Chombi

I guess I messed up...I interpreted this "There's no reason I can think of for them to trade away their best player for a less than impressive package." and just didn't finish it...However, you can still apply my response to it if you'd like. Age, Injry, bad year all are reasons they may not get that impressive package they want.

You make some good points but Cabrera's value is in the fact that few have put up his numbers at such a young age. The age thing is true in regards of a team holding him under contract but at the same time, he is supposed to only get better. That is the perception of young players. They get better. Off the top of my head, I assume Florida is a pitchers park but maybe with the gaps it isn't. I honestly can't remember. US Cellular I'd assume would really benefit a power bat like his. His value has everything to do with what he has done so far, his potential, as it does his age. The other thing is while the guys you listed in our organization are good prospects. None of them are A prospects. Kershaw/Hughes/Bruce/Maybin/McCutchen etc are A level guys and I'd assume it'd take two of them if you have it. If you don't, one would work surrounded by several other prospects. The Marlins are smart and they will get what they want for him. So from us. It will require 2 or 3 B prospects. IMO 3 since ours aren't exactly the best available. DLS isn't ready so I think they may shy from soemone like him.

yea...the Dodgers thing would be fun but I can see them just realizing that LaRoche, Kemp and Elbert could land Miggy on their own. They'd still have Kershaw, Broxton and whatever else to go after Santana too.

Ok, Garland for Hall would happen if we wanted, but wouldn't b/c of our ends decision...Not Milwaukees. Bats are not looked at as being as important as SP. Hall's bat is terrible and he lives off of one good season in like 6. Had he had that season this year, your argument makes sense. He didn't though and front office exec's don't care he helped out many fantasy baseball teams with his dual eligibility and monster season a couple years back. You can make the argument that JG in the NL could turn into a better, younger version of Ted Lilly. If you can't then we don't have any good salesman personalities in our front office. He has the experience a team that is contending will need down the stretch especially with the lack of reliability on Sheets. We all saw them fall apart last year and they had no one to stop the bleeding. Garland can be that force for them. Back to the Lilly thing. If that is a point this team could sell with Garland then surely they will bite on the fact that a minor improvement out of Garland puts him into an A category player. 72.9 in the NL elias rankings warrants an A player. Garland was @ 72.3. I gaurentee if he goes to the NL, he warrants an A ranking next year unless there is some wacky rule idk about. In all seriousness. I bet Contreras could land Hall. It may take an additional prospect but the argument can easily be made. Contreras as an NL player this season would've ranked in the B category. I am sure any team we can send him too would take that into consideration. Again the AL to NL theory could be applied so... Anyways, a key part of any Garland deal will be his contract. If we can move him to a team/ballpark that will help his projected numbers, lots of teams will bite because at worst they get something from him in the form of picks. Garland is very close to an A rating as I said in both the AL and NL. Teams know that and lots of guys tend to perform well in a contract year. Some things to think about. Bill Hall on the other hand is very far from being an A player and is much closer to being worth nothing if he gets worse. As it stands, in the AL next year he would be 42 of 48. Meaning the slightest slip and he may be gone. Heck, he may be jumped if guys like Delmon Young feel like getting onto that list. All in all, Garland is a better piece then Hall.

I agree with that. I forgot about Jenks. He definately would be our answer to a prospect like Slowey, Hughes, etc. In that deal you put. I'd say something more is in it. Danks may be out, idk how high they are on him. I can see him replaced with DLS, because I assume they would demand he and Gio. Garland may still need to be in it too. Those first 4 I am ok with movng for Cabrera. I think Jenks can be replaced via FA. Closers are always available. Jenks is much better then most out there but we have enough trouble figuring out how to get to the closer. We also would have the money to replace him w/ a Gagne or something.

