Odds And Ends: Brewers, Roberts, Tejada

Trade B. Roberts to the Braves!

Sign him then trade him.

By the time the Orioles can compete, he'll have lost his speed or bat, and won't be fit to leadoff anymore.

Montero = 1B of the future, not C

montero is blocked at 1b but they are commited to him playing catcher...he is supposed to have big time power and could be a middle of the lineup guy

Or Romine = C of future but Montero will not be a 1B.

Please keep in mind the kid is only 19. The only reason why people say he won't be a C is because of his size (6'3, 230) @ age 19. Defensively he's exactly where you owuld expect a C drafted out of high school to be. Barring some unexpected trade of Teixeira, Montero will not play 1B for the Yanks. I think that if Austin Romine, another 19 yr old C drafted the same year as Montero was signed, progresses with the glove and bat that he would be the C of the future and Montero would either DH or play LF, similar to what the Indians are doing with Matt Laporta.

Who would the Braves trade for Roberts? What teams might be looking for a leadoff man?

I said it months ago, that if the Cubs were willing to trade Josh Vitters and all of the other guys that we got NOTHING for (including DeRosa and Rich Hill), then they should have done this trade:

CUBS GET: Nick Markakis, Brian Roberts

ORIOLES GET: Josh Vitters, Mark DeRosa, Rich Hill, Felix Pie, and Ronny Cedeno.

I'm sure I'll hear all of the whiners now, but that trade is MORE than acceptable. Like I said before, you mine as well get something if you're going to trade quality players (instead of absolutely nothing, which is what we ended up with).

That would've saved us from having to waste money on Milton Bradley and would've given us two stronger additions to the line-up (including an actual leadoff man).

But wait a minute, those would have been the RIGHT things to do. Instead, the Cubs roster is a giant mess.

I'm waiting for the next trade to come from the geniuses in Cubs management: something like...Carlos Marmol for a bucket of popcorn.

ya that sounds like a cubs fan dreaming again.

this is what the n.l east looks lik

Lineup --
1- Phillies( utley howard werth ibanez rollins unbelievable lineup )

2- Mets ( reyes will have his yr again with wright slitgjly picking up on his numbers and beltran staying the same... questions stand in delgado and castillo)

3- Nationals (great lineup with the addition of Dunn and Willingham, zimmerman will have a good backup in the lineup in Dunn 3,4)

4- Braves ( Moderate lineup however not a lot of jaw dropping bats the only people to stand out are jones francouer and escobar,, pitching will help them out greatly)

5- Marlins ( slightly below the braves because of the production ofchipper, however ramirez cantu and uggla must be the catalyst of the lineup because the 1,2,3,4 are the only real hitters the rest are not as great)

Starting Pitching--
1- Braves (additions in Lowe, Vasquez, and Kawakami)

2- Marlins (young pitcher with unbelievable potential that will dominate)

3- Mets (Santana, and the comeback of pelfrey and perez)

4- Phillies ( only consistent pitcher is cole hamels and brett myers moyer is old)

5- Nationals ( great potential with olsen and lannan but offense isnt that strong to support them)

mets:
reyes ss
murphy Lf
Wright 3B
Delgado 1B
Beltran Cf
Church Rf
Schnieder C
Castillo 2B

Santana
Perez
pelfrey
maine
garcia

Phillies:

Rollins SS
Werth Rf
Utley 2B
Howard 1B
VIctorino Cf
Ibanez LF
Feliz 3B
Ruiz C

Hamels
Myers
Blanton
Moyer
Kendrick

Marlins:

Maybin CF
Uggla 2B
Ramirez SS
Cantu 3B
Ross Rf
Hermida Lf
Sanchez 1B
Baker C

Nolasco
Johnson
Sanchez
Volstad
Miller

Braves:

Johnson 2B
Escobar SS
Jones 3B
Mccann C
Francoeur Rf
Kotchman 1B
Diaz Lf
Anderson Cf

Vasquez
Lowe
Jurjens
Kawakami
Campillo

Nationals

Guzman SS
Milledge CF
ZImmerman 3B
Dunn 1B
Willingham Lf
Dukes Rf
Flores C
Belliard 2B

Lannan
Olsen
Cabrera
Hill
Perez

PREDICTIONS:
1- Mets (93-69)
2- Phillies (91-71)
3- Braves (83-79)
4- Marlins (76-82)
5- Nationals (72-90)

Orioles get the Grinch,and the Cub's get Zaun.