Cleveland GM Shapiro Ready To Talk Trades

I could see Matt Holliday or Garrett Atkins being the big acquisition. Both are good power bats that play positions where Cleveland needs help, and the Rockies appear to be willing to move them at the right price.

Maybe for Atkins something like Aaron Laffey, Josh Barfield and a low level prospect would do it.

For Holliday it'd probably take something like Adam Miller, Barfield, Sowers and Nick Weglarz.

What about Giles back to Cleveland?? SD is waving the white flag and it's already come out that a Giles trade is likely.

I'm not familiar with the Indians farm system. Is there a high level CF prospect in the system possibly blocked by Grady?

Loretta wouldn't help the Tribe one bit.

The player that makes the most sense is Atkins. I really hope it happens. Soon.

Blanton is also a #2 Starter, you think I'm ridiculous. Are you talking the cost to relocate a stretch of pavement or for the reliever that's been servicable at best as a closer?! Street's good, but he's not three top pitchers good, you're on drugs! MAYBE 2 of those guys, but I bet it would be more like Franklin Gutierrez and Adam Miller.

I think if Colorado moves Atkins, then Holliday has to go shortly after... One of the reasons Holliday stayed was because the Rockies promised him that his best friend on the team Atkins, would not be traded, I think for as long as Holliday was a Rockie and Atkins was producing.

I think it would do more good to get Atkins than Holliday. Sure he's exceptional, but finding someone to produce at all, is much harder to find in the infield, typically. I mean the Indians make the Mariners look like they're raking in Safeco and Blake doesn't look healthy at the plate AT ALL!!

I think they would have to do a three team trade and anything that would gain them value would start with Sizemore. Maybe you want to build around him, but it's looking more like crumbling than building and he can get you three good pieces, rather than 1 great and two halves as it currently is.

I would say a three team trade could make it work and I'd love to see Sizemore back in the NW since he grew up in the area and I followed him as an All-American type runningback. He would also be a good fit for Seattle with being left-handed and he could eventually replace Ichiro in CF.

Seattle

Ryan Feierabend, Jeff Clement, Oswaldo Navarro, Miguel Cairo, and Sean Green to Cleveland.

Doug Fister, and Richie Sexson to Colorado.

Colorado

Matt Holliday and Ian Stewart to Cleveland.

Todd Helton and Ryan Spilborghs to Seattle.

Cleveland

Grady Sizemore and Josh Barfield to Seattle.

Kelly Shoppach, Adam Miller, Rick Bauer, Ben Francisco, and Asdrubal Cabrera to Colorado.

Re: Giles to Cleveland - I think Giles would be a perfect fit for the Tribe. The Pads would obviously need help in the outfield, especially if they trade away Giles but I don't think that's where the Indians have spare parts to trade away. They have a few outfielders in their system that were highly regarded 2005 draft picks (Trevor Crowe and John Drennen) but have been disappointments as of late and probably wouldn't be upgrades over the Padres' current CF of the future, Cedric Hunter. I don't think the Indians would give any of their top young hitters up but I could see 1-2 young pitchers going back to SD for Giles.

“I'm not familiar with the Indians farm system. Is there a high level CF prospect in the system possibly blocked by Grady?”

…Franklin Gutierrez, Ben Francisco, Shin-Soo Choo, Brad Snyder, Trevor Crowe (with all but Crowe being ML-Ready yesterday) … Yeah, you can probably find a CF if ya need one…

“The player that makes the most sense is Atkins. I really hope it happens. Soon.”

…Agree. 3B is the place to upgrade for the Tribe, with Blake (who we all know will play almost daily no matter what) becoming the all-purpose utility guy between OF/3B/1B and even 2B from time to time I imagine…

Yuniesky Betancourt for Jose Reyes, and Jose Lopez for Chase Utley. Sure Seattle is giving up two first ballot hall of famers, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.

