Odds and Ends: Alvarez, Kotsay, Street

"Dejan Kovacevic's source says the Pirates aren't requiring two prospects for Xavier Nady or Damaso Marte. One elite prospect would work. "

That's still too much. Even for both.

This ain't CC we're talking about (who landed LaPorta). This is Nady and Marte. Bay could get you an A lister, but not Nady or Marte.

And d00d - what is UP with they TypeKey errors?

One ELITE prospect for Marte/Nady?

Haha

I guess they'll both be in pittsburgh.

Huntington is out of his mind if he thinks he is getting a Laporta type prospect for Nady. Its even more laughable that Marte would require such a bounty. There must be some confusion here. Nady for a solid prospect and a high ceiling youngster may be a more reasonable price to ask for. Nady really isn't even that good. If they were talking Jason Bay, I think h would be a lot closer to requiring an elite prospect.

Pirates - wow, will their bullpen be decimated with the loss of Marte.

Who closes? Yates? Grabow?

Maybe that's why their asking for a lot.

Street to the Rays make some sense to me, but the Red Sox/White Sox not so much. The Red Sox need some RP help but would almost surely not be willing to meet Beane's demands. I think they are committed to giving Masterson a legit shot at being a set up man out of the pen. The White Sox are thin in the minors and have some decent setup men.

The Rays are loaded in the minors and are trying to hold off Boston and New York in the division to make it to the postseason. They could really start creating a good fan base by making it to the postseason and competing with the big boys. By having excess resources, open closer role, and in need of getting people on the teams bandwagon they seem like the best choice by far.

How about the Jays going for Furcal this winter? Eckstein will be gone and they need a leadoff guy with some speed at the top of the lineup.

-If the braves want a shot at the playoffs they need to aquire a high average hitting outfielder. Maybe someone like Eric Byrnes, Xaiver Nady, or Brandon Boggs.So maybe it would be a good idea to trade Mark Kotsay.

The White Sox are willing to trade third baseman Josh Fields, currently at Triple-A Charlotte after hitting 23 home runs as a rookie last season, to the Athletics for Street.

AL Rumors and Rumblings: The Red Sox are rethinking their plan of staying quiet at the trading deadline. In addition to Marte, they're interested in Rockies left-handed reliever Brian Fuentes, Royals lefty Ron Mahay, and Athletics closer Huston Street, who is also on the radar of the White Sox and Brewers. Like the Phillies, the Red Sox may make a big off-season pitch for Holliday if they decide not to exercise the 2009 club option on Manny Ramirez

http://www.baseballprospectus....?articleid=7845

my take, i'm not sold on fields from the A's perspective. he'll be 26, not good defensively, repeating AAA. but he does have power which A's need

my guess if poreda is in the deal + 3rd solid player like getz/egbert...this will get done. unless rays/boston outbids them

I'll take Nady for Balentien. Start building for next year... The only reason it would take more than a year for the Mariners to re-build is if they throw a bunch of new faces together in Spring Training and hope that it works out, if they take the reload not re-build mentality and start fixing things this year for next season, then they'll alreadybe bonded for next year... While you're at it throw in Bay and Snell for Miguel Batista, Yuniesky Betancourt, Nathan Adcock, Michael Pineda, and $5MM (half Batista's remaining money owed). This would give them more than fair compensation for their three players based on their asking price, plus they take on half of Batista's contract for us taking on he bad three year deal they gave Snell, maybe see if we can get him back to being the #2 he's capable of being. Bloomquist can start at SS for all I care, he's better than Betancourt in all but strikeouts, doubles, and homeruns, for my money I'd rather not wait to see if Betancourt has the upside people think he has... Also his contract through 2012 is right up the Pirates' alley in terms of length and dollars, also allows them to trade Jack Wilson to fill holes!

"What about a decent prospect like Jon Neise and a lower level pitcher like Scott Moviel for Nady?"

Ugh. Gross.

" I'll never understand how a team can be this close to the playoffs and not want to give up an untested prospect over a proven player"

First of all, because the Mets have a core of Wright, Reyes, and Beltran. Not to mention a resurgent Carlos Delgado and Ryan Church on the brink of return. That means that you have the 1,3,4,5,and 6 spots locked up. You have Castro/ Schneider batting 8th, and you have options at 2B with Easley and Argenis Reyes both capable. The Mets certainly would not pass on a big time hitter if the price was right, but they dont need one. A Randy Winn/ Raul Ibanez/Juan Rivera/Casey Blake would more then suffice. They need a guy who can hit 2nd or 6th/7th, and just an everyday player that has proven what he is.

Second of all, the Mets are (imo, and I am a Met fan, so take it for what it is worth)the best team in the NL East. Blanton is a decent pickup, but he already served up 2 bombs in 5 innings, and that was at Shea, I do not see him being anything special in CBP. Myers needs to bounce back also, and he did not look very good last night. I sat right behind home plate and he was all over the place.

We all know the Phillies can rake, but they just do not have the starting pitching to stay in the race for the rest of the year imo. They also have a very good bullpen that is due to regress a bit. Romero and Lidge have been absolutely dominant, and Madson and Condrey have been very good as well. Chad Durbin has been sick out of the pen in his own right. It is likely that some of these guys will hit bad stretches at some point between now and the end of September.

The Mets are finally coming on, have beaten the Phils 9 out of 13 this year (2 of those losses came in Johan Santana starts), and are getting very good starting pitching nearly every single day. And this has been without the middle of the Mets order ever getting hot at the same time. Reyes, Wright, Beltran, and now Delgado have pretty much taken it in turns to heat up and carry the team. If the offense clicks, they can be extremely dangerous, as they showed during the 10 game streak, where they got tons of contributions from Tatis, Castro, Easley, and Chavez.

The way I see it, unless Myers and Blanton both come on strong, or the Phils make a splash for Burnett, I do not see them winning the NL East. I just don't see how their starting pitching is going to hold up.

So that said, the Mets definitely need a LF, especially if Church has another setback, but it does not have to be an all-star calibur player. Just and everyday guy that can fill in and not hurt you. A veteran who knows the game like Winn or Blake would be fine. Jason Bay would be amazing to pick up, but I don't see the Mets moving Fernando, so I don't see it happening. I love Nady, but he is over his head right now and his value is at an all time high. Marte would be a welcome addition to any pen, but with the Mets having 2 lefties (not counting Wagner) in the pen already he is not a necessity, so there is not a need to overpay for him.

Fernando Martinez won't be moved he just got hurt again but if you could get a solid player like Ibanez or Nady you should do it. Neise is solid but will never be a stud player. The pirates will never be able to contend without pitching so they need to trade their players while their value is high.

willie randolph sucks... nah, I dont think you do have to do it. Blake and Kearns and Rivera all could be available and I am almost certain that Kearns and Blake atleast won't cost nearly as much as the asking prices for Nady that I have heard. They are all very similar players and Nady is just the hottest one right now. The smart thing to do would be to go after the one out of those 3 who has the lowest asking price at the moment.