Best Internal Solution To 1B?

[bigbird]

Great news BB. Thanks for the update. I miss hearing your regular updates from years past.

I miss getting them:)

[bigbird]

Weren't you saying you didn't think we would? Was that your opinion or is this new info?

What you hearing about the draft? Going to take the pitcher you think?

My opinion...... I think the pecking order is T Beckman, Alverez, Matsu?, Smoak...

[Sports Guy]

My opinion...... I think the pecking order is T Beckman, Alverez, Matsu?, Smoak...

Damn...I hope you are wrong. lol

What kind of contract would you give Tex?

[bigbird]

All out assault on signing Tex? Haha. Yeah, but we always talk big before the market is set. :rofl:

What would our payroll be without Hernandez, Payton, Bradford, Walker, Trachsel????

[Moose Milligan]

From everyting i'm bring told we will pull an all out assult to sign Tex. I'm also hearing we'll deal Ramon Hernandez this offseason and Wieters will be the starting 2009 catcher. Very doubtful Roberts gets traded. Will try to trade Payton, Walker and Bradford at the deadline. The organization is very happy with Huff at DH. He worked hard this off season and is producing as well as any DH in baseball right now.

Thanks for this nugget

Despite this, I'd love to see us have the rights to Smoak this time next week...

I think/hope that Joe Jordan has seen the trials and tribulations of Snyder and Rowell and decides to go with the college bat, a la Wieters, again this summer...

[McNulty]

That's about 22M in contracts. There's no doubt we'll have enough money to sign him if we want to. It's the contract that it will take to sign him that's the question. Is Angelos prepared to go 10/200M to blow everyone else out of the water? And let me go on record as saying, I don't think he should. I don't think Tex will be the savior that most seem to think.

I'd much rather overpay for fewer years on that. How about 6/150?

[bigbird]

Damn...I hope you are wrong. lol

What kind of contract would you give Tex?

I'm not so sure I go all out for him. Power #s are down all around baseball. Is any player worth $18 million right now????? I think we need to find the Luke Scott or Josh Hamilton player out there and grab him. Add a fill gap SS like Jack Wilson and we may be good to go. You have to think Jones will be much better in 2009 and Wieters would be able to out produce what we currently have at C.

Where do we pick up the 1B and SS for 2009 using Hernandez, Bradford, or Walker as trade bait???

[weemnj]

Again----look at Dallas Mcpherson. He could be the gem in the rough.

[Sports Guy]

I'm not so sure I go all out for him. Power #s are down all around baseball. Is any player worth $18 million right now????? I think we need to find the Luke Scott or Josh Hamilton player out there and grab him. Add a fill gap SS like Jack Wilson and we may be good to go. You have to think Jones will be much better in 2009 and Wieters would be able to out produce what we currently have at C.

Where do we pick up the 1B and SS for 2009 using Hernandez, Bradford, or Walker as trade bait???

Well, if any of them get going, i would think one of them could get you the young SS.

At this point, they don't get you anything that great.

A cheap option for first base may be Jeff Larish.

If you decide to keep DCab and BRob, then I think you need to look to deal Sherrill.

JJ Johnson is showing us that you can use starters as relievers and have a lot of success and with Ray coming back, you can get rid of Walker, Bradford and Sherrill and still improve the team.

[Sports Guy]

The thing I continue to go back to is the talent difference between us and Tampa, Boston and NY.

Bigbird mentioned Huff producing well...He is 4th in OPS amongst DH's, who have qualified...But it is still under a 750 OPS. We need more offense than that.

Let's just go with the idea of keeping BRob and DCab for a second and that we sign Tex.

Unless we get lucky and Alvarez falls to us, just t ake Smoak. Smoak is a big time power bat who is insurance in case you don't get Tex and if you do get Tex, Smoak can come up and DH or maybe learn to play LF.

