as the centerpiece. If we could trade Barney for something along the lines of Peacock or Alex Cobb, I'd be happy with it. Especially when we have a farm system full of high upside middle infielders.

With the sickening glut of young pithing the A's have, there are a lot of options there, especially with two of the best FO's in baseball on the job. Brett Anderson or Brad Peacock could be targets. Barney alone isn't going to land either, but he'd be a good start. Brad Peacock in a straight up deal for Darwin Barney would make me question the sanity of our FO. If thats the return, Darwin's going no where. I'd do it in a heartbeat. I appreciate the DWar, but Barney is a lot more Rey Ordonez than Ozzie Smith or Omar Vizquel. Peacock had a rocky at best 2012, but he still has 2-3 starter upside. We can then trade for Escobar or sign Keppinger to replace Barney. Peacock likely slides right into the rotation and we shop Travis Wood for prospects, and teams looking to fill out their rotations without giving up too much would surely bite.

I know he had a rough 2012, and that this is baseless speculation, but [expletive], I'd love to get ahold of Tommy Hanson. Especially if salary relief were their primary motivation. They are looking for a left fielder.... Soriano+Vitters or Villanueva could be a start.

With the sickening glut of young pithing the A's have, there are a lot of options there, especially with two of the best FO's in baseball on the job. Brett Anderson or Brad Peacock could be targets. Barney alone isn't going to land either, but he'd be a good start.

I know he had a rough 2012, and that this is baseless speculation, but [expletive], I'd love to get ahold of Tommy Hanson. Especially if salary relief were their primary motivation.

From what I remember when we were courting Soler and Cespedes, the Cuban league is the equivalent of high A for us. I don't know how I feel about the guy who just figured it out at 23, especially with his BB/K ratios. Kind of like an AAAA guy would be here.

I really don't think so. Bourn is going to be 30 all season next year and for a guy whose value is dependent almost entirely on his legs, I think he'll get something similar to Upton. Boras I'm not referring to this post, but based on Twitter comments, I'm surprised by how many people view Upton and Bourn as being interchangeable. To a team with the money and need for two outfielders, they'd do perfectly well to sign both Upton and Bourn.

File this under for what it's worth.

I wouldn't be surprised if someone desperate for SP depth claimed him. Then he'd have a decent start to the season as a 5 starter and we'd have made the biggest mistake ever until he turns back into a pumpkin by June.

If Clemens and Bonds don't get in, to hell with the whole thing. And induct Shoeless Joe and Charlie Hustle while they're at it. Sports history is full of rogues and scumbag, many of which are in their respective HOF.

Just saw that, what does that mean? Did the Cubs bring him back or did he really get dumped by a winter league team? There's been some baseless speculation that it could be trade related. Makes since with the need to get the roster back to 40.

I really wish I knew how much we had to spend. After arbitration awards and filling out the roster with pre-arb guys, we're up to about $85 million, depending on how you want to count the incentives and if you non-tender Ian Stewart. My thinking is that there's plenty to spend regardless. There must be. I think they'd be willing to spend big for the perfect player, say if Kemp, Cain, or Hamels were to have hit free agency. However, since they're not sold on any of the big ticket items they're taking their business to the 5 and dime. If it gets a bit later in the offseason and someone like Jackson, Marcum, or McCarthy, and they feel they can get them at their price they'll get them. Meanwhile, they could be looking into trades for guys like Hellickson or Bauer. They seem set in building on a young foundation, starting with Castro, Rizzo, and hopefully Jackson/Vitters/Castillo pan out. Then add whichever of the current low level guys pan out. If they're going to make any big signings now, they'll need to be able to contribute when these guys are ready. I know it seems far away, but if 2015 rolls around, and the team looks like 1B Rizzo 2B ? SS Castro 3B Baez LF ? CF Almora RF Soler C Castillo Possible SP's: Shark, Vizcaino, Loux, Paniaqua, Wells, Maples, Underwood, Johnson Other possibles: Jackson, Vitters, Szczur, Lake, Vogelbach, Dunston, Shoulders, Amaya, Alcantara, Hernandez, Torreyes, Golden, Martin Plus whatever they get in the next 2 drafts, international FAs, trades, and reclamations between now and then. There'a a good chance that enough of these guys pan out to build a very strong foundation. There's also a good chance that there will be several remaining ?s, however, there will also be a ton of money to replace said ?s with quality free agents. We might be best to just follow the farm system, casually watch some low-expectation baseball, and hope for some pleasant surprises between now and then. If we're comparing the FO to those of the A's and Rays, remember how long it took them to get their teams where they are now as opposed to where we are now.

We'll take em.

I should stop clicking Display this post. Yes, you should