DBAHO

Let's not forget the fact most young pitchers in the majors don't get it until the mid to late 20's. Kevin Brown is a perfect example, he struggled in his first 3 full years and put up the same sort of stats as Garland. Next season, 21-11 with a 3.32 ERA. If Garland is traded, some other team will reap the benefits of us developing him for them over the past 3 seasons.

Like the trade for the Padres more for sure. May will be much better in the NL and will be a good 4th / 5th starter for them, and insurance in case David Wells leaves. Bukvich is a young power arm to add to their bullpen, Trevor Hoffman will be able to teach him a few things.

But the long - term benefits of Garland reaching his potential are too great to ignore in my opinion. People are giving Joe Crede another chance, why not Jon Garland. If he was pitching in the NL, he'd have much better figures for sure. I don't want to give up Garland for the main fact Jason Grilli or Felix Diaz will be our 5th starter in 2005. No thanks.

Johnson would be taking up almost 1/4 of our payroll. We weren't willing to pay Maggs that amount and we probably won't for Carlos Beltran either. Unless payroll gets significantly bumped up ti the $75 to $80 million mark, it's going to be hard for us to fill our holes with RJ on our payroll.

So eventually you'd be trading 2 years of Jon Garland for about $3 to $4 mill with the potential of him turning into a 15 game to 20 game winner plus prospects and Paul Konerko, for 2 years of Randy Johnson with dodgy knees for 2 more years at $16 million. There's no doubt there'd be a boost in marketing and the crowds, but will it really improve our team? In my opinion Lieber and Garland > Randy Johnson. Then you can trade Konerko, possibly to Oakland for Tim Hudson or in some other deal for a bullpen piece perhaps (Julio and Hairston?) that will better suit our needs.

Exactly. I've heard Lieber could be had for only $5 or $6 million. He's really pissed at the Yankees for not picking up his option, and it looks like he won't go back there. Perez wouldn't be a bad idea either depending on the price, he's a very solid lefty who would fit in well to our rotation as well.

Hairston for Jacque Jones in fact. Maybe we could swap Everett in there instead.

Lieber or Odalis Perez for that 3rd starter. Just do it Kenny.

Well the O's have a lot of options there as well, so who knows. I found this on him as well. Also another deal I had come to mind was one with the Expos, where possibly Konerko and / or Lee could go for some sort of package include parts such as Nick Johnson, Brad Wilkerson and Zach Day. We'd have to include some prospects though, but Washinton have been rumored to be wanting to make a big splash in FA and trade talks, and all of those players COULD be available for the right price.

How bout Chad "I'll get sacked more than Kurt Warner did today in 1 quarter" Hutchison.

I don't know if the O's would take Everett, it would depend on what they do with Jay Gibbons, and whether or not they non - tender him or not, even though he hit over .300 in his last 33 games or so. Also, if I'm Billy Beane, I probably ask for more for Hudson, but that's been a rumored deal with Lee or Konerko, and the A's do have payroll problems. But Beane should really lock up Hudson out of the big 3. Mulder's got chronic hip problems and Zito needs Rick Peterson ASAP.

Ok let's say we do this deal. We'd be getting Randy Johnson for 3 or 4 players. What if though, we trade Konerko and Carl Everett plus $1 or $2 mill to the O's for Larry Bigbie, Jerry Hairston Jr. and Jorge Julio. We can then trade Carlos Lee, Willie Harris, and a prospect or 2 not named McCarthy, Anderson or Sweeney for Tim Hudson and Eric Byrnes. Eventually we'd be getting Hariston, Bigbie, Julio, Tim Hudson and Eric Byrnes for about 4 or 5 players, with only 2 who are all - star material. Your lineup would then look like this, 2B - Jerry Hairston Jr. SS - Omar Vizquel LF - Eric Byrnes DH - Frank Thomas 1B - Ross Gload CF - Aaron Rowand RF - Larry Bigbie 3B - Joe Crede C - Ben Davis or Jamie Burke Utility man - Juan Uribe Rotation #1 - Tim Hudson #2 - Mark Buerhle #3 - Freddy Garcia #4 - Jose Contreras #5 - Jon Garland Bullpen Neal Cotts Jon Adkins Cliff Politte Damaso Marte Felix Diaz Shingo Takatsu Jorge Julio Also, could Randy Johnson put up 300 K's. He very well could. But there's a big risk of him getting injured, and not pitching for us much at all. Frankly, I don't think we can take that chance when we're giving up a lot.

We've locked up Buerhle, Garcia and Contreras for the next 2 to 3 years. Don't forget Randy Johnson in 2003, only won about 11 games I think, and was dogged with injuries. This trade could backfire on us bigtime. And what if we don't even make the playoffs?

Is this THE Turk Wendell who had a 7.02 ERA for the Colorado Rockies in 2004. Halleujah the World Series is ours for sure now.

You sound just like Kenny Williams himself.

You add Johnson and subtract Garland, we're stuck with a 4 man rotation. You don't seriously want Grilli or Diaz in that position of 5th starter at the start of 2005 again do you? Frankly if you add Odalis Perez or Jon Lieber instead as the 3rd starter for anywhere b/w $5 and $7 mill, you can trade Konerko in a better deal that will suit our needs, and keep Garland.

Phillips is more of a 2B now anyway. But Peralta had a far better year down at AAA. Hence why they let Vizquel go.

Peralta will be their SS next season, not Phillips.

Hmmm interesting. I think Lee and Marte is definitely too much for Williams and Pierzynski even though I would love to get Williams on the Southside. Cotts for Vizcaino, no thanks. Rincon wouldn't be the worse addition, but Dye would worry me with his injuries, even though there's a lot of potential for him to put up good numbers at the Cell. Wouldn't come cheaply either.

Nah I still can't find it. It is behind C.J's garage, under the big bridge nearby where u can pick up a Uzi I think, or is it near another Grove Street House?

And then the next 4 years after that, will it be Bush's policy or Clinton's. Hmmm.

Yeah man she almost looks like a woman today. (In best Michael Strahan voice).

In 454 games in his minor league career, Harris has drawn 209 walks and struck out 284 times. Most walks he had in a season was 89 in single A ball in 133 games in 2000 when he was with the O's organisation.

Compared to someone like Rivas, you'd think we should be glad we have Harris. Willie gets into grooves for about 3 to 4 games, goes on a hot streak and then goes cold. To become a better hitter, he's got to be more consistent on a regular basis, and not into a cold streak for long periods of time.