Odds & Ends: Ricciardi, Sabathia, Chapman

Forgive me for making this announcement right now, but after reading the comments of some of the articles from yesterday, particularly the one dealing with McGwire as the new Cards hitting coach (which I am pretty pumped about), I feel it's time to make my voice heard.

It seems like the mass exodus of half-brains from ESPN.com to MLBTR is almost complete.

But I suppose it's worth a shot to try and point people in the direction of good posters, so here we go.

Examples of good posters on MLBTR (to name a few): melonis rex, suzysman, scribbletone, start wearing purple and a few others. Please observe the intelligence and reason used in most of their posts and try your absolute best to emulate that.

Thank you.

BKuGotIt: I don't think your post was in response to anything I said, but I will make it my #1 priority from this moment forward, to make it so that my name is added to the illustrious list of luminary mlbtr posters you have already mentioned. It'll be tough......but I'll give it the old Yankee try (that means I'll pay out the a$$ to hire better writers). LOl. Go Yankees!!

And one final question? Why are Twins fans calling for Joe Nathan to be traded?

Due to the fact that anyone can comment here if they just register with an email account and keep the spam and offensive language to a minimum, you have to expect bad comments from each direction. If you think these poor posters have just began showing up, think again. You should have seen the A Rod comments section from a while back if you think the big Mac thread was crazy.

And one final question? Why are Twins fans calling for Joe Nathan to be traded?

Posted by: BKuGotIt | October 26, 2009 at 10:27 AM
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From reading an article in the Star-Tribune, it looks like ONE WRITER (Patrick Reusse) is calling for this, and he's basing it on a combination of age (Nathan is 34), money owed, injury risk (based on the bone chip surgery), and the fact that he wants Punto as the everyday 2B, Delmon Young to play every day, and Mijares/Neshek as a closing duo to replace someone he labels as a choke artist.

I think I'd taken this with a grain of salt. The writer appears to be a moron.

The contract was absolutely the right thing to do. A 37-year-old pitcher coming off a season in which the 2nd half was horrible, due to shoulder issue. Giving him 10m+ guranteed would be irresponsible. Andy's been better than I thought he could this year, and hes continuing it in October.
Next year I'd offer him another 8m guranteed + incentives. If NY is the only place Andy wants to pitch then he really has no leverage, except retirement. And really, whos going to walk away from 8m guranteed because its not 10-12?

It makes quite a bit of sense for the Twins to at least CONSIDER dealing Nathan this winter. Age and the fact he represented 17% of the team's payroll last year being the two primary considerations. Teams like the A's, Dodgers, Padres, etc. have proven it possible to assemble effective bullpens on the cheap, and with the Twins looking at a Mauer extension plus holes at three of the four infield slots and arguably one in the rotation, perhaps that money is better allocated. Nothing wrong with at least exploring a deal.

Deanezag -- it's the writer's suggestion. The article Gleeman cites is at:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/64054617.html?page=1&c=y

I don't necessarily think that exploring a possible Nathan deal is a bad idea, but I do agree that it's unlikely they see equivalent value in return out there, especially with this year's free agent closer class.

SWP -- Where do you think they'd start the conversation for the blue chip? Freeman or Heyward?

I'm not sure I'd see either happening. Braves might be willing to part with some young pitching in a trade, but it wouldn't be A-list stuff like Hanson or Jurrjens.

I'd predict Nathan is a Twin for the remainder of his contract.

I would rather see the Braves offer arb to Gonzo and Soriano, and hope one of them returns. If not, look into some trade options. If the Twins asked for Heyward, Wren would die laughing.

"From reading an article in the Star-Tribune, it looks like ONE WRITER (Patrick Reusse) is calling for this, and he's basing it on a combination of age (Nathan is 34), money owed, injury risk (based on the bone chip surgery), and the fact that he wants Punto as the everyday 2B, Delmon Young to play every day, and Mijares/Neshek as a closing duo to replace someone he labels as a choke artist.

I think I'd taken this with a grain of salt. The writer appears to be a moron." Posted by: Timotheus
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Pat Reusse is one of the most respected sports columnists in the Twin Cities! He has worked for both the PIONEER PRESS and the STAR TRIBUNE.

Calling him a "moron" because he suggests that the Twins might consider trading Joe Nathan only reflects badly on you. FYI, a lot of posters on MLBTR suggest trades that may not be popular or well thought out, but that hardly makes them a "moron"!

Like a good sports columnist should, he offers opinion about teams, players, coaches, and owners. You may agree or disagree with him but believe me, he is most certainly not a "moron'!

I'm the biggest Pettitte fan there is but to say he's under rated or under paid is foolish. He had a terrible second half last year and Cashman was a little nervous that it might happen again. Thank God it didn't the Yankees are in the series because of the help and composure of Pettitte .

I think another incentive based deal increase the guaranteed amount and Pettitte will be back it's his best shot at another ring again next year and he loves and thrives on the competition..

And on that note GO YANKEES!!!!!!!!!! 27th is on it's way !!!!!!!!

