Saturday, August 15, 2009

looking to the offseason...












i) mike rivera-- happy trails big bopper.








2b rickie weeks
ss alcides escobar
1b prince fielder
lf ryan braun
3b mat gamel
rf corey hart
c angel salome
cf felix pie


1) yovani gallardo
2) doug davis
3) scott baker
4) manny parra
5) jeff suppan












E.S.K. said...

I'm looking to the Reds as a potential destination for Hardy. I wonder if they'd be willing to do a Hardy for Homer Bailey change of scenery swap.

E.S.K. said...

Also, I kind of want to punch you for thinking Felix Pie can be an everyday player.

I also don't see how you can pay Torrealba 6 million and sit him on the bench. If you aren't signing a starting catcher then you let Rivera and Salome battle it out. Rivera can probably be signed for $750-1m. I'll take Rivera and the difference.

E.S.K. said...

Sorry for the disjointed response, but take that $6m for a backup catcher and resign Mike Cameron. I don't see any scenario where they can upgrade or even keep 75% of his value, so resigning him would be a high priority for me, second only to starting pitching.

ahren said...

yeah, i could see that argument. it'll just take more then $6 million dollars to sign cameron. a lot more probably. he made $10m this year and is the only good centerfielder on the market. he'll also want a longer contract probably. i'd say somewhere between $21m and $30m for 3 years likely, and i don't want to make that kinda commitment.

i still like felix pie, but i've always been high on him. it could be someone else-- michael saunders in seattle (if they need to replace beltre) maybe.

homer bailey... yeesh. i know he was once a top prospect, but he just has never been good. there's a chance he'll be good of course, but one of my goals is filling the rotation with people who won't completely blow up, and i think bailey does that a litle too often for my liking.

E.S.K. said...

Yeah, but what can you get for Hardy who has been down for a year and a half? If you think you can get more then great, but I honestly don't. Not at this point.

I know it'll take more to sign Cameron, what I mean is that money is better used put towards that goal that signing a backup catcher.

PaulNoonan said...

I agree with all of these, except I also have reservations about Harden and Pie, though the Cubs apparently can't develop a tools CF to save their life, so that might be a bit unfair. I'd be happier with Harden if he hadn't been injury prone and not his usual awesome self this year, but he hasn't been bad either.

And while I agree that this team isn't going to make it this year, I actually think their best chance to make the playoffs is also to play all of their young guys anyway. Especially at catcher.

ahren said...

also, for the record, i generally agree that yorvit torrealba is somewhat unnecessary. if this was a diamond mind team, and i was running it, i'd just go with the youngsters.

i'd also dfa jeff suppan, but that's not going to happen realistically (unfortunately), and neither is going into next season with no veteran catcher.

mike rivera will be 34, has never had more than 150 at-bats in a season, and a career line of 248/309/398. plus, he's a bad catcher (94 rate for his career, -8 raa). he's definitely not a guy i feel i can live with catching 100 games if the young guys don't work out.

plus, just subjectively, does he seem like a guy that's aging well to you? he's gotta be the slowest player in baseball.

i'm not in love with yorvit torrealba, but i'm not going to kill myself if he has to start 100 times. so in a sense, i'm not signing him "to be a backup". more like, i'm signing him to cover me at starter if need be, but be a backup in the best-case scenario.

the only other catcher worth a damn that's available is benjie molina, but i think we all know that he'll be way overpriced.

E.S.K. said...

If I can get Torrealba for cheap, I'm fine with it. Either way, the Brewers are not going to win or lose the division based on their catcher next year, so spending $6m makes no sense to me.

PaulNoonan said...

I don't know about that. See: Jason Kendall.

E.S.K. said...

I wish Kendall were worth -9 wins. I'd have a lot more hope going into 2010.

tracker said...

We'd have to get some salary relief, but I like the Hall for Harang/Arroyo speculation, especially the former.

tracker said...

Harang, by the way, is awful -- AWFUL I SAY!!! 12-31 over the last two years. Hear that Jocketty??? How bad is 12-31? It's bad, oh yeah, really bad.

Hall, on the other hand, hit 35 hrs in 2006, and had many many rbis.