Guru's trade would probably also get rejected on a Playstation...I'd rather have Atkins than Holliday just because of Hollidy's impending FA. For Atkins I'd give up Miller (Sowers and Laffey are already ML ready and not injury prone) Barfield (though he'd be really tough to part with) and then a low level prospect. Another trade I'd like to see is shipping Byrd (once Carmona and Westbrook come off the DL) and Marte to anyone for some bullpen arms or a solid OF. If the Phillies are really into trading Victorino I'd send them Byrd, Marte, and maybe another prospect.

coltholt i think Arodsucksatlife was being sarcastic to make fun of guru's obvious Seattle bias. I love throwing around trade ideas as much as the next guy but guru that is just plain crazy. i think that your posts are more quantity than quality.

Baseballguru, you are a genius man. Thats all I can say at this point. Trade Sizemore to the Mariners for Clement and scrubs, why hasn't Shapiro thought of this? You truly are the Guru, my friend.

"Blanton is also a #2 Starter, you think I'm ridiculous. Are you talking the cost to relocate a stretch of pavement or for the reliever that's been servicable at best as a closer?! Street's good, but he's not three top pitchers good, you're on drugs! MAYBE 2 of those guys, but I bet it would be more like Franklin Gutierrez and Adam Miller."

"guru" do you talk out of your a$$ or do you actually think about what you say? I said that's what Beane would ASK for. He wouldn't trade Street otherwise. You should really invest in a pair of glasses for your nerdy face. Then maybe you could actually learn to read and then you could actually learn that you can't back up your opinions on a rumor with your made up facts.

"First off, Chris Young is one of the best pitchers in the game(top 25), for Cain that's a good deal and it gives them the chance to improve an offense with a .400 OBP guy and a 3B who's better than their current 3B of Castillo. You also have to look at Denker as an extra part but it allows the Padres to get younger maintain youth. Castillo becomes the 2B for the Padres, I'd move Kouzmanoff to 2B, but I don't think he's agile enough. Winn is solid in RF but is a better fit for CF, the Giants are loaded with OF and have no answer for 3B, getting a veteran guy in there to help the young guys would be beneficial. Zito isn't able to coach his younger teammates because he sucks, everyone else in the rotation is young, Chris would give them a guy they could lean on to take the pressure off Lincecum. AND THE TRADE WAS LINCECUM FOR RIOS, if you are going to talk SH*T ATLEAST KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT! Also, Cain has never been "UNTOUCHABLE" JUST EXPENSIVE, LINCECUM HAS BEEN "UNTOUCHABLE." I KNOW A THING OR TWO ABOUT THE GIANTS BECAUSE MY BRO-IN-LAW IS A HUGE GIANTS FAN!! HUGE!! We've had many talks and he said that Winn is expendable as is Cain. Plus let's just go off what Cain did last year versus Young, not a whole lot of difference in production, but for whatever reason the Giants can't score behind Cain, so it doesn't matter if he gives up 2 runs every 7 innings if the team loses 2 to 1 or 3 to 2. Kouzmanoff is a possible long term solution at 3B for them and Young means they don't lose anything in their rotation. Giles is about equivalent to Winn except 50 OBP points and less range, not a ton less range, just less. This makes the Giants more veteran, gives them the ability to fill out a DECENT lineup card and they won't lose AS MANY close heartbreaking games. It also still allows for them to move Frandsen to the show to be their long term 2B and with Bowker at 1B and Kouzmanoff at 3B, they are able to insert Eugenio Velez in SS next season since his defense is so good it would help solidfy the infield and I think his bat will also come around, by next year you'd also be able to replace Giles with Ortmeier in LF and the team has youth and talent all over, an improvement at catcher and this could be the next dynasty in the NL and may compete with the D-Backs for years."

