DBAHO

Pittsburgh has shown they are willing to eat up to 40 to 50% of Kendall's contract, from the attempted trade with the Padres last season. If we could get the Pirates to eat half of his contract, we'd be paying Kendall approx $17 mill over 3 seasons, which is pretty damn good for a catcher of his quality. Throw in Everett somehow maybe in a 3 way deal and it only gets better. I wouldn't mind Jermaine Dye here at all IF the price is right. Of course this all depends what happens with our outfield situation with Everett and Lee, but he could really explode at the Cell, since he's been hitting at the A's ballpark and still put up 23 HR's which isn't too shabby at all. He could easily hit 30+, but his injury problems still worry. Maybe an incentive - laden deal perhaps?

In some outings Grilli look ok hitting 94MPH and he is 2 years coming back from arm surgery, which is when he is meant to get most of his velocity back, but no way should we rely on him to be our 5th starter. Most outings he would give up between 4 to 7 runs, which we can't really afford. I say let him start the year off at Charlotte, Diaz as the long man in the pen, and if Grilli has proven he's over the injury and pitches well, then we've got some insurance down at AAA. At least if you trade for a RJ or Hudson without giving Garland, you've got 5 real strong starters, a lot of teams would be extremely envious of our rotation.

Mulder's a local boy. His first choice would be to stay at home and pitch for the team he rooted for. With Hudson you sign him to a long term deal as soon as you trade for him. He's an AL pitcher, and would be a huge asset to this ballclub. Let me ask you now do you wish Colon signed that deal with us after the year he had in Anaheim?

Not particulary sure but this is what I've found.

And summer's here to stay down here in the southern hemisphere, well at least when December comes.

Let's outline the Pro's and Con's of the big 3. MULDER Pro's - Local Boy, Former #2 pick, Lefty, Won 17 games in 2004. Con's - Chronic Hip Problem, Wore down late in 2004 season, gave up 25 HR's. ZITO Pro's - Former Cy Young Winner, Fantastic Curveball, Best K/9 ratio in 2004 out of 3. Con's - High ERA of 4.48, gave up 28 HR's. HUDSON Pro's - Most consistent out of the big 3, Lowest WHIP in 2004 out of 3. Only gave up 8 HR's in 27 games. Only 44 BB's in 27 games. Con's - Missed time due to injury this season. Could cost the most out of big 3. When you look at these things, I think it's hard not to go after Hudson. He doesn't give up many home runs at all which would be a huge plus at the Cell, doesn't walk hitters much and he's been extremely consistent.

Let me ask this question then. Would you rather 5 to 10 years of Zito, Hudson or Mulder OR 1 to 2 years of Randy Johnson for almost the same price?

From the Boston Herald, Randy Johnson ain't a foregone conclusion yet folks.

4 quality pitches including a splitter. Could become a very good pitcher if he can learn to use his stuff better.

Saban won't go to Miami, I think he's happy enough at LSU and if the Bears and his good buddy Jerry Angelo couldn't convince him to come to the NFL, I don't think the Phins can either. No doubt they need an "offensive" coach though after the years of offensive ineptness they've put up with Wanny.

Lee and Konerko wouldn't be the worst idea since it allows you to keep Garland, but you'd be hoping for someone like Danny Bautista to be added to the deal to be able to replace Lee, or some more prospects perhaps, and then you can go out and sign someone like Jermaine Dye perhaps?

I suppose it's just with his age he's getting less durable and there's always the chance of injury with him.

You know Scott Bora$$ is going to be busy from the 9th to the 12th of that month.

All those teams have pretty good bullpens. We are banking on Shingo having another great year in the closer's spot, and Marte returning to his 2002 - 2003 form. The Cardinals did make the World Series without any top - notch starters so it can be done. Buerhle and Garcia are 2 pretty damn good options to throw out for a World Series though.

Starters we could possibly sign include Odalis Perez (interested in him possibly for Konerko last off-season), Jon Lieber (could be had for $5 to $6 million), Jaret Wright, Matt Clement just to name a few.

With Ross Gload there's no need for that. That money would be better spent on a closer, or some outfield / DH insurance for Thomas and Everett.

Yes, Yes I do. There are so many quality starters out there on the FA market that I think we should and will be able to sign a starter if we don't trade for RJ. Also you are assuming that RJ will win 20 to 22 games for us. Don't forget he'll be moving to a hitter's friendly park at the Cell which will inflate his numbers, and you are assuming he'll pitch in every game he's meant to start, which I don't think will be possible. It's probably going to take 90 wins to win this division, we need a 5th starter who can win at least 8 to 12 games for that to be possible.

I'd pretty much call Fields the untouchable of our minor league prospects at the moment, because of the likelihood that he'll be up here in 2006 and we just don't know what's going to happen with Crede.

Well that was one of Omar Minaya's better trade's to put on his resume. :rolly

My thoughts on the subject too. That's why I thought at least if you get Lieber, you have 5 quality starters. But I don't think JR would push payroll up to $80 million then, so at the moment it's a wait and see to see what happens with this situation.

That's if we make the playoffs. It's certainly not a foregone conclusion, and I wouldn't like our chances that much of making it if Grilli or Diaz was our 5th starter. Otherwise B-Mac would probably be pushed up to the role mid - season and it's probably too early for him.

I wouldn't mind the trade that much if payroll was increased to $80 mill. Even then, it's still tough to give up on Garland, but if we could sign another starter to replace him, then I could live better with this deal. If there was a way to do Cheat's B deal (Arizona would be interested in local boy Anderson), then we could keep Garland and use the remaining money to sign a closer or some outfield and DH insurance for Thomas and Everett or even possibly a new catcher.

Ok so let's see the payroll will be $80 mill if we acquire RJ. It'd be approx. an extra $4 mill added to our payroll if we do the Garland plus Vizquel so that's $8 mill. Then there's an extra $5 to $8 mill still to be able to spend on another starter or a bullpen piece possibly.

Looks like Sexson or Delgado, 1 of em, will be headed to Seattle. So Arizona will be in a market for a 1B soon enough, I bet they wish they didn't give up on Lyle Overbay so fast.

There's no doubt this deal is built for us to make the world series. I'm just worried that if we don't, this deal will backfire on us big - time. Of course if the Twinkies lose Radke, and we get RJ no doubt we should be favorites, but the Indians could be getting Radke and they'd have an awesome pitching staff as well. It's not like the AL Central will be a forgone conclusion if we make this deal. The Cubs had injuries no doubt, and didn't have the necessary depth to back it up. If RJ goes down, with Diaz or Grilli as our 5th starter, I'd say we wouldn't have much in the way of depth to back that up either. I wouldn't mind dealin Schnurstein too much either.