So, this gives you this by 2010(just focusing on the offense):

C- Wieters

1st- Tex

2nd- BRob(i am assuming they sign him to an extension)

SS-

3rd-

LF- Reimold/Scott

CF- Jones

RF- Markakis

DH- Smoak

So, that gives us 2 obvious needs...3rd and SS...Now, as I said, if we get Alvarez to fall to us, this really makes it easy...He goes to third, Scott goes to DH and we just have that SS hole.

But, let's just say we get Smoak instead.....The guy to go after at third is Andy LaRoche..The Dodgers are just toying with him too much and this kid is a stud. I say we make a trade with the Dodgers getting LaRoche and either Hu or DeJesus...DeJesus has higher upside IMO but is probably at least a year away from FA.

If you get Hu, you just plug him in...If you get DeJesus, then you go out and get a guy like Jack Wilson to temporarily fill your void at SS and he helps out the pitching with his defense.

So, the first step is, what do we get in the draft? Of course, this is all assuming we go offensive with that pick, which we should.

Then, after that, you see what do you need.

If you get Smoak, trade Sherrill for LaRoche and Hu or DeJesus.

Now, you also have the chance that Walker can turn it around and you can use him to get Jason Donald..If you put Donald at SS, then you can use Sherrill to get LaRoche and something else.

At the end of the day, this team has GOT to improve the talent.

They can't just say, give me a good young SS, sprinkle in another Luke Scott and just hope that everyone improves to the point where we can compete.

Mora, Huff, Ramon, Walker, Bradford, Millar, Payton, et al figure to get worse or be off the team over the next 18 months...Those guys have to be replaced and they should be replaced now..Some of can be replaced easily within the organization and others need us to make some moves.

But this team has got to improve the talent...I can't stress that enough...The 3 teams ahead of us are so deep and talented throughout their organization and what a team like NY doesn't have, they can go buy it.

And this isn't even talking about Toronto.

[clapdiddy]

So, the first step is, what do we get in the draft? Of course, this is all assuming we go offensive with that pick, which we should.

I truly hope that Matusz is off the board by the time we draft.

I think the only way we don't take him is if Alvarez is somehow still on the board at #4.

I'm very excited that we are going to be making a big effort for Teixiera. He's certainly young enough to be a part of the next really good Oriole team. I'm also glad to hear that we will look to deal Payton, Bradford, and Walker. All three would be assets for a contending team, and what we get back isn't really all that important.

[McNulty]

If you get Smoak, trade Sherrill for LaRoche and Hu or DeJesus.

I'm with you on everything in your post except for this. I don't think the Dodgers need bullpen help from what I've seen. And if they do, I don't think they are acknowledging that fact.

The best place to trade Sherrill would be to the Brewers, Yanks, Braves, or Rays.

Honestly, I think the Rays would be the best trade partner here. They could certainly use some insurance for Percival, and judging from what Jayson Stark wrote in his column today, they might be looking to upgrade:

"At the start of spring training, I thought they'd be around a .500 club," said one NL executive. "Now I see them at anywhere between 82 and 90 wins. When young guys get that belief in themselves, look out. And they have it. They're playing their butts off defensively. Their pitching is the best it's ever been. [Evan] Longoria has shown he has that knack for getting it done at the right time. And their bullpen has done a hell of a job. The one thing I worry about is that [Troy] Percival, on any given pitch, you know, his shoulder might just fall off."

Nope. Turned out to be his hamstring that popped Wednesday. But the impact is the same. Percival is one player this team can't afford to lose for a month.

[Sports Guy]

I'm with you on everything in your post except for this. I don't think the Dodgers need bullpen help from what I've seen. And if they do, I don't think they are acknowledging that fact.

The best place to trade Sherrill would be to the Brewers, Yanks, Braves, or Rays.

Honestly, I think the Rays would be the best trade partner here. They could certainly use some insurance for Percival, and judging from what Jayson Stark wrote in his column today, they might be looking to upgrade:

"At the start of spring training, I thought they'd be around a .500 club," said one NL executive. "Now I see them at anywhere between 82 and 90 wins. When young guys get that belief in themselves, look out. And they have it. They're playing their butts off defensively. Their pitching is the best it's ever been. [Evan] Longoria has shown he has that knack for getting it done at the right time. And their bullpen has done a hell of a job. The one thing I worry about is that [Troy] Percival, on any given pitch, you know, his shoulder might just fall off."

