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No. Letting Chirinos destroy AAA pitching was probably better for his trade value than bringing him to the majors to be similar to Koyie Hill anyway. Going with Koyie over Castillo or Ramirez this year would be much worse, though you're still not blocking likely ML regulars.

Pie's still showing some promise. I don't think we've seen enough to peg him as a superstar, but there's still reason to believe he can be a solid everyday player. Whether he was ready or not at the time is definitely up for debate, but it would be very easy to argue that we should have been more patient with him at the time.

There's a player on the Cubs' roster who doesn't currently start who would likely be more productive than Soriano? You might be able to argue Colvin, but I don't see anybody else. Maybe BJax at some point this year, but I don't know that it's likely in his rookie year.

There's a couple of reasons, I think: Managers and GMs largely want to limit doubt as much as possible. With unproven young players, there's doubt as to whether they can perform at the ML level. With a Punto or Miles, you have certainty. You know you're not going to get great numbers, but you also feel comfortable that you know the level they'll produce at and, therefore, eliminate doubt from that position. If you fill that position with an unproven player, you question whether he'll produce worse, the same or better than the veteran and for a GM/manager (especially one whose job is in doubt) that's a bad thing. Second, many managers value intangibles because they provide security. "Winner", "gritty", "plays the right way", "smart", "does the little things" are all comments you'll hear from managers describing players like Punto and Miles. It can't be proven that those intangibles exist, but you also can't prove they don't exist either, so it's easy for a manager/GM who has been brought up believing in those things to fall back on them when they sign an unproductive player. Since many fans also buy into those as legitimate attributes, those moves become highly popular among the fanbase and upper management (who also largely believe in those things), thus providing even more security for the manager/GM.

that's assuming there's another gm out there as dumb as the angels' gm. i can't believe napoli's involved. the blue jays were probably willing to give him away for practically nothing, but the angels threw in someone who has value. Yeah, desperation had to be a big key to this deal. Hendry needs to be on the lookout, though.

Manny's still getting $8 mil from LA.

WAR past 5 years: Soriano: 5.4 - 6.9 - 4.3 - 0.0 - 2.9 – average: 3.9 Wells: 5.7 - 1.5 - 1.5 - 0.0 - 4.0 – average: 2.5 Soriano is 2 years older, both players are signed through 2014 and Soriano is due $72 mil while Wells is due $86 mil. If Wells can pull Rivera/Napoli, the Cubs ought to be able to get something decent for Soriano, I'd think.

That's excellent news. Anything on Tiny Richardson and Cam Clear? I'd been hearing that they were both really likely UT guys, but recently I've heard they may be swaying elsewhere.

Good. With that, Chaney stays at TN. Also, there are three HUGE unofficial visitors on UT's campus right now, but all are there under a veil of secrecy. Don't know that it means anything, but maybe it does. Also, I'm hearing great things about Gabe Wright. Interesting, this seemed like a pretty tame weekend given our official visitors being mostly strongly committed. Chaney staying is nice, but I hope there's nothing to the Baggett-to-Dallas rumor.

It won't happen, but I'd be fine with moving Marshall into the role. Wood would probably be better, though, so we could use Marshall as a fireman.

Koch didn't really have a true breakdown point. He was terribly inconsistent his entire career. His numbers were terrible in 2003, but then he rebounded and was much better (though still not good) in 2004. His K/9 also went up dramatically from 2003 to 2004. He was done after his age 30 season, though. Gagne only logged 15 innings his age 29 and 30 years, but then was good in 2007 before falling apart in 2008. Gagne's breakdown was steriod-related, wasn't it? That was the hot rumor.

Koch didn't really have a true breakdown point. He was terribly inconsistent his entire career. His numbers were terrible in 2003, but then he rebounded and was much better (though still not good) in 2004. His K/9 also went up dramatically from 2003 to 2004. He was done after his age 30 season, though. Gagne only logged 15 innings his age 29 and 30 years, but then was good in 2007 before falling apart in 2008.

The two "lowest ranked prospects" (Guyer and Chirinos) in the deal are highly likely to have productive major league careers as at least extra guys. All four of the prospects traded are - excuse me, were - meaningful, valuable assets. And Hendry exchanged them for Matt F. Garza. Chirinos is a 27 year old catcher who saw AA pitching four times. Could he be a serviceable backup? Sure. But he's not going to have much value, if for no other reason than his age. Guyer's a nice player, but he'll be 25 this year, hasn't played above AA and before last year his best OPS was .859 (in 305 PAs at A+ ball at 23 years old). When he moved up to AA that year, he had a .527 OPS. The breakout year was very nice and I think he can be a solid major leaguer, but I have no problem including him in a trade for Garza. I didn't like the Garza trade, but primarily because I didn't think it was worth giving up Archer to get him. The rest of the trade wasn't overpaying at all, but including Archer was too much.

Have you ever had mono? no and maybe i'm taking the term bedridden too literally, but not being able to do much because you're sick is different than being confined to a bed. Splendid Splinter's right here, mono's a beast. When I had it, I was too weak to leave bed for about 2 weeks and then was incredibly fatigued when I started going back to school for the next couple of weeks. I would doubt Simpson was truly bedridden for 3 months, but I could easily see him being unable to do anything baseball related (or physical activity related) for 3 months.

Steve Kragthorpe to LSU as the new OC.

They probably won't mention Gorz's trade until he passes his physical and the trade becomes official.

284 Its not as much fun when you delete your triple post. I actually didn't delete my triple posts - actually didn't even know I did triple post. I guess I should thank a mod.

This could be part of the reason.

That's really strange. Even if they do have motivation issues or the like with him, give him more than a year before floating rumors that you're looking to deal him. Dez Bryant and Kenny Britt in Nashville would be pretty awesome, but the Cowboys would probably ask too much (if they really are serious about dealing him).

284

We did have Koyie in 2009. According to B-R, he was signed in November of 2006 and received 284 PAs in 2009.

Bruce?

Responses to a fan saying we could get Hill's production at a league minimum from someone else (Castillo or Ramirez, for instance): From Bruce Miles' blog

Probably not, but if you're going to include Shark in the list, you have to include Diamond. He could well get some starts this year to fill for injuries.

Apparently. I had never heard of it.