Odds & Ends: Clement, Schilling, Strasburg

Interesting idea and one that am surprised the MLB players union has not tried to get into any basic agreements, is the rights for draft picks to be traded like in the NFL and NBA. Agents like Baras would certainly like it, then again.. Poor mouthing teams like the Nat's Rays etc.. would hate it because NYY, Boston would be trying to acquire those draft picks and could afford to offer bonus money instead of bypassing a pick that wanted too much money.

A team like the Nat's however that faces a dilemma over a pick and has the rightc ould get a good amount of money, or other consideration even from the #2 drafting team maybe for them to have the rights to Strasburg. Trade deals are kind of fun on NFL draft day and would add something to MLB also, however the "usual" teams would have a tissy fit.

Boswell is all over the place, generally. He waivers between Lerners' cheerleader, Bowden basher (most notably after JimBo left town) and O's fan at heart. So, add a pound of salt to anything he writes. And, is Boz saying that the Nats should not take Strasberg at $11-12M? Boras is just trying to push the price up -- he knows that no one is going to blow up the slot system in this market, no matter how could this kid may be.

Keeping Snider down is NOT a good idea. You send a message to both the kid and your own team that you're cheap and aren't ready to compete in 2009 because you don't want to field your best lineup possible. The only solution in this scenario is to lock up Snider in a deal similar to Longoria's, and it should cost even less because he doesn't run or play defense nearly as well.

Totally agree with 92-93.

Sending down Snider would mean more at bats for guys like Kevin Millar and Lyle Overbay, and I would argue that implies pretty clearly that Toronto isn't trying to put the best possible team on the field.

Considering that they haven't made any indications that this is a rebuilding year (that doesn't happen until Halladay is on the block), you simply can't send that message to the rest of the team and fanbase.

The long term savings of keeping Snider down are unclear, and Toronto should probably pursue a long term deal with him anyways.

Just play Snider in left and Lind at DH, and pray that somehow you stumble your way into contention.

Otherwise, peek around and see what Halladay could land you, but don't full out shop him. If they can get substantially more than Milwaukee got for Sabathia (like two elite prospects and two good prospects, rather than a single elite guy), then I would quite seriously consider moving Doc.

"The long term savings are actually clear, not unclear - if they keep him down until May 15th they own his rights for 2015 as well."

I realize that.

I mean it in that you dont really know the value of that 2015 season. You're sacrificing a part of this season, and you don't even know if Snider will be good or even in Toronto by 2015. Between 2009 and 2015, a million different things can happen with Snider, so there's no gurantee that keeping him down to control him in 2015 is even an asset.

Obviously it's highly likely that Snider is a good contributor, and there's a decent chance that he becomes a star, but I was simply making the point that you really don't know what kind of player he'll be by then.

Considering his value lies almost solely in his bat, if it doesn't pan out, then he can't fall back on his speed/defense to become a solid player.

Reagrding Travis Snider:

The Jays really are not going anywhere this year. Calling him up on May 15th vs April 1st really isn't a signifigant difference. As for signing him to a long term deal, I am completely against that in theory. Why? Why set a precedent for signing a major league player before they've proven themselves for at least that 1 year? Sure Eva was an example of how that can work, but Eva could just as easy end up as the next Cory Snyder. Nothing is guaranteed. Let's make Snider at least play 1 full year before this talk od extensions is batted around by people.

YanksFanSince78-

I wasn't really saying that the Blue Jays should pursue a long term deal with Snider now.

I was simply making the point that the Blue Jays likely should pursue a deal if Snider ends up being what they think he'll be, in which case having control over 2015 won't be nearly as important, because they'd gurantee it to him in a long term deal anyways.

If he doesn't pan out, then they won't sign him long term, and the value of his 2015 season will be questionable.

Obviously Snider is one of the better prospects in the game though, and seems like a good bet to be a contributor on many good teams in the future.

the draft order is Nats, Mariners, then the Pads, right? because if the nats dont take him at this order, i have to think the mariners would take him because a rotation of Felix and Strasburg in 2 seasons is really good, espically if he is as good as scouts say he is.