Blocked Prospects: Reggie Willits

He definitely should be moved. Last year he was a very important part of the club. However, we didn't have a healthy GA, Juan Rivera or Torri Hunter. That's 3 guys that weren't available last year that are this year.

Move Willits now for more farm guys. The Pads don't have anything that can really help us at the big league level.

The Angels also need to move Kendry Morales. He too can be starting for plenty of teams right now. He's cheap, has nice upside, and will only get better.

I know they're in the same division, but what about Oakland? If they're after Crisp, Willits would be a similar price with a better upside.

I completely agree that Oakland would make a great deal of sense. He would offer the Athletics a cheap leadoff centerfielder who could man that position for a few years while the club tries to find a center fielder of the future, considering the other two spots will almost definately be locked by some combination of Carlos Gonzalez, Travis Buck and Ryan Sweeney. The A's really don't have a leadoff hitter, so adding him would fill two needs.

And the fact that Kendry Morales isn't going to be receiving major at bats this year is crazy. The Angels have a bunch of holes and way too many surplusses. If I was Reagins, I would try and find a team that would be willing to deal a power hitting third baseman for Morales. Some ideas off the top of my head:
- to the Rangers in exchange for Chris Davis. Davis and Wood would give the Angels two big time power hitters in the left side of their infield, and Morales could fill in at first and DH for the Rangers.
- to the Giants for Henry Sosa. The Angels get another power arm with good potential in Sosa, and the Giants get a potential middle of the order bat which is something they really need.
-to the Mets for whatever the Halos can get for him. Not sure how this would go down, but Morales would be a good option to back up Delgado this year and replace him in 2009.
-to the Marlins along with Reggie Willits in exchange for Dan Uggla. The Angels would put Uggla at third, and he has produced some decent power numbers the past two seasons, so he would be a decent option. The Marlins would put Willits in center, Morales at first and then keep Maybin in the minors and probably try moving Mike Jacobs for pitching.

yeah the angels dont make any sense when it comes to prospects. they keep them and then dont give them an opportunity to play. they have a terrific farm system but whats the point if you just sign big free agents. that gary matthews contract has to be one of the dumbest of all time. and seriously how is it they have seven starters yet no third baseman. figgins is great but he could get 500 at bats as a supersub. i believe that as anything in life, how you go about doing something is a lot less important than having a plan. the angels dont seem to have a plan. either let the prospects play or trade them for veteran help.

The Reds just signed Corey Patterson so it's unlikely they would trade for Willits. Why not trade Willits and another prospect to the Padres for Kevin Kouzmanoff or Chase Headley. Or trade Kendry Morales and Ervin Santana/Joe Saunders to the Tigers for Brandon Inge

Let's look at a few splits.

Being an Angels fan, Willits' performance saw a dramatic dip in the last three months.

Yes. He had a walk rate of 14% career (and 13.3% last year - small potatoes, really). But his Babip in the first three months of .417, .393 and .380 were absolutely unsustainable. He returned to Earth in the last three months with vengeance.

In the last three months, he hit .252 while striking out 50 times in 264 abs with a .349 OBP. Servicable OBP but you probably would want more. Actually more than a little more with his k rate.

And yes. He was used differently but I can recall numerous times last year where he was absolutely worthless late in the season with runners on (overall .263).

In short, he just a guy, someone you want when someone better goes down and you need a fill-in type on the cheap.

These first couple of months were not who he is. And he's beginning to reach Eckstein-like 'scrappy-dirty-grinder' territory from people who haven't seen him on a daily basis.

Just. A. Guy. Fourth outfielder at best.

"Why not trade Willits and another prospect to the Padres for Kevin Kouzmanoff or Chase Headley."

First off, the Padres already added Jim Edmonds this offseason, so adding a center fielder isn't a need. Unless they wanted him to be a below average left fielder, then he won't go to San Diego. Also, the Padres will almost definately not trade Headley unless they are receiving a young star of equal proportion. Headley for Willits and Wood? See thats why Headley won't get moved.

But moving on to Kevin Kouzmanoff, I actually think thats a fascinating idea. The Padres have a surplus of third basemen with Kouz and Headley, and Headley is almost definately the superior player. Meanwhile though, Kouzmanoff offers some very good power numbers even though his defense is subpar. Considering the lack of power hitters in their lineup, if the Angels could add Kouzmanoff for say, Juan Rivera and Jeff Mathis, then they gotta do that. The Pads would get Rivera to play left and Mathis as a potential long term catcher, since I wouldn't put a lot of faith into Bard and Barrett.

