Brandon Hicks is quietly putting together a fine season in AAA with a line of .266/.344/.518 with 12 HRs.  Could he be considered a possible replacement for Gonzalez?

I know he's looked terrible in the majors, but 20 PA isn't enough to pass judgement on the guy.  As far as I know he's a considered a good defensive player, so we could do much worse than a defensive shortstop with a .240/.320/.400 line making the league minimum.

Obviously this isn't going to happen this year or even next year, but am I the only one who hopes Venters gets a shot to win a rotation spot in the coming years?

I know we have tons of starting pitching prospects, but nobody outside of Tehran excites me the way Venters does.  He was a starter in the minors and I read old reports that listed his changeup as his top pitch.  If it didn't work out you could always move him back to the bullpen.

Thoughts?

I'm sure this has been asked before, but is Young more of a good left fielder or can he play center effectively?

I know he is older and not considered much of a prospect, but he seems to be superior to all of our other light hitting outfielders offensively.  He has a great walk rate, high average, almost 90% success rate on steals, and a decent amount of gap power especially compared to Blanco, Anderson, or Taveras.

I've seen plenty of lineup scenarios around the site, and few if any mention Yunel as a serious lead-off candidate.  I realize his RISP numbers were great last year, but I believe McLouth and possibly even Prado would be as productive in the #6 hole given their superior slugging percentages.

Add to this the fact that Escobar's on-base skills are superior to any other lead-off candidate, and it seems like a no brainer.  You are putting Escobar in a position that maximizes his best skill, while allowing you to move McLouth and Prado (more on this further down) down in the order.

I would also bat Heyward 2nd in the lineup from Day 1.  His on-base skills appear to be behind only Chipper and maybe Glaus on the team. He seems to make more sense that Prado or McLouth in this spot unless you think its too much for him to handle.

Back to the original argument, I realize this will basically boil down to everyone's though on whether hitting RISP is actually a skill.  I'm sure most will agree Escobar is a good lead-off candidate, but many will want to see him down in the order in order to use his RISP "skill".

We are hearing plenty of talk about trading Derek Lowe, but I wonder how we will spend the money we would gain by trading him?

The problem I see is that we are gonna overpay for whoever we choose to sign using his money.  This is fine if they are one year deals, but I have a hard time believing we can acquire many of the names linked to us to one year deals. 

My point is, I think we need to be careful and not make another mistake by giving hitters too much money because we are desperate.  This is exactly what happened with Lowe and we are already regretting it.

I know that isn't an exciting proposition, but it may be the most realistic situation if we can't trade Lowe without eating money.  I don't expect much of anything in return, but if we are eating money I say keep him.

This is my first fanpost so be gentle.

I'm excited as the next guy about the off-season, but I really don't think we are gonna be major players for an outfielder.  In fact, I wouldn't be totally surprised if we don't sign one at all.  I'll be the first one to say that I wish we could get a bonafide cleanup hitter, but that isn't happening.  I don't know that I'd even classify Holliday or Bay as such and look at the kind of money they'll bring in.  I think we'll re-sign LaRoche and that's about it.

I just don't see how it makes sense to put much money into the outfield with Heyward right around the corner.  I think the opening day outfield will be McLouth, Schafer, and Diaz.  AAA would probably do Schafer some good, but his best chance to get playing time will be before Heyward comes up because it is gonna be hard to work two rookies into your outfield rotation at once.

I could see us taking picking up a 4th outfielder type that could hold down the fort for a few months, but even that seems like a waste of money when you could have a guy like Schafer or Brandon Jones (still better than GA) for a few months.

With this strategy, you will likely see our offense struggle out of the gates, but by July we would have Heyward and a true cleanup hitter (2nd half Laroche is a cleanup hitter you just don't get him for the whole season).  This would put us in a position to make a run like this year.