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More like This Day in Half-Baseball. Um, I mean This Half-Day in Baseball. Hey, some of us need our beauty rest, ok? (and evidently some of us haven't woken up from it yet)

Oh, and if you clicked on this story hoping to get some inside dirt on Jays transactions, sorry about that. It's actually just my crazy ideas, but I had to get you to read the story somehow!

The offense continued to scuffle today, scoring 1 run off the worst team in baseball. Granted, they were facing Felix Hernandez, J.J. Putz and Brandon Morrow, 3 of the Mariners' best pitchers, but the longer the Jays continue to not-score, the more frustrated fans will become. Anyway, I'm not here to take in in-depth look at the Jays' offense - Magpie did that yesterday.

Okay, so what if I told you the following players were available:

Player A: .298/.411/.617
Player B: .376/.443/.654

Okay, they're actually not available, at least as far as I know, but bear with me here for a second. You probably looked at those lines and wondered who the heck I'm talking about. It's not immediately obvious because, well, they're not major leaguers. Player A is 23 year old Matt LaPorta and player B is 22 year old Mat Gamel, both of whom are Brewers prospects playing at AA. LaPorta was the 7th pick taken in last year's draft, and the 2nd college bat after Matt Wieters. Gamel was drafted out of high school in 2005 and was a pretty good prospect until this year when he suddenly turned into a masher. Unfortunately for the Brewers, neither of these 2 young sluggers can apparently play defense. Remind you of anyone?

Right now Gamel is at 3rd, which could technically work with LaPorta in right and Hart sliding over to center, but if Gamel can't handle 3rd, the Brew Crew has a problem on their hands. It's a pretty good problem to have, but a problem nonetheless. And what do the Brewers need right now? Pitching. Gallardo and Capuano are out for the year, Sheets will probably get injured at some point (and is a free agent after this year), and Dave Bush and Carlos Villanueva haven't been doing much for the Crew out of the rotation. So what will it take for the Jays to get one of Gamel and LaPorta? If the Brewers ask for Marcum or McGowan I would balk. Would a package including Purcey get the deal done? How about Litsch (and would you give up Litsch? - I think I would) Who else would J.P. have to package? The Brewers could also use some bullpen help - names that come to mind include Camp, Wolfe, Carlson. Oh, and which guy would you rather have - Gamel or LaPorta? Gamel has hit better this year, but sort of came out of nowhere. LaPorta isn't a big surprise - lots of people thought he was the best bat in the draft last year, so the Brewers might be less willing to part with him.

Many different questions to mull over regarding this scenario, Bauxites - let's hear your thoughts.
11 June 2008: Trade Speculation | 40 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
parrot11 - Wednesday, June 11 2008 @ 05:31 PM EDT (#187053) #
Certainly, it's a proposal that makes some sense, although I'm not sure what the Brewers needs are and I would think that the Brewers would be asking for Cecil in return instead of Purcey or Litsch (but I'm not sure about Jesse). The Brewers seem to have a habit of drafting 3B with solid bats that can't stick there (e.g. Hart, Gamel, Braun). On the surface and in a vacuum this trade makes sense, but under the knee jerk administration of the Jays, I could see this going south quickly. This has been a team that routinely handles their prospects in such a way that they break down their confidence.

I honestly thought that the Jays sort of lucked out on McGowan breaking out because they had very little recourse other than just hand him the ball (due to their starting staff getting decimated by injuries). Prior to that they had him bouncing back and forth from the pen and the rotation, from Syracuse and Toronto. Same thing with Lind: the team has shown very little interest in giving him a shot to win the LF job. Almost each time, he gets a few days to prove himself and then it's back down to AAA. And now, I don't think that Lind can believe a word this team says, when the last time they said that he was going to be given the LF and the team was going to stick with him and then they send him back down after 18 AB's. I guess the point I'm trying to make in a rambling way is that if Gamel does not start off on a tear, he might quickly find himself turfed back to the minors.
Mike Green - Wednesday, June 11 2008 @ 05:34 PM EDT (#187055) #
Bill Hall has not hit well for a season and a half, and the Brewers do not have anyone behind him at third other than Gamel, so the asking price for Gamel would probably be high.  I don't imagine that they would want to move Braun back to third.

If that is correct, it would mean that Laporta is blocked.  Corey Hart, Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder occupy his possible destinations.  Laporta has moved to right field this season, which suggests to me that the Brewers would probably want to move Hart, who will be entering his arb years after the season, at some point.