"Or trade Kendry Morales and Ervin Santana/Joe Saunders to the Tigers for Brandon Inge"

That is gotta be one of the most lopsided trades I've ever seen. I wouldn't even deal any of those three guys alone for Brandon Inge. Even though Inge is good with the glove, he cant hit for average and is overpaid. He also doesn't have the kind of power that the Angels desire, so he doesn't even have that to fall back on to. If I was Reagins I would much rather go into the season with Figgins and Aybar at 3B and SS, with Brandon Wood ready to take over for either one. Brandon Inge would cost the Angels a bullpen arm or a mediocre prospect, nothing more. The Tigers are trying to dump his crappy contract, so there is no way they'll ask for much in return.

If the Angels really want a power option at third but don't want to pay for it, then they should just put Brandon Wood at shortstop and leave Figgins at third. The Angels need Figgins to leadoff anyways.

i cant see a Rivera and Mathis FOR Kouzmanoff trade it just seems like too much if u think Mathis as a long term catcher and Rivera can return to his injury-free '06 season. i think headley would be more of a possibility than kouz

Superman,

Most scouts think that Mathis is actually going to be a backup at this point, I'm just saying that the Padres have no other options long term for catcher, so Mathis would immediately be their best option.

I think Rivera and Mathis for Kouz would be a pretty fair trade, because neither Rivera or Mathis has a ton of value to the Angels. Napoli is their catcher for this year, and Hank Conger is their catcher long term. Rivera is buried on that team under like 4 guys.

In that scenario Willits becomes the CF after Edmonds or Giles leaves.

Edmonds is only a stopgap until Venable or someone else can come in to play CF permanently. Trading for a young CF this season is not a crazy possibility, and I could certainly see it happening.

Willits sounds good to me, but there's no way I trade Kouz or Headley for him. I know you guys are down on Kevin but his numbers after May 1 suggest improvements this year and in years to come. I'm willing to see him through for a few more years.

“Let's look at a few splits. Being an Angels fan, Willits' performance saw a dramatic dip in the last three months. Yes. He had a walk rate of 14% career (and 13.3% last year - small potatoes, really). But his Babip in the first three months of .417, .393 and .380 were absolutely unsustainable. He returned to Earth in the last three months with vengeance.”

…I am so glad someone else mentioned this; I figured I would have to… I live in Anaheim and (whether I like it or not) see more live Angels games than anything else. Willis is exactly as described by Christo, and any team getting him with the intention of playing him for any real playing time will probably be extremely disappointed. He does have plus speed, but it only begins to make up for the complete lack of power the guy holds. Think of it this way, would you rather have a guy hit 280/360 with 35 2B and a handful of HR & SB *or* 280/360 with 10 2B, no HR and 20-30 SB? All of a sudden those 20-30 SB would mean very, very little to you, right?

Reggie Willits = Scott Podsednik V3.0. Of course we all know the flaws of the original. V2.0 came with a slightly upgraded D ability and was released under the name of Willy Tavares. This newest version lost some D ability though for a slight OBP increase… I’m not sure why anyone would be attempting to clone Alex Cole like this, but someone seems to be hard at work making these all these replicas…

I'd be pretty hesitant to do Willits for Kouz straight up because I think Kevin is much closer to realizing his potential than Reggie is. Kouz's numbers after April, and especially post ASB, suggest a pretty good offensive 2008.

If Kouzmanoff posts an OPS of ~.850, that would be an OPS+ of ~125, putting him squarely in the top seven or eight 3B in MLB.

scribbletone: I don't think Kouzmanoff is the worst defensive 3B, not even close. According to revised zone rating, which I know isn't perfect, he was 12 of 21 qualified 3B. According to out of zone plays, he's lower, about 14 or 15. So he's probably a little below average to below average, but certainly not horrible. I expect him to keep working on his D and show a little improvement in '08. I'm sure all of those early struggles at the plate and the time that was devoted by Kouzmanoff to fixing them didn't help his defense.

Giggity ... I think that is a fair deal. I would rather do Cla + prospects though. I have a feeling that Ervin will end up being moved to the bullpen with Shields/Rodriguez/Speier. Acquiring 2 relievers would be too much of a log jam. Having Cla would give us some depth heading into next year (assuming that K-Rod goes elsewhere).

To answer those people thinking that Kouz would possibly be traded for a guy like Willits ~ are you on crack?

From May1st till the end of the season Kevin hit .303/.355/.504/.859 ~ that’s better than what Gonzalez put up! Infact, of players with atleast 100AB, only Milton Bradley had a better OPS than that for the Pads. That’s 5 months of like a 127 OPS+ after his first month in the major leagues, that’s special and is not ever going to be a consideration to be dealt for some guy who can only hit a double on a day he triples down on his Weaties…

Maybe it's just me, but personally I see Willits as an ideal fourth outfielder and a substandard starter. I realized he had a good line last year, but it was way out of line with his translated minor league performance, and his second half wasn't all that spectacular. Long-term, I see him as a .260/.360/.300 hitter who can play plus defense at all outfield positions. No doubt that's a useful player because of the defense and the OBP, but you don't want a sub-.700 OPS hitter in your everyday lineup. Even if you assume his batting average will be around .280 instead of .260, it's STILL only about a .700 OPS.