First off, I tried to use another quote too but I must have missed it or incorrectly tried to comment on multiple quotes. Fields wouldn't move to left b/c he would be in any deal. I can't see any way the trade happens w/o him in it. We do not have the strongest farm so I'd assume more prospects or a Garland w/us paying salary would need to be involved as well. When Garland walks they get picks. A deal would easily start w/ Gio and DLS. I'd say Anderson/Sweeney and Fields would be involved. Even a Carter or someone too. Do we want to dump our farm for Cabrera becomes the question. I don't, but then again, I am not thrilled with our farm and don't see anyone becoming Cabrera. I do think a 3-way deal could be done or us making moves to acquire a better prospect to build a deal on could be a possibility. His weight can be looked at that way but lets look at his motivation. He is on a team where he knows most years don't matter. He has proven he can hit regardless of his weight so for an immature kid, I can see him not caring and gaining weight, poor attitude, etc. I'd say the way the Marlins do business is what can affect these guys. Cabrera needs discipline and who can give that to him in that organization? No one is more powerful then Miggy down there? Now moving him to a different team where I think he will be more closely monitored, having a coach/team demanding an attitude adjustment, media all over his ass and just pure maturity will go a long way for him. Staying in Florida is just not something his personality fits with. I agree with you that if he stays there more harm then good will come out of it, but if he goes, it will be different. A trade will possibly do it but it depends on the team. If he hits FA, the teams who can afford him are big market teams who like to compete, have that in-your-face media, usually have coaches who run the team and not get run by it's players, and just care more about their team then some team like the Marlins, Devil Rays, etc. If we can get him. I'll take the risk. Weight can be managed, attitude can be adjusted. Injuries scare me much more then anything.

Definately "cheap" isn't the word I should've used. "Cheaper" is what should've been plugged in there. He is coming off his worst year and has injuries all over the place. Everything I have seen as far as Pirates news indicates they may look to deal him. So the "no reason to trade their best player" is definately being considered. And I think poor performance (worst career year), injury (both knees), age (29 or 30)are some reasons to deal a guy like Bay. Also after next season, he has one year left. The pirates know they aren't going to keep him so why take the risk of letting his stock further drop? They will most likely deal him at the deadline next season anyways? If they are truly looking to move him, I think it will cost us but not to the extent that it may have one year ago. I'd say he could be had for a couple good prospects or a good proven MLB arm. Maybe someone to take Morris's contract even? It's all in the eyes of their ballclub. Sure he is cheap for us, but for a team like Pittsburg and how they run things...not so much. They've got to make moves and if moving Bay can bring in somethings to help out in a couple years when all that talent they have brewing gets up to the majors then why not?

Next to nothing sounds good for Wilson. I think Bay can be acquired for cheap too. Maybe target both anyone? Greene I would assume would be replaced (if dealt) by a move via FA. Dealing Greene a coupel years ago maybe made sense b/c they had such high hopes for Bush but that has clearly failed. I thought they took some kid this year or last year in the first round to play SS. Maybe it was sandwich or 2nd round. Either way, he won't be ready for a couple years so unless they are willing to take a couple year deal with someone in FA then there is little chance I think that they move Greene.

I hate Eckstein. Went to college the last few years with Cardinal fans and I just hate that man. If he wears a Sox jersey ever, I will cry. He just reminds you of the talentless kid who was always trying to "Fake hustle" and suck up to coaches that you dealt with growing up. Jack Wilson I would accept but not be happy with. Furcal i'd like but he really needs to prove to me he can hit still. I don't understand the fascination with Khalil Greene. Good fielder, his bat seems weak. I don't buy the splits entirely because it's not like the guy is an overwhelming power hitter and SD has huge gaps that a guy like him should have a field-day with. I'd take him over Uribe b/c to me, they can be the same player.

Thats funny but I wish they'd invest in some defensive minded coaching so that LaPorta becomes available. I do find it funny you say that after the brief talk of "Dealing Braun" because of his defense. Idk where u stand on that topic but it's one of the dumbest things I have ever heard especially if they don't care about defense.

