Frank the Tank 35 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 Ken Rosenthal http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/8634130...3162&ATT=49 Trading second baseman Robinson Cano certainly is an option for the Yankees; virtually every club with a need at the position has expressed interest. Cano, however, finished strong after adjusting his stance and setup in mid-September, and some with the Yankees believe that he will be more at ease in 2009, saying he tried too hard this season to justify his new four-year, $30 million contract. The problem for the Yankees is that they need to acquire two starting pitchers, and the top of the free-agent market is thin. CC Sabathia might prefer to go to the west coast and/or stay in the National League. Some baseball people question whether A.J. Burnett possesses the right makeup for New York. Derek Lowe might command a contract too large for the Yankees' liking at age 35. Thus, trading Cano for a starting pitcher might be necessary. ... and interestingly The Brewers' J.J. Hardy is realistic about his future with the club, knowing he likely will be traded to make room at shortstop for Alcides Escobar, one of the game's top shortstop prospects. In fact, Hardy recalls being impressed by Escobar the first time he saw him, when Hardy was rehabilitating a shoulder injury at the Brewers' spring-training facility in Arizona in 2004. "(The Brewers) had brought over a ton of new kids from the Dominican and Venezuela, all 16 and 17 years old," Hardy says. "I picked out Escobar out of all the guys. I didn't even know he was a shortstop. But he was having fun, smiling, laughing. I gave him bats and gloves. The next thing I knew, he was the shortstop who was going to take my job." Hardy, though, should be in demand. He led National League shortstops with 74 RBIs, ranked fourth among all shortstops in on-base/slugging percentage and was third overall at short in the plus-minus defensive rankings at Bill James Online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 I could see the Sox trading Vazquez to the Brewers for Hardy. Another option I thought of today was buying low on Rickie Weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 What's the experts' opinion on Lexi at ss. Is he supposed to be a great gold glove type? Or an Alan Bannister? Or something in between? We could be hurting without a veteran ss. What do you guys think will happen at 2b and ss for next season? -- I don't want to play against Cabrera 18 times and definitely not Crede 18 times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Oct 3, 2008 -> 08:15 PM) Wow, that actually could make a lot of sense. CC obviously is gone, and I haven't followed the situation closely enough to know if Sheets is in the Brewers plans. With that said, I have to imagine the Brewers want to continue to contend, and not rebuild. Vazquez would be a real inning eater for them, and a serviceable #2 in the NL. Sheets is a FA. They'll bid on him but with his injury history they're not going to overdo it, someone will take a gamble on him for a lot more money than the Brewers would put up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 3, 2008 -> 08:16 PM) What's the experts' opinion on Lexi at ss. Is he supposed to be a great gold glove type? Or an Alan Bannister? Or something in between? We could be hurting without a veteran ss. What do you guys think will happen at 2b and ss for next season? -- I don't want to play against Cabrera 18 times and definitely not Crede 18 times. I don't know if there really is an "Expert" opinion. The expert opinion on Alexei coming in to this season was that he was a career backup, and he's been nearly all star worthy instead. What we keep hearing is that 2nd base is his 3rd best position, with SS as #1 and CF as #2. But like all things...you believe it when you see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Oct 3, 2008 -> 02:13 PM) Your team for what? You want to get rid of 90 HR's and replace them with what? Are the Sox moving away from the Cell? Like it or not...something needs to be done about the OF/DH situation. We're playing a corner OF in CF because we have too many corner OF's, and we're playing a DH in RF because we have too many DH's. Even assuming Griffey walks there are more guys in need of playing time than there are at-bats for them. Move Anderson and some of that clears up, but you still have Swisher as your only option other than Wise/Owens in CF, which is a bad place to be, and Dye is still in RF which is a bad place for him to be. The reality is...as this roster is constructed now and with what we've seen from people this year...it would be really nice to be able to field a Swisher/Anderson(maybe platoon)/Quentin OF, pick which direction you want to go in, because it dramatically improves the defense. But you can't do that when you have all 3 of Dye, Thome, and Konerko on your roster, because 2 of them have to play defense somewhere. There are just too many pieces right now for the spots to put them in...and the pieces that might actually compliment the other guys well (i.e. Anderson plays some defense) are stuck behind several layers of other guys. We need to move 1 guy somewhere, just to clear playing time. Even if it's Anderson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 4, 2008 -> 04:21 AM) I don't know if there really is an "Expert" opinion. The expert opinion on Alexei coming in to this season was that he was a career backup, and he's been nearly all star worthy instead. What we keep hearing is that 2nd base is his 3rd best position, with SS as #1 and CF as #2. But like all things...you believe it when you see it. I think it will be a big mistake to move him from 2b to SS, as he's struggling enough at 2nd base. One of his greatest assets is his ability to turn the double play with the strong throwing arm from 2nd. I don't think he's very good diving for the ball, and he doesn't seem to field balls going well from side to side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 If we had an outfield of CQ, Torii Hunter and Dye this year with Lexi at ss and Richar at second base would we have won it all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 4, 2008 -> 04:16 AM) -- I don't want to play against Cabrera 18 times and definitely not Crede 18 times. You do realize we'll get the Twins first round pick? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 4, 2008 -> 04:26 AM) If we had an outfield of CQ, Torii Hunter and Dye this year with Lexi at ss and Richar at second base would we have won it all? No, we wouldn't have made the playoffs. Richar is a terrible baseball player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 I didn't but now I do. Still ... Do you want to go against OC 18 times and Crede 18 times? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 3, 2008 -> 08:26 PM) I think it will be a big mistake to move him from 2b to SS, as he's struggling enough at 2nd base. One of his greatest assets is his ability to turn the double play with the strong throwing arm from 2nd. I don't think he's very good diving for the ball, and he doesn't seem to field balls going well from side to side. Well, the problem with that is...what do we do about SS this offseason if we don't want to move him from 2nd base? No matter how Cabrera's perfomed down the stretch, he's not coming back with the way he's fit in with this team, let alone for 3/$30 or more, and I'm not sure what other options there are out there other than, God Forbid, Uribe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 4, 2008 -> 04:28 AM) Well, the problem with that is...what do we do about SS this offseason if we don't want to move him from 2nd base? No matter how Cabrera's perfomed down the stretch, he's not coming back with the way he's fit in with this team, let alone for 3/$30 or more, and I'm not sure what other options there are out there other than, God Forbid, Uribe. J.J. Hardy? The more I think about it, I'd like to see Sox sign Grudz for pretty cheap for 2nd base, move Alexei to SS, and focus on 3b/CF/SP. Use Vazquez, Fields, Swisher, Poreda, Dotel for trade chips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 Uribe ... he'll probably be the last remnant of 05 when the rest are gone. If he'd have steered that line shot to right into the seats we'd have won Game One. Alas no big hit from swing from the heels Juan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Oct 4, 2008 -> 04:28 AM) Crede couldn't stay healthy with the Sox. You really think he is going to last the whole season playing on the turf in Minnesota? Let OC go be a cancer with the Twins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 4, 2008 -> 04:31 AM) Uribe ... he'll probably be the last remnant of 05 when the rest are gone. False Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 Crede couldn't stay healthy with the Sox. You really think he is going to last the whole season playing on the turf in Minnesota? With our luck, his back will be fine (ala Magglio recovering from his injury) and he'll have clutch hit after clutch hit vs. us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 4, 2008 -> 04:33 AM) With our luck, his back will be fine (ala Magglio recovering from his injury) and he'll have clutch hit after clutch hit vs. us. Greg...he hasn't been clutch for 3 years now. With injuries and PEDs, you can't keep living in the past with players. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 3, 2008 -> 08:30 PM) J.J. Hardy? The more I think about it, I'd like to see Sox sign Grudz for pretty cheap for 2nd base, move Alexei to SS, and focus on 3b/CF/SP. Use Vazquez, Fields, Swisher, Poreda, Dotel for trade chips. The wierd thing is...I don't want to see the Sox make a big move at either CF or 3rd base, because frankly I don't know what we have there right now until we play the guys. I actually want to see Fields sink or swim next year after having his knee fixed up, and I think we have more guys who are playing CF than we have time for. But I will agree with you that we need to move for an extra SP. And with trader Kenny, if Fields becomes a chip in a larger puzzle, I can live with that as long as Uribe isn't our starting 3b on opening day next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 (edited) You don't think Joe Crede will be a clutch hitter again if healthy? I'd rather have Joe Crede at 70 percent than Juan Uribe at 110 percent. THe only good thing of him going to the Twins is he won't be able to increase his speed. He'll still be slow on the basepaths. Edited October 4, 2008 by greg775 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 3, 2008 -> 08:35 PM) You don't think Joe Crede will be a clutch hitter again if healthy? I'd rather have Joe Crede at 70 percent than Juan Uribe at 110 percent. THe only good thing of him going to the Twins is he won't be able to increase his speed. He'll still be slow on the basepaths. Right now I see no reason why any team would gamble more than a million dollars or so on Joe Crede ever being 70% again. And even then they'd want a better backup plan than Uribe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 4, 2008 -> 03:35 AM) You don't think Joe Crede will be a clutch hitter again if healthy? I'd rather have Joe Crede at 70 percent than Juan Uribe at 110 percent. THe only good thing of him going to the Twins is he won't be able to increase his speed. He'll still be slow on the basepaths. No, Crede is just not nearly as good as you think he is. I'm not going to miss seeing him pop up 15 times a week to the right side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 Time to go looking for Ozzie quotes on tonight's masterpiece. Peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baines3 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 The big question with Crede is his back as we all know. We could possibly get rid of him, that wouldn't surprise me a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalapse Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 3, 2008 -> 10:38 PM) No, Crede is just not nearly as good as you think he is. I'm not going to miss seeing him pop up 15 times a week to the right side. I guess when you don't get to see many Sox games and pretty much ignore stats (save 2006) and medical reports, you're going to have an unrealistic idea of the man's abilities. It's kind of funny because Joe Crede's "clutch stats" have been pretty unspectacular for the past few years (rather average really) but he still holds this reputation for being this unbelievable clutch hitter. Personally, I think he's more "memorable" clutch than he is "consistently" clutch. Aside from his 2006 RISP numbers he hasn't hit over .300 in any of "RISP", "RISP w/ 2 out" or "close and late". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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