Since I think most GMs (Kenny Williams aside) are smart enough to know that you shouldn't be starting this type of player, I can't imagine the Angels would get much for Willits. He probably brings more value to the table by keeping him (where he's an ideal 4th outfielder) and dumping Haynes (who shouldn't have a roster spot to begin with) and sitting on Evans (who can't play CF).

Sorry it should say, "if you keep Kouzmanoff than Headley moves to *LF*..."

Also, ignore the repetition of Giles and Bard as it was a typo.

"-to the Marlins along with Reggie Willits in exchange for Dan Uggla. The Angels would put Uggla at third, and he has produced some decent power numbers the past two seasons, so he would be a decent option. The Marlins would put Willits in center, Morales at first and then keep Maybin in the minors and probably try moving Mike Jacobs for pitching. "

I've actually been very against trading Morales because of his tremendous upside, but I would pull that deal in a heartbeat.
the guy would hit a ton of homers, he's young, cheap, and solid defensively.

Also, I'd be in favor of a Willits-Kouz trade. Really, the Angels need another 3B. Figgins is not the answer, despite what some people think... yeah, he's a great leadoff hitter, but he was made for the supersub role.

i guess we'll see what happens

I just don't understand everyone and their desire to acquire a 3rd baseman. Right now we have Figgins at 3B and Aybar/Wood/Izturis at SS. If we get a 3rd baseman we could slide Figgins to SS but that blocks Wood. If you let Wood play and Figgins becomes the super sub where is he subbing?

We already have about 10 guys in the outfield. We need Kendrick to get his AB's. That leaves SS and 3B. Don't see how he is going to get 600AB's in that type of a rotation.

If Wood is the answer then we need to let the kid play. If we aren't happy with the power at 3B that Figgins gives us then we should trade Chone (although we need to find a way for him to play - he is a very valuable part of the club).

When I'm running the club ... :) ... I look to deal the extra outfielders individually for minor league pieces. Thin out the outfield group and move guys like Willits, Evans, Haynes. If GMJ gets off to a hot start see what can be done with him. It would be great to get down to Vlad/GA/Hunter/Rivera with Figgins rotating in.

“A good or realistic trade scenario usually involves some understanding of what the GM WOULD DO, not just what a GM should do”

…Ok, lets see if we can think of what Towers WOULD DO then…

1) He would continue to look for a power-bat upgrade to his lineup (Willits definitely doesn’t fit that)
2) He would continue to look for a corner OFer (Willits definitely doesn’t fit that because of said non-existent power)
3) He would not trade one of the top two hitters on his team (that Kouzmanoff was last year)
4) He would not disrupt a set position on a contending team (Kouz is that)
5) He would not trade away his #3 hitter (Kouz is that)
6) He would not give an extremely desirable piece for one with very little ability and more than likely not much of a future ahead of him (comparable guys like Pods, Cole, Brian L. Jordan, Roger Cedeno, Tom Goodwin, etc ~ they start a year or two, end up as 5th-6th OFers and fade off into the distance before most people even know their names)

Really, in what world would it make sense to trade Kouz for Willits? Trade away a guy that (after his first month in the majors) hit .303/.355/.504 at PETCO for a guy that can barely get the ball out of the infield? How in the world would that ever make sense? Just because a team needs a LO hitter, you are willing to sacrifice 1/3 of their power and one of only 3 completely set positions on the field?

I’m sorry, but its just moronic. Infact, its quite possibly one of the worst trade ideas I have ever seen on the board… Willits is the kind of guy that costs you a low-A mid-range prospect, not a possible hot-corner AS and a teams middle of the order hitter. It makes absolutely no sense; it would be like taking 5 steps back just to get something that isnt desirable to begin with. It would probably single handedly destroy all hope of competing in 2008. Again, after his first month ever in the majors, Kouz hit .303/.355/.504/.894 (!) ~ and he should be traded for a guy who might be in the majors for the Padres? Come on… If they were so hard up for a LO hitter they could call up the Dodgers, tell them to eat some cash and they would take Pierre off their hands. Or call up Lofton, who at age 43 or whatever would still be a better fit for the club.