They'd take Garland IMO. We may have to eat 4-6 mil but if it saves us a prospect then I am for it. It's a case of not every team lands a HOF talent before the prime of their career. The Marlins offer that chance to everyone and anyone willing to pay. People can bring up the win share argument for the Red Sox dealing Hanley and not signing Burnett instead of dealin for beckett and Lowell but I think we saw in the playoffs that theory is out the window a little. If Miggy is there, all I want is to be players in it. To me, that's enough.

Arod I pray goes to the Dodgers. I don't want him on that Angel's ballclub. They are a playoff team every year and adding Arod just gives me nightmares. The Dodgers are where I think he will end up. I honestly hope they land Arod and Santana. It'd be fun to see a NL team like that. Furcal initially seems to be the odd man out but why wouldn't Nomar be that guy? Regardless, I've brought this up before so I will ask again. In the furcal-deal that we would pursue, is there any way we go after a LaRoche or Kemp. I love that farm system and I would really like to steal some things from them. A contract for Arod blocks LaRoche b/c it will be a long-term deal and Mattingly will be up sooner now for them (I wonder why?) IMO. They've got Valdez and Hu as well. LaRoche to me seems able to be had for cheaper then his value (by no means cheap though). As far as Kemp, everything I have seen says they are going after Andruw. Whether that will conflict with their Arod dreams seems undetermined but I can't imagine it will. If it does, I think Jones is priority one for them simply because he will come much cheaper. Ethier or Kemp will be the odd man out in that scenario, and it looks as though it's leaning towards Kemp. Now, for SS. I am ok with Uribe again if it means no eckstein.

I am all for Miguel Cabrera...People are worried about his baggage. I think Ozzie can handle him. People are worried about him needing to play first or DH. Thome doesn't have many more years left and as much as he wants to stay here and retire, I can't see us paying him during rebuilding. Kong meanwhile will be dealt this season. Hurts to say it, but it's going to happen so everyone brace yourself. That said, I don't see us landing Cabrera. So much other talent is out there to get. All the teams we talk about trying to pry prospects from b/c of them being blocked or whatever is exactly what the Marlins are doing. They have their list and they're a very smart front office. That list is short, sweet and very attainable for a bat like Cabrera. I'd love to have him be a center piece here for years, especially if he can clean up his act for his Idol Ozzie but it won't happen. If they are serious in attaining a few veterans though in hopes of contending the next few years w/that new stadium in mind...maybe we can try and work our way on that list somehow.

please no Eckstein....

hmm...didn't know they had those plans to do that. Where did you find that out cuz that is depressing news. My roommate a couple summers back was from UF and talked about him non-stop. So naturally when the Brew crew drafted him I was a little shocked and monitored him as a target. Thanks for the heads up though.

I dont really like any of those...There are better moves using those players. Most of those trades I have yet to see other then on here so I don't think they're legit. One thing I noticed in fall ball is that Matt LaPorta is looking pretty good. Maybe moving Kong in an Angels trade could allow us to snag a young, mlb bat ready player like LaPorta. He is completely blocked and not able to move anywhere else IMO. Why not try for him? They could use Garland and he is very expandable. Just a new thought to consider.

