New Rumors Thread

[yoshii8]

On MLB Trade rumors there is a small mention of how the Padres might be interested in Tony Gywnn Jr. as there CF. Could we get a pitcher like Cla Merideth for him?

[splitterpfj]

The Pads do indicate they'll try to trade for a CF, do they have a blocked prospect anywhere? If not, pitching would seem to be their strength.

 

Calling all minor league experts....

[trwi7]

Well they have Chase Headley at 3B and Kouzmanoff already there but Kouz should probably be in LF because of his bad defense. If we could trade Gwynn for a bullpen arm I'd be ecstatic.

[billyhallfan]

gwynn for merideth would be a great move, or for Hampson or Cameron?

[ILuvDaBush]

The only positional prospect they had who might have interested us....was traded to the Sox last year. George Katteras was a burly doubles-hitting catcher. May have been of decent interest to us, but it's a moot point now. Meredith or Hensley would be good targets, though.

[PilprinBuddha]

I am sure many of these blocked Minor leaguers are good players, but I really think this team needs veterans. Give me a Lofton, a Kearns, or even a pat Burrell type guy. I don't want another young guy on this team as a starter for another year or two. There is a nice solid core of youth on this team, it needs veteran leadership not more youth.

 

Peopel can complain all day long that Suppan was a bust or Suppan was over paid. That's BS the guy did what he has done every year - he is a solid inning eater who will always be just above .500. The thing he did to make his money, is he brought consistancy and veteran leadership. Ben Sheets is a better pitcher, but Suppan was more valuable because he can be counted on.

 

Overspend for vets if you have to, but this team needs them.

[endaround]

It has plenty. Signing old guys because they were good once makes no sense.

[JohnBriggs12]

Why do people keep bringing up everyday playing righthanded hitting OF (Kearns, Burrell, Nady, Guillen etc.)? Jenkins is gone. Fielder and Estrada are the lone returning starting lefthanded hitters in this lineup and even Estrada may not be back.

 

It makes no sense to me to have 6 and possibly 7 righthanded bats (most of whom are quite similar) in the lineup everyday against right handed pitching. Sure you could move Gross around filling in for one of those guys, but who then becomes the number one LH bench option? Gwynn and or Counsell?

 

To me the focus on the OF should be a LH bat, preferably one that could hit between Weeks and Braun who makes contact, doesn't expand the zone, hits .300 and can get on in front of Braun and Fielder. Counting on untested guys to do that isn't the answer. They need a veteran in that role. That's why I've thrown the names I have out there.

 

As for sliding a RH bat in that spot vs. lefties, Dillon could be that guy or they could go get an Emil Brown type in a minor deal. But the righthanded portion of a platoon is less important than the LH part simply because righthanded pitchers outnumber lefties by a significant amount.

[dadofandrew]

Well, Laporta is RH, so I doubt they would turn down a RH bat just because he hits RH.

 

That said, I'd prefer a lefty as well, Church, Lofton, and Dejesus would seem the most likely.

[TooLiveBrew]

The more I look into Church, the more he seems like he'd just be Jenkins redux. His BB rate barely hits that '1 BB / 10 AB' rationale, and I wonder if he'd really be that big of an OBP influx. Overall, he's solid against RHP to be sure, but I wonder if there's a better option.

[dadofandrew]

Look at his career away numbers, TLB.

 

I talked about Ryan and some others here a couple weeks ago.

 

http://albethke.blogspot.com/2007/10/heres-list-of-often-mentioned-targets.html

[TooLiveBrew]

Ahhh, will do doa. Gotta get off the 'net (stupid monitoring programs...), but will do when I take lunch.

[And That]

Trading Gwynn to SD almost seems inevitable. I'm kind of dubious about Meredith - he had a 4.97 ERA away from Petco in '07, but he doesn't turn 25 until June of next year, so he's interesting.

 

The Pads also have this kid named Joe Thatcher...

[TooLiveBrew]

Alright, checked out Church again. Still feel the same. The only thing that suffers from his 2005-07 splits away from home is SLG. He just doesn't get on base enough to be that exciting. His OBP is almost literally identical home v. away, and at .354, I stand behind my Jenkins assertion. Next, please.

[JohnBriggs12]

toolivebrew on Church: :"he doesn't get on base enough to be that exciting".

 

Did anyone say Church was "exciting"? I think the terms "decent", "realistic", "available", "affordable" are what we would associate with Church. As for his OBP numbers, he's hit in the RBI spots in the Nats order, not the OBP spots, usually batting 5th or 6th, so around .350 is pretty decent.

