SB Nation User Blog: geeves

Some Perspective. Maybe.

geeves — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:11:27 -0000

Decided to respond to DK's latest Q&A, since his comment seemed a bit silly. This is the letter I sent into him. Hoefupply I be not insane and rambling?

"It is difficult to label any franchise future-minded when it gives a 33-year-old first baseman platoon time at third with someone management was saying had a chance to be part of the future"

Normally, I would agree with you. However, you and I both know a few things here. First of all, it is definitely true that any new management team will eventually try to fill an entire organization with "their people" - from the best player in the majors to the 25th man on the roster in Hickory, and all the office positions to boot. Much can be said for proverbial clean slates, especially a long-failing team like ours.

The Pittsburgh situation is made different by the fact that the previous management filled all of the square and round holes at all of the various organizational levels with pegs that any reasonably educated baseball fan, let alone baseball employees and personnel, knew didn't really belong at that level.

I have followed this team much more closely over the last couple of years than at any other point - partly because I have become a much more educated fan. In the process of watching the team, I know that Jose Bautista was certainly, as you mentioned, miscast as an everyday player, because he simply cannot produce offensively to be considered a regular starter at any position, let alone third base, and is not defensively versatile enough to compensate.

Doug Mientkewicz wasn't brought to this team to play third base. He was brought in as a first baseman. However, the team also played him at third base and in right field, and obviously now feels that he is a more consistent - and versatile - option on offense and defense, while also having the perk of being a very passionate and vocal veteran teammate.

The fact that a 32 year old (Michaels), or a 34 year old (Mientkewicz), or a 35 year old (Chavez), or a 37 year old (Gomez), is situated on the current bench is not in any way a reflection on the new management's ability to be forward thinking, nor is that ability - or lack - reflected in a younger player not being given regular playing time over an older one.

This is simply management doing their best to fill in the cracks, the fringes of the 25 man roster, with the most versatile and inexpensive putty they can find, which just so happens - at the moment - to be low-priced, older free agents instead of any younger talent currently in the organization.

This move with Bautista is probably one that the team should have made sooner (though it was likely delayed by his homerun binge earlier this year) so that they could have him playing second base or center field and increasing his versatility, instead of running out a matt kata/josh wilson organizational filler platoon in Indy.

Secret Code

geeves — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:42:06 -0000

Wonder what John Russell thinks of Pearce's struggles at the plate? (emphasis mine of course):

"He needs to start making adjustments,'' Russell said. "He's always been a very aggressive hitter. [Opposing pitchers are] not giving him a lot of great pitches to hit and he needs to make adjustments to lay off those pitches.

"We've talked to him about that. It's a process. He's a very aggressive hitter. He loves to swing the bat. Sometimes that will hurt you more than help you because you try to do too much.

"He's got to start learning how to manage the strike zone, manage his at-bats, be a little more in control of what he's trying to do.

"You don't want to take away the aggressiveness. You want him to be aggressive but under control - put himself in a better position to be aggressive.

"We're all about aggressiveness. We're all about swinging the bat with a purpose. But it's more a situation of being in a position to be aggressive - to be in a position to see the ball well and put an aggressive swing on it. Right now he's not quite there. He's taking aggressive swings at too many pitches.''

I guess he want's Pearce to channel his passiveness? Not sure. I don't speak manager-ese.

Where To Now?

geeves — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 02:50:10 -0000

Since you can't share an idea without someone snatching it instead of collaborating, it was time for a fanpost...

So the Pirates made some deadline dealing. They got rid of their franchise player, their career-year veteran, and their stud lefty specialist, and brought in eight total prospects - four for the immediate major league roster, two for AAA, and two others well down the food chain. However, not all of the players we expected to be dealt wound up leaving, although their services arent any less in need by the teams that are still in contention this year. Here's what I figure might happen between now and the beginning of next year.

First off, a recap of the Waiver Trade Deadline (Aug 31) rules just in case any of these guys actually goes.

1) Any player who is placed on waivers and claimed by another team, the team that put him there can:

a) let that team have him for a waiver fee (and then the team that got him pays his remaining salary)

b) agree to a trade with the team that claimed him

c) pull that player back off waivers. this can be done one time. if a player is placed on waivers a second time before September 1st, he can't be pulled back

2) If one team claims the player, the waiving team deals with only that team. If multiple teams claim a player, the team with the worst record gets priority, and a team in the same league gets priority.