1st off, if that Angels trade were to happen...you don't put kotchman on the bench. As far as what I'd do. This is in no order. 1) trade a SP. If there is a way to steal Gonzalez from Zona, or a Martinez/Gomez/Milledge from NYM then I would go for it. If not, then take a couple lesser prospects from elsewhere. Someone had that Seattle deal before for Clement and I am drawing a blank on the Power OF prospect. If 4 and 6 happen, i'd be ok with the seattle deal. One other team of interest is the Cards w/ Rasmus. I have a lot of STL fans who said they may deal him for max players in hopes of making one last run at the strengthening central w/ their vets. If so, try it. If not, Toronto has a lot of OF prospects too. 2) Sign Linebrink. I don't care what it costs, a veteran arm in the pen could go a long way. At worst, we deal him at the deadline b/c u know BP will be a hot commodity. 3) If there was any chance to a deal to Anahiem with Paulie, I do it. I'd change the big rumor and get more prospects but either way it would have to revolve around Kotchman and I just don't see it. However, if they don't get Arod they have to make a splash to counter the Dodgers move of signing Torre. They have been trying to steal the LA market with how bad the Dodgers have been and the Torre hiring w/ potential players they could have will surely make anahiem have to go back to Anahiem. 4) Sign Hunter or Rowand. I prefer Hunter. I love A-row but Hunter to me can bring a swagger to us. We don't have it and need that swagger. It also brings a little changing of the guard, one of the best players in our division and most hated rival is now on the Sox. Sort of like Albert Belle but i think this is a better move (not that Belle wasn't those first 2 years). 5) I'd put Contreras in the bullpen. To me, he could be effective. Lots of arm angles and movement on his stuff will be hard to adapt to for an inning or two. If not, dump his contract on someone. Maybe the Yanks in 6. Or if we get 6 for cheap then it's a wash. 6) Deal Crede for a cheap Damon. I'll take the risk on Damon in LF for like 6 mil a year. Plus it gives time for one or two of those prospects from the Garland deal to develop. If they will do Abreu and ask for a prospect arm. Go for it.. 7) Deal Anderson or Sweeney, maybe both or a hotter name prospect for Jonathan Sanchez from SF. He once was promising as a SP and is now in the BP. 25 years old and they're putting He and Lowry on the market in hopes of bringing in some guys. 8) Players on the Trade block I would target no matter how much or what they want....Bedard, Cabrera, Crawford, 9) Players I'd target on trade block and do for cheap.....Tejada, Dunn, Griffey, Furcal, Bay 10) We don't look like we are going to compete in this division for a few years so I wouldn't mind a massive firesale, including Thome's NTC rear and load up in hopes of doing what these teams have done to us. You gotta be bad to become good when you are cheap. We're cheap for our market and this is our first top 10 pick since Frank. We need more, we need better scouting, and need to deal our good players for as many hopefuls as possible. Sounds crazy but look at the teams on top of our division...Tigers, did it. Indians, did it. Twins, enh...they are just good at scouting but they did it late 90's. Royals, did it...We are the only team too proud or stubborn to have a couple years in the cellar. We'd rather have a mediocre team that lets us down. I'd rather load up with talent, build, see what we have. Trade the overstock a few years down the road. Then use that money we can spend to bring in the pieces. We should be one of the biggest revenue teams in a baseball so we could double what teams like the Marlins spend when they finally make their run. Follow exactly what Detroit has done for instance and do the same thing (just pass on the aging/injury risk Boras clients) No Eckstein please!

Rick Mount used to make us shoot 2000. So until he figures out great shooters like RM shoot 5 times the amount, and lil 5th-12th graders shoot 3 times his amount, he is going to continue to be pathetic. And 10 pounds on a guy 6'9'' is nothing.

It's funny how this teams problem a couple years back was they had "no post scorer" and no "superstar". We had a playoff team but that was the element we were missing. So we draft Aldridge, a gift, since he was a center w/ potential and we got him because of the knicks being terrible. Of course we all know he was dealt for Thomas. I was a wash on the move in hopes of it meaning we had another option for inside. I didn't follow LSU outside of Big Baby so this Thomas guy who came out of nowhere by having a nice run in the postseason tournament did scare me. They said he was "long" and we went without that scorer. So we get bumped from the playoffs again and have the same problem this offseason....Whatd we do? Didn't draft another center w/post moves in Spencer Hawes, we took the fluke nutjob out of Florida because now we are "long". I love that we got AG in the 2nd round but realistically, this "problem", this "last piece" was put on the backburner again. Aldridge went out last night and looked pretty damn good against a very good Spurs team. Obviously it's game 1, and his total points is not what I am getting at. It's the fact that he is a guy we had, who could do what we needed, and we dealt him for length. Thomas is alright but I don't see this potential to be a stud in him. He is a super athlete but he isn't a basketball player. Some guy on the radio compared him to James Worthy. I nearly choked from laughing so hard.

