Little Slide Rooter

So we trade Garza, a top prospect, another good prospect, and our best remaining lefty pen arm for a lesser package than we would have expected for Garza alone? Let's put this one in the no pile.

Which is why you don't give him an NTC this time around.

Just out of curiosity, how does that compare with what the A's got for Gio?

In the same article: •Center thinks the Padres "desperately" need to acquire a close-to-Major League-ready middle infield prospect. Which gets me back to the deal I mentioned earler: Rizzo + Hudson for Marmol + Barney + $2million (2012) + $4million (2013). Cubs get their 1B, Padres get their young MI, Padres get a good trade chip (Marmol) with a very trade-friendly contract to pick up more prospects. I'm going to need you to stay after class and write Darwin Barney has no trade value on the board 100 times. Maybe Marmol and Junior Lake for Rizzo could be taken seriously, but even then you can forget about the Padres throwing in any extra players.

no, that's pretty damn high for a middle reliever. he's a pretty good middle reliever but not an elite one. he's averaged barely more than 50 innings the last 3 years and his whip during that time is 1.355. he should probably be making like $2-2.5m. If we can get him for 2.5 it would be great or even three with incentives, When we aren't in it in July we trade him and Bird as a package to a contender. That's if he is not on the DL with a blister. If you sign him at all, do it because he's Kerry Wood. Don't then suggest trading him for whatever you can get at the deadline. Just. No. Being Kerry Wood adds little value to the team, in it's current state anyway. Trading him at the deadline could be of far greater value.

With Marshall gone, Wood probably is the set-up man. I think $2.5-3 with incentives is probably market value for a decent set-up man. If there's one place that this team isn't full of holes, it's the bullpen. Sure, if we were a contender id be interested in a closer like Madson or Cordero at the right price, but as is, we don't even need Wood. If he wants to come back on another home town discount to the tune of 1.5 mil I see no harm in it but there's no reason to pay him more. Now this much is for certain, if we do sign him at "market value", I hope it's understood that there's no unwritten NTC and assuming we're out of contention by July, which is a safe assumption he's on the block because really the best value we could get for him is getting some desperate fringe contender to overpay for him at the deadline.

http://www.bleachernation.com/2011/12/29/lukewarm-stove-byrd-lidge-garza-jackson-wood-marmol-callaspo-marshall/ Given all the history, it makes sense that he'd happily sign with Hendry for well below market, but not be inclined to do so under Theo. It's possible that even the "gentleman's agreement" doesn't hold true anymore, which would be a shame. Oh well, it's just business. This might be where Ricketts Cubs fandom comes into play and he steps in a forces a Wood signing, instead of letting Theo/Hoyer make it simply a baseball decision. Also there is the omnipresent Krane Kenney in play here with his marketing wizardry that could get this done. What is "Fair Market Value" for Wood even? $3.5-5 million as a base and $2-3 million more in incentives and what not? So basically, you're suggesting that we give Wood an extra few mil as a PR attempt in hopes that his return will blind fans to the fact that most the team is composed of has beens and never will bes? Just build a [expletive] statue.

Replace Barney with McNutt and Brett Jackson and they might consider it.

While Byrds return would likely be the least of our tradeable assets, he's also arguebly the most tradeable, aside from Garza. With both Boston and Washington listed, each of them have a young 1st baseman that could be an interesting optiong for us to autidion if we don't get Fielder. With Boston, Lars Anderson won't be taking A Gons job anytime soon, although I don't know if they've considered moving him to the ourfield. He's lost most of his luster as a prospect, but he's still better than most of the existing, realisitc option. Washington has Chris Marrerro, and while Adam Laroche is nowhere near the obstacle that A Gon is, they could also go for Fielder making Marrero very expendable. Neither Anderson or Marrero are sure things to be the long term answer, but it's definitely time to start the auditions. I know that Marlon Byrd on his own wouldn't be able to land us either one on his own, but if we put him as the center of a package, we could work something out.

Now there's a guy who's probably spent a lot of time banging his head on the wall the past few months.

I guess I should have emphasized getting hurt over struggling as a reason for not getting another big payday. Anyone can get hurt, and that's a big reason why teams tend to be reluctant to give anyone a 7-8 year deal. I could see an NL team, such as the Cubs giving Fielder something between 3-5 years with some kind of option (player, mutual, or vesting) with a full NTC as I'm not worrid about moing him before age 32. This way, he'll be 30-32 by the time that ones up, still not yet having reached the feared Mo Vaughn 34-35 cliff, at which point AL teams would be inclined to give him another 3-4 years as a DH with part time 1st base duties depending on how his defense is by then, and ven after that deals up if his bodies still holding up he can still sign a few 1 year deals with the A's or a farewell tour with the Brewers. This is exactly the situation Boras is trying to avoid. Obviously, he's trying to avoid it, but if nobody gives him 8 years, nobody gives him 8 years and then the question is would he prefer 3-4 years at a higher dollar amount or 5-6 years at a lower one. Unfortunately for Prince and Boras, of the usual big spenders, The Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, and now The Angels all have their expensive 1st baseman. While Pujols would be worth trying to move some guys around the field, Fielder isn't Pujols. Then there's the Dodgers and Mets who are each in their own financial mess. The Cubs are the last of the last of the big money teams for Boras to come to, and while the fit is perfect, Epstein will not br going 8 years. I could see them eventually settling at 5 with mutual or vesting options for 6&7. Beyong that, there are the Giants who could sure use his bat but havn't expressed any interest. The Nationals have been big spenders lately, but they're paying LaRosche and have Marrero behind him. Are those the kind of guys who you'd let block Prince Fielder? Of course not, but they are the kind of guys who can give you the kind leverage that if they are interested they don't have to go more than 6-7 years. Similar with the Rangers and Moreland and the Mariners with Smoak. If they don't think those guys are ready for full time, they mught prefer a 1-2 years deal for Kotchman or Pena. The best fit is Toronto, who after narrowly missing out on Darvish clearly have the money, and the 8 years deal could make sense to them. If they could sign Fielder and trade for Garza, they could actually find themselves the division favorites instead of a >.500 team wishing they didn't share a time zone with Boston and New York.