Looking at PECOTAs comparables real fast… We see guys like Tony Perez, Brooks Robinson, Aramis Ramirez and Matt Williams showing up for Kouzmanoff, while Willits has Stan Javier, Lee Tinsley, Gerald Young and Chucky Carr… Dude, seriously ~ come on!!!

I'm fine with adding power at 3B. However, you lose your leadoff hitter in that situation.

Figgins needs to play. The only way to do that is by moving your outfield talent.

And Dark ... everything comes down to what you project a player doing. Like I said earlier, I can easily see Willits hitting over 300 and having an OBP of 360+. With his speed (40+ SB potential) and solid defense in CF he does have value for the right club.

Of course, if you see him hitting 260 with a 320 OBP then yeah - the guy is nothing more than a 4th/5th outfielder who pinch runs for you.

That being said, Kouz is too much to ask for. That's why I am advocating a Cla + prospect deal for Willits. The Pads are going to need some insurance in CF with Edmonds + there is a really good chance that none of their LF options pan out.

BJ,

I expect Willits to have something like a .260/.360/.340ish line if given a full years ABs for someone in 2008. I imagine he will have about 25 2B, maybe 3 3B and 0 HR while stealing 25 bases and getting caught about 10. I see that as rather questionable value wise, its 5th OFer production really ~ it’s the kind of guy you use when you just don’t really have another option available (like the Angels last year). Almost all teams will sacrifice some D for hitting though, and Willits isnt even a GG type anyway…

I honestly can not see a situation where he ever plays more than maybe 2-3 years worth of ABs max spread over the next 6-7 years if he stays in the majors. Comparables haven’t been able to do it, so I don’t know why we should expect it from him…

And the Kouz for Willits thing is just insane. I mean, a trade of a Rookie Tony Perez for a Rookie Stan Javier would probably go down as one of the top-5 worst trades in the history of baseball; I don’t think many would disagree. Or Matt Williams for Chucky Carr? Could you imagine the backlash… Even if Kouz doesn’t live up to that type of ceiling though, is it really hard to beat a Lee Tinsly type of career?

"I just don't understand everyone and their desire to acquire a 3rd baseman. Right now we have Figgins at 3B and Aybar/Wood/Izturis at SS. If we get a 3rd baseman we could slide Figgins to SS but that blocks Wood. If you let Wood play and Figgins becomes the super sub where is he subbing?"

bjsguess,

you need to acquire a new 3B and move Figgins to SS if...

a) you have to list your options because no decision has been made on who should start with only three weeks until the season begins.

b) your depth chart is determined by whether a lefty or righty is taking the mound for the other team that day.

c) the three guys listed have the following combined career line (combined totals equal exactly 2.5 seasons with 40% or 1 seasons totals in parentheses):

Combined Hitting
AVG: .263, OBP: .323, SLG: .366, OPS: .689, AB: 1253 (501), Hits: 330 (132), Runs: 164 (66), 2B: 58 (23), 3B: 13 (5), HR: 15 (6), RBI: 138 (55), BB: 108 (43), SO: 167 (67), SB: 39 (16), CS: 14 (6)

Combined Fielding
F%: .958%, E: 48 (19), TC: 1151 (460), PO: 361 (144), A: 742 (297)

d) Scioscia could start Mario Mendoza at SS and no one would realize until the 7th inning.

e) Woods, Aybar, & Izturis get more cheers on the road.

f) any of these guys getting promoted is done to make room at the AAA level.

g) when asked who'll start at SS, Scioscia responds whomever has the rare combination of self-confidence and a heartbeat.

h) when the other teams in your division are more excited than you about your SS getting traded for a #4 starter.

i) when any of the four teams with the lowest payrolls in baseball can trade you their starting SS and it would be an upgrade.

j) defense is no longer a consideration when looking for a replacement at the trade deadline.

Dark - thanks for making the point.

This really comes down to a fundamental question about whether Brandon Wood and Eric Aybar are going to be quality ML players.

Both have high ceilings. Both have been groomed as long-term solutions. You have to let them play. That is, unless, you have major reservations about them. If that is the case - trade them now.

Sure their stats haven't been terrific to date. But they are both very young still. Neither has had the chance to play consistently.

If you are going to bring in a power hitting 3B type player then trade Wood/Aybar right now. Move Figgins to SS and hope (and pray) that he can handle the position. You will be taking on more salary for sure (Wood/Aybar make nothing). And you wasted a tremendous amount of effort in bringing those two guys along.

Personally, I can live with Figgins at 3B. We have Wood/Aybar/Izturis at SS. Angels need more power? Absolutely. They signed Torri Hunter, GA is healthy, Juan Rivera is healthy, Kotchman will continue to develop power, and Napoli is healthy. I don't think a lack of power will be the big problem.

The Angels were very good in 07. They should definitely be better in 08.

