Take from it what you wish, from different city

[Robideaux]

I can't see the Royals making this deal for the simple reason they'd be completely gutting their bullpen.

Isn't that what bad teams do though? How much does a good bullpen help if it makes the difference between 65 and 70 wins? For years the Brewers groomed closers and shipped them off as soon as they had any value.

I realize the trade's not actually going to happen, but I think the Royals would be the team making out like a bandit. What are they really giving up of value? Emil Brown, John Buck, and Ross Gload aren't pieces a bad team builds around. They gut their bullpen, but in return they get Rocco Baldelli and Jeff Nieman.

 

Basically, if I were going to rank the value of the players included in the deal, it would be something like this:

1. Carl Crawford

2. Carlos Villanueva

3. Jeff Nieman

4. Rocco Baldelli

5. Joakim Soria

 

In that scenario, 3 of the top 5 players would come from the D-Rays. The Royals and Brewers would each get two and give one away. I don't see any reason that the D-Rays would make a deal like that. If they are going to trade young OF talent for young pitching talent, then there is no way they are giving away Nieman, one of their top pitching prospects in the minors. You could make an argument that Soria should be as high as #3, but that wouldn't really change the fact that the D-Rays would be getting the short end of the stick.

[edod]

This is a strikingly even deal, but from the brewers perspective I would be a little concerned. In a sense, they would be trading out of weakness to add to their strength. The major problem in 07 was the shaky and unhealthy starting five. Villy was one of the reasons it didn't completely implode.

 

Here is where Cappy's struggles are really going to hurt the team. If he had done better we'd be talking about flipping him for a real nice package and inserting Villy. I am too sold on Villy and uncertain of Cappy to feel good about this proposal.

 

Crawford seems a spectacular player, but really he's only a offensive upgrade, since he'll only provide a modest improvement on Jenkins' solid defense. And how long until requires serious money to keep around. I'd rather have a solid, young starting pitcher around on the cheap than name player in left-field (or maybe center).

[bball123h2]

Why would Tampa ever do this? They give up Crawford, Baldelli, Edwin Jackson (not much I know) and Jeff Niemann (top pitching prospect IIRC) and bring in Villanueva, Turnbow, Joel Peralta, Ross Gload and Mat Gamel. I'd think they could do a ton better than that without giving up Jeff Niemann.

[MoneyballMan]

Im pretty sure Riske is a free agent.

He has a club option for $2.85 million for 2008, that could be picked up and traded. I hate losing CV but you'd have to do this deal. You'd still have Sheets, Gallardo, Parra, Bush, Suppan and Capuano who could start but to add two good bullpen arms on top of getting Crawford? Just too good to pass up.

 

Edit: Forgot about Buck too, good power, would allow us to trade Estrada if they wanted, how's his defense?

The option actually became a player option with 60 appearances (he had 65). Don't see any reason for him to pick it up when coming off a career year which allows him to get a multiple year contract from someone.

And Riske has, in fact, declined the option so he's a FA. I believe there's another thread started regarding him.