So yeah, if we're trading and they need a blue-chip bat back, then it needs to be Franklin. If Nick can't stick at SS (and I still believe he can) then he'd have to play 3B for us, and there we have Seager, Liddi, F-Mart and possibly Catricala if he can improve his D as Liddi did his this past year, as well as Proscia AND Brad Miller from the last draft.
Third base had BETTER be able to be filled internally - another reason I have little interest in adding a 3B free agent.
But at SS it's Brad Miller (stone glove), Franklin (slightly better) and, um, maybe a foreign kid in rookie ball.
If it's not Franklin then IMO we don't have an internal solution that doesn't rely on Brendan Ryan continue to not-suck for a while, unless Brad Miller can get a lot better at defense than he was for most of his college career.
That could always change in the next draft, but I need to know Franklin is gonna be a 2B before I make the call to trade him.
If a lesser MIF will do then I would be trying to include Seager as a plus offensive 2B, which I think he can be. It's not his fault he's behind Ackley on the depth chart.
And I would think Campos would go before Walker, though Walker is a monster prospect. He's better than the #1 pitching prospect (Nestor Molina) the Jays traded for Sergio Santos, who is more like Jose Campos if Jose stays 90-94 and loses those extra ticks up to 96 or 97 that he flashed this year.
It's nice to know that our 4th best pitching prospect is better than the #1 of other good orgs. :)
We could afford to spend Walker for the right player, but I think we'll try to avoid it. I have Paxton and Campos on the trade list before Walker, and both are great prospects in their own right. Though as you say, Paxton would have to be the PTBNL, and that's not common for a trade centerpiece.
We HAVE the pieces to make whatever trades we feel like making. I still think we're trading Trayvon Robinson if we can solidify CF with a Denard-Span-like player. I could see him and Campos vanishing before ST - hopefully with a much-needed lineup boost appearing in their place.
Hope we can lock down Fielder first.
~G
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