DBAHO

If that's the case, that's an excellent deal for the Phillies and props to Ed Wade for once.

Yeah I know, but I was tossing the first name of a top set-up guy that came to mind. But KW has shown over the past few seasons that he will fill a need in the bullpen, and hopefully he'll do it again. But we do have guys like Baj waiting for a chance as well. Who knows what will happen in spring training come 2005, that's how Jon Adkins got on the team in the 1st place.

Lieber for 7 mill in 2005. Cairo from 1 to 2.5 mill OR Polanco for 3 to 5 mill in 2005. Setup guy (Tom Gordon, Steve Kline etc.) for $4 mill. That scenario is still very much possible, and payroll would be at about $75 mill.

Lieber's status with the Phillies. Now tell me this, is it worth giving Lieber $22 million over 3 years?

After tonight's events, all I'm going to say is that I hope KW is going after Jon Lieber and going after him HARD, no matter how close he may be to signing with the Phillies. Otherwise it's Odalis Perez or slim pickings starting pitching wise. Can't see us giving $24 million over 3 years to Clement AND losing a pick in the process.

Found this in Phil Rogers' latest piece.

Can I just ask what you would do if you were the GM FWIW.

You know Chuck LaMarr is still laughing about that trade.

And you can thank Fred Wilpon, Omar Minaya, and the fine organization of the New York Mets.

It's only day 1 of FA after arbitration has been offered and about 4 teams have signed FA's today. It's not like every other team in the MLB is going out and signing the players that we have targeted. Wait until the winter meetings are done, and if no moves have been made you can bash KW all you want. Today signing's could make KW more prone to making a deal since he's already missed out on some of his guys (Vizquel and Wright).

Do you doubt KW's ability to pull off a good move. Have a look at last year FA's in Shingo who was a bargain at $500,000, Politte etc. He's also made some good trades such as the Marte one. KW's not going to be stupid and overpay for a Giambi when he isn't overpaying for starting pitchers like Jaret Wright.

And that is possible because ...........

Can't see the Twins resigning Koskie even after the Twinkies offered arbitration, there's a reason they went out and signed Juan Castro even though he's mainly a SS. Maybe the Sox could "gulp" "fly under the radar" for Koskie.

I posted that article bout 6 pages ago in this thread, funny how no-one notices it when it's the last post in a page of a thread. That could mean that Philly might not want Brown now, so Atlanta could be the only market for him. Byrd has been mentioned as a sleeper, and could have a Lieber like year next season. I think he's headed to Texas though, and we don't exactly need another fly-ball pitcher at the Cell which is what Vazquez is as well FWIW.

Karl Malone. Kobe Bryant. :fyou

Found this article on the Lieber, Cairo situation.

I mentioned him in another thread, he'd be an excellent fit as the starting 2b or the utility guy.

They already resigned Nomar and Walker and signed Blanco, who was probably our main catching target. Not a bad day's work.

And it's only day 1.

Lieber is a Type B FA, and the compensation for signing him is the signing team's 1st round pick. But since we have the 15th pick, we wouldn't lose that, and the Yanks would get a pick in the 1st comp. round I'm assuming.

Miguel Cairo just became available now though, and he'd be an option at 2b to rotate with Willie.

Clement's most likely headed to the Dodgers, Blue Jays or Indians for 3 years $24 million, which KW and JR certainly won't pay, so I think you can get rid of that option. I hate to say it, but our SP FA options are dwindling by the day. Billy Beane could start going after Carlos Lee again possibly though, for one of the big 3 plus prospects from either team etc.

I'm most interested to see what happens to Jon Lieber now out of all of this. If the Yanks do indeed sign Milton as well, could they both move Vazquez AND Brown (Philly or Atlanta most likely) to make room for Lieber? If they can't resign Jon, we should seriously look at this guy ASAP. Odalis Perez is now probably most likely headed to Washington as Jim Bowden is pretty hot on him, and money shouldn't be a problem there.

I'm still trying to get used to the whole Nerds vs. Jocks theme here.

Kenny Williams I'm afraid.