The Brewers' payroll has grown very significantly over the last few years.  I wonder if they would want to take on more salary in return or rather to reduce their future obligations. My guess is the latter.



Magpie - Wednesday, June 11 2008 @ 05:43 PM EDT (#187057) #
Almost each time, [Lind] gets a few days to prove himself and then it's back down to AAA.

You mean one time, this year. Granted, they also sent him back down last season, but that was after he played 73 games and hit .230.
timpinder - Wednesday, June 11 2008 @ 07:08 PM EDT (#187059) #
Why trade for Laporta when you have a guy hitting .349/.395/.544 just a short bus ride away in AAA?  With Burnett likely walking and Janssen's return from shoulder injury an uncertainty, I'd hate to see the Jays trade away Purcey or Cecil.  It irks me that Lind is rotting in Syracuse because the Jays insist on starting players like Stewart (before the injury) and Wilkerson because, once upon a time in a land far, far away, they used to be able to hit.  It's very frustrating.  Bringing up Lind could be a big part of the solution and it doesn't involve trading anyone away.  Also, giving Lind a cup of coffee that has more than 19 at-bats in it would be nice before sending him down next time.
King Ryan - Wednesday, June 11 2008 @ 07:43 PM EDT (#187061) #
Agree with parrot and timpinder.

I would like to see the Jays do what the Royals did with Alex Gordon.  Just give him a job and tell him he doesn't have to worry about losing it and just focus on hitting the baseball.  
jgadfly - Wednesday, June 11 2008 @ 09:39 PM EDT (#187067) #
John's sigh revisited ... a certain somebody's agent is quoted in a Buster Olney piece ..." we can't even get him a $390,000 deal with any team"... http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3437067  ... It does seem that some peoples' hands are being tied ...  I hope that the wall of silence on baseball's tacit complicity starts to leak and if that certain somebody is found guilty (innocent til proven) and does jail time then I truly hope that his cell mate is Bud Selig ... BAH ! BAH !
jgadfly - Wednesday, June 11 2008 @ 09:41 PM EDT (#187068) #
Sorry Ryan!!! ... agh
Mike Green - Wednesday, June 11 2008 @ 10:15 PM EDT (#187069) #
It goes without saying that my first choice would be for the club to bring up Lind now.  For that matter, it would have been better if he had never been sent down. 
John Northey - Wednesday, June 11 2008 @ 10:43 PM EDT (#187072) #
The big thing to remember with Lind is his ML lifetime numbers are just 249-292-415 over 396 plate appearances.  His minor league numbers look very good and I would rather see him than Stewart or Mench, although Wilkerson appears to be hitting at last. Plus most projection systems appear to put Lind as an average LF'er, nothing special. 

I'd say, at this point, give Wilkerson until the AS break.  When Stewart comes back dump Mench.  At the AS break decide if either Wilkerson or Stewart has enough skill for the rest of the season and if not then call up Lind if he is still hitting at AAA.
Mike Green - Wednesday, June 11 2008 @ 10:45 PM EDT (#187073) #
Mench is a significantly better hitter against LHP than Stewart, and at least as good a hitter once one accounts for arm strength.
ayjackson - Wednesday, June 11 2008 @ 11:33 PM EDT (#187076) #

While generally, I'm in favour of bringing up Lind, Wilkerson has been our best hitter over the past three weeks.  We could find him some at bats by resting Stairs, Overbay, Wilkerson, Rios and Wells, but I wouldn't bring him up at the expense of Wilkerson at the moment.

I think Rios could do with a three game conditioning stint down at Dunedin.  It seems to cure what ails hitters.

topherkris - Thursday, June 12 2008 @ 02:28 AM EDT (#187080) #
This is such a terribly odd question to ask, with the two Brewer's prospects playing a very unspecific role in the question.  Deduced, it simply becomes a question of Pitching for Hitting, and Youth for Youthier-ness.  

To start, this seems to be the year where the stars are aligning and the thick wallets are left with nothing more than a very asymmetrical and coincidentally uncomfortable, sitting position. 

In our division, we should have a philosophy, a philosophy based on opportunity. When the division appears weak: buy.  When the division appears strong, sell.  Building for the future does absolutely nothing for us, the other teams in the division will probably have better squads in those years anyways.  If the division is going to take 8 less games to win it this year, why not give it a go.  The toronto blue jays aren't going to win a division by going and taking it, they're going to win when the division falls back to them.

