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It looks like we will be in the thick of things come September. What do we need to do to put us over the top? It has been mentioned that we have too many prospects that could play. We could deal some of them away to get a veteran to ensure that we make the playoffs or do some damage in the playoffs. What position do you think we should take a look at upgrading? Or are we fine, and we won't need anything.

Nothing right now. I think we stand pat for the most part and wait to see what weaknesses develop or if any significant injuries occur. The biggest weakness is Offense out of the 3b position but that is handled as soon as they bring up Braun.

Another left-handed arm in the bullpen, or a righty who is good against lefties like Wise. That's why I want Zach Jackson as a long reliever, or Stetter brought up. Besides that, don't fix whats not broken.

Another arm in the bullpen. A dependable guy too.

I was thinking the same thing, a lefty in the pen, but is that it? Will that put us over the top? Who do you guys have in mind?

We definitely need a leadoff hitter. Rickie isn't a leadoff and he's showing it.

Lead-off Hitters/Possible Lead-Off Hitters to trade for
Carl Crawford
Rocco Baldelli
Ichiro
Eric Byrnes
Ryan Freel
David DeJesus

Just a couple ideas...

I'd also like to see Melvin make a run at Brian Fuentes to come in as a lefty out of the bullpen but odds are thats unrealistic. We'd have three former closers and last I looked doesn't Fuentes make a good chunk of change???

JoeJohnson2two wrote:We definitely need a leadoff hitter. Rickie isn't a leadoff and he's showing it.

Lead-off Hitters/Possible Lead-Off Hitters to trade for
Carl Crawford
Rocco Baldelli
Ichiro
Eric Byrnes
Ryan Freel
David DeJesus

Just a couple ideas...

What's wrong with Weeks leading off? He has a .355 OBP which is very good considering he's only hitting .244.

Crawford- Would cost way too much in a trade.
Baldelli- Injury prone
Ichiro- We'll probably only have him for one year.
Eric Byrnes- Sucks
Ryan Freel- Holy **** this guy is overated. Plus the Reds just signed him to a two year extension.
David DeJesus- This is a guy I would like but the Royals won't trade him since he's signed cheap through 2010 (2011 if they pick up his option)

I agree w lead-off hitter would be ideal but where would you put him at? What position do you put him at? Third base? Who do you take out of the line-up? and yes to trade for Carl Crawford woul dbe very very pricey...

Baldelli to me would make a lot of sense. Yes, he's been injured a lot but so has JJ Hardy and he's worked out well for us this season *knocks on wood*.

If we could get him for a couple minor league arms not named Gallardo or Inman, along with one of our outfielders like Gross, Jenkins or Mench I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Ryan Braun

This guy has only commited 1 error all year in AAA!!! IMO that is solid defense. He has also turned 5 DPs and he has 16 POs. Not to mention, getting his bat in the lineup could make our order so good that you couldn't pitch around anyone. Braun has the potential to be called up and hit 25 HRs and drive in 70 and maybe even steal 20 bases. He also has the potential to commit 13 Errors or something like that. but when you have a gold glover to your left, IMO all u need is just okay defense.

But other than that, i see no real weekness on this ball club. But i did say however that we do have too many prospects. I wouldn't doubt to see Melvin try and trade for a guy like Carl Crawford. Why not throw Capellan, Jenkins, maybe even Jackson and Gillespie or something?? but imagine this lineup. The only other hole i see is the LRs in the bullpen. But with Gallardo pitching like he is, he may get the call too.

LF- Carl Crawford
SS- JJ Hardy
1B- Prince Fielder
CF- Bill Hall
2B- Rickie Weeks
C- Johnny Estrada
3B- Ryan Braun
RF- Corey Hart

That is an elite lineup!!

ryanbraun75 wrote:Ryan Braun

This guy has only commited 1 error all year in AAA!!! IMO that is solid defense. He has also turned 5 DPs and he has 16 POs. Not to mention, getting his bat in the lineup could make our order so good that you couldn't pitch around anyone. Braun has the potential to be called up and hit 25 HRs and drive in 70 and maybe even steal 20 bases. He also has the potential to commit 13 Errors or something like that. but when you have a gold glover to your left, IMO all u need is just okay defense.

