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Heyman On Penny, Ackley, Milledge

By Ben Nicholson-Smith [June 12, 2009 at 1:20pm CST]

SI.com's Jon Heyman places Marco Scutaro and David Ortiz atop his lists of over and underperforming players. In the same article, he provides some trade rumors:

The Phillies, Mets and Cardinals are among the teams "in" on the Brad Penny discussions.
Philadelphia would still like to acquire a premium pitcher; they're "aiming higher" than Penny.
Dustin Ackley is apparently seeking "Mark Teixeira money." No, he's not looking for $180MM, but he'd like a deal worth $9.5MM, like the one Teixiera received out of college.
And there's word of trade talks involving Lastings Milledge.

Comments

"And there's word of trade talks involving Lastings Milledge."

Makes sense.

He's still not hitting in AAA, but he ended last season hitting fairly well in Washington, and while he's obviously not a center fielder, he still has the potential to be a pretty good outfielder.

If they aren't going to play him in the majors, might as well get some value for him while he still has it.

"Philadelphia would still like to acquire a premium pitcher; they're "aiming higher" than Penny."

Who could they be talking about?

Halladay? Peavy? Oswalt? Lee? Bedard? Someone we don't know about?

I think that Lee is probably the best fit out of all of those guys, realistically, because outside of Bedard, we don't really know if the other guys are even potential options.

Posted by: scribbletone | June 12, 2009 at 01:38 PM

Bedard would aiming higher than Penny. I expect the Phillies to strongly interested if/when he comes available

Or Peavy, although he'd probably pu**y out on a trade

I don't see Oswalt or Halladay moving

Short of Bedard, I'd like Penny just as much as Marquis or Washburn. He threw the ball really well last night

Posted by: wayne gomes | June 12, 2009 at 01:42 PM

Lastings Millege to White Sox for Shelby, Harrell, and Egbert.

Do it now Kenny. I know Millege has character issues but his character will shape up with Ozzie as the manager. And his defense in center will be better because of the smaller park at the Cell. And when Danks is ready we can move him over to left. The Sox would have a good core of Millege, Danks, Q, Ramirez, Viciedo, Allen, and Getz.

Posted by: soxfan4life | June 12, 2009 at 01:55 PM

I hope Beane trades for Milledge, as he's been trying to get him for years and Cunningham, Sweeney and Buck pale in comparison to Milledge's skillset.

Posted by: PL | June 12, 2009 at 01:56 PM

"Lastings Millege to White Sox for Shelby, Harrell, and Egbert."

No. Just, no.

I'm a fan of the Sox. We can't do that.

I'd love to take a flier on Milledge, but we simply can't make him our center fielder. He's horrid out there, and the last thing we need is an awful center fielder.

I'd love to add some young guy to try out at that position, but it needs to be someone who can field it.

Posted by: scribbletone | June 12, 2009 at 01:58 PM

Why not get him tho?
He can play Left while Q is out and only a few til Danks is up. We can handle it, we handled Griffey in centerfield

Posted by: soxfan4life | June 12, 2009 at 02:04 PM

It's weird with Milledge. I haven't gotten to see him much in Washington, but in NY, he seemed infinitely more comfortable playing CF then he did playing RF, he took better routes and just looked much better. It was a small sample size, a couple weeks where Beltran was on the DL, but it is weird how much he struggled in DC. If you could ever find a way to get him to play league average defense in CF it would do wonders for his value.

Posted by: nrmax88 | June 12, 2009 at 02:27 PM

as a braves fan i would love to have lastings. he does have some issues but bobby cox is the ultimate player's coach and he should be able to fit in nicely with bobby...

anything would be an upgrade over the garbage we have in right field in francoeur. he shouldnt be too costly so i say make another move wren. oh but wait. jeff had two hits yesterday and a rbi. he must be turning it around!

he will now go 4 for his next 38 with 0 hr and 0 rbi....

jesus, i could put up better numbers than francoeur. lastings would be a significant improvement over said douchebag.

Posted by: bravesphanatic | June 12, 2009 at 02:28 PM

jesus, i could put up better numbers than francoeur. lastings would be a significant improvement over said douchebag.