- "guru"

you're an idiot if you honestly think Sabean would deal Cain or Lincecum. He's an idiot but that big of one. And I honstly doubt any Giants fan would think Cain is expandable. It's practically because of the outrage of Giants fans that the Rios deal didn't happen. "guru" You're an idiot, try reading some before you post...Oh wait you can't read! J.P. Ricardi said the deal would be Lincecum OR Cain for Rios. As a Bay Area baseball fan I think I would know. Not just shut the FU(K up because seriously, "guru" you have no idea what you're talking about.

P.S. I got that quote from this page...
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/05/the-catcher-mar.html

Hey Ari,
If youre gonna reference prior posts, I got one you may enjoy:

“ALL OF THESE POINTS I WAS CRAZY, ALL OF THESE POINTS I WAS STUPID, YET I'M ALWAYS RIGHT... KEEP NOTES FOR NOW ON, SEE HOW MANY TIMES I PUT A PREDICTION OUT THERE AND IT HAPPENS SMART *SS, YOU GOT THE BALLS TO DO THAT MUCH OR JUST KEEP TALKING SH*T WHILE I KEEP PULLING BOLD PREDICTIONS OUT OF MY *SS THAT KEEP COMING TRUE!! I ALSO PREDICTED THE MARINERS RE-SIGNING KENJI WHILE EVERYONE SAID HE WAS GONE... I BET THE MARINERS STILL ROLL OFF 95-100 WINS THIS SEASON, EVEN WITH THEM 8 GAMES UNDER .500 RIGHT NOW! SO TALK CRAP, BUT KISS MY *SS THIS FALL WHEN THEY'RE IN THE PLAYOFFS! I'LL BET DARKSTAR THEY STILL WIN 95 GAMES AND IF THEY DO, HE'S GOTTA STOP COMING TO THIS SITE, IF THEY DON'T, I'LL STOP COMING HERE!!! NEED YOUR MOMMY TO LET YOU HAVE YOUR BALLS BACK SO YOU CAN MAN UP, OR CAN YOU IOU THE TESTOSTERONE AS USUAL?!?!”

2 things of note in that rant:
A) The self-proclaimed “guru” is, by his own account, “ALWAYS RIGHT”…
B) Despite A, the self-proclaimed “guru” might not be around much longer…

Thanks DarkStar, the guy is definatley a self-proclaimed god. I mean I haven't seen him posting all of these bold predictions that come true. And he might have been right about the Johjima deal, but it was a bad one. And I can hardly wait till the end of the season when the Mariners are 10 games below .500 I'm gonna make him wish he never said that line. And did you see his post about me getting to into the site, from the guy that said you couldn't get laid in a room full of fat chicks. He's a loser.

Zonis it was "guru" the guy me and DarkStar are making fun of who said that about Street, don't bother with him though, he's an idiot and talks out of his a$$.

I like Jason Bay for the Tribe. Or at least Xavier Nady.

I won't throw out a trade idea but if they want one of those two guys, they can probably get them. Dunn is also a possibility but financially he's more money and there is a possible NTC to work around. Atkins or Holliday could also work. I wouldn't mind seeing Cleveland go balls out and trade for and sign one of those guys(from a non-biased perspective), of course it would hurt their chances with Sabathia. Maybe Raul Ibanez. The M's are toast.

How about Boston gives Cleveland Lugo, pays his salary and takes the 10 bats and maybe a bag of balls back from the Indians?

Sizemore is going nowhere and in case you haven't noticed Francisco is tearing it up and room has to be made for Shin Soo Choo this week. That means an OF is likely LEAVING Cle rather than one coming. I guess I could see Giles if he was made available cheaply. Dellucci could be DFA soon and Gutierrez is a plum ripe for the picking by a smart G.M. Gut. plays incredible defense and could come around offensively if a non-contending team could afford to be patient with him. Plus he's young and cheap. Garko could also be available with a healthy and productive Michael Aubrey. A combo of Gutierrez, Garko and Sowers should net something useful. I think the talks are underway but I don't see a deal until closer to the deadline when more teams are waving the white flag. The general weakness in the AL central means Shapiro can be a little patient.