This is a year it falls back, and i think trading a prospect/relief package for a major league ready bat is a darn good idea for this year.  There are plenty of disgruntled players floating around the majors, why not grab one.

Anyways, i'd give up Jesse (+ ....) for LaPorta in a second.  I cant see jesse keeping this up, or staying healthy. If i'm JP though, im trying to make the playoffs this year, and there are plenty of options where you dont mortgage your future to do so, especially in the pen.



John Northey - Thursday, June 12 2008 @ 11:57 AM EDT (#187090) #
The biggest issue for a trade is that the Jays have mediocre players at a lot of slots and the gapping hole in LF/DH doesn't appear as bad when you look at who we have at the moment.
Pos: Player OPS+
CA: Zaun/Barajas 95/129
1B: Overybay 111
2B: Hill/Scutaro 87/89
3B: Rolen 125
SS: Eckstein/McDonald 96/16 (yes, 16)
LF: Stewart/Wilkerson 73 (325 OBP)/ 89  Wilkerson has a sOPS of 138 for the past  7 days, 136 for 14 days, 100 last 28.
CF: Wells 121
RF:Rios 91
DH: Stairs/Mench 104/70
UT: Inglett 114

The headache is Stairs and Stewart both have some skills but neither should be more than a backup.  Both hit well enough to keep hope alive for them, but not well enough to be assets.  Wilkerson being hot has made him tempting but we also have to remember that he last had an OPS+ over 104 in Montreal in 2004.  Again, a solid #4 guy but not a starter. 

A killer is Rios & Hill though.  Rios was expected to be around 120, Hill around 100 and both are well below and neither will be replaced due to contracts just signed.

The Jays #1 need is a solid bat for DH/LF but to put one in you have to release both Stewart and Wilkerson  (Mench is a given) as McDonald, Scutaro and Stairs are all signed for 2009 thus eating up the bench.  Until Wilkerson cools off that isn't going to happen.  To replace him you'd have to get a rent a player as Snider is ready for 2009 I suspect.  No way will the Jays give up more than a reliever or B level prospect too.  Which, of course, brings us back to he who cannot be signed.  [heavy sigh]
dan gordon - Thursday, June 12 2008 @ 03:33 PM EDT (#187095) #
Yes, the problem with the offense is much more widespread than LF/DH.  The lack of power is truly surprising.  Rios isn't providing it.  Rolen isn't providing it.  Overbay isn't providing it.  Wells is providing some, despite missing time, but even he has only 7 HR's.  So many of the position players are below, many well below, the number of home runs you would expect them to have.  Barajas has been helping out with 5 HR's in limited time, Stairs and Eckstein are about where they might have been projected in HR's, but if you had told me at the start of the season that after 68 games the HR numbers for the following players would be: Rolen 2, Hill 2, Zaun 2, Rios 3, Overbay 5, Wells 7, I would have thought you were reading the wrong column of the stats page.  One keeps thinking the power is going to come, but eventually, you have to wonder.  I think the cool spring had something to do with it, but the Jays seem to be suffering more than most teams.  If they don't start getting some more power from the guys they have, they are in trouble, and acquiring 1 more bat isn't going to fix it.
mathesond - Thursday, June 12 2008 @ 04:32 PM EDT (#187097) #
Although this report doesn't actually say that Matt Kemp is on the block, it certainly makes it sound like the Dodgers are willing to trade him. I suspect it would take a Marcum or McGowan to get him, though I would love to see them accept Litsch + Lind. Of course, while I'm at it, why don't they just offer Kemp and LaRoche/DeWitt for Litsch and Rolen?
China fan - Thursday, June 12 2008 @ 05:24 PM EDT (#187098) #
I'm amazed that so many Bauxites would be willing to trade Jesse Litsch.   This guy is currently ranked 11th in the entire league in ERA.  He is 4th in the league in winning percentage.  He is 15th in WHIP.  He is 8th in K/BB.   And, let me remind you, this kid is still only 23 years old.  We should be hailing this guy to the skies, not plotting ways to trade him away.  He becomes even more crucial to the team next year when Burnett departs.
Do people think that Litsch's numbers are some weird fluke that will quickly disappear?  I don't see any objective reason to dismiss his numbers.  He's now had 32 starts and 187 innings in the majors.  If he was easy for the league to solve, it would have happened by now.
Do we want to trade him because he is unimpressive in appearance, without the raw talent or velocity of other pitchers?  A lot of people had the same attitude towards Shaun Marcum, but Marcum is now leading the entire league in ERA.
Do the Jays have a surplus of starting pitchers, justifying a trade?  I don't see any surplus of starters, and I don't see anyone waiting in the wings with obvious credentials to replace Litsch in the near term.  Purcey and Romero are very unproven. Cecil is a year or two away. And even if one of these prospects is good enough to become a reliable starter by 2009, that would be just sufficient to replace Burnett.  Why would anyone want to create a second hole in the rotation, when Burnett will be tough enough to replace?
If we look at Litsch's career, he has been under-rated for his whole career.  In the minors, until his final year, he was never seen as a top prospect. In the majors, he had a very good rookie year, and yet everyone was keen to replace him with Janssen.  This guy never seems to get any respect.


