Transmogrified Tiger

No way. We'd cripple ourselves. In what way? Cedeno isn't going to play SS and he doesn't have the bat for second IMO. Pierre is going to sign a 3 or 4 year deal with the Cubs so that gets rid of Pie. The pitchers would hurt but they might be gone for a Dunn or Abreu anyway so why not get a bat that covers a postion that most teams don't have one? We still need a RF, and there aren't any good ones out there. What do we have left to trade at this point? After the Pierre trade and this, there's nothing even remotely close to Major League ready that's of any worth. It also rids you of any rotation depth you have. Now you're looking at Prior, Z, Wood, Maddux, Rusch, and Wellemeyer is the only starter that could step in unless you're JC. We've already dealt the top two AA arms, so Ryu, who isn't a great prospect is the best player that's closest to the bigs. Making that deal you settle SS, but you no longer have any trading chips to improve the team, and the only thing you get is a 30 year old average defensive SS that'll hit .350/.500 at 12.5 million per for 4 years. Terrible idea for the short and long-term.

No way. We'd cripple ourselves.

No. Just to help analyze the situation, forget about the name here. While his contract isn't a burden, it's certainly isn't a bargain. 4/50 to put up .350/.500 and is average at best defensively at SS, and he turns 30 early next year. We have a hole there, and I'd certainly welcome Tejada's production, but let's not get carried away. This isn't the same as the Cabrera rumor, even though it's more real.

I care very much what his percentage is. If he steals 65 bases and gets caught 50 times, then his basestealing "threat" is hurting the team with his running.

Right now we have Z, Prior, Maddux, Wood, Williams, Rusch, Hill, and maybe even Wellemeyer for 5 rotation spots. We aren't hurting for SPs. Could we stand to add one? Possibly, but our outfield is a much greater concern at this point. The idea is to add both Floyd and Bradley. Neither are iron men, that way Murton gets a good bit of at bats if they need a stint on the DL or need days off, plus he platoons with Floyd in LF. Bradley plays RF.

Murton is going to be a strength of our team, not a weekness. No use wasting more trading chips and payroll on a lesser OF than Murton. Use that money where it is really needed, a SP. And I really wouldn't say it that way. We really do not have ALL that many weeknesses in our Line-up. All we are really lacking is a power OF for RF and a good SP. Floyd and Bradley are both superior to Murton. But will they perform better than Murton next year? I don't think so. We need a 3rd starter much more than we need to gamble on someone else doing better than Murton. One of them in RF is fine, but let the kid play. Yes, both Floyd and Bradley are better bets to produce better than Murton, and to produce well enough to be a corner OF. Murton is the gamble, not Floyd or Bradley.

Murton is going to be a strength of our team, not a weekness. No use wasting more trading chips and payroll on a lesser OF than Murton. Use that money where it is really needed, a SP. And I really wouldn't say it that way. We really do not have ALL that many weeknesses in our Line-up. All we are really lacking is a power OF for RF and a good SP. Floyd and Bradley are both superior to Murton.

My desire to get Coco Crisp went out the window with the Pierre trade.

You're kidding about Posednik, right? He wouldn't be in the top 30 outfielders that I would choose. Rowand too.

Corey's never struck me as the most "fluid" of athletes, if that makes any sense. I don't think that would work at all.

Urlacher will eat the ball. Little known bylaw, eating the ball = 3 points. You can't take off your helmet though, that's where they get ya.

Both are better than losing to Virginia, NC State (at home), Clemson (big) and Florida (big). Naturally, but they weren't an option for an at-large spot.

For his career he has a very similar AVG/OBP against both, but has 40 more points of SLG against RHP. Career .040 IsoP against LHP, that's staggering.

UK is either going to be very upset or very relieved reading this thread.

I think this may happen. Will Carroll thinks the Cubs are close to getting Bradley. Pierre, Bradley, Floyd with Murton in for Pierre against lefties. Someone had suggested this some time ago. I may be reading you wrong, but there's no way the Cubs traded for Pierre to platoon him. I read it that way too, but my understanding is that Floyd/Murton would platoon LF, and Pierre and Bradley would play everyday.

