Nationals Rumors: Fielder, Milledge, O-Dog

What's the rap on this kid Milledge? I know he struggled a little with the Mets and had some charachter issues, but dag, you would think a team like the Nats would try to stockpile as much young talent as possible? The guy turns 24 in April and had a decent year for a 2nd year player. He might be on the cusp of realizing some of that potential he's shown. Meanwhile, what could they expect to get in return? They would be selling low on him, wouldn't they?

well, the Nats would rather keep Milledge.

however, he's got serious issues in CF and needs to move to a corner OF slot.

and *if* we sign a Dunn, or a Bradley, or another outfielder, he's really got the highest trade value out of our logjam of outfielders.

that's all this is.

yeah but why not keep him? he's cheep and if you sign a FA you just add to your talent pool. When you suck as badly as the Nats you should have as many talented players on your roster as you can. You would think they would want o hold on to him for another year and allow him to get his value up.

No.

Just no.

The Nats should NOT trade Milledge.

Yes, he has serious issues in CF and needs to be moved to a corner OF spot. The Nats also have Willingham and Dukes edging for corner OF spots. I say leave Milledge in CF for now, and move him when a spot opens up. He's more valuable in CF than Kearns or Pena or Patterson are anywhere in the OF. The Nats need to be keeping their good young talent, not trading it away.

Dunn would play 1B, not OF, if signed.

And Prince Fielder is a stupid, stupid idea for the Nats right now. The young talent they would have to give up to get Fielder will be more beneficial to them going forward than 3 years of Fielder will. Sign Dunn or Burrell, not Fielder.

And Prince Fielder is a stupid, stupid idea for the Nats right now. The young talent they would have to give up to get Fielder will be more beneficial to them going forward than 3 years of Fielder will. Sign Dunn or Burrell, not Fielder.

Posted by: melonis rex | January 01, 2009 at 02:36 PM

Fielder is 25. it's not like he's an aging veteran.

I'm just sayin'.

but yeah, the cost to get Fielder would be pretty high.

I can agree with that.

"The Nats are trying to move Milledge before other people realize he doesn't have the glove to play CF, the arm to play RF or the bat to play LF."

He's 23. How many players struggle at that age again. Most players aren't even in MLB at that age. And, Lastings has a HUGE amount of upside/potential.

The Nationals would be fools to trade Milledge. Huge potential ceiling for the kid, and I liked what I saw last year from him. I was utterly shocked for the garbage the Mets traded him for. Sure Schnider is great with the glove, but that's it. For a young OF with great potential, that was a steal for the Nats.

I agree that if they are looking to trade an OF, try to part with Kearns or Pena. Both will be difficult to do, however. Kearns is owed a lot of money and hasn't really been that strong, whereas Pena has a lot of pop but that only helps if he hits the ball.

Dukes is a great player. He, Milledge, Willingham is an OF that you could build a team around. Milledge lacks a little in the glove department, but hard work could improve that to be league average.

As for Fielder, I don't think he's going anywhere. Not unless the Brewers get someone along the lines of Matt Cain's caliber from whatever team he is sent to.

Fielder to the Nats would be like Bedard to the M's, it would cost to much and not solve enough(if anything)

MilwMatt, the Nats already traded Gibson--for Elijah Dukes. Straight up. I know it's hard to believe but that's what happened. (And we need to remember it anytime someone starts talking about firing Jim Bowden.)

I do basically agree with the rest of your comment---the Nats would have to give up a whole bunch for Fielder, most of it pitching.

There may be another first baseman however. Rosenthal has reported the Rangers are looking to ship Hank Blalock out.

Theo, you're never getting Hanley back.

Sorry melonix..didn't mean to butcher your name.

Buchholz, Masterson, Bard, Lowrie and Delcarmen would all be on the Marlins opening day roster. Plus there would be prospects from if Ortiz was traded.

I think these 7-8 prospects/limited experiened big leaguers could get both Hanley and Salty and maybe even hang on to one or two.

I thought the demands of Crow were lowered to somewhere around 5 million or so, still a good chunk of change.

I believe the 9 million would have been for a big league deal.

YFS78-

Happy New Year.

I never said anything about Melky not having potential. I think Melky/Gardner should get the starting CF job; its just not too likely with the OF glut there. If I have said otherwise, I take it back. Milledge has more upside, but I do think Melky and Gardner should be allowed to try their hand at CF. Defensively, they are easily improvements over Damon/Swisher in CF.

OK. He'll be 24 for most of next season. Still, being up in the bigs for a full season at age 23 isn't something most players do.

So effectively the pick used on Crow last year would be in the same slot this year, had the Nats not had an earlier round pick already (#1 overall)? Pretend that their 09 pick was set for 15th overall, they would then have the #9 slot from last years draft and then their pretend pick at #15 as well?

He would have joined the Ft. Worth Cats very late in the season, after pitching a complete college season.

He will pitch somewhere for a few months before the draft and I think that will determine his draft position.

I predict a late 1st round. A playoff team will pick him up that are willing to pay money for the quality over other players at that point in the draft.

YFS78: Yeah the pick for not signing a 1st rounder (i.e. Crow and Cole) is one pick after where that player was picked. So that means that the Nats get the 10th pick and the Yanks get the 28th pick (Seattle can still sign their 1st rounder since he was a college senior, if they don't they will recieve the 21st pick). It also should be noted that its a protected pick so it can't be given away for signing a Type A free agent. The bad news though is that if the players that the Nats and Yanks pick at 10 and 28 don't sign they then lose that pick. There is no compensation for the next year.

A non-college senior doesn't have to declare for the draft like the NBA or NFL they are just eligible. Cole can't be drafted b/c he is not eligible since he went to a 4 year university. Once you go to a 4 year university you must wait 3 years to beoome eligible or be 21 or turning 21 within a certain period of the draft day. Thats why there are a few draft eligible sophmores each year. Also had Cole gone to a Community or Junior College he could have been eligible again this year as those players don't have to meet the same requirement.

As for Crow, he did lower his demand at the 11th hour though it was still pretty high. I think his draft status will be determined by his performance in the Indy leagues. I doubt he'd slide to the Yanks but I guess you never really know.

Prince Fielder to the Angels would be awesome..

Maybe something like Weaver(who would throw up 3.50 era with 200 innings in the NL), Adenhart, Morales, and Rodriguez who would play second..
Trade Cameron to whomever, move Weeks to Center, let Morales play 1st..

Then

Figgins - 3rd
Kendrick - 2nd
Vladdy - rf/dh
Fielder - 1st/dh
Burrell - DH/LF
Hunter - cf
Napoli - c
Rivera/Anderson - LF
Wood/Aybar/izturis - SS

The Burrell signing wont happen but its nice to think it

YanksFan, the Nats also offered Crow a deal comparable(I believe higher) than the Orioles gave to Matsuz, and he still rejected it.