Loretta Drawing Interest From Padres, Yankees

According to Buster Olney, Astros infielder Mark Loretta is drawing interest from the Padres and Yankees.  The soon-to-be 36 year-old is hitting .307/.383/.402 in 264 ABs this year.  He's played all four infield positions this year.  Loretta's '07 salary is $2.5MM with an additional $1MM in incentives.  So at most, there's about $1.4MM left on the deal this year.

Marcus Giles has been a disappointment for the Padres, hitting .237/.309/.329 on the year.  That's really bad.  Loretta would probably play second regularly for San Diego.  Olney believes the Yankees would continue to use Loretta in the supersub role.  You may recall that the Yanks had interest in him back in December.

Comments

[bravesbeast]

If the braves move escobar in a trade somewhere to get a pitcher, maybe even to the astros, I would love to get in on loretta to have as a super sub for the braves, but now that I think about it, I guess both salty and escobar would have to be traded for loretta to find any playing time. I just think loretta is a veteran piece that any contender could use greatly. He has a consistient high average bat, makes the right plays when they need to be made, and I have always heard people say he is just a great teammate.

[Teetz]

Escobar needs to stop taking away playing time from Kelly Johnson and Johnson needs to be inserted back into the leadoff spot. He's still better against lefties than Escobar.

[bravesbeast]

Teetz, you are not going to get any argument from me on that one, I do not know how we would get Yunel in the lineup, but I do very much agree that Johnson is the better asset to the lineup, because of his ability to get onbase, more speed, and better power.

[deadbeat17]

im a huge padres fan, and i love loretta, but honestly bringing in mark might just disrupt everything. it would make marcus pissed(obviously) and i honestly doubt it would help brian giles out as well, especially with Bgiles doing so well in the leadoff spot.

either way would be good i suppose, im just not sure what would happen if we let marcus go..........

[deadbeat17]

he is a better hitter though

[Teetz]

Bravesbeast,

More importantly, he is on my fantasy team and is killing me because he's now batting 7th. Why is Willie Harris getting so much PT in the leadoff spot??? One - thats the number of games Willie has gotten on base more than once in July.

[Darin]

The Astros need to start selling off anything and come up with:

Chase Headley or Andy LaRoche

and either:

Yunel Escobar or Chin-Ling Hu

Unfortunately I don't think the Astros have the pieces to get any of those players.

[Friar_Chris]

Why Lorreta was ever traded for Mirabelli in the first place is beyond me.. oh wait, it was to make room for Barfield, who is where? Oh thats right... On a serious note, Why doesn't buddy black keep the line up as it is now ( Milton batting second, and move m.Giles in to the eigth spot?
Barfield flourished there as is Blum, so I guess we will see....Maybe Marcus is not an eight spot hitter, but if he could learn some patience at the plate like his brother, I could see the Padres wanting to keep him. GO PADS!

[bravesrule14]

i dont kno wats wrong with Marcus but what i do know is that Kelly Johnson should be the starting 2B and that we need Lorreta because WoodWard isnt workin out. so i say we trade a bullpen arm likes Yates to the Atros for Lorreta that mite not be alot for him but its worth a shot

[darkstar1661]

Is there something really wrong with Marcus?

Here, check it out:
2004 Away ~ .305/.375/.399 W/Atl
2005 Away ~ .272/.350/.376 W/Atl
2006 Away ~ .232/.338/.343 W/Atl
2007 Away ~ .263/.323/.352 W/SD
So his current Road numbers aren’t that far off what he has been doing lately… It isn’t his best season, but it’s still within reason.

This is where his problem comes in though:
2004 Home ~ .318/.382/.494 W/Atl
2005 Home ~ .310/.380/.547 W/Atl
2006 Home ~ .284/.344/.420 W/Atl
2007 Home ~ .210/.295/.305 W/SD
Looks like he would much rather hit in Atl than the hitters-graveyard known as Petco…

[bravesrule14]

thank u darkstar but its weird that he wouldnt want to hit in Petco cuz of the huge gaps he could hit the ball in. then again he always had a lot fo power and he hit an unusual amount of flyballs for a 2B. he just really hasnt been the same since the collisions with Prior and Andruw.

[darkstar1661]

BR-14,

That’s the thing… isn’t he a flyball hitter in a park where the OF never ends? Seems it has taken his slightly-plus-average power and made it into warning-track-power. His DBLs and HRs are now turning into long-fly outs which drop all three of his lines to miserable marks.

Otherwise he is Walking at about the same rate, he’s King no more than normal really… I mean, add 10 hits spread over 5 2B, 1 3B & 4 HR to get him more on his normal pace and you have a .270/.330/.415ish line… I think that would be respectable enough for him ~ and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think the park could have cost him those 10 XBHs.