chips - Thursday, June 12 2008 @ 05:26 PM EDT (#187099) #
There hasn't been much discussion on Rios' power outage. Anyone have any theories? Are the Jay's concerned considering all the non-power hitters in the league that have more homers than him. He hasn't even hit one off the wall for awhile.
parrot11 - Thursday, June 12 2008 @ 05:44 PM EDT (#187101) #
Perhaps the most descriptive way to illustrate how punchless this lineup is that the Jays player with the highest HR total is currently tied for 98th in baseball and the highest OPS is 97th in baseball. And Utley and Burrell alone have almost the same amount of HR's as the Jays as a team.
King Ryan - Thursday, June 12 2008 @ 05:55 PM EDT (#187102) #
This guy is currently ranked 11th in the entire league in ERA.

Well, you have to give up something to get something.   All those numbers you posted are exactly the reason why Litsch would be attractive to many teams.  Gotta trade a strength for a weakness, usually. 

Between McGowan, Marcum and Litsch, if you had to trade away one which would it be? Like many of us, I suspect your answer will be Litsch.

(Of course we would all rather trade Burnett away but that's beside the point.)
China fan - Thursday, June 12 2008 @ 06:46 PM EDT (#187105) #
The gap between Litsch and any of his potential replacements is too great. By trading Litsch, the Jays would be inflicting too much damage on their strongest asset -- their rotation -- for not enough gain in their offence.  It's hard to quantify, but trading Litsch would create a big hole in the rotation, and this could perhaps cause a 20 or 30 per cent loss in their pitching strength in exchange for perhaps a 10 per cent gain in their offence.  (Those numbers are admittedly arbitrary, but they'd be damaging one-fifth of their rotation in exchange for an improvement in one-ninth of their lineup.)  There are other ways to improve the lineup without giving up one of the three young aces in the rotation.  Even waiting for the expected improvement in Rios or Hill might be better than panicking and trading away a top young pitcher.
ChicagoJaysFan - Thursday, June 12 2008 @ 06:57 PM EDT (#187106) #
It's hard to quantify, but trading Litsch would create a big hole in the rotation, and this could perhaps cause a 20 or 30 per cent loss in their pitching strength in exchange for perhaps a 10 per cent gain in their offence.  (Those numbers are admittedly arbitrary, but they'd be damaging one-fifth of their rotation in exchange for an improvement in one-ninth of their lineup.)


It's one-fifth of their rotation, but assuming Litsch is a 180-inning pitcher, he's only going to pitch about 10-15% of the innings our pitching staff will - not too different than the amount of plate appearances a single hitter will get.
China fan - Thursday, June 12 2008 @ 07:39 PM EDT (#187109) #
The drop-off from the 5th starter to the 6th starter -- the deterioration in pitching performance that would result from removing a strong starter (Litsch) and replacing him with an unreliable starter (Purcey or Parrish) -- is much greater than the likely improvement in batting performance from whoever is picked up in a trade.  Unless you're getting an all-star hitter. But in this thread, people are talking about trading Litsch for an AA prospect.  I don't see how this would improve the lineup enough to compensate for the sharp fall-off from Litsch to a Purcey or Parrish.
TheyCallMeMorty - Thursday, June 12 2008 @ 07:58 PM EDT (#187111) #
We also need to consider that Burnett might opt out of his contract after this season, in which case we'll really need to have Litsch, Marcum and McGowan around.
jsut - Thursday, June 12 2008 @ 08:36 PM EDT (#187115) #
Burnett opting out is pretty much a given.
scottt - Friday, June 13 2008 @ 07:30 AM EDT (#187129) #
First of all, the Jays are currently sitting near the bottom at half a game ahead of Baltimore, 7 1/2 games back.
Unless they get hot and close the gap, you don't trade any prospect at that point.