Obviously, the worse teams in the league (Cleveland, Seattle, Washington) are the least likely to try and claim any of these guys. Except maybe Ed Wade.

John Grabow - He was being talked about as the fallback plan if the Pirates were somehow unable to find a home for Marte. He hasn't been dealt yet, but he could still be extremely useful to a team looking to shore up their bullpen for the stretch run. I had heard a couple mumblings of his heading to Los Angeles (either one). I doubt that he would fall all the way to the Angels,, but I wouldn't be surprised if he wound up going to the Dodgers straight-up for someone like Cory Wade, Scott Elbert, or Travis Schlichtling .

Jack Wilson - As has been discussed ad nauseum by most of us, the Dodgers need a shortstop (since Nomar is back on the DL, Furcal is still hurt, and Berroa and Maza combined can't hit it if it isn't on a tee). I wouldn't be surprised if Jack wound up packaged together with Grabow and the MacDonald and Hu concept weren't reignited, or heck, even Matt Kemp all over again.

I should mention here that this is based on the fact that all of the teams ahead of Los Angeles in waiver priority are out of contention, so they are trade candidate numero uno. Again, unless Ed Wade continues to be, well, Ed Wade. (Even if they pass Arizona, the Dbacks are unlikely to try claiming either of these two)

Ronny Paulino - We all know that we have no use for the boy, since Ryan Doumit is playing better and there are a dozen Raul Chavez' in the world. However, he is sure hitting the ball well since he got demoted, and if he can show that he's no longer injured, the Marlins could sure use a catcher, and perhaps we could sell them on Ronny's career .318 AVG and .781 OPS in September. What does it mean for us? Perhaps we could steal someone like John Raynor, Chris Coghlan, or Chris Mobley.

It would be nice to write about Chris Duffy here. Perhaps we could have talked some team into believing that he's due for a Ryan Ludwick (minus the homers of course) type resurgence next year. Also, maybe our bench hitters might be of interest to a contender, someone like Malphabet, CGz, or 0-3vas for a depth prospect or two.

But this is just an idea, a jumping off point, so let me know what you guys think.

Minor League Intrigue

geeves — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:20:33 -0000

Well, I figure it's been about three weeks, time to give another progress report about how the pirates minor league world is turning. One month is a nice chunk of time, but I don't feel like waiting til then, so 19 days later will suffice (wasnt that a movie or something?)

Indy (AAA) - Andrew McCutchen finished June on a continued slump, and wound up finishing the month with a .257 average and .642 OPS (yikes). He's been better so far this month, but his .370/870 line shows the complete absence of power that has been going on for a while now. I won't worry about it. Yet?

Brian Bixler has continued his good hitting, finishing June with a .294/.837 line and starting July off hot with a .292/.969 line through the first eight games. This good showing by Bixler certainly makes me feel a little less bad about possibly losing He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named-So-As-Not-To-Jinx-It.

Ty Taubenheim got lit up for 8 runs on 7 hits in 3 2/3 innings in his first start after being sent back to Indy. Hopefully It's a blip and not a trend. Jimmy Barthmaier also struggled a bit in his first start back at Indy, not pitching poorly, but only making it through four innings. He came back strong Monday night, throwing six shutout innings against Columbus.

Altoona (AA) - Our two lone bright spots at Altoona, Shelby Ford and Derek Hankins, have nothing to shout about as of late. Hankins has gone only 15 1/3 innings in his past three starts, giving up eight runs in that span. Ford is 2-for-28 in his last eight games, and has started sharing playing time with Melvin Dorta at 2B.

Lynchburg (A+) - Now to the reason I couldnt wait to write this post. Down in Lynchburg, Jim Negrych and Jamie Romak are still absolutely killing the ball. Romak went 2-for-4 with two home runs for the second night in a row, and is now hitting .375 with a 1.37 OPS over his past ten games. He is now up to a .306 average and 1.023 OPS for the season, and his AVG, SLG< and OPS have gone up every month so far. Think it's time for him to finish solving his deficiancies in Altoona. Negrych went 2-for-4 for the second night in a row after ending his 16 game hitting streak, and is now up to a .365/.920 line for the season.

Mike Crotta has righted his ship after getting pounded by Kinston on Ju8ne 19th, posting a 1.89 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in 19 innings over his last three outings.