MickS

I think relying on a young player like Ben Francisco to maintain this pace throughout a whole season is unrealistic. Not to mention relying on another rookie like Michael Aubrey to play a full-time role with the team.

The Indians are in a WIN-NOW mode with CC Sabathia possibly leaving for greener pastures this offseason and players like Hafner and V-Mart not getting any younger.

They need to fill one of their corner spots (OF,1B,3B) with someone they can rely on to provide some pop. Not some rookies who might fade in the second half (Francisco, Aubrey) and not someone rehabbing from Tommy John surgery (Shin Soo Choo).

I doubt they have the pieces to net someone like Jason Bay (whose value has skyrocketed since talks this offseason). So they probably will have to go for someone with some warts on him.

I honestly don't understand why they just don't take the plunge and give Barry Bonds a shot, but alas...signing someone with an OPS over 1.000 wouldn't be "smart"...

jza, so Hafner and Martinez aren't getting any younger (do you even know how old Victor is?) but let's go get Barry Bonds. I don't even know why I bother with the clowns on this site.

To further elaborate, Travis Hafner and V-Mart aren't getting younger so they don't have the time for another rebuilding project once Sabathia leaves.

They don't have the time to wait for Francisco, Aubrey, Laffey, etc. to reach their full potentials.

And V-Mart doesn't have much time at catcher left IMO. His body has taken a toll and I wouldn't be surprised to see that much-talked-about move to 1B sooner rather than later.

Plus why don't you go take a look at the state of the White Sox and Tigers farm systems.

So you are saying that Marinez tenure at catcher is going to be shorter moving forward than Pierzynski or Pudge or that he isn't a better catcher than they are at this point?

how about this...

three way deal between the orioles/indians/rockies...

indians get LHP brian fuentes, 3B garrett atkins, o's RHP greg aquino, and brian roberts.

orioles get 2B josh barfield, 3B andy marte, paul byrd, RHP rick bauer and rockies prospect RHP brandon hynick.

rockies get OF franklin gutierrez, indians prospect RHP adam miller, indians prospect LHP scott lewis, RHP chad bradford and 3B melvin mora.

I guess nothing sounds very stupid when someone suggested the Indians trade Sizemore, but why would a rebuilding team like the Orioles trade its best player for Barfield, Marte, and Byrd?

I have the sneaking suspicion that a lot of the posters here are also playing MLB The Show at the same time.

Since when have 15 player trades been so common?

Bonds is the key to a world series! wow! somebody forgot to tell him...how many rings does he have?

jza
Arodsucksatlife's comment implied that if the indians want to win, they need Barry...if they don't get him...they can't do it. that is what i was responding to

What about Mark Teixeira for CC Sabathia? Indians need offense and the braves could use another ace more than Tex. Both are rentals an a sure bet to go to free agency.

Some trades cannot be made on your XBOX360 or PS3 because the computer isn't programmed to account for cheap ownership and the fact that "The Show" is the only good game out there and their dollar figures are all over the place, not to meantion guys like Griffey who are a cheap guy to obtain in real life, couple mid-level promising prospects probably, require a prime yeared star, so the comments that my trades wouldn't happen on a video game, good job for stating the obvious that a sim only goes so far when you have the old chess club geeks working on the game and not the jocks who understand the subtleties of the game.

SO GUY = STRIKEOUT GUY!

Sizemore can improve the Mariners defense and with Ichiro in the OF, together they can mask the defensive range issues of Ibanez THE MOST UNDERRATED PLAYER IN BASEBALL based off the post about him here... He's one of the top run producing OFs in baseball over the last three years, he's in the top 10 of many offensive categories and plays in a park that hurts his numbers and for only $5.5MM a season, think about that, Holliday costs $13-14MM for MAYBE 30 more RBIs, 5-10 more HRs, 25-30 points of average, and he plays in one of the most favorable fields for offensive players. So swap where they play and I bet they would post similar if not the same numbers. By the way, that's comparing last seasons average Ibanez year with Holliday's career year probably.

