RealGM

Aside from pitching, who needs to gtfo, and who do we keep?

imo it's Overbay and Rolen that needs to get shopped. Overbay is an automatic double play candidate, and he has an average glove at best. He also strikes out once out of every 5 at bats, and with his power production or lack thereof, that just doesn't cut it. We're not going anywhere with him at first, or in the middle of the lineup.

Rolen has a great glove, but he's over the hill. Career is on the decline. 11 HR's in 400+ at bats? On a contending team, he's probably the 7th or 8th hitter in the lineup.

Now, a lot is said about our middle infield to be weak. Defensively it's above average. Aaron Hill will be back, Scutaro is essential, and Joe Inglett has become reliable at the plate and holds his own on D. Johnny Mac is still the defensive stalwart we all know him to be. Is this middle infield good enough for us to be in the race come September 09? I think it is good enough, ONLY if we do something about the corners.

Our outfield is pretty decent. Wells, Rios, Lind, Snider. I'm content with that. Rios though has to carry the load. Hopefully him, Vdub can get 50 jacks between them. I don't mind this outfield.

Barajas is a back-up on a contender. Straight up.

This will be the same team unless we get some serious help at the corners. Pitching is said to be a major issue, but it shouldn't be that bad. A rotation of Doc/Marcum/McGowan/Litsch/? isn't too bad. Our bullpen is/was the best in the league, so can't really complain about that. Of course one more proven arm would be a blessing.

The problem with our pitching Mr Sens is that Marcum is gone for the year with tommy john surgery, and mcgowan isn't expected to be ready until a couple months into the season. So really our rotation, once Mcgowan comes back anyways, is Doc/McGowan/Litsch and then somebody of, Downs, Romero, Cecil, Purcey filling out the bottom part of the rotation but that's only after Dustin comes back. Potentially at the start of the year Litsch is our #2 guy... which is brutal

The rest of the team, I dunno, I don't even care really. This year's a right off for all intents and purposes...

spykelee wrote:The problem with our pitching Mr Sens is that Marcum is gone for the year with tommy john surgery, and mcgowan isn't expected to be ready until a couple months into the season. So really our rotation, once Mcgowan comes back anyways, is Doc/McGowan/Litsch and then somebody of, Downs, Romero, Cecil, Purcey filling out the bottom part of the rotation but that's only after Dustin comes back. Potentially at the start of the year Litsch is our #2 guy... which is brutal

The rest of the team, I dunno, I don't even care really. This year's a right off for all intents and purposes...

I completely forgot Marcum needed tommy john. And I thought McGowan was good for spring training. Ah sh*t.

And as for this year being a write off, damn. That sucks. We weren't anywhere near playoff contention last September, but we did have a few meaningful series' in August that were kinda exciting. Until we either got swept or lost 3 of 4 when we had a chance to get within 3 games.

Baseball was my first love, way before basketball. It friggin sucks that we're gonna have to go through another mediocre season.

Yeah the rotation is going to take a HUGE dip... I still can't believe the Jays had the best ERA in all MLB.

Not sure if I like the idea of using Downs as a starter, although I can understand if the Jays are desparate...

trade Lyle Overbay....lol @ the argument that because he was a long-double hitter in Milwaukee, that would automatically convert to Home Runs here...he's been garbage

trade Rolen...he's not worth the 11 mill salary he brings

unless we sign a Ramirez, i say we trade Vernon Wells,

we also would've been better off signing Bonds this past season...would've generated enough interest in the team to allow us to spend more this off-season, but i guess that would've played to JP's greatest weakness....foresight

we need to re-tool this entire team before we decide to trade Halladay and begin rebuilding....but before anything, we need to trade Ricciardi...he's been an epic fail on this franchise.

spykelee wrote:The problem with our pitching Mr Sens is that Marcum is gone for the year with tommy john surgery, and mcgowan isn't expected to be ready until a couple months into the season. So really our rotation, once Mcgowan comes back anyways, is Doc/McGowan/Litsch and then somebody of, Downs, Romero, Cecil, Purcey filling out the bottom part of the rotation but that's only after Dustin comes back. Potentially at the start of the year Litsch is our #2 guy... which is brutal

The rest of the team, I dunno, I don't even care really. This year's a right off for all intents and purposes...

Bingo. I'm actually hoping that the team decides to use the economic situation as an excuse to cut salary, because the only way this team can compete is to rebuild. Rolen and Overbay should probably be given the chance to play out their contracts, if only because their trade value is next to nil. Ridding them from the payroll (and I'm one of Overbay's biggest defenders) is the kind of cost-conscious move that this team will have to make if it is to stay profitable...and remaining profitable is the best hope we have of keeping the Jays in the minds of whoever/whatever assumes ultimate control over Rogers with Teddy's passing.

sule wrote:unless we sign a Ramirez, i say we trade Vernon Wells,

I wouldn't be opposed to this. Being the co-leader of the team, it seemed like he never had a real sense of urgency to win, especially the past year. Every time he struck out or hit into a double play it seemed like he just didn't give a fcuk. I mean, who am I to call out Vernon on leadership qualities, because who knows what goes on in the clubhouse, but his body language always represented carelessness imo.

How can we trade Vernon? Who on earth is willing to take on that contract?

Relentless88 wrote:How can we trade Vernon? Who on earth is willing to take on that contract?

The New York Yankess??

seriously...maybe the Yankees are willing to take Wells' contract back in exchange for a younger player who isn't ready to contribute to them yet...

maybe it'll curb them from going after Texeira...a player we can then target with the extra cash

of course that would be a shrewd move...even a sensible move, if not something bold and creative....of course, it's also something Ricciardi is allergic to

Apparently the Yankess are after Manny and offering him a 3 year deal.

Disgusting! When will this ever end??

Peteros wrote:Apparently the Yankess are after Manny and offering him a 3 year deal.

Disgusting! When will this ever end??

When baseball implements a salary cap.

imagine the yankees get both Teixeira n Manny lol

when will baseball ever implement salary cap !? its soo unfair