More Than a Bucket of Warm Spit

by MNPundit on Jun 1, 2006 12:29 AM EDT

Thanks to Jesse on the frontpage, we have a clear comparisson over how Hunter has played over the last month. Now obviously he has an (expensive) option for next year, but remember all that trade talk after May?

Can you imagine the value we can get for Torii if we can trade while he's this hot? How would we get? Yes, I'm going to propose a trade.... Torii Hunter + Scott Baker/Kyle Lohse + prospect TBD for Miguel Cabrera. Would this be likely? Well probably not but it's not out of the realm of possibility. What do you think?

Tweet Comment 8 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

No

Cabrera's an early MVP candidate. He's not available for trade. Certainly not at that price.

by ubelmann on Jun 1, 2006 12:35 AM EDT reply actions

why

why would the cost cutting marlins add hunters and lohse's salary when their total payroll is 15 mil.

i think we should stop dreaming about miguel cabrera. we are not going to get him!

by MUTT on Jun 1, 2006 12:48 AM EDT reply actions

Dumb

Come on man, at least try. The Marlins are looking to dump salary, not pick up Hunter's.

I still don't see why the Marlins would be so keen to trade us Cabrera.

by AdamOnFirst on Jun 1, 2006 1:27 AM EDT reply actions

Trying a little harder - AL response

I'm fixated on Cabrera so I'd always like to get him, and I think it's not crazy to say that the Marlins ARE run by morons but, of course it's not a serous trade. Fantasy all the way. My main point was that we need to trade Hunter to get some good value and now would be about a good time.

Who would take him?

He's 30 years old but he still has got some years left in him. He's also got a nearly double digit salary. So.... a contending team with a need for a CF, or a high-payroll team looking to keep its fanbase happy or who thinks they can contend in the next few years or a mixture of such.

In the AL East I have trouble seeing anyone including the Matusi-less Yankees having a need for Torii right now. Tampa Bay... but I don't know enough about that team except they're too far from contention to be interested and aren't the type to try and pacify the fanbase right now.

AL Central? Ha! Such a move smacks of Heresy!

In the AL West, Oakland has only Swisher, but the money situation is prohibitive at first glance and their other fielders have shown they can get the job done in past seasons.

The Rangers might be willing to part with some offense for defense, but how much of an asset would Hunter be in an extreme hitter's park like that and they already have the offense they need? A wash for outfielders.

Anaheim
I don't see anyone in the major league system that the Twins could covet at at either middle infield, 3B, or bullpen except Aybar at 2B but do we really want to give Gardenhire another highly-touted prospect to screw with? I shudder to think of the Aybar carnival that would quickly set up shop at 2B next to the Bartlett one in the middle-infield.

Of course, Aybar has performed well for the Angels in limited playing time so maybe that kind of thing would make Gardy smile. Did Aybar go to winterball?

Seattle
Jose Lopez at 2B, in the same number of MLG games (54) as last year he is slugging .100+ higher, but his OBP despite being up from last year's is a subpar .312. His minor league OBP numbers fluctuate wildly at first glance. His SLG number is also closer to his minor league norm so perhaps he needed to get aclimated. I suppose Soriano in the bullpen should be looked at...

However, George Sherill is a lefty with more strikeouts than innings and walks at the minor league level with some concern over walks (11BB to 19SO in the sample size of 16IP) at the majors. Still maybe if Anderson can work with him on his control and avoid teaching him a sinker, he could return to his consistently low walk totals of the minor leagues.

Does Seattle see itself as a team that can contend in the next 2-3 years? Maybe... I'm not sure.

So that's the AL possibilities, 2 2Bs and a solid lefty prone to throwing strikeouts.

Any better?

by MNPundit on Jun 1, 2006 4:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Jose Lopez...

...is a nice thought. The Mariners have a ton of middle infielders in their minor league system, and they seem reluctant to buy into Lopez as a good player, even though he's posted solid numbers his whole career playing at levels that are young for his age. (They said that during spring training, there was an open competition at second base between Willie Bloomquist and Jose Lopez, which would have been like saying there was a competition in right field between Nick Punto and Jason Kubel.) And my vote is with Lopez as the AL All-Star 2B right now, so I don't think he's someone we'd have a huge dropoff with right away.

And actually, with Lopez, if Castillo's still around, Jose would easily be the best option on the team to play third base. Even with average defense, his bat probably grades out as average for a 3B. Lopez is most valuable as a second baseman, but he would still carry plenty of value to this team as a third baseman. Lopez also seems like he can hit without walking a ton, which means it's unlikely the Twins can screw with his hitting too badly.

Also, the Mariners are getting frustrated with Jeremy Reed in center field, and they've got a lot of ground to cover in Safeco, so they could very well be interested in Hunter.

by ubelmann on Jun 1, 2006 4:17 PM EDT up reply actions

The great thing about trades ...

is you can put together some real blockbusters if you assume the other team is run by morons.

The Marlins are still in "salary dump" mode, so they're not going to trade "salary for salary".

If the Marlins would even discuss it (a big "if"), there is a name that'll be on their list that should make it a non-starter for the Twins: Francisco Liriano.

Liriano has appeal to the Marlins for three reasons:

He'd go straight into their rotation, i.e., he'd bring help to the big club immediately.

There's every indication he's going to be a star, so they can argue with a straight face that they've not made the big club worse just to dump salary.

And he's cheap, so he lets them dump salary.

And there's NO WAY the Twins should do it.

by BD57 on Jun 1, 2006 8:29 AM EDT reply actions

Anaheim

Someone I'd take from the Angels is Chone Figgins, he can play just about anywhere (infield/outfield). He is also one of the most valuable players on their team. Not sure how serious Erstads injury is, could be a motivator for them to take Torii.

CDW in SLC

by CDW in SLC on Jun 2, 2006 5:22 PM EDT reply actions

Figgins

Figgins currently has a .892 fielding percentage this year at 3B, ouch. He also isn't getting on base as much as he did the last few years. Now he's 28 so maybe he's having a bad year, but depending on what else we could get from the Angels, Chone Figgins seems a little too much like a utility guy that has hot streaks for TH.

by MNPundit on Jun 2, 2006 6:05 PM EDT up reply actions