Let's also point out Sizemore is on course for a solid season, but he's also been without a slump this year and there's no such thing as a slumpless year for a hitter, so you can't even map his numbers and times it by three, it's more like 2.75 would be about right, sure he'll get more singles, but to expect more than 60 XBH would be pushing it and he's still a 140-150 strikeout guy, there are still holes in his game and he's not untouchable, I think he's about on par with Rios, maybe a little better, but not a lot. If Rios goes for Cain or Lincecum in Toronto's mind, Sizemore then can't be worth more than what it would take to get a Lincecum type... SF won't trade him, but he's definitely not worth more than Clement, Feierabend, and Green right now, maybe in a couple years when he proves that he's got longevity in this game, but he's young and his value has matured totally yet. Sabean just has a hard-on for keeping the kid for whatever reason, yes he's good, but still he could've thrown in Ortmeier or Schierholtz and got Marcum or McGowan to go with Rios and they would've lost a minimal amount at pitcher (Lincecum won't maintain his pace, guaranteed, he's yet to get hit hard, everyone gets hit hard), improved their offense astronomically... With Rios and Rowand in the middle of the lineup, they insert a heavy hitter like Teixeira through free agency and they have a formidable lineup with all the table setters they have there like Lewis and Frandsen... Point is that it was a good deal maybe you need to add a couple guys to get even value, but it was a good base offer. That only validates my trade proposal.

"“ALL OF THESE POINTS I WAS CRAZY, ALL OF THESE POINTS I WAS STUPID, YET I'M ALWAYS RIGHT... KEEP NOTES FOR NOW ON, SEE HOW MANY TIMES I PUT A PREDICTION OUT THERE AND IT HAPPENS SMART *SS, YOU GOT THE BALLS TO DO THAT MUCH OR JUST KEEP TALKING SH*T WHILE I KEEP PULLING BOLD PREDICTIONS OUT OF MY *SS THAT KEEP COMING TRUE!! I ALSO PREDICTED THE MARINERS RE-SIGNING KENJI WHILE EVERYONE SAID HE WAS GONE... I BET THE MARINERS STILL ROLL OFF 95-100 WINS THIS SEASON, EVEN WITH THEM 8 GAMES UNDER .500 RIGHT NOW! SO TALK CRAP, BUT KISS MY *SS THIS FALL WHEN THEY'RE IN THE PLAYOFFS! I'LL BET DARKSTAR THEY STILL WIN 95 GAMES AND IF THEY DO, HE'S GOTTA STOP COMING TO THIS SITE, IF THEY DON'T, I'LL STOP COMING HERE!!! NEED YOUR MOMMY TO LET YOU HAVE YOUR BALLS BACK SO YOU CAN MAN UP, OR CAN YOU IOU THE TESTOSTERONE AS USUAL?!?!” - "guru"

2 things of note in that rant:
A) The self-proclaimed “guru” is, by his own account, “ALWAYS RIGHT”…
B) Despite A, the self-proclaimed “guru” might not be around much longer…" - darkstar

This will be hilarious when the Mariners finish under .500 what "guru" will say. Because the Mariners suck ba!!s and are definatley not going to make the playoffs and win 95 games. So he's going to leave. Oh I can hardly wait.

Yeah I know. I feel really sorry for him. I have to say though some of the things that he says are hilarious. People should reply to the replier not the post. That's stupid and then when he went and did the exact opposite. And of course that hilarious comment you showed me about how he called a loser who couldn't get laid in a room full of fat chicks. That's a classic "guru" comment.

I feel bad for him because he's such an idiot. You're probably correct in the fact that he's probably very young. Young people tend to rant on and not listen to what other people say. But either way, he's an idiot because all he does is say that he's an awesome dude who's never wrong. I really can't wait for the Mariners to finish under .500 and then we can tell him to get the F*CK out of here.

Why would the Tribe trade away Grady for prospects when they are trying to win right now? Stupid