YanksFan,
You mean Francisco Liriano in that trade? Hard to imagine the Jays going for it. Only one real top prospect is in that trade in Hicks/Revere. Parmalee has been uneven as a pro, Young has been lousy as a big leaguer (and corner outfielders are the Jays' young strength). I like the idea of the Twins going after Halladay, especially in the sense of making a big push in the last year of Mauer's contract. That package just seems like more quantity than quality, and like less than what the Jays reportedly turned down elsewhere.

Braves would never deal any of Hanson/Heyward/Freeman/JJ for Joe Nathan - get that idea out of your head immediately - are you high?! I don't see them trading anyone for a closer, to be honest. If anything they offer Gonzo Arb and let him & Moylan share the closer duties, maybe put Medlen into the set-up role and groom him to be a closer??

NO WAY Braves brass trades any of their young studs for a closer, you can mark my words on that!

Hey Russell,
If the Yankees win the championship this year it will be because the whole team is infested with steroids and HGH.

Dear god... yanks are going to the world series and their fans are making it about beating the Sox despite not playing them. Classy guys.

"Nelson Liriano
Delmon Young
Ben Revere or Aaron Hicks
Chris Parmelee
Danny Valencia

for

Roy Halladay
Kevin Ahrens"

I don't think that this is as far off as some people would immediately think.

The Jays still get an elite level position prospect in Aaron Hicks, a five-tool monster with the upside of a Beltran-type center fielder (power, patience, speed, defense). On top of that, they get two former elite prospects with big upsides that can slot into the roster immediately in Liriano and Young, as well as two decent position prospects in Valencia and Parmelee.

I don't think that the deal quite gets done, the Twins aren't offering much pitching in that deal, and high-upside pitching talent is something that the Jays are lacking in.

I'm not really convinced that the Twins have what it would take to pry loose Halladay, but an offer based around Hicks, Liriano and two or three of Young, Manship, Ramos, Hunt, Gutierrez, Revere, Valencia, etc. could certainly be interesting to Toronto, they certainly don't have any prospects like Hicks in their farm system.

There must be about 10 decent people on this whole web site and over 1,000 who go on this website to shun people of their ideas and yet won't make an idea of their own, correct me if I'm wrong

Scrible, I think you missed the boat on this one. Twins are in a win now mode, but it's hard to imagine Halliday being able to stay longer than one year at these prices, and Twins will not gut their farm systems to get one year of Halliday. All those guys mentioned especially Hicks, Valencia, Revere, and Ramos are the future of the Twins and have huge upsides. Even Young, after 3 full years in the majors has a lifetime average of 290, just turned 24 and could be a late bloomer power wise. I can't imagine any team paying a steep price, since you know you'll get Halliday for just one season. When the Mets got Santana they were given a period to get him signed before the deal was finalized and maybe that's what the Jays need to do.

Baseballfan0707, are you blind or just ignorant? Terry180 was only replying to that idiot Russels comments about the Sox and roids so stop being a hypocrite and read all the posts before selectively bashing fans who DON'T boo their players, but actually support them!

Realistically, both Revere and Hicks aren't going to hold down spots in the same outfield at the same time for the Twins, so dealing one makes all the sense in the world. Revere is probably the safer bet, with Hicks possessing far more upside. That said, it shouldn't take much more than one of the two to land one year of Roy Halladay.

•The Astros claimed outfielder Jason Bourgeois off waivers from the Brewers

WHY???

I love how redsox and twins fans want to trade their all-star closets just cause their blown saves this playoffs..did the Yankees trade mo after he had a blown save against the sox? Uhh no and I'm pretty sure he's been ok since then

The Twins would be stuiped to trade Nathan. Hes still a top 3 Closer in baseball. They have a team good anuff to compete and they arnt losing any major pieces threw FA this year. They could use some help in the roation and the middle IF. Especially 2B and SS, depending on Cabreara.

If they traded him who would close? this would just make them a worse team.

Bosox21, we been talking about possibley trading Pabelbon since last year. His name is just coming up a little more. The Twins dont want to trade Nathan because of a blown save and may not want to trade him at all, its just speculation and rumors. If they did trade Nathan it would be because they are worried about his body ( elbow, shoulder.) They may feal he is about to declince drasstickley and want to get something good for him befor he does.

The Sox are in a postion were we could trade Paps and Sign Wagner to close for us. Wagner and Bard closing could be just as good as Paps. Wagner would get most of the chances and bard would be mybe 10 or so. Bard then would take over fulltime in 2011 if all went well. Pabelbon could bring us some great prospects or a good player. Plus his salray off the books meens more money to spend else were. So why not trade Paps get a great haul back and become a better team because of what we get back for him and Wagner/Bard closing.

Paps has been great since being our closer but he has in some ways looked worse each year. He is getting hit more, loading the bases alot. Mybe we trade him because he looks ready to implode in some ways. Hes also been a newcens in Boston and fans are getting fed up with his antics.