Cafardo's Latest: Salty, Renteria, Pudge

In other news, Lily just allowed a hit in the 7th... damn it, I wanted back to back no hitters.

I guess its understandable that Salty is still very intriguing, but does anyone else think the guy may a tad overhyped at this point? Since his monster 20 year old season in the Carolina League in 2005, he only managed 81 good AB's at AA in 2007 and 55 at AAA last season. Other than that he posted .230/.353/.380 at AA in 2006 and a .254/.318/.394 in the majors the past two seasons. He also still hasn't answered questions about his ability to stick at catcher long term. There's obviously upside there, but I think its unlikely Salty develops into much more that a slightly above average offensive, below average defensive catcher or, even worse, a 1B without the bat to start in the majors.

As a Red Sox fan, i would not give up Buchholz for Saltalamacchia,or even in a trade for him. I would see this deal as more of a Michael Bowden and Josh Reddick for Saltalamacchia deal, and next year have him catch and Varitek split starts, each having two pitchers they catch exclusively for and split Wakefield's starts, then let Saltalamacchia take over full-time in 2010.

There is no way on gods green earth the Braves trade Jayson Heyward or Tommy Hanson. They are the two best prospects in the Braves system. If they trade heyward away I will never watch another game as long as I live.

I watched every single Rangers game this season, and I think Salty is not as bad as people are making him out to be. He's pretty raw defensively, and his big swing results in too many K's, but he showed steady improvement across the board with taking walks, putting the ball in play, blocking pitches in the dirt, working with pitchers, and even throwing out runners. He's never going to be Pudge, but he can be a top 10 hitting catcher in the bigs - for sure.

So I hope the Rangers keep him. They're not getting Bucholtz anyway - that's just a pipe dream. Jamey Newberg is a cool guy and has a sweet blog, but he's a homer - he likes to invent trade scenarios almost as much as Evan Grant does.

Would any NL teams be interested in trading for Renteria's option for 2009? I don't expect the Tigers to get anything at all, I just don't want him on the Tigers next season. I really would like to see Detroit sign Orlando Cabrera or Rafael Furcal, though I think he'll stay with the Dodgers.

It's an $11M option, so is he worth 8M? No, Santiago will cost less than 1M and could be suitable. Considering they want to cut 20M, 8M is a big chunk.

"except cain isn't even that good."

WHAT? Cain is an absolute stud and every Giants fan is going to rip you apart for that statement. The guy doesn't get a lot of wins, but outside of that, he's filthy. I'd take him on my team any day of the week, except SF is in no rush to trade him.

"except cain isn't even that good."
"Cain is an absolute stud"

He's not a stud, and he's not bad. He's just decent. 116 ERA+ for his career, down to 108 this year. That's a tick or two above league average. His main issue is handing out too many free passes. But he's about to turn 24, and he's already got 100 ML starts under his belt, so there's room for improvement...

Hanson should not be traded, period. Even for Matt Cain.

Cain is a good #2, not at the level of CC/Felix/Halladay, but still a very strong foundation to have.

He doesn't get a lot of wins b/c the Giants svck offensively.

If I'm Frank Wren, one of my offseason priorities is to max out on trading Kelly Johnson, and then signing Edgar Renteria to come back and play 2nd base. The rationale works well on multiple levels. Renteria loved it in Atlanta, personally trained Escobar in the '07-'08 offseason to replace him even though he'd already been traded to Detroit, and has proven he can be a stellar offensive force. Renteria is still relatively young too, he has lots of good years left. If he comes back to Atlanta, I'd expect him to immediately revert back to 2006-2007 form. Meanwhile, his slowing speed would require a transition out of shortstop; what better place to go than second base? He'd go from being a mediocre SS to a great 2B, and would be a perfect #2 hitter in the Braves lineup behind Anderson/Blanco leading off and playing center.

Renteria coming back would also provide insurance for Chipper over the long haul. If Eric Campbell can't take over for Chipper when he eventually retires, Renteria could be moved over to 3rd base. And finally, if Renteria struggles in 2009, we still have Martin Prado and Omar Infante, great bench guys who are more than capable to start.

You have to believe Kelly Johnson will be able to land us pitching that will go a long way to helping this team. He's one of the higher-thought of second baseman in baseball. My only concern is that his recent hot-streak is indicative of future performance, and in 2009 he breaks out into the .300 AVG, 20 HR guy that us Braves fans envisioned. I don't think it's a crazy thought, he's made serious adjustments to get to this hot streak. His batting stance is completely changed now from when we opened the year.

After that, our top priority has to be signing Adam Dunn to play LF. The power and OBP% combo is a necessity to bat 5th and backup McCann in our order. We need a legitimate 40 HR power threat, as both Chipper and McCann are really only 25 HR threats. Yes Dunn lacks defensive prowess and strikes out, but we need the power.

After Dunn, we need to realize we won't land Sabathia, so we need to focus our resources on Derek Lowe; perhaps the most underrated pitcher on the market. Steady 3.50 or so ERA with 1.20 WHIPs and huge ground ball tendencies? We're essentially signing Tim Hudson's clone to replace him in the rotation in 2009. Retain Hampton to a cheap-base contract with performance incentives, and hopefully Kelly Johnson can bring in a good starting pitcher to help this team; packaged with Brandon Jones or others if need be. Perhaps Ian Snell, who's coming off of a down year in Pittsburgh.

We have the money, so pay to hang on to Will Ohman. Sign Michael Barrett to be our backup catcher. Pay to bring Daryle Ward back as our power pinch-hitter.

It's not perfect, but those moves are all very feasable, and would put a competitive team on the field that wouldn't cost us our future in order to do it.

1. CF Anderson / Blanco
2. 2B Renteria
3. 3B Jones
4. Ca McCann
5. LF Dunn
6. SS Escobar
7. 1B Kotchman
8. RF Francoeur

1. SP Lowe
2. SP Jurrjens
3. SP (KJ package trade)
4. SP Hampton
5. SP Reyes / Morton / Hanson / Campillo (go with the hot hand)

CL Gonzalez
SU Soriano
MR Smoltz
MR Moylan
MR Ohman
MR Bennett
LR Tavarez

Ok, poor word choice on my part. But I believe he will be a stud. He's 24, in his 3rd year in the bigs and has shown flashes of brilliance at different points of this season and his career. In terms of pure "stuff", he rates very highly and has already proven he is a 200+ inning workhorse. Yes, he needs to cut down his walks, but this guy has some serious talent. And for him to already be a #2 at 24 yrs old is pretty impressive. The Giants should not be trading a guy like this.

"I wouldn't call trading Kelly Johnson for "pitching that will go a long way," signing Renteria, Dunn and Lowe feasible."

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I don't see why that seams unreasonable to you. KJ is a very tradable piece, and he certainly could be packaged with a Brent Lillibridge or Brandon Jones and bring in a solid middle-rotation starter. I think Ian Snell would be a great option, only problem is the Pirates already have Freddy Sanchez at 2nd base.

Meanwhile, the Braves have 40-50 million to spend this offseason. If you don't think they have the means to get both Dunn and Lowe, I'd suggest you're being overly dismissive. Dunn at $15-16million a season and Lowe at $13-14million a season is very realistic.

Meanwhile, Renteria loved playing in Atlanta and by all liklihood will not have his option picked up by Detroit. At this stage in his career, it makes a lot of sense to move to 2B or 3B. I see no reason why he wouldn't entertain coming back to Atlanta for about $7million or so.