Thank GOD you covered that post scribbletone cause I didn't want to have to be the nay-sayer on that one as well. It was too stupid of a proposal to warrant a response, but some people need to be educated so that erroneous statements aren't taken as gospel. A good example can be found on Jason Churchhill's site where he's like the baseball version of David Koresh. Anywho, I agree with every point you made and in fact there were so many reasons to boo-hoo this trade that you missed a couple!

The San Francisco Giants have a SURPLUS of outfielders. Not only that, but they are all similar to Willits in a lot of regards. Aaron Rowand and Randy Winn are the same player as Willits only they hit for more power, are better than above average defenders, they are Gold Glove caliber. That leaves one outfield position for Fred Lewis and Rajai Davis to fight over with Dave Roberts. Lewis and Davis are also the same as Willits only they are still developing their power, but their potential is significantly greater. All of this is true of Roberts except for the part about the power. Then you have Nick Schierholtz who is a power hitter first, but still has the ability to steal 15 bases for you and there's John Bowker who hit 22 jacks with 90 ribbies in AA last season. Both of these guys have good upsides as well and as the roster stands they will have to cut or trade at least one of their outfielders due to a lack of option years. The inclusion of the last outfielder on the 40-man roster is a little confusing as he had a below 50% success rate at stealing bases to go with an outlandish 6 homers. Personally I think this shows the main problem with Sabean as a GM and/or a lack of quality minor leaguers, which is crazy considering how few times they've sacrificed draft picks for free agent signings. So I digress. The point being that the Giants are probably THE WORST possible fit as a trading partner!

The second worst trade partner would be the Brewers. I would love to know how you came up with these teams other than because you want so badly to get the pitcher mentioned that you side stepped the whole aspect of sound reasoning and logic to have the myriad of possibilities line up with your desires and unreasonable expectations. I mean were you going to just throw your spare parts at another team and hope that all the pegs line up with the holes when gravity takes effect?! The Brewers signed Cameron to play CF in order to improve the defense and aside from that the signing didn't make a lot of sense. I will say that I love Cameron's tools, but he is no more a fit for the Brewers than Willits and his addition to the team makes Willits being traded there that much more unreasonable. If the Angels were to get Sheets they would have to pony up Ervin Santana at the least and probably would have to make the return Jered Weaver. NOW HOLD ON! I didn't say the Angels would agree to that, just that it would take that to get Sheets to be traded! In fact, he's one of the least likely to be traded out of all pitchers because of his injuries making him affordable to a mid to small market team like the Brewers who can't afford to pay top dollar for a staff ace.

Back to the point, the Brewers have Tony Gwynn Jr. and Gabe Gross blocked by Mike Cameron, Ryan Braun, and Corey Hart, so that's already 5 outfielders that need to be on the opening day roster and that doesn't even include Gabe Kapler. Another thing is that NO TEAM is going to trade a #1 or #2 for a guy that won't start immediately on their team when acquired. The value of a starter is ridiculously inflated right now and Willits will only garner a position player in return and it has to be a relatively young and a somewhat unproven commodity. I think the only way you get Lincecum is if you give them a solid #3 and an All-Star caliber position player. If you were to offer Jon Garland, Kendry Morales, and Chone Figgins, you might get the Giants to think about it... MIGHT. Again, what makes sense to one GM doesn't make sense to another and a Jon Garland type starter is not overly difficult to find, Morales is relatively unproven and Figgins has struggled to make the starting lineup at a set position, so to me this isn't a whole lot more enticing than Alex Rios. I think Willits has to go to a team with aging veterans that are prone to injury or are unable to offer the range necessary to play center long term, which brings us back to the Padres. I'll continue this thought when I aim at the bullseye on Gig in my next post.

Jeez I didnt even think of that massive surpluss of outfielders the Giants have.

"If the Angels were to get Sheets they would have to pony up Ervin Santana at the least and probably would have to make the return Jered Weaver."

I agree 100% that Santana would definately be in a Sheets trade, but I seriously doubt it would include Jered Weaver. I think he is considered one of the untouchables in that organization. And considering that Sheets is in the final year of his contract, they'd be dealing that potentially great young pitching for one potentially injury ruined year of Sheets. And if Sheets does manage to stay healthy, then you either have to reward him with that big contract, or let him walk and take the draft picks. It is a tough choice, but there is just no way Sheets is moving. If they dealt Sheets, then the Brewers would essentially be folding for 2008. That is not something they appear to be doing, based on the Cameron and Gagne signings .