One more thing...the Lakers are discovering very quickly that all this power of "we don't need to deal kobe" that they thought they had is not the case. So far I'd say Kobe holds the cards b/c if a deal is struck, he can and will veto it. At the same time, the Bulls are right with him since they really don't need to make this deal. They are content with their team and are a top 4 Eastern conference team as it stands today. The Lakers are really stuck because they do not want Kobe. Kobe will play if there is no trade but how will LA react the first time he scores 14 points in a losing effort to the Mavs. The media, fans and front office will all do the speculation of he is not trying. So to me, the sooner they accept any deal the better or they are going to be in for a world of trouble this season.

As of today per 670 and espn 1000, the deal is still on the table. Deng isn't in any trade. Nor will there be a combination of Gordon and Heinrich. It looks basically like the deal starts with Gordon, Thomas and Noah. How else they figure out to make money work is going on and apparently the Bulls and Lakers are just looking around right now for a 3rd/4th team to make this deal go down. Paul Pierce was mentioned, which baffled me. Arenas was mentioned and he is another one that totally confuses me. If they get a 3rd team involved why not look for the teams that are desperate to trade their allstar caliber players. The likes of Memphis with Gasol, Utah w/ Kirlienko (sp), and even the Suns w/ Marion. It seems like those would be more logical teams to join the party.

Rockies in 4 I hope. It'd be cool to see a young homegrown team go on the greatest run in professional sports history to win the WS. If Boston wins, does nothing really. Colorado winning would be something special and fun to witness.

If Arod were to stay with the Yankees and demand the money, I'd say they're more inclined to demand "god-like" numbers out of him in the postseason. Why? They are in the playoffs year in and year out. With or without him. He wants to stay? They should demand he steps up since thats why they're paying him. Seeing as they're willing to pay him as long as he doesn't opt out, I'd say the postseason performance is overrated. Now a team like the Sox. We aren't in the playoffs regularly. We would be paying him that money to get us there. So if he isn't performing in the regular season for us, then our team/fans can complain. If he gets us there, he did his job. He will do the financial side with no problem. He'll sell tickets, merchandise, etc. so that shouldn't even be a concern. Whatever he increases in revenue and gives us the ability to attract other players and have more money for them should be subtracted out of his eye-popping salary from the fans/ownership perspective. The A-Rod not being clutch is retarded. The media acts like he has never played well in the postseason. It's really just the last 3 series. It's not like the guy has never shown up for a playoff game. why does it seem like everyone expects him to have these crazy postseason moments because he is potentially the best player in the game, maybe ever. Its nonsense. It's the postseason. Meaning following the season. There is limited time to perform, sometimes your hot (IE Arods first 3 trips to the postseason, sometimes your not, his last 2-3). Guys like Arod can carry a team for a whole season, but if they fail in 3 games, they're less of a player? Not worth contracts? Choke artists? Give me a break. Picture it like this since you used the Jeter reference...Jeter has had basically 5/6 of a season worth of playoff action. Arod, about 1/4. Arod to my knowledge has performed poorly in 3 of the 6 series. Jeter has had his poor playoff years too.. bout 4 of them. He has had plenty of terrible series, which the Yanks won, and got him another opportunity. Things Arod hasn't had. So don't compare the two. Find people with the same sitatutions.

It sounds good but I don't see them moving Ian Stewart. The guy is a stud. Although they are purely "rumors", everything I have heard is that if they make a deal @ 3b, it will be Atkins moving. My guess is he commands more on the market.

Boy do I feel dumb. I am not opening anymore threads. hah I figured some people would do this. Maybe take the next 30 after those 20.