Light the Hot Stove fires

Sporting News radio today reported that the Braves were close to a deal that would send LaRoche and Marcus Giles to Baltimore for Brian Roberts and Hayden Penn.

 

Doug Melvin has said that this was basically an 'internet rumor'. Although, DM has shot down various trades before in the press, only to have them come to fruition a short time later. I doubt this one, strictly because it was Mench rather than Jenkins. The salaries would make more sense with Jenks included (Lieber and Jenks are a wash in that department). However, the article below says that Gillick isn't interested in Geoff Jenkins.

http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061205&content_id=1751730&vkey=news_mil&fext=.jsp&c_id=mil

 

Baltimore Sun had it the other day that the teams discussed this .. wonder if this is where Sporting News Radio got it from.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-sp.orioles05dec05,0,6371035.story?coll=bal-sports-baseball

And the article said the deal was unlikely to happen.

 

If Milwaukee trades Mench and Capellan for spnited-aged Lieber... wow what a heist for the Broad Street boys.

 

No kidding. Cappy should never be a throw-in. Now, Mench and Turnbow for Lieber, I like that.

 

That makes no sense for Atlanta. Who plays first if LaRoche is gone? Also, the main problem with Giles is injuries and while Roberts is the more durable 2B of the two, he isn't exactly Cal Ripken, Jr.

 

I like this move for the Royals

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061206&content_id=1752270&vkey=hotstove2006&fext=.jsp

I think Dayton Moore is putting together a pretty decent team in KC given the fiscal limitations.

 

I'm liking Dayton Moore more and more with each move he makes. No blockbusters, but he's always getting some solid building blocks in return for the team's dead weight from past years.

EDIT -- Looks like the Mets are talking to the A's about Harden.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/12/06/mets.athletics/index.html

 

Apparently USA Today had the Harden/Mets story this morning .. the indications being the Mets are not giving Bor-ass the 6 or 7 years he wants for Zito (Mets topping out at 4 years w/option for 5th) and Beane is still very interested in Milledge.
I'll gladly taken Harden in a trade than overpay for Zito.

 

Harden would provide the kind of power pitcher the Mets lack and add some youth to the rotation, but he is every bit as brittle as the older guys, if not more so.

Not only did injuries limit him to 46 2/3 innings pitched in 2006 he only managed 128 in 2005. The way he slings the ball seems to put a lot of strain on that arm.

Basically, those are exactly the type of concerns that got the Mets to trade away Kazmir, though in that case the concern of future injury was more a matter of his lack of size than bad mechanics.

Zito's greatest asset is his durability. He'll give you 200 innings. Expecting that out of Harden at this point is foolish. If you can get him for Milledge and another prospect, fine, but I wouldn't overpay for the guy or count on him ever staying healthy.

 

The other thing about Harden is that he's apparently a weight-lifting fanatic, which the A's have tried to get him to scale back on because they think it might be the source of some of his problems, like rib cage pulls. Does that mean 'roid freak? I'd be a little concerned about that.

But in Omar I trust.

 

Jason Schmidt is about to sign with the Dodgers. Three years, $47 million.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2688596