Trade Mark Buehrle to...

[Felix]

MB has a 9.5 Mil option for next year or a buyout to make him a free agent. The sox are in no position to trade a guy they currently do not have under conctract. End of story.

uh.. care to explain?

[VAfan]

It seems with all Williams positive traits, he doesn't know the damn thing about trading players at their peak value.

 

I'm not merely suggesting this due to Buehrle's troubles. I've stated before it was ridiculous (IMO) that not one starter was delt after the World Series. Any reasonable person would have guessed their collective statistics would likely regress; and if it didn't, they were going to command a higher salary the following season.

 

What made it even more difficult to comprehend is f***ing Brandon McCarthy was available to replace whomever was traded. AND Vazquez was acquired. It honestly made too much sense not to trade a WS starter. Our bullpen was noticeably weak -- trading one could have replenished that part of our team as well. How many games has the bullpen cost us? Or an entire season without McCarthy?

 

I can't say these moves would have been the difference between our current standings and a playoff birth, but I believe we'd be better off than our current situation.

 

 

But, in fact, what KW did was make ONE TOO MANY TRADES last offseason, when he shipped El Duque, Vizcaino, and Chris Young to the Diamondbacks for Javy "Meltdown" Vazquez. At the time, I accepted this move b/c neither Garland nor Contreras had inked extension deals. But in retrospect, this was the deal that hurt our season the most.

 

Instead of having BMac in the rotation, he languished in the bullpen, misused more than any other player by Ozzie. El Duque proved in the postseason he could pitch out of the bullpen, and would have likely done better than McCarthy being jerked around from short man to long man to in-between. And Vizcaino would have gone a long way to soften the meltdown of Cliff Politte and pitched the whole season better than Politte's backup David Riske.

 

Plus, we'd still have Chris Young. If we didn't want to keep him, he probably could have fetched Alfonso Soriano at the trading deadline.

 

Now that we stand where we do, I've written that KW should keep the starters for another season. Part of that is trying to pick the one to let go. Part of that is deciding that 2006 was the off year, and 2007 is much more likely to be an on year. If I had to let one go, it would be Vazquez. Problem is, he certainly won't bring back 3 players. He likely won't even bring a Chris Young straight up.

[Flash Tizzle]

Now that we stand where we do, I've written that KW should keep the starters for another season. Part of that is trying to pick the one to let go. Part of that is deciding that 2006 was the off year, and 2007 is much more likely to be an on year. If I had to let one go, it would be Vazquez. Problem is, he certainly won't bring back 3 players. He likely won't even bring a Chris Young straight up.

Look at the benefits vs. disadvantages of keeping everything as it stands in the rotation.

 

-Garcia pitches well/poorly he's gone in 2008. Possibly without compensation.

 

-Buehrle pitches well/poorly he's gone in 2008. Possibly without compensation. It's been explained before -- the situation with Buehrle needs to be resolved before 07' season begins.

 

Contreras/Garland/Vazquez are staying regardless, so It's useless speculating. Buehrle and Garcia are the two possbilities because of their limited contracts and questions related to effectiveness. Say what you want about the Vazquez trade, he's proven himself in September as a more than capable starter. Potential ace of our staff. Hell, even during his "five and dive" days his mistakes typically lasted one inning. Even on that note, he still is filthy for five innings. Buehrle (in particular) and Garcia are far more inconsistent.

 

And you haven't explained what to do with McCarthy. I'll assume you want to trade him, because keeping him in the minors (not sure if he has an option remaining) is a f***ing travesty. Who exactly do you trade a young, cheap, possible #2 in a rotation for? You'll never have equal value unless the other team is willing to overpay with several cheap, young, pitching prospects. And don't say Crawford. If we're trading McCarthy, it should be for two/three McCarthy calibur pitchers who are -- at most -- one year off from the majors.

Edited September 29, 2006 by Flash Tizzle