So, which is better: losing big to USC and not losing at all the rest of the season, or losing a tight game to USC then losing again at home to a team that isn't going to a bowl? Regardless though, Oregon is about to face the same fate as Cal the year before. Complain about not making a BCS bowl, then getting stomped in the Holiday by the 3rd or 4th best team in the Big 12.

you only spelled it that way because you didn't know how many r's and l's you actually needed. Nonsense, I knew there was two R's. Have you forgotten I was your sole companion on the Sledge bandwagon last offseason? :(

TERRRRRRRRRRRRRRMELLLLLLLL

Offering $10m per year for Rafael Freaking Furcal is pathetic fiscal irresponsibility, we're lucky somebody stepped in and prevented this mistake. Enjoy Neifi. Cmon, it's not like Furcal was/is the only middle infielder out there. Lugo's still on the block, there are several decent options for 2B that could become available(Kennedy, Grudz, Matsui, etc.), and as of now Cedeno and Walker are both still on the team. It's not Furcal or bust.

Except he didn't make those points elsewhere. I asked him to, and he declined like he did in this thread. That's not accurate at all. See yesterday in this thread at about 4:55pm. If you want to criticize me try actually reading all of what I post. I've made points with you before and when I don't automatically succumb to your reasoning you have broken it off. I asked you a few months ago if the sabermetrically best teams win every year and you responded no because (and I am paraphrasing) anything can happen in a short series, which is true. I then stated that I was asking the question in the context of the regular season and I never received a reply. That's Ok. But don't tell me I am declining to make arguments. I am declining to spend precious time talking to people who have their minds made up in advance of discussing a point. There's nothing there that says anything about Pierre being better than Wilkerson. I showed you the case for Wilkerson over Pierre, then you compared Wilkerson to Burnitz. Here's the exact post: I replied afterwards with the case for Wilkerson over Burnitz, and that was the end of that particular tangent. As far as whatever discussion happened a couple months ago, the best built teams don't win because 162 games isn't long enough to overcome whatever fortune/misfortune may occur. That doesn't mean that it's an incorrect way to do it if it doesn't always work, it just gives you the best odds.

I bet you could get him for Pie + a few arms. Doubtful. They want a front of the line starter now. Not prospects. They're dreaming if they think they can get one for Abreu.

I'm okay with that. Given that there's someone capable in RF, and Murton isn't being benched instead of Mabry. EDIT: White-Pierre-Bradley with Murton coming off the bench wouldn't be terrible, and safeguards against either of the corners getting hurt. With the big defense thing going on with Hendry do you really think they would go after White? I think Hendry might not be as concerned as much with defense at the corner OF spots. Either way though, if that's the case, then Floyd and Mench are no-gos, and Pierre shouldn't have been acquired.

Much like the Royals trading for Redman, if Rogers has a good first half, they could get good value for him at the deadline.

87 players had an ISOD over .100 (with at least 200 PAs) in 05. That's a pretty decent sized group. 167 players were at (or above) Walker's career average of .081. 207 people with over 200 PAs had a higher BB/PA than Walker. I like Walker as much as anyone and want him on this team badly next year, but he's not the great leadoff hitter we all think he is. Especially, when he's as like to post a .330's OBP as he is one in the .350's. Where did you find the IsoD numbers? I'd be interested to see how many of those 87 qualified, or were close to it. Walker's posted an OBP under .342 once in his career(twice if you include his 156 ABs in '97), and he's been over .350 6 of his 8 seasons(9 if you include '97). He's done it by hitting for a high average(2005 for example), and by hitting for a lower average and walking more(2004). I think he's as good a bet as anyone to put up a .350 OBP, and he's much more likely to do that than .330.

He had a very good season at Daytona last year, I can't believe I hadn't heard of his season until now. I'm not Raw or Outshined, but I like to think that I follow our system closely enough to not miss a guy who was as impressive as Mateo was last year. Guess not.