jjfanec

Would the Dodgers be a potential trade partner? I know it seems like Prince is destined for a AL team, but the Dodgers may think they are one guy away from making it to the series and Prince would be an upgrade from James Loney. I really dont know what they would be willing to trade but what about Prince for Loney and an arm? It is hard to tell what the Dodgers are going to look to do this year with a lot of free agents including Manny, Furcal, Kent, Garciaparra, Lowe, Blake, and probably Brad Penny. I probably answered my own question because maybe a Prince trade would not work because they have so many needs, but they can address some in free agency with the money they have. JJ or Escobar could make sense there though? Maybe even Bill Hall as a utility guy?

Why would the Tigers trade pitching when their staff is not good? I mean them wanting Hardy makes sense, but them trading pitching, especially Verlander does not make any sense to me.

What I am saying is there is no reason to believe he will even stay the same. Most hitters like Theriot who are slap hitters seem to be inconsistent, with a few exceptions. You cannot just forget two years ago happened or else you end up with a Bill Hall scenario where a guy busts out and you expect great things without realizing the one good year could be a fluke. Now, Theriot could continue to have years like last year and I could be completely wrong, but I think when you look at players with similar track records Theriot is a player that you would be hard pressed to project to continue to have seasons like this year.

Craig Counsel at the same age is a similar player with a little worse numbers. Counsel batted .316 (in 67 games), then .275 and .282 with OBP's of .400, .359, and .348. Then he dropped off considerably as he got older. Even though he started in the majors late his prime was still at 29, which is what can probably be expected from Theriot. Theriot had a good short season two years ago, then a really bad year a year ago and then a good year again this year. So, you can't say he is a far better player than Counsel based on one good full season. Counsell had three season at the same age better than Theriots number a year ago. Theriot actually compares to Brady Clark, with less home runs and a better K to BB ratio. So the reality is you would be trading for a guy coming a career year who is one year removed from putting up bench player numbers. If Theriot strings together two more good years I would be surprised. I echo the other thoughts of rather having Fontenot of the two guys.

Hardy would not have been an average 3B this year with his bat. He would have had the 8th highest OPS in MLB. It is the lower than the 4th best OPS he had for SS, but definitely well above average. It really depends on what you could get for Hardy to decide what would be his best value. A stable, solid 3B is worth a lot and this team should know that after having to start Counsel this year.

I think part of the "give Jack Z the gm spot" sentiment comes from the belief that he will get a job very soon and it might as well be us. Most assume he wont be in his current position much longer. I agree with you though. Keep things as they are now.

I really like Melvin as well. The contract to Gagne was bad but who else was out there. I know we looked at Percival but he went to Tampa. The under the radar trade for Torres really helped the team. What were the other horrific moves this off-season? Kendall was a better all-around catcher than a good amount of catchers in the league. Cameron was a decent signing but definitely not horrific. The trade for CC was great. The trade of Gross was bad. Kapler was a great pickup. Mota for Estrada was a definite win for the Crew even with Mota's rough stretch. Late season pickups of Lamb and Coffey were nice moves. The trade for Ray Durham was a nice trade as well. And one of the least talked about but best moves was locking up Ryan Braun who is going to hit big pay days in arbitration. That is a pretty good year in my book. I would have liked a left-handed bat and a better contact guy, so I would downgrade him there.

I dont know if people saw this in the jsonline article about Braun hoping CC would stay, but toward the end Attanasio say one of the top priorities is extending Melvin's deal. Link

The Brewers trading Prince would not be trading a guy just because his contract is getting big. I would be trading a guy who could get a good amount back in return. If you can get a high end pitcher for him you have to think about it in my mind. Think about shipping Prince for a good pitcher and then grabbing a guy like Mark Teixeira. To me that is the best case scenario. You shore up the rotation and get a guy who is actually a better fit for our team. Tex is a better overall hitter and a much better defender. Maybe it would not work but I like the possibilities. Obviously, Tex may be out of our price range but he could really help this team, while allowing us to get young pitching. However, if we dont foresee getting a solid 1B back somehow then I say no to trading Prince.

I think most of the Brewer fans expected to lose, especially when Sheets went down. I was really hoping to win one and maybe two but I was not expecting us to win. As for the Cubs they were predicted to go to the series by almost everyone so their situations were much different. I think the Brewers did a much better job representing the Central. Losing 3-1 as the underdog is not too surprising. Losing 3-0 as a World Series favorite is surprising. I would not say people are happier about the Cubs losing, but it just helped ease the sting. I am sure everyone here would have traded this scenario for a Cubs vs Brewers NLCS.

I think this isn't the best comparison as Green has shown better power than Fontenot in the minors. You factor in how much of a pitchers park Brevard is and Green's .825 OPS of this year would be much higher. Fontenot only had one minor league season with over 10 home runs. Green has had 14 and 15 his last two season and he was at least one year younger and "less polished" than Fontenot who had played college ball first. We talk about how young guys like Brantley can develop power so it should be said Green can develop more as well. He could end up as .275 BA, .350 OBP, 20 HR guy which would be great.