Posted by: bravesphanatic | June 12, 2009 at 02:28 PM

And that's why you are here bitchin' about Francoeur instead of raking balls all over the mlb. You must be really good.

Posted by: la16 | June 12, 2009 at 03:00 PM

la16, it's called hyperbole. look it up.

Posted by: kswissreject | June 12, 2009 at 03:51 PM

After hearing about Milledge so much in NY and finally see him play for a small sample, it was sad to see his value dip so much and get moved and only bring back Schneider/Church. I always thought they should have moved him earlier because I started to get those vibes they would eventually and lose a lot of value in doing so. I remember hearing Billy Beane was very high on Milledge, Omar should have looked to the A's for a move before he shipped him to Washington.

Eh, who knows what he will become. I remember him getting that big hit and slapping hands with the fans and being torn apart on WFAN, the press, and all media. I never got it, that was an awesome sight and it is exactly what is missing from this game sometimes. IMO.

Posted by: MrMet | June 12, 2009 at 03:58 PM

la16 never posts anything insightful. Why expect him to start now.

Posted by: nrmax88 | June 12, 2009 at 03:59 PM

Penny just pitched 6 scoreless against the best hitting team in baseball and was steady between 94-96 the whole game. Do not trade this guy unless Flores is coming back from the Mets or Drabek from the Phillies. I want nothing to do w/ Donald, Marson, or Carrasco... they have all seriously regressed this year.

Posted by: carini26 | June 12, 2009 at 04:01 PM

One good start does NOT all of a sudden make Penny top prospect worthy.

Posted by: B3NG4L | June 12, 2009 at 04:04 PM

la16 never posts anything insightful. Why expect him to start now.

Posted by: nrmax88 | June 12, 2009 at 03:59 PM

Geesh, you guys are rough in the intrawebs.

Posted by: la16 | June 12, 2009 at 04:49 PM

"Penny just pitched 6 scoreless against the best hitting team in baseball and was steady between 94-96 the whole game. Do not trade this guy unless Flores is coming back from the Mets or Drabek from the Phillies. I want nothing to do w/ Donald, Marson, or Carrasco... they have all seriously regressed this year."

AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Posted by: nrmax88 | June 12, 2009 at 05:04 PM

"Geesh, you guys are rough in the intrawebs."

You are the one talking smack about a guy because you can't grasp the idea of hyperbole.

Posted by: nrmax88 | June 12, 2009 at 05:07 PM

la16, are you saying that francoeur rakes at this level? ha! excuse me jeff, you arent a douchebag....la16 is.

if scouts were looking for prospects to hit with virtually no power, no plate discipline, to not hit for average, have average speed, and have no clutch rbi potential.....

then yes, i could play in the majors. the problem is they are not. i promise you i could hit .194 in the bigs. thats what jeff has done over the last month and half. hell, thats only 19 bloop hits out of 100 abats. i could rope a few singles on some hanging breaking stuff and get a few bloop hits to get 19 hits in 100 abats. at least i like to think i could. i batted over .300 in three years of high school baseball...

point is jeff is garbage and so are you la16.

Posted by: bravesphanatic | June 12, 2009 at 05:18 PM

See guys, you rip on on la16, but bravesphanatic does actually believe he could do better than Francoeur in the majors. Obviously the dudes either insane or mentally handicapped, but he apparently thinks in his mind he could hit almost .200 off MLB pitching because he could hit over .300 in high school. Who cares if Francoeur is arguably the greatest high school baseball player in the history of the state of GA and that way less than 1% of COLLEGE baseball players make the majors, this dude was able to hit over .300 in high school so obviously he should have been drafted.

Posted by: nixa37 | June 12, 2009 at 05:48 PM

BTW, I hate to burst your bubble man, but I'd honestly be surprised if you could even get the ball in play 19 times in 100 ABs against MLB pitching. This isn't anything like the stuff you faced in high school. You might have faced a few guys all season who even had fringe-average ML fastballs and I doubt you faced anyone who coupled that with another pitch that would be anywhere near ML average.

I'll try and put things into perspective for you. This kid went to my high school: http://thebaseballcube.com/players/A/Brent-Abernathy.shtml

During his senior year in high school he had a grand total of 0 swing and miss strikes. He didn't swing at a single pitch he didn't at least foul off. He hit way over .500 and was chosen as a high school All-American. He was probably 10 times the player you were in high school. He still only managed a .244 average at the ML level.