There's always next year.
Burnett is walking, Zaun is probably gone. Lind/Snider will take over in left field.
You do not trade a player that cannot be replaced just to finish in third place.
The Mets were closer when they trade Kazmir and that was a terrible move.

If you could get an offensive catcher or shortstop for longer than the rest of this year, I'd consider it.

Burnett can be traded if there's a good offer, which is unlikely since any team wanting Burnett would be in the race.

It's time to cheer and hope they turn it around. Not much else to do.

Reed Johnson is finally back in the dome tonight!


Mike Green - Friday, June 13 2008 @ 09:41 AM EDT (#187132) #
It seems to me that Burnett's decision whether to opt out will be affected by his health and results over the rest of the year. 
FisherCat - Friday, June 13 2008 @ 10:30 AM EDT (#187137) #

Hey today's date got me wondering...has there been any significant happenings in baseball on a "Friday the 13th"?

Might be a cool idea for a new thread.  Just throwing it out there.

John Northey - Friday, June 13 2008 @ 11:14 AM EDT (#187142) #
Mike - that is an interesting thought.  What if AJ stays?  To stay he'd have to have had a bad year (ERA+ of below 95 for certain) or a very injury filled one. 

If that happens then the Jays still have their current 5 for the rotation in 2009 and 2010 but also have Purcey, Cecil and others charging to the majors for 2010 for certain if not 2009.  AJ could be the weakest in the rotation but at $10 mil a year would not be released or demoted most likely.  Of course, given JP's history he just might be willing to eat it if he had to (see Thomas, Frank).

groove - Friday, June 13 2008 @ 11:48 AM EDT (#187144) #
Trading Litsch could be a pretty good move depending on whether or not you view his success now as something sustainable. I believe many of the same people considering trading Listch probably were talking about trading Chacin a few years ago - and well, I'm not going to try and guess what Chacin's trade value is now.
mathesond - Friday, June 13 2008 @ 11:58 AM EDT (#187145) #
Completely off topic, but BBTF came across this great interview with Orlando Hudson....he mentions VW as the most underrated player in baseball. I found his attitude towards being injured during the playoffs very refreshing
Ryan Day - Friday, June 13 2008 @ 12:38 PM EDT (#187146) #
Trading Litsch could be a pretty good move depending on whether or not you view his success now as something sustainable. I believe many of the same people considering trading Listch probably were talking about trading Chacin a few years ago - and well, I'm not going to try and guess what Chacin's trade value is now.

Chacin got hurt, though. By that standard, it could be a good idea to trade anyone, since you never really know who's going to get hurt.
Wildrose - Friday, June 13 2008 @ 01:27 PM EDT (#187148) #
Regarding trades and the free Adam Lind campaign, I'm starting to think along the lines of Will Rain, Lind is being showcased at the minor league level to keep his value high  for a potential trade for a big time LF/DH  ( Bay/Dunn? ). I think they also love Wilkerson so much they want to give him a long, long look.
Ryan Day - Friday, June 13 2008 @ 01:44 PM EDT (#187149) #
I wonder if that works. On the one hand, Lind looks good at AAA. But on the other, if the Jays aren't willing to play him ahead of someone like Shannon Stewart, that's got to hurt his perceived value.
AWeb - Friday, June 13 2008 @ 02:18 PM EDT (#187150) #
I'm not at all clear why so many think Burnett leaving is still a given. He's been in Toronto 3 years counting this one. In a situation basically tailored to him (his favourite pitching coach, long-term stability), he's been injured a significant amount fo time, and has stunk so far this year. He's 31 already (so " he's got potential" is getting a little hard to hear), he's got some pretty good guaranteed money coming, and it's not like a lot of free agent pitchers broke the bank last year. I could see a team taking another chance on him (Yankees?, back to the NL?), and it's not like he's been awful for the Jays when healthy and not in the year 2008, but I don't see it as a given he leaves. I'm not sure whether to be happy about that or not.