The question is what is need and what is want? If we're going to do this, we should push for a potential imopact arm and a bat and another piece or 2. There's no urgency on our end. We should just get as many good prospects as we can. Remember, a complete rebuild for us isn't like the A's and Pirates where they trade what few valuable players they have for the best prospects they can because they know that in a year or two they wont be able to afford to keep them anyway and plan on building their future primarily around those prospects and if they dont pan out, back to the drawing board. We have a lot more flexibility than they do, so we can trade our assetts for the best prospects we can get, and if we're not offered what we wan't, we keep our guy. If we do get the prospects we want, then we use them to build with in addition to some top free agents over the next few years.

I guess it depends on how much you like Alcantera. I tend to prefer what the Cubs received as well. Wood should be a decent back of the rotation starter who is under team control for 5 years. Torreyes is interesting, and if he can add 30 pounds over the next 4 years he could become very interesting. I don't think Reddick is more than a 2nd division starter, probably not the kind of guy I'd want starting for the Cubs once they get good. While the packages may not be all that different, ours is a far better deal overall. We got a back of the rotation starter with mid rotation potential and 2 prospects for 1 year of Marshall they got a 24 year old oufielder who's sure to be a starter in Oakland and his bat could be of value in CF where he'd play in Oakland as opposed to a corner spot which he'd inhabit in Boston. Marshall may be a better pitcher than Bailey, Bailey is a closer and that tag does hold a lot of value over set up man, although Marshalls left handedness and the ability and desire to start adds vale to him. However, the main reason why we made out better than the A's is that we got our bounty for 1 year of Marhsall, where as Bailey is under control through 2014. Additionally, the A's gave up an additional big league piece in Ryan Sweeney, one of someone elses former prospects acquired in one of Billy Beanes fleece job trades that never seem to make them any better these days, but he is still only 26 and maybe the change of scenery cliche can do him good. As for the propspects, one of ours isn't so much a prospect as a big league spare part/4th outfielder, and being a righty, it's a spare part we can use if Jackson and DeJesus are both starters. Torryes reportedly has a very high upside, and I know about as much about the 2 guys the A's got as I would have about Torryes before we got him.

I guess I should have emphasized getting hurt over struggling as a reason for not getting another big payday. Anyone can get hurt, and that's a big reason why teams tend to be reluctant to give anyone a 7-8 year deal. I could see an NL team, such as the Cubs giving Fielder something between 3-5 years with some kind of option (player, mutual, or vesting) with a full NTC as I'm not worrid about moing him before age 32. This way, he'll be 30-32 by the time that ones up, still not yet having reached the feared Mo Vaughn 34-35 cliff, at which point AL teams would be inclined to give him another 3-4 years as a DH with part time 1st base duties depending on how his defense is by then, and ven after that deals up if his bodies still holding up he can still sign a few 1 year deals with the A's or a farewell tour with the Brewers.

The Blue Jays and Yankees seem far more appealing than the Red Sox. However, if we did move Garza to the Jays or Yanks, I wonder of the Red Sox would be willing to move Lars Anderson for Ryan Dempster, or even Big Z assuming we picked up the lions share of his contract. I know Anderson has long since lost his luster, but with A Gon, they don't have much use for him anymore and he can joing the long list of 1st base options if Fielder isn't to be, because if we don't get Fielder, we should really start auditioning options asap and Anderson could Rizzo, Barton, Morales, and LaPorta as some guys worth taking fliers out on. It's not like we have any internal options. There's 17 year old Vogelsbach, and beyond him theres Rebel Ridling, Justin Bour, and Richard Jones who are the Jake LaHoffpauirs of the various levels.

Just thought I'd float this thought out there. We seem to be pushing pretty hard to move Garza very soon despite the fact that theres no reason for the urgency. Garza is clearly the best available starting pitching option out there, and beyond him theres some decent mid rotation guys like Jackson, Floyd, Jurrjens, and McCarthy. Could the reason that Epsein wants to move Garza so fast be to get him off the market, and then all of the sudden teams still desperate for starting pitching will start to think about one Carlos Zambrano, who can potentially be better than any of the remaining options with a good rebound? For the right package, surely we'd take on at least 90-95% of the salary. Now i'm not saying that this is the reason that they'd trade Garza, just the reason that they seem to be trying to get it done so quickly.

