Ennder

I just don't believe it was quite this cut and dry. I don't think Melvin would have traded Cruz straight up for Mench and Nix and I don't think the Rangers would have traded Cordero straight up for 1/3 of a year of Lee.

Yeah this is every bit as bad as Yost was for bullpen management. It is obvious Hawkins doesn't have it today.

Cruz was included to make the Cordero for Lee part work, Nix and Mench where throwins to try to even it out. Thinking about it as Cruz for Mench and Nix is wrong imo.

I strongly disagree. A half year of a hitter for 1.5 years of a reliever? I'm sorry, that was just a terrible trade. We had to give up a good hitter and a guy who turned into a really good overall player for 1.5 years of a reliever and two useless outfielders. Nobody will ever convince me that that was a good trade or even a mediocre trade. It was horrible. Carlos Lee put up 2.6 WAR in 2006 and about 2/3rds of that was with the Brewers, he was making $8.5M to do it. Cordero put up a 1.6 WAR in 06 (his lowest total during that entire stretch) and another 2.4 WAR in 07 and he only made $4.1 in 2006. We got a RP who was pretty close to as good as the hitter, was probably underpaid and we got him for a full extra season. Carlos Lee is not nearly as good a player as people seem to think he was, the defense really hurt, the lack of BBs really hurt. Regardless of what you think of the overall deal if we offered Lee for Cordero as the entire deal in 2006 the Rangers are the ones that would have turned it down, Cordero had more value given their contract status than Lee. Adding Cruz may very well have been overpaying, hard to say given how long it took him to do anything and how most of his stats have come in that hitters park. Mench and Nix also could have been better than they were. Nix struggled through injuries and Mench probably got off the steroids and couldn't hit anymore.

Mench and Nix where the throw ins. Cruz was an important part of the deal because Cordero had more value than Lee at the time. Regardless the point is you won't find a GM in baseball that didn't let a few guys get away. That is why so many players end up with multiple teams before they even reach arbitration.

If you look at any GM in baseball you are going to find guys just like this on their resume. Guys who just matured very late or needed a change of scenery to get their careers jump started. Seems like revisionist history to me.

Hard to point at guys who didn't show success until their age 28 season like 4 years after a trade and complain about the trade.

Can we please stop trying to analyze the team after 7 games. It is completely futile to make any judgments on any player on the team or the pitching coach at this point. It will take until at least May before you can make any real conclusions about anything.

I don't think Macha is willing to use Parra in the middle of an inning. He is looking for spots where Parra can come in and pitch a full inning regardless of whether he stinks or not. Those spots aren't always common. Not really worried about Doug Davis at all, he just has location issues like 1/4 of the pitchers in baseball do every April. He is nothing special but I don't think expectations should be changed by 2 bad starts.

It has been 7 games...

I think the Orioles and Mariners will both be looking to add a 1B in the next couple years.

Almost no team in baseball would have Davis as the #5. Zaun was a starting C for 4 years before last year and he only became a backup because of a young up and coming guy in Weiters. Signing a long term solution at C would be silly given our depth at the position in the minors, C is not a big part of the problem with the team. The fact the team hasn't really played well yet and has faced good teams to start the year and still is sitting around .500 is why I'd like to keep Melvin.

OF course people are overreacting, but they always do. I don't see how anyone can be concerned by the HR he gave up to shapinova considering how he hit it. Giving up back to back HR to pujols/Holliday doesn't mean someone is done. I wouldn't be worried about a rookie after that sequence, why on earth would I be worried about Hoffman. I don't worry about anything in April pretty much, it is more or less a throwaway month.

He gave up a joke of a HR to a crappy player and then HR to 2 of the better hitters in the NL. NOt worried at all at this point.

The peak has moved down with hitters, most consider it more like 26-27 now and it generally is as much experience based on age based. Gomez isn't likely to grow that much in any department except maybe power, I don't see him being better than average even if he does reach his 'potential'. He might be able to grow into a .275 AVG, 6% BB type of guy which would be acceptable with his defense.

I think if they are going to extend him they need to do it now while they can get a discount. If he plays a full healthy season it doesn't really lower his risk factor much at all, he is always going to be a big risk with those wrists. All waiting does is drive up the price. Of course this deal only makes sense if they get a significant injury risk discount or it is heavily incentive laden.

Kendall was statistically one of the worst defensive catchers in baseball last year.

I'd rather do something like a 3 year deal that is somewhat games played incentive based and has an option for a 4th year.

#2 hitters see more fastballs for 2 different reasons and neither of them are because a good hitter bats 3rd. Reason #1 is because they have a base stealing threat on a lot and that most certainly does increase the number of fastballs they see. #2 is because they are almost universally hitters who lack power and pitchers throw more fastballs to non power hitters. I've never seen a study that suggests they see more just because a good hitter is up next, I remember reading an article that said last year the Cardinals #2 hitters saw the 3rd fewest fastballs of any team in baseball as an example. If we want to stick a mediocre OBP guy in the 2 hole you would probably want Hart there. He will see a few more fastballs because Weeks is on base in front of him and he is useless against off speed stuff. Sticking Gomez in the 2 hole is a complete waste since he doesn't make good contact and doesn't get on base enough. The ideal leadoff hitter is a guy who gets on base a lot and has some speed and preferably not too much power which is somewhat wasted with the bases empty, contrary to popular belief it doesn't matter at all if he strikes out a lot other than the fact it is hard to strike out a lot, not have a lot of power and still have a high OBP. Weeks is pretty close to the ideal leadoff hitter. The ideal 2nd hitter is a guy who makes good contact, hits a lot of line drives, gets on base a lot, preferably has some speed to stay out of double plays and ideally is left handed since having that runner on 1st opens a hole for him. The closest we have to that is probably Escobar though he'll need to learn to take a walk and hit more line drives and fewer groundballs.

It obviously depends on the size of the deal but I think extending him would be a good risk at the right price.

Looking at Gameday out of the 8 pitches Gomez saw there only 2 were for strikes. I think he should stay in the lineup for his glove but I just can't see him staying in the 2 spot.

Reyes came in and walked a guy and hit a guy. I think that has a lot more to do with the choice of sticking with Edmonds than anything else. I still expect to see Hart in there against lefties.

Hart will start every game against lefties and then against some righties. I bet he gets about 300 PA or so, more if someone gets hurt or Edmonds struggles.

That was just crazy, ball was nowhere near a strike and guy falls to his knees while swinging and still somehow gets it over the fence.

In your opinion, which i disagree with. He might only be average or even a little below average but he isn't awful by any stretch.