Hickory (A-) - Albert Laboy continues to hit reasonably well, going 2-4 with a solo homerun tonight to bring himself to a .312/.891 line since his demotion at the beginning of June. Good to get that confidence rebuilt, hopefully.

Matt Hague also went 2-for-4 with a solo home run, and is now hitting .413 with a 1.26 OPS in his first 14 games as a Crawdad after a .333/.844 line in State College.

Brad Lincoln, unfortunately, has been roughed up for 19 runs on 25 hits in only 16 innings in his last three starts, with the one bright point being 13 strikeouts and no walks. Have to keep an eye on this one.

State College (SS) - Short season has kicked into gear since the last update, but not everyone can shoot through State College like Mr. Hague. Of course, there's still some hitters to talk about. OF Cole White went 3-for-4 with a double tonight and has now posted a .410/1.09 line in his first 11 games as Spike.

3B Matt Payne has also looked respectable, posting a .333/.808 line in 17 games in spite of a three-game hitless streak.

Bradenton - Lastly, the results arent up from this afternoon's game, but even so, 18th round draft pick and SS Jarek Cunningham looks not too terrible so far. He has notched a .412/.1.15 line in his first ten games as a Pirate, so we'll see what happens.

It would seem that it is about time to bump Negrych and Romak up to Altoona, and Negrych being replaced in Lynchburg by 3B Hague probably wouldnt be far behind. I know small sample sizes and whatnot, but it seems at this particular moment, third base has suddenly gone from devoid to somewhat deep.

Pitching Is Confusing

geeves — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:05:29 -0000

Roaming around MiLB.com, namely the Indy site, I stumbled across this strange article. The basic premise is that JVB and/or Bullington can't figure out why they pitch so well at AAA and so terribly in Pittsburgh. I'm fairly sure most of you are capable of answering that question for them, but I'd like to take a look at this anyway...

"Even right-hander John Van Benschoten is perplexed by how he implodes in the majors with Pittsburgh yet dominates in Triple-A with Indianapolis."

I think "only John VanBenschoten" might be a better word choice. When you can't get your BB/9 below 3.3, and your K/9 gradually starts dropping to 7.0 and lower...something is bound to give.

"I don't know. I don't know what happens up there. No one knows. A lot of people think they know, but they really don't have a clue because I don't have a clue. All I've got to do is pitch well here and if the Pirates don't want me, someone else might."

Jonny Boy, the fact that you don't understand the concept I just mentioned (when you get promoted and continue to nibble, you get burned more frequently) doesn't mean that nobody else fails to grasp the same concept. And I think your track record shows that merely pitching well at AAA is not enough.

The difficult final minors-to-majors adjustment is as common as it is historic. Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds barely treaded water in their first call-ups. Look around the major leagues today. The Cincinnati Reds' Homer Bailey, a first-round pick with a rocket arm, struggled so mightily -- he was 0-3 with an 8.76 ERA -- he was sent down again to Triple-A Louisville. The New York Yankees' Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes are a combined 0-7 with a 7.98 ERA. Tampa Bay's touted third base prospect Evan Longoria is hitting .249.

Bonds: .223 avg, .746 OPS in 413 AB (at age 21)

A-Rod: .224 avg, .611 OPS, 62:9 K/BB in 196 AB's (at age 18/19)

Homer Bailey: still only 22, also posted 63 BB in 130+ innings at Louisville this year and last. Plus his home park is a bandbox.

Hughes and Kennedy: 22 and 23 years old, respectively, and with a total of 24 and 20 career starts above AA. I think they're still developing, probably, and came up when they did more out of the Yankee's need than of their own readiness to do so.

Longoria: actually now a .262 avg, and an .855 OPS thanks to 19 2B and 14 HR in only 245 AB's (at age 22)

JVB: made his second appearance at the major league level at age 27.

Great comparison choices, Mr. Article Writer Man.

Though, Bailey isn't a terrible choice. They both have been tagged at the major league level, and neither is surprising given their peripherals at AAA. Though, again, Bailey has the extra qualifiers of still being young and spending half his time in a horrific pitcher's park.

"The biggest difference between the majors and Triple-A is those couple mistakes, you don't usually get away with them up here." ...

The biggest difference Jewett sees is when Van Benschoten is in Indy, he attacks the strike zone more aggressively as opposed to throwing pitches based on adverse situations.

Exactly, this is how 7 K's and 3.5 BB/9 in AAA turns into 6 K's and 6 BB/9 at the majors. And when you aren't unhittable, those are extra baserunners you can't afford to allow.

