*This occurred to me a few weeks back. Carl Crawford has been widely heralded as the best left fielder in the game for quite some time. If a team is going to spend boku dollars on him, doesn't it make sense to at least consider him as a center fielder?
*How quickly would the Dodgers have said yes to an offer of Prince Fielder for James Loney and JBrox? I would guess 0.00001 seconds and that includes a phone delay. That cannot be a real offer from Milwaukee.
*Fixing the Mariners in three "easy" steps
1: Trade Dustin Ackley and Blake Beaven to the Royals for Zack Greinke. The M's cash in on Ackley before the league realizes he will never hit for power. They have some time, though, as Dayton Moore is the last to know everything anyway. Seattle would have the best 1-2 combo in baseball (they had this last year too before dealing Cliff Lee, but I digress) with King Felix and Greinke. The Royals would have six years' worth of control of an incredible Eric Hosmer-Ackley-Christian Colon-Mike Moustakas-Wil Myers infield. Sprinkle in some Mike Montgomery, John Lamb, Aaron Crow, and Brett Eibner and the Royals could win the AL Central by 2013.
2: Trade Michael Pineda, Rich Poythress, and Nick Franklin to the Brewers for Prince Fielder. If rumors are to be believed, this deal would crush the Dodgers' offer of Loney-Broxton, and would give Milwaukee a number three starter behind Yovani Gallardo and newly-acquired Shaun Marcum. Fielder would provide Seattle with the power threat in the middle of the lineup that they desperately lack. Remember, Jack Z used to work for Doug Melvin.
3: Sign Adrian Beltre. His first go-round in Seattle didn't go as planned, but he would slot perfectly into this lineup, both offensively as a right-handed power bat and defensively.
That would leave Seattle with this:
Rotation: Felix, Greinke, Jason Vargas, Doug Fister, Luke French/Erik Bedard
Lineup: Ichiro RF, Chone Figgins 2B, Franklin Gutierrez CF, Fielder 1B, Beltre 3B, Justin Smoak DH, Milton Bradley/Michael Saunders LF, Adam Moore C, Jack Wilson SS
Obvious Questions:
-Can they afford to make these moves? Re-sign Fielder?
-They had better win now because they are trading their best long-term assets. Are they willing to do that?
Two More Thoughts:
The defense would still be great, keeping Jack Z happy.
Likelihood of these moves happening > Likelihood of Brewers accepting Loney/Brox for Prince... but not by much.
*The D'backs gave away Mark Reynolds for next-to-nothing. I love this move from the Orioles perspective as neither Kam Mickolio or David Hernandez will ever be more than middle relievers despite their mid-90's fastballs. How has Arizona made themselves better this offseason? To me, they haven't (is JJ Putz really the savior to an historically terrible bullpen?). This has the makings of two consecutive dismal offseasons, and they haven't even traded Justin Upton yet.
*The Mets should trade Carlos Beltran to any team willing to eat his entire 2011 salary. With the money saved, maybe they can buy out Luis Castillo and Olly Perez and look ahead to 2012.
*I think the Red Sox-Padres swap of prospects for A-Gonz was a very reasonable deal for both sides. Gonzalez was going to leave San Diego after this year anyway, so it made sense for them not to MikeRizzo this situation (see: Nationals / Adam Dunn). I don't understand holding on to Heath Bell though. If you are playing for the future - and by trading Gonzalez it is clear they are - then go all in.
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