But other than that, i see no real weekness on this ball club. But i did say however that we do have too many prospects. I wouldn't doubt to see Melvin try and trade for a guy like Carl Crawford. Why not throw Capellan, Jenkins, maybe even Jackson and Gillespie or something?? but imagine this lineup. The only other hole i see is the LRs in the bullpen. But with Gallardo pitching like he is, he may get the call too.

LF- Carl Crawford
SS- JJ Hardy
1B- Prince Fielder
CF- Bill Hall
2B- Rickie Weeks
C- Johnny Estrada
3B- Ryan Braun
RF- Corey Hart

That is an elite lineup!!

That does look nice, but I'd personally go about it this way:

Crawford
Weeks
Braun
Fielder
Hall
Hardy
Estrada
Hart
P

I'm curious how many chances Braun has had. One error is great, but if he's only had 10 balls hit to him that makes a difference.

ryanbraun75 wrote:Ryan Braun

This guy has only commited 1 error all year in AAA!!! IMO that is solid defense. He has also turned 5 DPs and he has 16 POs. Not to mention, getting his bat in the lineup could make our order so good that you couldn't pitch around anyone. Braun has the potential to be called up and hit 25 HRs and drive in 70 and maybe even steal 20 bases. He also has the potential to commit 13 Errors or something like that. but when you have a gold glover to your left, IMO all u need is just okay defense.

But other than that, i see no real weekness on this ball club. But i did say however that we do have too many prospects. I wouldn't doubt to see Melvin try and trade for a guy like Carl Crawford. Why not throw Capellan, Jenkins, maybe even Jackson and Gillespie or something?? but imagine this lineup. The only other hole i see is the LRs in the bullpen. But with Gallardo pitching like he is, he may get the call too.

LF- Carl Crawford
SS- JJ Hardy
1B- Prince Fielder
CF- Bill Hall
2B- Rickie Weeks
C- Johnny Estrada
3B- Ryan Braun
RF- Corey Hart

That is an elite lineup!!

and what would you trade fro Crawford. Certainly Braun would have to be part of a package...

We have a future Crawford on the team named Tony Gwynn Jr. Great fielder and makes contact most of the time. Also pretty fast.

crkone wrote:We have a future Crawford on the team named Tony Gwynn Jr. Great fielder and makes contact most of the time. Also pretty fast.

Well Gwynn is only a year younger that Crawford so he's got a ways to go.

Crawford also has a good amount of pop in his bat, something that Gwynn has none of.

Also, for all the speed that Gwynn has, in the last three years he's been thrown out 30% of the time, the majority of them at the AA and AAA level. Crawford during the same period has been thrown out 16% of the time, all at the major league level.

I don't see a comparison, honestly.

Gwynn also doesn't have the experience Crawford has. Once he sees NL pitcher's moves consistently he can steal as good as anybody. If its a lead off man we need, we don't need them to hit HRs. We need them to get on base. I just see no reason to try to get Crawford at this moment.

Crawford could be had for alot less than is expected. The D-Rays have proven thus far this year that they need pitching 10X more than they need offense. We could probably get our hands on Crawford by packaging Capellan and Jackson with one or two more players. Then again, the D-Rays did drive an extremely high price for Baez a few years back...

David DeJesus would be ideal. And as for the question about where you play him. You move him to Left/Right Field. Either or.

wichmae wrote:and what would you trade fro Crawford. Certainly Braun would have to be part of a package...

Doubt Braun would go but Gallardo would certainly be on his way out.

A true eadoff hitter and a lefty out of the pen.