Still confused, John? Cause I think everybody else has you figured out.

Minor League Intrigue

geeves — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:57:45 -0000

Hey, this writing stuff is fun! Since I miss those regular minor league updates - and I know you fellow commenters do as well - I thought I would throw out some information that may or may not be hugely significant, but is at least worth mentioning.

Indianapolis (AAA) - Andrew McCutchen is scuffling a bit of late. During the month of June, he's slugging only .338 (3 XBH in 65 AB). Hopefully his recent 5-game hitting streak is a warming trend.

On a more pleasant note, Brian Bixler has been rather impressive, posting a .301 AVG and an .898 OPS in 22 games since being sent back down to Indy. It isn't all tied up in average, either, as he has posted a .542 SLG during that time. He needs to cut down on the K's a bit (34.9%), but it's worth keeping an eye on.

Pitcher Jimmy Barthmaier is making his fifth start for Indy tonight since being promoted from AA. His numbers at Altoona weren't eye-popping in any way (1.36 WHIP, 40:21 K/BB) but since coming to Indy, his numbers look less than terrible (1.0 WHIP and 21:6 K/BB in 25 2/3 innings). He put up good numbers up through AA in Houston's system prior to joining us this season, and he's still young (only 23), so there's another player worth watching.

Altoona (AA) - Obviously, as we all know, there's not a lot going on in Altoona, as evidenced by my earlier qualifier that one of Cleveland's pitching prospects had to have his AA numbers taken with a grain of salt because he had faced the Curve in 1/3 of his starts. That said, it isn't a complete wasteland.

2B Shelby Ford returned from injury the same day that Bixler was demoted, and has also been on a tear. He has rung up a .333 AVG and an .873 OPS over 21 games in that same stretch. He also appears to be 'warming with the weather,' as he now has a .998 OPS in his last 10 games in spite of going hitless in four of those games. If he can stay healthy and keep hitting, he may be turning double plays with Bixler in Indy by the break.

Lynchburg (A+) - Some interesting things happening down south as well. Jim Negrych, playing third base now, has posted a very respectable .354 AVG and .880 OPS (including .341/.825 in his last 10 games), though that would probably look better if he were still playing MI.

Jamie Romak, our young lefty outfielder, has started to hit as well. After missing all of April, he now has put up a .290 AVG and .930 OPS while tallying 14 2B, 11 HR and 30 RBI in 170 AB's. Granted, those numbers are a bit hard to swallow given his 57:20 K/BB ratio, but I'll keep it on a positive note in the hopes that he can get that turned around a bit. It's still early.

Hickory (A-) - Here we find an unusual hitter in outfielder Albert Laboy. He started the season in Lynchburg, and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn (.481 OPS in 110 AB's). Since coming down to Hickory at the beginning of this month, he has posted a 1.05 OPS, including 1.19 over the past two weeks. He's still only 21, so there may be hope for him yet. What he does once he gets back to Lynchburg should be very telling about any value he has as a player.

Another 21 year old, reliever Ronald Uviedo, is doing well at Hickory. He has posted a very nice 1.06 WHIP and 48:8 K/BB so far this season. In his last 10 outings (spanning the last month), he has pitched 2+ inning nine times and given up zero runs and one or fewer baserunners in six of those. He looks about due for a promotion, so we'll see what happens.

Fnishing up on a happy note, Brad Lincoln will be making his seventh start of the season or Hickory tonight, his first start in a week thanks to the Sally League All-Star break. Lincoln has looked good and is back early, as we all know, and if he can keep his ratio up (23:3 K/BB) and his hits down (18 in 11 IP last two starts) he should be moving back up the organizational ladder sooner than later.

Analysis Outlet - Branyan = LaRoche?

geeves — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 04:37:33 -0000

I'm sure you're all, as Pirate fans and therefore followers of the NL Central, well aware of the monster of a month Russ Branyan is having.

Why am I actually writing a Fanpost about this tool, you ask? Well one, because it has a little to do with LaRoche perhaps, and because after looking at his video, I genuinely believe that he has a legitimate chance of (at least for this season) being a poor man's Carlos Pena (something like a .280/.825/25/85 line).