Depending on how cheap he would come sure. If he was willing to a small one year deal I would definitely look at him. I know his ERA was bad over the season but he had an ERA of 3.5 and a WHIP of 1. He cut his home runs down a little and his walks drastically. One red flag was that his BAbip was very low the second half of the year so he could have just been lucky. However, he should come cheap and with our payroll a guy who was a good bullpen arm down the stretch would be nice.

I like Coffey as an option out there. I forgot about him. He pitched well down the stretch. I may be in the minority here but I actually would not be opposed to a much cheaper one year deal with Gagne. He only gave up a run in one of his last 11 outings. He only gave up 4 hits and 3 walks in those 11 innings.

As this season closes there are obviously a lot of questions for next years team. There is already a thread for the lineup so was interested in what other people were thinking about the pitching staff for next year (if this is in another thread feel free to move). I am going to assume that CC and Sheets are not here next year. It is nice to dream but I just dont think they will be here. As of right now I would say our rotation looks like this 1. Yo 2. Bush 3. Parra 4. Suppan 5. McClung or a new guy who is more of a top end guy Obviously this rotation could use a top-end type guy. If they get that I think they could be set. Trading Soup would be ideal but I doubt it will happen so he will probably be the 5 guy. McClung could get a shot at the rotation but I really like him as a bullpen guy. The same thing with Villy. For the bullpen there are a lot of options Riske, Torres, Villy, McClung, and Stetter are back Shouse - is a free agent, as are Gagne and Mota Obviously, there are a lot of scenarios with how this could play out. I think Villy and McClung deserves shots for the late innings with how well they pitched down the stretch. Both guys can pitch multiple innings and have really to learn how to pitch. Their walks seemed to go down and they did not seem to get hit too hard. Stetter looks good. Torres was a pleasant surprise I am just not sold on him as a closer. He fills a spot for sure though. Riske hopefully can bounce back after his surgery. After that there are definitely spots open for free agents and maybe minor league guys like Dillard or someone else.

There are positions that need work for sure. I actually really like Durham as the 2B. I think he fits this team really well. 1B, SS, LF are all set. I would not move Hardy unless we have to because right now he is our 3rd best hitter by a pretty good margin. Kendall is serviceable at catcher. That would leave 3B, CF, and RF. I am just not sold on Cameron. I would like a guy who doesn't strikeout so much at a couple positions, but I know there are not a ton of options at CF. I dont want Hall anywhere near the starting lineup anymore. Hart has a chance to be good he just needs to learn to take some pitches. Maybe we need to hurt his ribs because that seemed to help Braun become more selective toward the end of the season.

I love that the Cubs gave Fukudome all that money. He has to be one of the worst all-star game starters that I can remember.

Prince has not had his "clutchness" lately. He could have either tied the game the last two days or at least got the Brewers closer but has had two rough at-bats.

Braun, hardy and Durham seem to be the only guys seeing the ball well right now. Braun's hitting the ball well and Hardy and Durham are working the count. Lets go here Prince drive one.

There is no way to not like this trade in my mind. LaPorta will probably be solid but he would not have gotten us to the playoffs this year. The two top picks should be able to get guys who can replace Bryson and the PTBNL, especially with Bryson probably done for next year. LaPorta could easily be a Rickie Weeks who dominates the Minors but struggles in the pros or he could be a stud but CC got us to the playoffs. One rough start in the playoffs does not change the success of this trade.

My message to the Cubs. Don't leave a pitcher who walked the bases loaded and had 7 walks on the game in to face a guy with the bases loaded. That is playing with fire. Watching that game I thought for sure Lou would take him out but he got burned like he should have.

I agree completely with the last couple comments on Hart. After his first couple at bats I thought he looked a ton better. He was one of the only guys who did not K against Hamels yet people throw him under the bus because he K'ed to end the game. The Hart of the last month would have struck out swinging at a low outside ball in three pitches against Lidge. He would not have worked the count to full in order to get a nice pitch. I dont see people piling on Prince for his at bat against Lidge even though he swung at a terrible pitch that was ball four by 6 inches.

Lou really blew this one for them in my mind. That was a terrible job of handling a pitching staff. If Ned would have done that the Fire Yost thread would have had an extra 2-3 pages of vents on it. The Cubs need the good Zambrano tomorrow or they are done. That bullpen will be tested against the Dodgers because Big Z has been scuffling and Harden has trouble going deep in games.

If Sheets was willing to do a one year deal I think you have to take. heck, Melvin gave Gagne 10 million after a terrible end to a season. I just think some team will give him more years and good money. The only way we get him is he decides to take a one year deal to prove he can stay healthy and then cash in, but I dont see that happening.

Hardy at 2nd gives us two guys with limited range on the right side of the diamond. I am not sure how well that would work for us.

Derek Lowe has walked twice tonight. Sadly that is just one less time than Corey Hart walk all September (he only walked 3 times in August and June as well.)