An article by Nick Cafardo in Boston states that the Padres have offered Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox for:
1. RHP Clay Buchholz
2. RHP Casey Kelly or OF Ryan Westmoreland (Sox' choice)
And that the deal is not going through, because Kelly and Westmoreland are both untouchable in a Gonzalez deal.
To which we can confidently respond, "huh?"
............
It really does look like, with the glut of FA's available, the trade market has swung way over towards valuing prospects. I mean, during the season, the Yankees protected four young players and then told the M's "pick five!" for Felix.
Buchholz is not at all unlike Brandon Morrow: sterling pedigree; has shown only flashes in the bigs. (Buchholz has a lifetime ERA+ 95 in the majors, about 200 innings.)
..............
Kelly is a former #30 overall who, remarkably, did not decide between SS and SP until just last week. He picked pitching.
So Kelly is now a Mussina-template pro pitcher with a grand total of 90 innings in class A baseball; his next inning in the high minors will be his first, though he did pitch in the '09 Futures Game.
You'll have to ask G and J whether they would trade Michael Pineda for Casey Kelly the pitcher.
.................
Ryan Westmoreland is a 5th-round draftee out of high school, who has played one year in the pros -- low class A. He hit a lefty 300/400/500 with a 0.80 EYE and was 19-for-19 stealing bases.
He looks super for a 20-year-old. He is also only 20. It's not like he's ARod; he fell to the 5th round of the draft just a year before. He's a kid who played really well, 5 tools, in low class A right out of high school.
Presumably he'd be a pretty good comp for Carlos Triunfel.
...................
Supposing you don't think that Brandon Morrow and Carlos Triunfel match up to Buccholz and Westmoreland. Is there anybody who wouldn't give the Padres Morrow, Triunfel, and another glam prospect for Adrian Gonzalez?
We keep hearing, no way do the M's have the pieces to bid for Gonzalez. Honestly, can somebody explain that to me? Buchholz and Kelly/Westmoreland are the ask, and the M's can't put together a package like that? Morrow, Triunfel, Tuiasosopo, Saunders, Pineda, Halman, and the M's wouldn't be able to find 3-4 of them to bid with? :- )
......................
Oh, well. It's just a rumor. The same article says that the Mariners and Mets may be the other two teams in on Gonzalez.
Here are our two previous posts on Gonzalez, if you don't have much else to read this morning. His 160-odd OPS+ was suppressed by his home park; he hit 28 homers on the road.
It looks like the new Moneyball is adding veteran players for prospects and the ability to pay the salary. The competition just isn't there in these trades. Teams either don't have the cash to pony up right now or are so fearful of the future that every prospect is seen as the Joe D.
For a team that has money, prospects and a GM (ownership) that isn't afraid to use them the market is wide open.
If it is true that Z comes out of this trade with a Cy starter at #2, and Saunders, Morrow, Lopez, Tui and Triunfel all still available to ship to SD in a Gonzalez deal (not that he'd actaully trade all of them), well, I'll be very interested to see what happens.
He's starting to look like a NASCAR driver who sees a gap in traffic and is about to put the pedal to the metal. Hope so.
Baker is saying the reports of Aumont, JCRam & Gillies are accurate. That is amazing.
If you are a fan of Pineda and Robles (not everyone is), you could argue that JCRam is only the 3rd-best A-level starter in the org. I'm a huge fan of Aumont's stuff, but he seems to be a ways away from the consistency that Fields appears to have found this fall. And Carrera is ahead of Gillies and pretty much the same template. Whew. You can argue that this doesn't even make a ripple.
Baker also says that the Ms are sending scouts to see Kelvim Escobar pitch in Venezuela. Z sure has a lot of fingers out stirring a lot of pots, and he seems to want to march into Anaheim and just simply crush their souls.
Is it just me, or does it seem awfully convenient that Jack went out and got Zeke Carrera and Robles, (and Manuel) in previous deals ... and then trades away more of Bavasi's prospects, while somehow already having snagged similar talent to make these losses seem trivial?
Did Z really just trade Wash and Putz for Cliff Lee?
I was actually thinking about that...
The fact that Z practically shot the Tigers in the back of the head at point blank range getting Robles and French for Washburn sure does make this sequence of trades reather amazing. But it's actually better than you just said, Sandy.
Z traded Putz, Balentien and random spaghetti plus half a year of damaged Washburn for Franklin Gutierrez, Cliff Lee, Mike Carp and more random spaghetti. This has to go down as one of the greatest franchise turnovers in the history of baseball.
That's a great way to put it amigo.
And it seems like it's the same 3-4 teams the M's are up against this winter, on a lot of fronts. Few buyers, lots of commodities.
It's a perfect-storm offseason...
Yankees had their big winter last year...
M's with $$$...
Zduriencik here exactly one year -- enough to have Howard's confidence, enough to know how he wants to overhaul the tranny...
THere's a big rumor surfacing about the Mariners potentially trading Brandon Morrow to the Brewers. I can think of only two people on that team that are worth Morrow. Braun and Fielder.
Not being an expert, I'll take Pineda over *both* JC Ramirez and Robles in a 2-for-1 trade, but Ramirez had had some smokin' scouting reports the last few years.
This trade should really get us re-thinking how many quality prospects the org has.
Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.
can guarantee you that.
This is CRAZY how hard Z is hitting baseball right now...I don't think the league has quite realized how dangerous this man is...LOL
I mean...just LOOK at the freakin'[ roster going into the 2009 off-season...and look at it now. I can't even begin to fully realize how impressive this is.
Adrian Gonzalez is the MOTO bat, built for the Safe, that this team has been missing since Griffey left.
If Z is willing to swing 3 solid prospects in a deal for 1/9 of Lee , how much would he give up to acquire a 27 year-old GG lefty MONSTER for 2/10?
RRS, Lopez, Morrow, Saunders, Tui, Triunfel, Cortes, Robles, Halman, Pineda, Kelley, Carrera...
Z still has quite a few bullets left to fire. :)
... in the mood you're in today :- )
I don't think we can afford to trade RRS...and I don't want to see us trade Lopez at this point...he's not getting enough value around the league to make that worth it...not if it forces us to look at Beltre again.
But other than that...we have lots and lots of options...and two very large humans on the trade market (Fielder and Gonzalez)...
Please, Santa...all I want for Christmas is a nice blizzard this weekend (I love the snow and there's a good shot at it coming up here), my thesis proposal accepted, some time with the family..and a large human with 40 HR power in Mariner teal. Is that so much to ask?
We'll get on those items right away. Anything else? A 199 weigh-in for Griffey, perhaps?
If we can squeeze 250 PA of 100 OPS+ from Junior...that's just fine and dandy with me.
Fielder would be huge for the M's, but he is (a) the best offensive player on a team that, like the M's, seems aimed squarely at making a run at the postseason and (b) is a Boras client, so an extension would be all but impossible.
I hope Z goes all in for Gonzales: A package of Morrow, Triunfel, Halman and Cortes looks like a good place to start :)
A Boras client really is a rental situation, unless you're planning on a Teixeira contract or something. And AGone is the better player anyhow...