I'd guess he's one injury (missing 5+ starts) away from staying, which is why player options are a really bad idea (worst case for player means you keep them? brilliant!).
Pistol - Friday, June 13 2008 @ 02:29 PM EDT (#187151) #
Burnett has 2 years and $24 million left on his contract.  Unless he gets hurt and doesn't appear healthy at the end of the season he's going to get at least that much each year and at least another year or two beyond those two years.

For whatever reason his ERA is inflated this year.  His FIP is 3.38 compared to actual of 4.98.

seeyou - Friday, June 13 2008 @ 03:31 PM EDT (#187157) #
As long as Burnett makes 25+ starts this year, I can't see him not opting out.

For all the talk about pitchers contracts levelling off this past offseason, Carlos Silva still got $48 million over 4 years, and I don't think there are many GMs out there who wouldn't rather have Burnett than Carlos Silva. If Burnett could get $12+ million/yr over a 4+ year term instead of $12 million/yr over 2 years, I can't see how he couldn't go for the guaranteed money, especially given his injury history.

The interesting thing is to see what the Jays do from here.  Three main options I can see:

1.  Wait and see if he opts out, figuring if he does we still get two useful high draft pics.

2.  Trade him for the best return.  This probably only happens if we're clearly not in the playoff picture come deadline time, and the potential return is only likely to outweigh #1 if A.J. puts together a good string of starts from now until then.

3.  See if some sort of extension deal could be reached before the end of the season (i.e. he waives his player option, Jays tack on another 2 years at $13 million/yr to the end of his contract).

At this point, I probably prefer #1, but that could change in the coming months.  Other opinions?

Pistol - Friday, June 13 2008 @ 04:34 PM EDT (#187160) #
Unless he's changed his tune Ricciardi has pretty much said he'll let Burnett walk if he opts out.

The problem with banking on draft picks is that it, at best, it's going to be picks #16 and #31.  If it's a team in the bottom 15 those picks could look something like #35 and #45 which isn't bad, but is more than likely to give you one decent player 4 years down the road.  I think a trade could probably do better than that (and you'd probably get a player that, at worst, is a year away) plus you'd save a little money (not that that is a big concern).

I have no issue if the Jays extended the contract a bit - there's nothing sure in the minors right now (not that any pitcher is sure), and the Jays aren't going to get anyone better for a similar price.

Mike Green - Friday, June 13 2008 @ 05:17 PM EDT (#187162) #
I can imagine a scenario where Burnett ends up 2008 with an ERA of 5.25 in 160 innings due to bad luck/injury interruptions, but is healthy and pitching serviceably by year end.  I am not sure if he would test the market in those circumstances. The more likely scenario is that he has knocked his ERA down to about 4.40 by year end, and throws 200 innings.

Burnett's ERA is probably a better indicator of performance than his FIP.  Over his career, he has performed much poorer with runners on than with nobody on.  It's been a little worse than usual so far this year, as his GB and DP rate are both down, and his line drive rate is high. He has benefited from the deadball conditions, as his HR/fly rate is well below the common 11%.

ayjackson - Friday, June 13 2008 @ 05:47 PM EDT (#187166) #

The problem with banking on draft picks is that it, at best, it's going to be picks #16 and #31.  If it's a team in the bottom 15 those picks could look something like #35 and #45

The Supplemental pick wouldn't change, would it?  So it would be #16 and #31 or #31 and #45.  The Supplemental pick will be determined by his ranking of FA (last year he was a B).  #31 is a real longshot too, as he's not likely to be the top ranked FA the way he's currently pitching.

Having said that, I'm certainly rooting for Washington and Baltimore to finish just out of the playoffs in the #16 - 20 range, because I believe that's where he'll be next year.  That's home for his wife and I think both teams are good bets at this point to dip into the FA market - Washington because they are dripping with cash and Baltimore because they are unexpectedly competitive.

scottt - Friday, June 13 2008 @ 06:32 PM EDT (#187169) #
Today should be a good night for him, facing the best team in the NL (43-24) and a so-so pitcher at home.

Soriano is out, and the Cubs lineup is:

Theriot
Hoffpauir (who?)
Lee
Ramirez
Fukidome
Soto
Edmonds
DeRosa
Patterson


11 June 2008: Trade Speculation | 40 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.