 

The few times he's hit second (50 career plate appearences), he's got on 23 times (.460 OBP) inlcuding 7 walks.

 

As for comparing him to Jenkins, heck if Jenkins were making what Church will in 2008, we wouldn't be having this discussion, Jenkins would be back.

[dadofandrew]

I'd take a .350 OBP from anyone. Church is almost 100 OPS points above an "average" corner OF, and some of that is hidden because of his RFK time. Not sure if he's on the market, but if he is...

[TooLiveBrew]

Did anyone say Church was "exciting"? I think the terms "decent", "realistic", "available", "affordable" are what we would associate with Church.

Easy, big JB. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Exciting was my word, not intended to manipulate anyone else's. I'd associate those other terms with Jenkins (not at $9 mil though), and I'd hope we upgrade over a .350-ish OBP. I'm not sure how valid the "RBI spot" v. "OBP spot" thing is - not meant as argumentative, just pondering. Obviously we can't really rely on roughly 50 PAs, but I know you only work with what you have.

 

I just know that Melvin has stressed seeking out that OBP guy, and I feel like Church is a solid backup plan, not the equivalent of a #1 choice. A good backup plan, to be sure.

 

EDIT: DoA - fwiw, Chruch's 2005-07 splits only show appx. a .020 difference in Church's home SLG v. road SLG. His obp, as I noted, is almost literally identical.

[endaround]

Not sure why you think a .350 OBP is low. Unless you have a top hitter, you're unlikely to do better. And I still don't understand why Hart hasn't been already assigned the #2 spot. Might as well take advantage of his speed and OBP ahead of Braun.

[splitterpfj]

New today.

 

LINK

[TooLiveBrew]

end - I don't think .350 is low, I just think given Melvin's chatter he's eyeing something higher than that. Perhaps you're right - perhaps I'm just being too picky.

 

"Just from talking to general managers in the last 24 hours, I think we'll be spending more time talking to each other than to agents,'' said San Diego's Kevin Towers. "I look at some deals to come out of these meetings. Clubs are probably going to be a little more aggressive in the trade market, because it's tough to fill holes through the free agent market.''

Thanks for that link, splitter. It's gonna be like St. Nick's Day to the Winter Meetings' Christmas! I'm officially excited.

[dadofandrew]

Yeah, a .330 OBP is about average, so .350 is pretty solid. Even for a corner OF, .345 is decent, and anything above that is plus.

 

It's like folks that insist a #5 SP should have a 4ish ERA...it'd be great, but hardly something that is realistic.

[paul253]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/10/30/hot.stove1105/

 

This is a link from cnnsi saying the Brewers should trade Alcides Escobar to Texas for Hank Blalock, and make a few defensive moves including moving Braun to right, Hart to center, and platooning Blalock and Hall at third. I personally don't mind seeing Blalock in Milwaukee, but I don't want to platoon Hall. I would say Braun to left, Blalock to third, keeping Hart and Hall where they are.

[MadtownTim]

As Peter Gammons was just blathering on, the discussion of Florida dropping their payroll down to about $30M came up as did the name Dontrell Willis.

 

Yes, bad season this year. But could be an interesting addition if we don't have to mortgage the farm to get him.

[JohnBriggs12]

"I still don't understand why Hart hasn't been already assigned the #2 spot...take advantage of his speed and OBP skills."

 

Because he flourished in the #5 hole, endaround, and nobody else Ned put there, Estrada, Hall, or Jenkins did anything in that spot. In September, batting 5th, Hart hit .330/.381/.641 with 6 HR and 20 RBI and he protected Fielder to the extent that Prince got pitches to hit in September too. I'd also argue Hart's OBP skills aren't all that great. He walked just 36 times in over 500 AB's.

 

He also wouldn't utilize his speed batting 2nd and in fact the Brewers would be wasting his speed there. I don't want to take the bat out of Braun's or Fielder's hands by either running into an out or opening up first base for an intentional pass to Fielder. Batting 5th in the order, he's going to get a fair amount of batting leadoff in 2nd inning. There he acts like a second leadoff guy.

[pogokat]

corey hart may be my favorite player...but he really doesn't have true obp skills...he's got the ability to hit for a high average, but he's a 1/10 walker at best...and it may be another season or two before he does it in the bigs

 

he fits better at 5