2013 Free Agent and Trades Idea Thread 2.0

[ABE32]

This. And why would Soriano waive his NTC to go to Cleveland?

I think ABTY said he would play for Cleveland.

John Arguello
@CubsDen

@cubswin32 @sahadevsharma Just wrote an article but it's really just speculation. A little smoke, they've liked Soriano since last year.

[Mell413]

If this is this new sarcasm thing everyone around here loves oh so much, it's not really working in this situation. Justin Upton had us on the NTC list (and it's been reported it wasn't for any sort of extension) and we talked to the D'Backs and they didn't want what we were selling. BJ Upton was probably contacted (we're in on Bourn, hard to imagine we wouldn't have called on Upton) and we were also, probably told "No". What more could they do? Turn "force CPU trades on"?

Schierholtz isn't great on his own, but we did pick up Hairston as well. That's two guys who could very realistically put up an .800 OPS out of RF in a platoon. And at a combined $5m, that's a pretty good platoon in almost any situation. It's cheap, it's effective, and neither of them eat into any of our long term plans and can totally function as reserve OF'ers for when this team decides to spend the big money.

If it's sarcasm, it's not really working too well here. If it's not and I've just come to expect this sarcasm around here lately, then apologies all around.

I certainly wasn't expecting the Upton brothers to play for us, but I had hopes for it. The Schierholtz comment was somewhat sarcastic. I mean if he can do what he did last year vs RHP and Hairston does his thing vs LHP that's certainly a useful platoon. I just don't see anything that shows he can do it again, but if he can it's useful. Although I would have rather we signed Bourne and had DeJesus/Hairston in RF. That way we only have 1 platoon. I'm not saying the 2 platoon thing is bad, but it's not ideal. It's a little too gimmicky for my taste. Especially since we have the payroll to get starting caliber players on the field. I'd rather have 1 player that can do the work of 2 people. Not saying the 2 platoons in the OF can't/won't work, but it's just not ideal for me.

[Cubsfan365]

Why would we do that trade? That's a massive rip off.

Just put it together off the top of my head. I just don't know how much other teams are going to value Soriano or Vitters, so it's hard to put together a trade involving the two when it is so uncertain. I don't think it is a massive rip off either though. Chisenhall and Brantley could be very valuable players, but I highly doubt we'd get both or trade Wood at this point.

[WorldChamps1908]

Go Sori Go!

[1972 Cubs]

I certainly wasn't expecting the Upton brothers to play for us, but I had hopes for it. The Schierholtz comment was somewhat sarcastic. I mean if he can do what he did last year vs RHP and Hairston does his thing vs LHP that's certainly a useful platoon. I just don't see anything that shows he can do it again, but if he can it's useful. Although I would have rather we signed Bourne and had DeJesus/Hairston in RF. That way we only have 1 platoon. I'm not saying the 2 platoon thing is bad, but it's not ideal. It's a little too gimmicky for my taste. Especially since we have the payroll to get starting caliber players on the field. I'd rather have 1 player that can do the work of 2 people. Not saying the 2 platoons in the OF can't/won't work, but it's just not ideal for me.

Expecting 2 platoon situations to work well is going against the odds. In 2008 the Edmonds/Johnson platoon worked great but typically it is having 2 inferior players trying to equal 1 good every day player. I would like to see a couple long term solutions added over these stop gap additions.

[JBears79]

Expecting 2 platoon situations to work well is going against the odds. In 2008 the Edmonds/Johnson platoon worked great but typically it is having 2 inferior players trying to equal 1 good every day player. I would like to see a couple long term solutions added over these stop gap additions.

It's still better than having Joe Mather or Tony Campana start.

[JBears79]

Soriano, Wood, Lake and Watkins to Cleveland for Cabrera, Dillon Howard+ fodder?

[SenorGato]

The A's ran two platoons just last year at 3B and LF, if not more.

[hrubes20]

The A's ran two platoons just last year at 3B and LF, if not more.

I know it's been discussed on here before, but I still don't get the hatred towards platoons on this board. Of course, I remember a poster (can't remember who, exactly) trying to claim that there was no Edmonds/Reed platoon in 2008 as well.

[ChiSportsDaily]

Expecting 2 platoon situations to work well is going against the odds. In 2008 the Edmonds/Johnson platoon worked great but typically it is having 2 inferior players trying to equal 1 good every day player. I would like to see a couple long term solutions added over these stop gap additions.

Platoons have a bad image, but if you can "create" a player that OPS's around .800 on the year for $5-6M, you're doing something right. It's all about allocation of resources. Spending less on effective platoons allows you to spend the big bucks on difference makers elsewhere. Platoons are probably one of the current market inefficiencies.

[KyleJRM]

Sometimes platoons get irrational hate, but sometimes people get a little too excited just plugging in a guy's splits. In a platoon situation, both players will probably do worse than their half of the split if they were playing full time.

[ChiSportsDaily]

Sometimes platoons get irrational hate, but sometimes people get a little too excited just plugging in a guy's splits. In a platoon situation, both players will probably do worse than their half of the split if they were playing full time.

True. Guys won't ever hit against ONLY RHPs or LHPs. However, the four platoon guys we have each OPS'd around .825 from their plus side the last year or two. Knock off .025 to .050 points and you might just have a fairly reasonable expectation of production.

[Mell413]

I know it's been discussed on here before, but I still don't get the hatred towards platoons on this board. Of course, I remember a poster (can't remember who, exactly) trying to claim that there was no Edmonds/Reed platoon in 2008 as well.

Not sure if this is directed at me or not. I don't hate platoons. I just thought having 2 platoons in the OF was rather odd. Although you might be able to consider it a deep OF. I'd much rather have one 3 win player than two 1.5 win players though, but I know platoons certainly have their place.

[Dfan25]

I really don't like anything the Indians have so if the Cubs have to pay almost the entire contract i rather keep Soriano. I know he is old but he is coming of a good year and he isn't blocking anybody of importance. If someone is willing to pay the money that's a different story but that won't happen.

[ReJo]

I think platoons are great but you can only do 1 or 2 tops with the limited bench spots on a 25 man roster. I think if mlb ever goes with a 40 man roster for a full season rather than just September platoons would probably become the norm at most positions.