I know Drabek has lost much of his luster as a prospect but I want him. I'd also love to see if there was a way to work Travis Snider into he deal along with some young guys if we add another piece or two. I'm not really sure how this stuff works because in all of my years as a Cubs fan I can't remember the last time we were on this side of a deal like this. As much as Id like to keep Garza I'm loving te situation.

How dare you disrupt the discussion on the Yeonnis Cespedes thread with talk of Yeonnis Cespedes. And yes, that would be a huge success and I could see us going after both and we could get both for the same price we were willing to pay for Pujols or Fielder just a few weeks ago. They're not exactly interchangeable as Cespedes would be expected to step in in the next year or 2 and Solar would be coming up with the younger guys like Wells, Maples, Baez, Golden, and Vogelsbach.

That's why "investment groups" usually don't buy sports teams, and rich sports fans like Tom Ricketts usually do. In fact, I can't think of an actual private equity firm or hedge fund buying a large stake in a sports team (besides that deal ripping off Wilpon). In baseball, no but I think that there are a handful of NBA and NHL teams owned by partnerships and corporations.

Anytime you hear of a team being bought by an investment group, they're buying it to make money. That's what investment groups do. Obviously, they aren't always going to make as much money as they'd like, but again, that's what investment groups do. They buy a company or property and attempt to get as much profit out of it as they can by putting in as little money as they can. If it's a bucket list thing, or simply a new toy, that's usually when it's som random billionaire buying a team you wouldn't expet them to care about, like the Russian who bought the NJ Nets. The reason that a lot of people were happy about the Ricketts buying the team despite the fact that he didn't have as much money as some other options because of the fact that he was a true Cubs fan who happened to be a billionaire and wanted to win for more than just money and bragging rights.

Sappelt (or Soriano if Sappelt's the starter) is likely to be the 4th OF. The 5th OF spot would be between Campana and Reed. And if that's the case I'd take Campana over Reed in a heartbeat too. If we don't trade Soriano or Byrd, We have Soriano LF Byrd CF DeJesus RF. If this were the case, you'd want 1 more lefty be it Campana or LaHair and a righty which could be Sappelt and not worry about signing Reed. If Byrd or Soriano are traded, then there's Byrd/Soriano LF Jackson CF DeJesus RF, in which case we could have 2 righties as the 4th-5th OF. The only thing that I like about the Reed signing is that it could signify one of the 2 being traded and Jackson getting CF for 2012, and if he falls too flat on his face then you can send him to Iowa and put Sappelt in CF, who might not be any better but you're not as worried about the long term effects of hanging him out to dry all season and then call up Campana who I'd assume would be in Iowa to share with him.

He's had pretty bad back injuries recently hasn't he? If that starts acting up again, it could put him out for extended periods. The same could be said for Milledge, though. Sign him to a minor league deal or league minimum, he goes crazy, you cut him and find another bad 5th OF. At least with Milledge there's the outside chance for some improvement. With Reed there's only downside. And with Dave Sappelt, theres the fact that we already have him, he's going to be 25 next week bringing him dangerously close to the AAAA label, and he probably wouldn't be any worse than either of the other 2.

Looking over potential contenders, I wonder if we could get Cleveland interested. They have some interesting options. They currently have Jimenez, Masterson, Carmona, Tomlin, and now Lowe. Not sure what the time table is on Carracos return and they have David Huff for a 5-6 starter, so they have decent depth but could use a front end guy. As far as what they have to offer. We could start with one of their 2 top pitching prospects Jason Knapp (21) or Scott Barnes (24). Also, they have 3 big league ready guys who can play 2nd or 3rd base win Chisenhall, Kipnis, and Cord Phelps. I'd happily take one of those 2 off their hands as well. They seem ready to move Carlos Santana to 1st base, potentially leaving Matt LaPortain the cold, and if Fielder isn't to be I wouldn't mind giving him a look, although he's not a big on base guy which could keep Theo away, but as a 3rd piece in the trade, he'd be a better option than LaHair of any of the other 1st base options, at least the realistic ones(Pena, Kotchman, Loney). Could we send them Garza and soemthing else, be it a spare big leaguer(Byrd, Baker, DeWitt, Russell) or a decent prospect for: Knapp/Barnes Kipnis/Chisenhall/Phelps Laporta These are all guys who could help as as early as 2012, 2013 at the latest.

Or keep Dempster and sign Kuroda anyway and then trade both at the deadline - after Dempster has had time to build his value back up - since we're looking at being $20-40 million under our expected cap. Obviously if you can get a really good deal go ahead and trade him, but I tend to think it's far more likely we get a better deal at the deadline. Or we could use it for Fielder and Cespedes or Solar, but that would be silly with studs like Johnson, Corpas, Sonnenstein, Jaramillo, Crisp, Wakefield, Francis, and Varitek available.