That sounds like an absolutely absurd thing to say about a player who has posted a .228 AVG and .810 OPS with six different teams over the past five seasons. He also is notorious for disappearing against lefties. However, simply looking at his stats, something interesting pops up - he may not touch lefties, but in the previous three seasons, he had 526 AB's against righties, and posted an .848 OPS with 25 2B, 36 HR, and 84 RBI...and the list goes on and on. It's a line that looks a lot like Adam Dunn's 2006.

Of course, comparing him to Dunn is a bit silly, because there's a pretty wide gap between a 32 year old with 131 career homers and a 28 year old with almost twice as many. A couple nights ago, though, some then-and-now video was shown of Branyan (including those horrid Padre throwback unis) and it became very obvious that he has completely overhauled his swing in the last couple seasons. I apologize that there is no video to show, so you'll have to suffer the description.

Back in '06, Branyan started his stance mostly upright (almost as much as LaRoche) with his hips turned ever so slightly out towards first base, his front foot square to the mound, his upper body slightly bent over with his back turned towards the mound a bit, and his hands anywhere from shoulder level to earflap level. Now, given that Branyan's swing is one of those big, swooshy, homer swings, it was probably a bit difficult for him to time up his swing and get his hands from up by his head down and around and through the strike zone in time on a consistent basis. Not to mention any back problems he may have developed from spending every pitch partly bent over like a moron.

Now, his swing is much different. He starts with his upper body almost completely upright and back facing the dugout, his knees flexed, and his hips well open (about halfway between the mound and first), with his lead foot as wide as his lead hip - not unlike Soriano. He also has dropped his arms so his forearms are level and his hands are at his letters. This gives Branyan an opportunity to (again like Soriano) generate a fair amount of torque through his lower body by completely closing his front foot as he begins his swing. This allows him to generate a full body power, instead of just whacking with his hands as he did with his old swing. He also, obviously, only has to take his hands back a bit and then through the zone, instead of having to bring them down from his shoulders first, which is much easier to accomplish repeatedly in the amount of time he has before the pitch arrives.

So, I have no idea why it took him until age 32 to finally make this kind of adjustment, but he has altered his swing to utilize his tree trunk legs instead of just his upper body for power, and he has brought his hands closer to his body so that he needs less time to get through the zone, a much more repeatable routine. Given that knowledge, I don't think it is unreasonable for him to put up a line like the one I mentioned above - especially if he ever gets the chance to hit somewhere other than 6th in the Brewers' lineup. Again, I said "I don't think it's an unreasonable prediction", not "I declare that this is exactly what is going to happen."

The reason I bring up LaRoche: As I was watching him strike out for the 62nd time tonight, I started wondering about him, since he has one of those big, swooshy homer swings as well. Sure enough, I noticed some things about his swing. For one thing, he brings his stance from open to closed to some degree during his swing, which theoretically would be to generate that above-mentioned torque. But LaRoche doesn't have any bending and then straightening of his legs to go along with it, which means that any of that torque that gets generated by closing his stance doesn't get transferred up through his body. So that's wasted movement. Then, I also noticed that he begins his stance with his hands all the way up at his shoulders/ears like Branyan used to - and he has a hitch where he initially dips his hands a few inches, then takes them back up to his ears before beginning his swing. This also seems like wasted movement.

So my thinking is that LaRoche does need a little tweaking, perhaps not unlike what Branyan went through: someone should teach him to bend his legs more so that his open-to-closed torque force has somewhere to go (namely, through his body and core and into his bat), and he should drop his hands more in his initial stance, so that they don't have to go as far to get his bat through the strike zone. Maybe then he won't get fooled by every offspeed pitch he sees and can not be a Black Hole up until every All-Star break.

Goodness. That was a lot of words right there. Hopefully at least one person finds this information either neat or useful or something.

Wild Speculation Never Goes Out of Style

geeves — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 02:43:47 -0000

In all fairness, I should preface this by saying that I am known to several of my friends as the "Hey here's this crazy theory that will probably never actually happen but let's discuss it anyway" Guy. That being said, I did my best to put as much logic as possible into this babbling ramble.

Obviously, trade speculation is ramping up as the deadline inches closer, and I thought I would take a chance to realistically take a look at who out there needs what we have (relievers and corner OF) and if there is a logical give and take that could happen between us and them.

1. Tampa - This team is obviously starting to come together, with a decidedly above average rotation and plenty of good young/young-ish talent in the field; Upton and Longoria, and to a lesser extent (either talent or age-wise) Pena, Crawford, and Navarro.

