"Jose Lopez was a 25-homer second baseman in 2009. How many of you thought he was untouchable? Ackley looks like he'll be a superior OBP guy compared to Lopez, but who really knows? Remember, Ackley is still a prospect. He hasn't played in the big leagues where Lopez has proven himself there at some level.
Bottom line? Ackley as he looks right now should not halt an Upton deal. You can find line drive hitting second basemen to fill in for a couple of years until you figure out what else you're going to do. "
Ugh. This is...um...Ackley will have to get hit by a truck to only be as good as Jose Lopez was in this park. A line-drive hitting 2B without walks may not be untouchable, but a hundred walks a year from the middle-infield is so special as to be a singularity that must be put to use.
Still, I could see today's trade for Juan Miranda that the D-Backs did being a way to compensate us for losing our 1B. The Yankees aren't gonna trade with us immediately after we "screwed them over" on the Lee deal.
So AZ goes and gets a 1B for pretty cheap that they can swing our way to compensate us for losing our projected 2011 starter at the position in Smoak. Miranda's line would be something like what we wanted Kotchman and Carp to do. Upton + Miranda for Pineda + Smoak + buncha relievers would be understandable.
I'd be less pleased with that deal, but sometimes you don't get a choice. I still don't think it would take what Baker thinks it will take. Maybe Towers refuses to budge without 2 bonafide top-20 talent blue-chippers ready to start in the bigs tomorrow, as well as ML-ready bullpenners, but Saunders isn't nothing either.
I dunno, I just think we've got enough in the system to get it done without moving Smoak. Pineda is better than Drabek, the centerpiece of the Halladay trade. Michael Taylor in that deal was a well-thought-of prospect, but no better than Saunders (Saunders was #30 on the BA prospect list pre-2010, Taylor was #26. Saunders moved on to the bigs, Taylor regressed in AAA in 2010, so whose stock is higher now?). D'Arnaud was a catcher who was years away when the deal was made. He's a Chavez/Seager level prospect, maaaybe.
Pineda, Saunders or Gutierrez, two relievers and one of the High-Desert crew should be as good or better than anything that's being offered. I don't move Smoak or Franklin unless Stephen Drew is involved. I don't move Ackley at all.
And I could live with that first package.
~G
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