Buster Olney Drops Uncommon Trade Thoughts

Wonder if the Brew Crew would like to bolster its rotation with Matt Cain?

He'd be a great-long-term replacement for Sheets.

Giants would love to get Gamel & LaPorta with the view of having them ML ready next year.

Cain + 1
For LaPorta & Gamel.

I meant league avg in the outfield btw. He will most definitely hit.

how about Howard to the Yankees? Probably have to include Wang in the deal, his ground ball style would be ideal for Philly.

Why would the Angels want Howard? They already have a far superior defensive first baseman who is also rounding into a better all-around hitter. In fact, for the sabermetric types out there, Casey Kotchman's numbers from last year compare favorably with those of Justin Morneau, despite his injuries, including post-concussion syndrome, last year. This year, so far, he has been the Angels best all-around hitter. Forget that trade.

Howard to the Yankees does make sense. They can afford the contract numbers he will demand and they have a hole forming at first.

Juan Rivera and Nick Adenhart for Ryan Howard may actually play into the Angels lineup.

If the Brew Crew wanted to trade Sheets, where would they look to?

On a side note, as an Angels fan I would love to aquire Howard for Adenhart and Rivera. LAA needs that pop. They got Hunter indeed but I'm talking about Prince Fielder Ryan Howard pop would be nice in the Anaheim line up.

If the Angels pick up Howard, they still have the outfield logjam, without the ability to rotate someone to DH. With all the power in the Angel lineup, they don't need a guy like Howard, especially since he can't run.

As an Angels fan I would trade Adenhart and Rivera in a heart-beat for Howard.

Vlad will be happy that he gets to stay in the field, GMJ and GA can split time in left.

Pay Howard through his arb years and then let him walk if he demands $20m+/year.

Personally, I am getting a little worried about Vlad. I have a sick feeling in my guy that he is on a permanent slide down. Not sure that the team can count on him to be a stable force for the next 4-5 years (assuming he resigns). I would feel much better knowing that we have another 40+ HR threat in our lineup.

BTW - I don't think for a second that the Phils would trade Howard for Adenhart and Rivera.

Any Angel fan should trade Adenhart and Rivera for Howard with zero hesitation. That's a ludicrous deal as bjsguess points out. Never happen. If the Phils trade Howard it would have to be for a HAUL - ML-ready names plus prospects. Think the Miggy deal plus maybe 25%. The Marlins can afford to trade away players like that, nobody cares about them. I don't think there's space in Anaheim for him, though; Kotchman is gonna be at first there for years to come, and is a much better player dollar for dollar than Howard. And there's absolutely no room at DH between Garrett Anderson and Juan Rivera.

I don't see him going to NYY either; they already have 2-3 too many DHs, and they don't have nearly the pieces to get Howard from Philly unless it's another Abreu/Lidle deal.

All things considered it's hard to see Howard getting dealt; I predict Philly will just have to bite the bullet and pay him. It's not like they've got anybody burning to get PT behind him.

Sheets could definitely be dealt. I don't like the Cain suggestion much. Speculation when Milwaukee drafted LaPorta was that it was a "best bat on the board" type move and that his destiny for their organization was as a trading chip, almost certainly to the AL. I'm guessing we'll see him go to a second-tier AL team looking to make a splash in rebuilding and move up their horizon one season within the next year or two. I'm guessing Texas at 3:1, Toronto at 5:1.

Howard needs to get on to the AL fast, or his trade value will disappear. Players like him don't age well, his defense is already bad, and his prime has come and will be gone before you can say "strikeout." He's already a DH without a position, so on a NL team they stuck him at 1B.

"This year's" trade deadline?

But if you're the Angels, you'd be crazy not to see what it would take to get him. Vlad/Howard/Hunter, that's a scary good 3,4,5.

Trade Adenhart, Wood and either Juan Rivera or a bullpen arm.

1. Figgins 3b
2. Kendrick 2b
3. Vlad RF (he'd have to play RF, but he also wants to)
4. Howard DH
5. Hunter CF
6. Kotchman 1B
7. Anderson/Matthews LF
8. Mathis/Napoli C
9. Isturis/Aybar SS

Keep Matthews Jr. around to give nights off to the OF (with the pesky Willits availble as well).

I know you're giving up 2 stud prospects, but you're getting a 40/50 HR middle of the lineup stud. Would Phillies fans be okay with this if the team is out of the race at the deadline (not that I see that happening).

Again, what would be the point of getting Howard? You end up sitting either $14 million worth of Anderson, who is a fan favorite and franchise leader in almost everything, or you sit $10 million worth of Matthews who has been clutch and is signed for 3 more years. Worse, Anderson is a rhythm hitter who needs to be in the lineup.

The Angels don't need more power. They already have plenty in the lineup, particularly as their two catchers fill into their potential. They also don't need Howard's salary and his strikeouts.

Disclaimer: Phillies fan whose first male child is named Chase.

However, I dont see Rivera and Adenhart. But Adenhart, Wood and a bullpen arm is a done deal I think. I actually had been thinking of that as a possibility. Push comes to shove, it probably could be a minor leage bullpen arm (albeit a promising one). 3b and P are two areas of need for the phils.

ANGELS FANS: Ryno is a great kid. You will love him. I think he will eventually back off of the $20Mper when he realizes that the pressure of the big contract is taking some of his joy out of the game this year and that joy is what will/has get him the big marketing bucks. Put him in LA, he's a movie star. He's got Garrett Anderson kind of appeal.

