Reporting in

[bigbird]

Wood was not included based on what he said. Before the deadline he mentioned we needed 2 players fro the major league roster and 2 prospects to deal Tajada. When's the last time Stoneman has dealt top prospects?

Got to think Flanny and Duq know what they are doing.

[srh523]

And after making the decision to keep tejada do they really have a choice? They either up the payroll for a pitcher and a serious bat or we field basically the same team as this year and finish in 5th place. Will be interesting to see what the thread titles are in the offseason!

[mweb]

Listen, you just want to believe this guy who said we were offered Santana, Aybar, & Wood. It makes for a good story. I thought it was a mistake to turn down Santana/Aybar so the addition of Wood would make turning it down ridiculous in my book. But I don't believe it was ever offered.

I agree. That wasn't offered.

[clapdiddy]

Wood was not included based on what he said. Before the deadline he mentioned we needed 2 players fro the major league roster and 2 prospects to deal Tajada. When's the last time Stoneman has dealt top prospects?

Got to think Flanny and Duq know what they are doing.

BB,

Do you get the feeling that the Duq is going to stick it out here? You had mentioned before that he might be gone....

[Hank Scorpio]

I certainly wasn't arguing that trade didn't make us better, only that while being better, we wouldn't be better enough to compete for a playoff spot and likely not for some years unless we made a FA splash signing which to me is something we should do and keep Tejada and then we can compete next year.

I understand, but I think that's why he said this :

Sorry but we could EASILY be better NEXT YEAR withOUT Tejada if we had made a trade like this and made smart moves in FA and trades.

[erb8472]

I certainly wasn't arguing that trade didn't make us better, only that while being better, we wouldn't be better enough to compete for a playoff spot and likely not for some years unless we made a FA splash signing which to me is something we should do and keep Tejada and then we can compete next year.

The thing I think you are missing is that had we of traded Tejada we still could of competed next year.

Santana Bedard and Benson is a nice top of the rotation, and then you have 2 of Penn Loewen and Cabrera for the bottom half.

You can still sign a big bat to replace Tejadas offensive production.

You upgrade your defense up the middle.

The big thing is that you'd upgrade the thing that's been the real problem for us, and that's pitching.

Not to mention you are filling three holes in your rotation/lineup for at least 5 or 6 yeras.

[mweb]

Wood was not included based on what he said. Before the deadline he mentioned we needed 2 players fro the major league roster and 2 prospects to deal Tajada. When's the last time Stoneman has dealt top prospects?

Got to think Flanny and Duq know what they are doing.

I think it's very stupid to have such specific demands like that. Guys like Oswalt and Santana should change those demands. You really can't expect 3 more good players with either of them.

[Oriolesfan4life]

Thanks for the news.

If we are going to be big spenders than lets get the front line starter and big bat we've needed forever.

PS,

Can't think of a worse time to be at the beach with the high temps. Have a good time though.

We have Bedard. He is our front-line starter. He should be our #1 pitcher next year. We need a pitcher to fill the #2 spot behind him and ahead of Benson.

[erb8472]

We have Bedard. He is our front-line starter. He should be our #1 pitcher next year. We need a pitcher to fill the #2 spot behind him and ahead of Benson.

Well wouldn't Schmidt at the top and Bedard second followed by Benson look pretty good.

[Sports Guy]

I think it's very stupid to have such specific demands like that. Guys like Oswalt and Santana should change those demands. You really can't expect 3 more good players with either of them.

Agreed.

FAn4LIFe...You would rather have Lee/Soriano and Tejada and than Lee/Soriano, Wood, Aybar and Santana?

[Sports Guy]

I agree. That wasn't offered.

I think it is likely it wasn't offered...To assume it wasn't is wrong IMO.

[CrimsonTribe]

Agreed.

FAn4LIFe...You would rather have Lee/Soriano and Tejada and than Lee/Soriano, Wood, Aybar and Santana?

I know you didn't ask me, but I'd take the latter. No question.

[rolliefingers]

Well wouldn't Schmidt at the top and Bedard second followed by Benson look pretty good.

Yes, it would, but yet again...does ANYONE think we're really ponying up the money for these guys? I'll believe it when I see it.

[Fan4Life]

The thing I think you are missing is that had we of traded Tejada we still could of competed next year.

Santana Bedard and Benson is a nice top of the rotation, and then you have 2 of Penn Loewen and Cabrera for the bottom half.

You can still sign a big bat to replace Tejadas offensive production.

You upgrade your defense up the middle.

The big thing is that you'd upgrade the thing that's been the real problem for us, and that's pitching.

Not to mention you are filling three holes in your rotation/lineup for at least 5 or 6 yeras.

Yes that is entirely possible... my presumption is that to compete you need two Tejada type offensive guys.... Delgado/Beltran, Manny/Ortiz, ARod/insert any name here, Konerko/Thome, Ripken/Murray... now, if we traded Tejada for the Angels offer, we'd be better, but still be 2 BIG bats away... now as you point out, you could easily sign one FA with the money you save from Tejada, and then you'd be even more improved, but to me, still not in the class with Mets, Yankees, Redsox... now, that isn't to say we need to sign another expensive FA, if a prospect that we acquire could produce like say David Wright, then we'd have 2 impact offensive players.. so I agree with that trade and signing one FA we'd be much better, but still 3rd place probably 8-10 games out instead of 21.

[FutureOwner]

Well, to be fair, they are only including one of their top top prospects(Wood)...Kendrick and Adenhart are their other upper tier guys.

We know they would have dealt Aybar and Santana....We have seen one guy, who claims to have a source in the Angels organization say they included Wood as well and we have seen BB say we needed 4 players.

Some of the pieces to puzzle are PERHAPS getting put together now.

Im totally fine with not trading Tejada for anything less than the 4 players mentioned. Would St. Louis trade Pujols for anything less than that package or what they demed they wanted for him, at any stage of team developement?

Tejada is that type of player. Top 5 in baseball. We didnt NEED to trade him, Angelos doesnt WANT to trade him and from what he says, HE DOESNT WANT TO BE TRADED. These were other teams approaching US.

The Astros deal is one I wouldnt have touched. The players being offered werent very appealing to me. Mediocre guys with no offensive power, and supposedly Oswald for 15 minutes was offered until it became apparent that we might actually use him to get something we needed by sending him elsewhere.

I would have done the deal for Santana, Wood, Aybar and Kotchman, as it would have filled a number of needs we have and made the team better potentially right now.

With the money saved we could have gone:

1. ROBERTS 2B

2. MARKAKIS RF

3. MORA LF

4. SORIANO CF

5. GIBBONS DH

6. KOTCHMAN 1B

7. HERNANDEZ C

8. AYBAR 3B

9. WOOD SS

1. SCHMIDT

2. BEDARD

3. SANTANA

4. PENN

5. CABRERA

6. LEOWEN

OR

With too many young players for the first time in awhile, imagine what a package of Kotchman, Wood/Aybar and Leowen/Penn/Cabrera might bring from Texas?