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The purpose would be to free up money. And if we had to pay a decent portion of his contract, we should get valuable players/prospects in return.

Well. That would change everything. Yeah, that would be a massive upgrade and would free up even more money in 2011.

Vlad and Nady may both be FAs.

I'd be fine with that as well.

Is that ex-Cub Scott Downs? If so, I didn't realize he turned into that good of a reliever. Yeah, that's the guy we dealt for Rondell White. He's been consistently good for a few years now.

That's definitely a good thought, but Lee would be a pretty big upgrade over what Harden's done this season. I don't know that taking on Lee's option (even though a great deal for a pitcher of his caliber) for next season would be a possibility, though. lee has been good, but he's gotten pretty lucky, at least ERA wise. isn't his WHIP around lie 1.30 or something? His WHIP is 1.324, but he's got a fantastic K:BB ratio - 103:33. His BABIP against is fairly high (.325). He struggled some early in the year, which is bringing up his overall numbers, but his WHIP has steadily (but somewhat slowly) declined each month. It's at 1.129 this month.

That's definitely a good thought, but Lee would be a pretty big upgrade over what Harden's done this season. I don't know that taking on Lee's option (even though a great deal for a pitcher of his caliber) for next season would be a possibility, though.

Theyd probably prefer Marshall or even Wells over Harden. Harden is a free agent next year, so there not going to trade a guy whose going to be a free agentat the end of next year for a guy whose going to be a free agent at the end of this year They can re-sign Harden, though. He's only 27 (28 next year) and likely won't get much of a raise over this year's salary. If healthy, he's probably a better pitcher than Lee anyway. He'll be a lot cheaper than Lee to re-sign as well. That being said, the more I think about it the more I think I really don't want to deal Jackson. Lee could be similar to a guy like Lilly who is still highly productive in his 32-35 range, but who knows for sure? I think I like Jackson's potential too much.

The Indians are getting an incredible deal for Cliff Lee right now. One of the elite pitchers in the game the past couple of seasons and here's the remainder of his contract: 09:$5.75M, 10:$8M club option ($1M buyout) I'm not usually good at trade proposals, but would something like this be utterly ridiculous: Harden/Jackson/Fox for Lee I'd hate giving up Jackson, but we actually come out a bit cheaper this season (Harden making $7 million). Plus, Jackson is the only real part of our future we're dealing in it. From the Indians perspective, Harden is 3 years younger than Lee, likely won't cost much more than Lee's 2010 salary and they also gain a potential #2-3 starter in Jackson. Plus Fox has the potential to be a good bat for them and can fill the DH role.

That'd be fantastic.

Now there's a rain delay in Philly.

I've got to imagine a deal would be based around one of Carlos Carrasco, JA Happ or Kyle Drabek.

You advocate jettisoning Koyie, then? He'd likely clear waivers if they wanted to send him down. If we got Zaun then when Soto came back it'd have to be either Zaun or Koyie to be demoted.

Zaun's better than Robinson. Even considering Robinson is free in terms of prospects, costs $1.1 million less, and the hole is basically only there for another 2 weeks or so? Isn't this another example of maybe throwing away a million here and a million there that Bruce's article talked about? Zaun is OPSing 20 points higher in the majors than Robinson is in the minors. We'll probably give a prospect similar in value to Al Alburqurque and Zaun's salary has already been at least half paid (meaning we'll pay him in the vicinity of $700,000 or so the rest of the way). Plus, acquiring Zaun makes him the backup the rest of the season - a nice offensive boost with Soto likely needing some days off once he gets off the DL.

Zaun's better than Robinson.

It helps our depth as well, though, because for the days Soto needs off we'll have Zaun instead of Koyie to start.

There was the option of drafting him for themselves in the first place. That's true, but Hamilton was never really in the organization to keep is the point.

I'd swap Theriot and Fontenot, but that's probably the best lineup at this point.

Josh Hamilton was never a part of the organization in any real sense. He was drafted with a pre-draft agreement to send him to the Reds. There was never an option to keep him. Casey McGehee has had 178 ABs in the majors this year. In his minor league career he posted a .283/.340/.417/.757 line. Those aren't numbers that make you think he's going to OPS .911 in the majors. Let's see how he continues to hit the rest of the year and into next season. As for Fukudome, there is a lot to his ability over and above how he finishes his swings. He has quite a few positive attributes that make a lot of sense as to why the scouts felt strongly about him. And keep in mind, the Cubs scouts weren't the only ones who liked him. I believe the White Sox and Padres had similar, if not larger, offers on the table for him when he chose the Cubs. And no, our minor league system isn't one of the top 5 or so in the majors, I'll agree (all the teams you listed are at or near the top of the rankings). But, since Tim Wilken has taken over the farm has improved greatly - to the point where it could be ranked in the teens at the start of next year. Those players are low in the system right now (mostly in AA and A ball) but there's plenty of reason to be very optimistic about the farm system. And I think you could make an argument that Zambrano is one of the better pitchers in the league right now and, if he keeps rebounding like he has been, Soto could still be one of the top catchers in the game. I also forgot Marmol in my list - a guy who the past couple of years has been one of the elite relievers in the game.

We acquired Rich Harden from the As last year for prospects. And Billy Beane is considered a very good judge of prospect worth. Our first round prospects haven't turned out really well recently, but we've acquired guys like Soto, Zambrano, Marshall, Theriot, Guzman and Wells through the draft and international signings.

Guess I'm just wondering if someone else sees something I don't. Wouldn't be the first time. Soto had a .916 OPS in June and .841 OPS in July before getting hurt. Aramis has also slowly been improving since returning from his injury. Even with Hill playing for two weeks now and Aramis still isn't producing like he can. Nonetheless, we've posted a 12-7 record in July and St. Louis has posted an 11-8 record. Acquiring Holliday will help them, but continued improvement from Aramis and a return to health by Soto should keep us right with them. Then we could still acquire Freddy Sanchez or someone.

I have no problem with Reed being here. He's a solid defender and hits lefties very well. He might be a tad overpaid, but I don't think he's anything to complain about. The point IM making is that Hendry knew that ownsership was going to change and money would be tight. When you have the seemingly limetless payroll he enjoyed for the majority of his CUbs time, then yes, you can overpay on a guy like Johnson, but when your short on finances you shouldnt go throwing money around like that. It's a deal just for this season though. If it were a 3 year deal worth $3 million a year, I could understand. But he's only here for a year and if he's overpaid at all (which I don't think he is) he's not overpaid by more than a million or so. He's valuable enough to warrant a small contract. Especially when we don't have readily available depth in the minors.

I have no problem with Reed being here. He's a solid defender and hits lefties very well. He might be a tad overpaid, but I don't think he's anything to complain about. The problem with Abreu over Bradley is twofold. First, Abreu is 100 points of OPS higher than Bradley right now, but that gap is narrowing and if Bradley hits for any power in the second half, he'll surpass Abreu. Second, if we signed Abreu to just a one-year deal (which we couldn't have signed him until March or whenever it was he finally signed) we'd be looking for a right fielder again in 2010. The best options for the 2010 OF class are Vlad, Damon, Cameron and Nady. We'd be looking at a bunch of one-year deals since we likely couldn't afford Vlad. Last season's trio of Bradley/Dunn/Ibanez looked better than the 2010 class, so I don't have a problem with Hendry trying to fill RF long-term last year instead of 2010.

Yeah it came pretty much out of nowhere. One second a pitch was thrown, the next there was a horde of people running for cover and the rain was pelting down.

Another rain delay in Washington.