Second, there's power and then theres POWER. Chase Utley has power, Ryan Howard has POWER. Electrifying POWER. 60-70 HR power - naturally.

Also, when he chills and uses all fields, he's as one dimensional a hitter as everybody thinks. But again, we need pitching and 3B help....and Phils Mgmt is cheap.

Trade one of your catchers and rivera for something esle to replenish the farm system.

Papelboners 3/4/5 looks even better as 3/4/5/6 as Vlad/Howard/Hunter/Kotchman...

GA has been good to the club for years now. However, he can sit. If he doesn't like it - tough. Same with GMJ. They can both split time and be happy to be part of a great team.

That's $23m in left field but GA comes off the books this year.

I would do Adenhart, Wood, Rivera and another B level prospect. That's two top prospects + solid starting OF + another B prospect.

More importantly it saves the Phillies $10-15m/year over the next 3 years.

Howard would not fetch Wood and Adenhart. This is not migeul cabrera. Howard is signifcantly older, less talented and has been prone to long dry spells. THe Angels could very well ship Adenhart Rivera and willits for Howard. With Mickey Hatcher working with helping him make more contact, howard could be Adam Dunn Plus. I am sure if this is a possiblity Arte and Terry will certainly explore the possiblity, they always do. But there is no way they touch their starting core. Their young players are just too good

I laugh right in the face of the guy touting Gamel as an elite prospect.

I laugh even more at the guys on here hyping up Howard. Who is going to trade a ton for him? NOBODY. He's baseball's most overrated player and pretty much everyone knows that. The Yankees won't do it, the Red Sox won't do it, it's not going to happen. He's got 60-70 HR power? My ass he does. I doubt he ever hits over 50 again. He's been figured out, he's devolving into Mo Vaughn, he's out of shape, a horrible defender at 3rd, strikes out more than Adam Dunn - I haven't seen a guy with so many assets on paper but so lacking when you actually have him since Alfonso Soriano.

Howard's a joke to me. He's already closing in on 29, he can't field, too many strikeouts, makes way too much money, and plays a position where you can fall ass backwards into production. He's not going to be an elite hitter because of the strikeouts.

I honestly wouldn't lock up this guy up for any longer than after his age 32 season, and not for more than $12 million a year. It's just too easy to find 1b production to pretend that Howard is a $20 million player.

I'm a Phillies fan. Howard isn't going anywhere this year. I do believe that they should move him after the year when his value is still high. With this years weak FA class now is the time. The Phils might be able to keep Burrell and move him to first and use the rest of the dough somewhere else.

Some of the things said about Howard are asinine. Kotchman is not a better all-around hitter. Even someone with the memory of a goldfish knows that. Comparing Kotch to Morneau isn't the compliment AA intended it to be. Look up Morneau and look past his MVP year and what you have is a glorified Adam Laroche. The only time in Kotchman's career that his name could be included favorably in a sentence with Howard's is the last 45 days. Would anyone really be surprised if Howard has more HRs by the AS break this year than Kotchman has managed in his entire career(25)? Some of you should call Dave Littlefield, I heard he's putting together a staff.

I like how Buster got everyone spinning but all the resultant Rivera/Adenhardt talk is crazy. If a deal happened during the season, it would look much more like Figgins, Adenhardt, a front-end bullpen arm and at least one other front-end prospect. Figg allows the Phils to move Burrell to 1st to replace howard and move rollins down in the lineup. The Phillies aren't folding up tents anytime soon so all this talk about your fourth OFer and a pitching prospect is nuts. This is Gillicks last year and he isn't giving up on the season until they are eliminated.

If the Phils deal Howard it will be for a HAUL, that's one thing that asm did get right. In a market where Tex might get 10/200, 3 years of Howard, even at 15M/year, is going to clean out someone's inventory.

I would take the time to comment to DentalPlan but it would be a waste of time. Seriously Dude, don't let things like facts get in the way of your hatred for the guy.

"Funny - you never hear BoSox fans complain about having such a dead-weight hanging around on their roster."

I don't think it'll be too long now before that's exactly what you'll hear.

Then again, Ortiz is almost exactly 4 years older than Howard. I don't think there's any team in the majors -- in a vacuum -- that wouldn't trade major talent and pay $15m per year for Big Papi's last 4 years. It's just that it's not the Angels, Red Sox, or Yankees that have the space for him.

AA, you are correct this will never be settled.

However... it's this idea that somehow Kotchman is the better all-around player that I can't get my mind around. The game is about scoring runs and preventing the other team from scoring. Even during this disgusting 1/4 season that Howard has enjoyed, Kotchman has produced exactly 5 more runs than Howard. If you assume that Kotchman and Howard will continue at their current rates then you are absolutely correct, But that is a pretty big assumption on both ends.

Over RHs career he produced 1.44 r/g. Even if you completely discount CKs first 750 ABs and look only at this year he brings in 1.18/game.
CK is going to have to save an awful lot of runs with his stellar defense to make up for the 40+ runs, conservative estimate, that Howard generates with his one sided game. AND, though I'm not the biggest advocate of fielding statistics, Howard's career RF is significantly higher than CK and his ZR this year is significantly higher than CK. But hey, all liars use numbers.

Keep rooting for your team and sticking up for your players. There's nothing wrong with that.