However, they have this large mess in right field comprised of Eric Hinske, Jonny Gomes, and Gabe Gross. Sure, Hinske is hitting right now, but I don't think that he has the track record to justify the notion of his simply becoming the everyday RF as a solution when Pena returns. Neither Gross nor Gomes has proven they can hit on any sort of regular basis either. So I don't think it would be unreasonable for them to either acquire Xavier Nady or Jason Bay, which would go a long way towards improving at least their offense, if not their outfield defense (hey, can't win 'em all).

So what's in it for us? Well, a simple inspection of Tampa's roster tells you all you need to know. They don't really have any hitters that are remotely lighting it up (outside of a couple way-old-for-their-level guys) right now, but what they do have is pitching. Pitching out the wazoo. Right now, Tampa has a 40-man roster with 12 pitchers who are 26 years old or younger, only one of whom possibly doesnt belong there anymore (Jae-Kuk Ryu ). On top of that, they have another four pitchers who are good enough and young enough that they're bound to wind up on the 40-man once there's room. Obviously, this is far more pitching than they will ever really have room for at the major league level (unless you realistically expect them to turn a majority of these guys into relievers), and is their biggest bargaining chip in trade talks by a wide margin.

Given that our system features Brad Lincoln and a bunch of organizational depth, acquiring a little depth couldn't hurt. I would toss out the concept of either Xavier Nady or Jason Bay for one or maybe two of Mitch Talbot /Jeff Niemann /J.P. Howell/Jeff Hammel/Richard De Los Santos - one in return for Nady, or two for Bay.

Howell and Hammel being the two stud starters who are in Tampa's bullpen only because there's no room in the rotation, Talbot and Niemann being the guys killing time carrying AAA Durham's rotation, and De Los Santos being the guy at AA not named Houser, McGee, or Davis but putting up just as good of numbers.

2. New York Mets - The Mets are a bit of a muckpile right now, but some people would say that they still have a chance, and that some outfield and middle relief help would go a long way towards bridging the gaps in their everyday roster. Who knows if it's better than 50/50 that the Mets are a buyer approaching the deadline, but if they are, we may have what they need.

Obviously, I might first offer these guys Nady (since they love him so much) and Marte. They don't have a lot of prospects to deal, so I think they only have enough to get either those two or Bay straight up in a trade, and I would throw out the idea of either Nady & Marte or Bay for Mike Carp /Nick Evans and Jonathan Niese.

3. Boston - The Red Sox bullpen has perhaps come apart a bit lately, with Craig Hansen getting knocked around all season so far, and Timlin, Okajima, and Tavarez not being particularly good the last couple weeks either. Perhaps this corrects itself, perhaps not. If it doesnt, Boston could probably use some quality relievers and hey! we've got some of those. Marte would make a solid LH option if Okajima doesn't turn things around, or John Grabow might be appealing if they want a righty. I doubt we'd get a ton for either of those guys, but perhaps we could offer Boston either Marte or Grabow for someone like Zach Daeges , Bubba Bell , or hell, maybe even Mike Bowden .

4. Cleveland - I include them not because they're a true contender who has the money to make a splash, or because they just need that one piece as much as because this is Huntingdon's old team, the one whose talent he knows the best...

That being said, if Fausto Carmona isn't on the DL too much longer, I don't think a rotation of Sabathia, Carmona, Laffey, and Lee (assuming he doesn't regress beyond league-average) is anything to be trifled with. Add in Ben Francisco, Sizemore, Garko and Marte, and you have, again, a significantly less than terrible offensive core that has room for a corner outfielder. Their bullpen could also use some help, and here's where we come in.

Cleveland's needs are not unlike New York's (and a similar situation as far as the variety of opinions as to whether they are a buyer or not), and I think an offer of similar value would not be out of line. Some combination of Bay, Nady, Marte, and Grabow would certainly make sense for Cleveland, and in return, I don't think it would be unreasonable for us to ask for some combination of Brian Slocum /David Huff /Ryan Edell and Chris Gimenez /Wes Hodges . (one strange note about Huff: his AA Akron numbers are a bit skewed by the fact that three of his 10 starts were against Altoona, so his AAA numbers should be a better measuring stick).

Obviously, I didn't include any minor league prospects who are relievers, mainly because I consider the term "quality reliever" to be a very relative one at best. That being said, I think I made a solid effort to keep these ideas at least on the fringe of feasibility, so I'm wondering what you-all might think about these.