Gig,

For the love of hot peanuts in a bag! You can't be serious that you are okay with Giles as your leadoff hitter, Iguchi is fine as the number two, but the main reason you need speed at the top of the lineup is so that someone meets the middle infielder at 2nd base to break up the double play so your middle of the order isn't coming up with the bases empty. Also stealing bases moves guys into scoring position which is important in a stadium like Petco where more times than not the runs are scored on singles and doubles. If the Padres played in a stadium like Great American Ball Park than they could get away with not having a legitimate leadoff hitter since they could mash the 3-run homer like the 1998-2003 Athletics who lived and died by those mamoth blasts with their glut of slow guys at the top of their lineup, hold the famous Johnny Damon Experience.

Let's step away from the speed from an offensive standpoint and talk about the defensive issues facing the Padres. The Pads play in one of the bigger ballparks in the majors and have two guys starring 40 in the face. Giles was never "fast" and Edmonds wasn't much above average in his prime. They both have made a lot of money from fundamentals and understanding where to position themselves before the pitch is made. That being said, these guys can't predict where the ball is going to land and if they are out of position then you are looking at the makings of a big inning for the other team. By having a guy like Willits in LF you allow Edmonds to cheat over towards right to help out Giles and then Willits becomes responsible for more of the gap in left-center. Headley may move well for a third-baseman, but for an OF he's about as graceful as a fat guy running for the all you can eat buffet.

So we'll transition back to the lineup thing because that was ridiculous how you laid out the middle of the order with a righty in Kouzmanoff following another righty (Iguchi) and then putting Gonzalez and Edmonds back to back. I won't even go into detailing the foibles of Kouzmanoff as a #3 hitter except to ask if you realize yet that your Special and I mean that Olympically! You have to be a straight up window licker to think that Kouzmanoff would bat third instead of Gonzalez or Edmonds from a pure ability standpoint alone!

So they would never take their ONLY legitimate offensive weapon in Gonzalez and place him in a position where they could bring in a lefty to face both Edmonds and him consecutively. They would have Gonzalez bat 3rd following Iguchi and then have Greene or Kouzmanoff, who's a better fit for 5th or 6th, bat cleanup. However, they would do this ONLY to break up the lefties and Edmonds would obviously bat 5th followed by Kouzmanoff or Greene and then Giles and Bard. Giles who hit .271 with a laughable 13 HRs and 51 RBIs to go with getting thrown out 60% of the time when stealing is no leadoff hitter. Even if he had an OBP of .360ish last season that number will be lower this year! He'll probably be lucky to hit .265 with a .345 OBP. He's a #7 hitter at best now and it serves no purpose living in denial over this.

As for the "hilarious" comments about "claiming I (you) know all about the way GM's go about my (your) business..." Hell, I must know something or you wouldn't be so sold on what I think that you refer to it as MY business. I'm not even that arrogant, but thank you for the compliment! As for you wishful thinking, I have a couple comments. You may want Towers to keep Kouzmanoff at 3B, but just like when you didn't get what you wanted for Christmas, you can't desire something to the point that it magically happens/appears. Towers has stated that Headley is the 3B of the future and it is his intent to move him there eventually. The only reason Headley was put on this team as I recall was because he's out of options and LF was a way to get him in the lineup as a regular instead of having to ride the pine until he could be moved to thirdbase. It was also a way to be cheap and avoid paying for a FA to play LF. Headley will be the 3B for the Padres no later than 2010 and as soon as either Kouzmanoff is traded or moved to a new position. There was even talk of moving him to 2B until Iguchi was signed. So the Kouzmanoff for ......... trade rumors will persist and rightfully so. If it makes you feel better, you might be able to include Ervin Santana from Anaheim for Cla Meredith as a two for two deal. I'm sure the Padres would leverage the lack of positions available in the Angels outfield for Willits to play and the obvious need for a thirdbaseman.

Oh wait, that last post just replied to the errors I noticed as I skimmed your post. I now see this though:

"If it makes you feel better, you might be able to include Ervin Santana from Anaheim for Cla Meredith as a two for two deal. I'm sure the Padres would leverage the lack of positions available in the Angels outfield for Willits to play and the obvious need for a thirdbaseman."

and to that we go right back to "are you on crack?" No, the Padres are not trading Kouz + Cla for Sanders + Willits. No, no, no, no, no! It 1) Makes no sense to trade Kouz as hs is 1/3 actual power hitters in the lineup (!!!) but 2) Willits SUCKS and will never bat leadoff for the Padres because they would never play him over much, much, much better options. But want to know who is a better option just so you know ~ ANYONE...

Really, you gotta just drop that Kouz for Willits thing ~ its beyond asinine...