Honestly, for you to think you could even come close to competing at that level because you weren't terrible in HS is a huge slap in the face to the guys who can actually do what you can only dream about.

Posted by: nixa37 | June 12, 2009 at 06:02 PM

One of two things is true.

1. This is some awful attempt at sarcasm.

2. You are on some substance which enables reeeally heavy hallucinations, in which case, I want some.

Posted by: melonis rex | June 12, 2009 at 06:06 PM

"Honestly, for you to think you could even come close to competing at that level because you weren't terrible in HS is a huge slap in the face to the guys who can actually do what you can only dream about."

He can't possibly believe it though.

He just can't.

He was facing guys throwing 75-85 most of time in high school and practically none of those guys had a decent offspeed offering or a truly legitimate idea for how to pitch.

In the majors you have to adjust for the 79 MPH curve on the bottom left corner or the 94 MPH fastball launched by you high and tight, which you pretty much can't catch up with unless you know that it's coming.

Honestly, I think that hitting major league pitching consistently has to be one of the most difficult things to do in sports, and I think that a lot of people don't quite realize how challenging it is.

Posted by: scribbletone | June 12, 2009 at 09:30 PM

Lastings Milledge is a complete enigma.
I don't know how you go about figuring out his trade value.
White Sox seem a good fit though.

Me personally I think I'd struggle to get ONE hit off of 100 major league pitches, I'd be happy if I fouled 5 pitches off.

WHOEVER PUT THEY COULD HIT .190 IS DREAMING, you wouldn't have the bat speed to even put balls in play.

Posted by: OhPityMe | June 13, 2009 at 05:09 AM

point is jeff is garbage and so are you la16.

Posted by: bravesphanatic | June 12, 2009 at 05:18 PM

Oh I see. You're the type of fan that was really good in high school and wished you've been seen by the good scouts so you can grow up and be a star! Awesome guy. And I don't care how much you hit in high school. No one cares but you. Who's the douchebag? Well, sir at least I don't go around the internet braggin' about my over .300 batting average. let it go buddy. Sorry to didn't make it to the bigs.

But Jeff Francoeur did. And that makes him a baseball success despite his current troubles.

*shifty eyes*

-----------------------

"Geesh, you guys are rough in the intrawebs."

You are the one talking smack about a guy because you can't grasp the idea of hyperbole.

Posted by: nrmax88 | June 12, 2009 at 05:07 PM

And obviously you don't understand a bit of sarcasm on my part.

Posted by: la16 | June 13, 2009 at 01:29 PM

BTW, just to give some context to how good Francoeur was in high school, he ended his HS career with a .443 average and 55 HR playing in the state's highest classification in route to leading his team to consecutive state titles. He was also virtually unhittable as a closer, throwing a fastball in the mid 90s. In the state championship series (a 2-0 sweep for his team), Francoeur went 6 for 7 with 4 HR, 2 2B, a BB, 7 RBI and 5 R. He also got the win in both games after coming on to pitch the 6th and 7th inning of each game. Oh, did I mention one of those HR was a 500 foot blast in the last inning to put his team up for good.

I'm sure you were just as good as him though bravesphanatic.

Posted by: nixa37 | June 14, 2009 at 12:22 PM

i promise you i could hit .194 in the bigs. thats what jeff has done over the last month and half. hell, thats only 19 bloop hits out of 100 abats. i could rope a few singles on some hanging breaking stuff and get a few bloop hits to get 19 hits in 100 abats. at least i like to think i could. i batted over .300 in three years of high school baseball...

point is jeff is garbage and so are you la16.

Posted by: bravesphanatic | June 12, 2009 at 05:18 PM

Ok you're not allowed to talk about baseball anymore. How can you possibly compare high school pitching to major league pitching?!?!?! I hit .450 in high school then played Division III college ball and hit .270 for my career. That was the most assinine statement I have ever heard. But figures it would come from a hillbilly Braves fan. Go comment on a NASCAR board.

Posted by: JoseJoseJoseeee | June 14, 2009 at 05:42 PM

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Heyman On Penny, Ackley, Milledge

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