Nope. Turned out to be his hamstring that popped Wednesday. But the impact is the same. Percival is one player this team can't afford to lose for a month.

Teams can always use shut down relievers...There are other ways to do it...Trade Sherrill and Liz to the Rangers, Blalock to the Dodgers and prospects, including LaRoche to us...In this scenario, Dewitt can go to second and replace the struggling Kent.

If we can't do that, then ship Sherrill to the Brewers for Escobar and Gamel.

[neon2lsohc]

IF:

1. Millar moves on after this season, or, as I predict, comes back as a bench player, and

2. No way IN THE WORLD we get Tex (I have little doubt about this),

What is the best way to man the first sack in 2009?

Should we give Millar a chance to re-win the job?

Should we move Ramon there (assuming Matt settles in behind the plate)?

Go with Huff?

Shift Mora?

Go with Rowell, Snyder, or Reimold (will any of them even be ready)?

With the exception of the R-Hernandez option, I think all of the above are credible options.

Thoughts?

Rowell, Snyder, Riemold, Vineyard or Wieters. Wieters looks more like a 1st baseman than a catcher!

[davearm]

The thing I continue to go back to is the talent difference between us and Tampa, Boston and NY.

Bigbird mentioned Huff producing well...He is 4th in OPS amongst DH's, who have qualified...But it is still under a 750 OPS. We need more offense than that.

Let's just go with the idea of keeping BRob and DCab for a second and that we sign Tex.

Unless we get lucky and Alvarez falls to us, just t ake Smoak. Smoak is a big time power bat who is insurance in case you don't get Tex and if you do get Tex, Smoak can come up and DH or maybe learn to play LF.

So, this gives you this by 2010(just focusing on the offense):

C- Wieters

1st- Tex

2nd- BRob(i am assuming they sign him to an extension)

SS-

3rd-

LF- Reimold/Scott

CF- Jones

RF- Markakis

DH- Smoak

So, that gives us 2 obvious needs...3rd and SS...Now, as I said, if we get Alvarez to fall to us, this really makes it easy...He goes to third, Scott goes to DH and we just have that SS hole.

But, let's just say we get Smoak instead.....The guy to go after at third is Andy LaRoche..The Dodgers are just toying with him too much and this kid is a stud. I say we make a trade with the Dodgers getting LaRoche and either Hu or DeJesus...DeJesus has higher upside IMO but is probably at least a year away from FA.

If you get Hu, you just plug him in...If you get DeJesus, then you go out and get a guy like Jack Wilson to temporarily fill your void at SS and he helps out the pitching with his defense.

So, the first step is, what do we get in the draft? Of course, this is all assuming we go offensive with that pick, which we should.

Then, after that, you see what do you need.

If you get Smoak, trade Sherrill for LaRoche and Hu or DeJesus.

Now, you also have the chance that Walker can turn it around and you can use him to get Jason Donald..If you put Donald at SS, then you can use Sherrill to get LaRoche and something else.

At the end of the day, this team has GOT to improve the talent.

They can't just say, give me a good young SS, sprinkle in another Luke Scott and just hope that everyone improves to the point where we can compete.

Mora, Huff, Ramon, Walker, Bradford, Millar, Payton, et al figure to get worse or be off the team over the next 18 months...Those guys have to be replaced and they should be replaced now..Some of can be replaced easily within the organization and others need us to make some moves.

But this team has got to improve the talent...I can't stress that enough...The 3 teams ahead of us are so deep and talented throughout their organization and what a team like NY doesn't have, they can go buy it.

And this isn't even talking about Toronto.

"Sherrill for LaRoche and either Hu or DeJesus? Andy this is Ned Colletti speaking. I think you were trying to reach Bill Bavasi." CLICK