I read someewhere that Headley was someone they *had* to keep on the team. Just because someone never makes it on the major league roster until last September DOES NOT mean they can't be out of OPTIONS! An option year is one in which you are sent down to the minors for any period of time as little as one day! A player could be out of options without ever playing a day in the majors in fact the only way to save the option years is to promote the player before all of the free years are used up, but the first game signals the end of free time and any trip back to the minors counts as using the first option year! For instance if Jeremy Reed for the Mariners starts the season at Tacoma (AAA) and never plays a day in 2008 on the major league roster for Seattle he still burns an option year. The reason he still has option years left is because of how quickly he was given the starting job in CF. You get X years to develope the player, then you get 3 Option Years, and then they have to clear waivers every time you take them off your 25-man roster. If you don't have them on your 40-man roster than they become exposed to the Rule 5 Draft every season. So please don't act like it was a wild assumption! Also I said "as I recall" which insinuates a lack of positivity in my recollection of statistics or events. I never said it was an absolute, just that I thought it was the reason. I DO A LOT OF RESEARCH BY THE WAY! More than most people on here and you're going to nail me to the cross over me stating an uncertain presumption based on an article I read months ago?! I read 20-30 newspapers worth of baseball updates daily, plus all these blog posts when I get home from work, so it's not like I just dive in talking out of my ass.

You also attacked me over conjecture and opinion! Stating that the Padres got to a one-game playoff with Giles as the leadoff hitter is more than a little obtuse and that's referred to in court as circumstantial evidence. Did the Padres get to the one-game playoff because Giles was the leadoff hitter or did they fail to actually get into the real playoffs because he was the leadoff hitter?!

Please don't presume to have done enough research to answer this question without slighting the very nature of the philosophical debate this creates. This is akin to the egg and chicken question. By the way, the Padres in all likelihood have maintained or become worse through the offseason with Edmonds a questionable replacement for Mike Cameron with his recent injuries and Prior with his own physical limitations is hardly the answer to the Kuroda and Haren acquisitions.

The Padres will be well served to finish 4th in the West this season, especially with Giles batting leadoff. By the way, just because you can do something, doesn't mean that you should. You can surely put Giles leadoff, but you don't want to do that anymore than you want to walk barefoot in a public bathroom.

Kouzmanoff may have talent that would lend him to bat 3rd on SOMEONE'S roster, but he's not a number 3 hitter in front of Adrian Gonzalez and if you don't get that, then you don't know as much about baseball as you think you do. YOUR BEST OVERALL HITTER BATS 3RD!!! Talk all you want about what you "SAW" last season, but the fact remains that .275/.329/.457, 133 hits, 57 runs, 30 2B, 2 3B, 18 HR, 74 RBI, 32 BB, 94 SO (1:5.15 AB) for Kevin Kouzmanoff is not .282/.347/.502, 182 hits, 101 runs, 46 2B, 3 3B, 30 HR, 100 RBI, 65 BB, 140 SO (1:4.61 AB) for Adrian Gonzalez. It also doesn't matter what Kouzmanoff did in the second half last season because that means nothing! All the "potential" in the world doesn't garner results and you make a lineup based on historical reference and historically the best hitter on the Padres over the last couple seasons is Adrian Gonzalez, who is FAR AND AWAY better than anyone else on the team over that same time period. Eric Chavez for HIS WHOLE CAREER has been a slow starter with a career average of .256 in April and .245 in May. The only month he dips below .271 for the reason of the year based on career totals is September where he has a .267 career average for the month. He's always been a notoriously late performer and everyone under the sun knows that if he started hitting in April the way he does June-August that he'd have a .285, 40 HR, 130 RBI, stat line, but we don't live in the world of could be and that's why you can't look at half a season of Kouz and say he's "this type" of hitter. It's like judging Jose Lopez by the first half of every season. Jose hits everything within reach during the first three months of the season like a pissed off mom in a toy store with triplets. After the All-Star break he couldn't hit horsehide if he locked in a 12x12 stall with Clydesdale and a 2x4! So we can't presume that Lopez will do twice of what he does April-June, just like you can't think that cause Kouz had a couple good months that he's all of a sudden some proven commodity destined to hit 3rd. I acknowledged his ability, by stating that he should be a #5 or #6 hitter. Just because I'm not off base enough to think you should bat him 3rd and take away x number of at bats from Gonzalez over the course of a season doesn't mean I'm wrong.

By the way it's "went" not want to many of their games. I'm not trying to undersell Kouz in any way, but the guy is TOTALLY unproven in regards to what you are talking about. You don't put a guy in the middle of the lineup batting 3rd when he's only been in 161 games over his WHOLE CAREER and hasn't even got 25 homeruns or 100 RBIs in the major leagues. I'm going to laugh my donkey off when he doesn't even his his body weight with 14 homeruns because of his reacclimation to the league taking place, plus the pitching is only going to get tougher! So what part did you disagree with out of what I said... The part where I said your best overall hitter bats 3rd or the part where I said Gonzalez was the best overall hitter on the team?! Cause I'd say I'm batting 1.000 with those two assumptions!

Just so you know what is a legitimate offensive weapon, here's the quick and dirty. When Alex Rodriquez, Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Matt Holliday, Ichiro Suzuki, Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Lance Berkman, Alfonso Soriano, Aramis Ramirez, Mark Teixeira, Chipper Jones, Ken Griffey Jr., etc. step to the plate, these guys represent an obstacle for the pitcher every time they come to the plate and even when they are in the worst slump in the history of baseball, the pitcher still carefully works around them. Kouzmanoff is not that hitter, Gonzalez has that respect though! Giles and Edmonds used to be that guy, but not anymore! If you can't get that Kouzmanoff IS NOT A #3 hitter yet, than please go do your own research. It's much more difficult to find the information you allude to than it would be for you to learn about the fundamentals of a lineup and why there is an accepted form that almost all managers have agreed is the way to build a batting order!

By the way darkstar, you were totally out of line as you didn't actually correct anything I said other than the options thing in regards to Headley and I didn't even state that I was "sure" and all of those other things are widely accepted facts and have nothing to do with the presence of a "feeling" or lack there of as you seem to throw around your opinions based on what you feel. Don't tell me to look up stats only to tell me about the "feeling" you get when you watch Kouz as if you are some baseball version of Kenny Kingston come to predict the next baseball slugger!

Quotes referring to the moving of Headley...

"A month after the organization approached the 23-year-old about such a move -- for the record, the move isn't permanent, not yet at least -- Headley battled the glaring sun that poked over the stadium roof without benefit of sunglasses."

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080117&content_id=2349786&vkey=news_sd&fext=.jsp&c_id=sd

Sure it doesn't state that he's going back to 3B, but this is what you get for now. After a while I'll repost other quotes from Towers. There's no mistaking that you don't relocate a better defensive 3B to LF to make room for a guy that's a lesser quality hitter. Kouzmanoff in hindsight will be second rate to Headley and it makes no sense other than to get his bat in the lineup for them to move Headley to LF. Also, it's funny how you didn't argue about the defensive issues of Giles and Edmonds and how a guy WHO HAS NEVER PLAYED LF in the minor leagues is supposed to take the burden off them, when in fact he'll cause them to shift towards left field to compensate for his lack of experience, which just makes a bad situation worse. You Padres fans are as bad as your club.

“All the "potential" in the world doesn't garner results and you make a lineup based on historical reference and historically the best hitter on the Padres over the last couple seasons is Adrian Gonzalez, who is FAR AND AWAY better than anyone else on the team over that same time period.“

…ok, so you just want me to say fine and that Gonzalez should bat 3rd with Kouzmanoff 4th? Does that change everything? Does that make you feel sooo much better? I’ll do so as long as we don’t have to hear “why would the Padres trade their cleanup hitter for a 4th OFer type who probably wouldn’t make the club” now. But whatever, this will become even funnier a couple sentences father down…

“By the way it's "went" not want to many of their games.”

…Yes, thank you for pointing out that ever so minor typo! Should I point out yours as well?

“I'm not trying to undersell Kouz in any way, but the guy is TOTALLY unproven in regards to what you are talking about. You don't put a guy in the middle of the lineup batting 3rd when he's only been in 161 games over his WHOLE CAREER and hasn't even got 25 homeruns or 100 RBIs in the major leagues.”

…I don’t care what you do, what I do is what is whats best for my team. If its best for my team, then he hits in that spot. Since he hit really well in that spot, then it was hardly the wrong choice, right? And similarly, I find that an interesting opinion while out of the other side of your mouth you are saying Willits (yes, he of 163 ML games) should be the leadoff hitter for the club…

“you don't relocate a better defensive 3B to LF to make room for a guy that's a lesser quality hitter. Kouzmanoff in hindsight will be second rate to Headley”

…Really? See, I would stay away from making such a claim going either way ~ it seems “conjecture and opinion”. Its also an extremely interesting sentence considering Kouzmanoff has not only hit better at each of the 4 minor league levels Headley has played at; but has also been able to produce in the major leagues! Headley could very well turn out to be the better hitter, but to make that claim after he hasn’t hit as well at any level and not yet even had 20 PA above AA ~ well…

“You Padres fans are as bad as your club.”

…this coming from the same person that posted all that stuff I just got replying to? But youre a Mariners fan, right? Yeah, ok dude…

BTW, why did you post all this crap just to me? I’m not the only who told you how bad your trade was, and you didn’t give this runaround rant after the first time you were told its unrealistic and illogical…