Well, This is Somewhat Disappointing
by R.J. Anderson on Jul 20, 2008 10:49 AM EDT
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Should Tampa Bay become involved, they'd also have a good shot at Street, who's been a generally effective closer. The Rays are said not to have talked to Oakland about Street to date, however.
From Jon Heyman's newest column. It's a bit odd that the teams haven't at least mentioned Street during their presumed talks. Especially when you consider Buster Olney's repeated mentions of a possible deal, but it could also mean the Rays are either working on something else that makes Street redudant or content with the current bullpen.
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I've been reading the rumors on Street and aparently the scouts are coming away from games unimpressed.
Whether that means there’s someone wrong and they feel he’s gonna regress further and further, or if it’s something mechanical and most teams don’t have time to work with him if they’re in the race, I don’t know.
It could also be a ploy to drive the asking price down as well.
Please...
He isn’t as bad as some of you would like to believe.
Bartlett
Bartlett is not a particularly good offensive player, but he is not as bad as some seem to think, and for a shortstop he is about middle of the pack in the AL. As he has no power, his OPS+ for his career is low (82), although in his past 3 full years it was 99 and 88 before the 62 this year. And he got hurt as his offense was returning to his career norm, so we might speculate that he would get it back into at least the 70s or even 80s as the season continued. I checked every current AL shortstop* and except for the stars like Jeter and Young, those two seasons of 99 & 88 OPS+ are firmly in the middle of offensive shortstops, in fact better than most.
Additionally, in terms of OBP, Bartlett’s .332 career mark is tied for 6th best among AL shortstops, again hurt by his sub-par season this year.
*In the interest of honesty, I used Baseball Reference, and some of the shortstops are no longer in that role (Pena, Bynum) or not really shortstops (Harris). On the other hand, that simply highlights the difficulty in finding a good offensive SS and in some cases the career is speckled. For example, Renteria has a 96 OPS+ for his career, but also 7 years well under 100 including a 77, 80 & 84.)
Bartletts Defense more then makes up for his lack of offense.
What he doesn’t drive in at bat, he saves on the field. Would we like to see more out of him? Damn straight. But hopefully his below par numbers in the first half get reversed by an above par second half :).
We need a bat more than a reliever
The pen is fine, and we have options in the minors that would be more than serviceable. No need to give up talented prospects for a reliever.
People over at the AN blog
Want to trade street as much as we here want to get him. So at least there’s a mutual interest between fanbases.
No need for Street
Posted this earlier… weird that it disappeared, but I’m not sure I get why the Rays might be interested in trading for him. As a FA pickup, fine, but in trade? He’s putting up some ugly numbers right now, with runs allowed in 5 of his last 10 appearances in a pitcher’s park, and he’s most certainly not an improvement over Howell, Balfour or Wheeler (not to mention Percival… got to figure out something there). He’s not likely to be stretched out into a middle innings guy, so if we presume Howell/Wheeler/Balfour as our best 7-8-9 combination, what do Street’s proponents see as his role here? His numbers don’t label him as a get-out-of-my-way kind of pickup.
Street has a track record that goes further back than his last ten appearances
Unless there’s an injury concern, he’s a MUCH better pitcher than Wheeler, Percival and anyone else the Rays have besides Howell or Balfour. And he’s still significantly better than Howell, and likely Balfour, unless you feel Balfour’s improvements are for real.
Brewers are trying to work trade for Street...
Check ESPN insider for details..unlike us they are aggressively trying to improve their team …They just acquired Ray Durham to platoon with Weeks @ 2nd…He may be 36 but he’s a good vet. pickup and has a .293 BA /.385 OBP.
by arkansasraysfan on Jul 20, 2008 11:19 PM EDT reply actions
.unlike us they are aggressively trying to improve their team
You could not be further from the truth. The difference is we don’t slip things to the media.
by R.J. Anderson on Jul 20, 2008 11:38 PM EDT up reply actions
They are taking advantage of having a deep and talented farm system
I fear that our front office is trying to hard to protect our great farm system. While yes it would be nice to have a consistent flow of prospects coming up for the next 4 years it won’t win us any championships. At some point we are going to have to make some moves to improve our team.
They're taking advantage of a closing door
Sheets/Sabathia/Durham are likely gone after this season and it’s entirely possible Prince Fielder will be gone within a few seasons. The Rays are in no way the same boat, nor should they approach this season with desperation.
by R.J. Anderson on Jul 21, 2008 2:01 AM EDT up reply actions
Huh?
I’m not in favor of selling the farm, but you post doesn’t make sense. Sabathia and Durham are players they recently acquired, not guys they were, or are currently worried about losing to free agency.
And Fielder isn’t FA eligible until 2011. So if you’re willing to go that far into the future, i’ll raise you a year and say it’s entirely possible Crawford, Pena, Percival, Iwamura, Hinske, Balfour, Floyd, Howell, Upton, and Navarro will be gone within a few seasons.
The only player you listed who furthers your point is Sheets. In the grand scheme of things, Milwaukee looks to be one year beyond us in the success cycle…It’s not like we’re talking about the 97 Orioles or 2003 Giants.
by GomesSweetGomes on Jul 21, 2008 2:58 AM EDT up reply actions
Sabathia's gone
The Brewers have a much tighter window than do the Rays. Sabathia is certainly gone to FA, and now Fielder’s potential replacement (Laporta) is gone too, so they’ll have to do well with those sandwich picks for CC.
Of those you mention that the Rays are at risk of losing, several aren’t part of the long term plan (Hinske, Aki, Percival, Floyd), several won’t be expensive to keep (Navarro, Howell, Balfour) which really just leaves Crawford, Upton and Pena to think about. Pena has given (and probably will continue to give) the “hometown” discount, leaving Crawford and Upton. And the Rays can figure out a way to effectively replace one or both those guys in the next four years. I’m pretty happy with a 4 year window, and if we don’t butcher the farm system with trades, the window might be longer than that.
The Rays probably have the widest window of all the .500 or better teams in baseball.
Yeah, they do
And the Brewers are still likely in the top 5 in terms of ‘window’. I wasn’t trying to say the Rays had a narrow window, but rather saying its ridiculous to suggest the Brewers don’t. And again, the Brewers aren’t particularly worried about losing Sabathia. They didnt trade for him in the hopes of re-signing him. Sure they need good draft picks to replenish the farm…every team does…but the fact remains that over the next three years, their position players will easily match up with any team in baseball.
DBullsFan suggested that the Brewers were taking advantage of a talented farm system. RJ countered with the suggestion that they are taking advantage of a closing window…problem was, 2 of the three guys he cited as this reason are guys they’ve acquired in the last 2 weeks. Essentially, he suggested the Brewers felt forced to trade for Sabathia/Durham because they were worried that Sabathia/Durham would be free agents?!?
And if Navarro and Howell keep playing the way they have, they will make himself very expensive, very quickly.
by GomesSweetGomes on Jul 21, 2008 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions
*themselves
We need an edit feature
by GomesSweetGomes on Jul 21, 2008 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions
The current Rays management
has a history of making trades. There is no reason to think they are not very active trying to improve the team. Comments that suggest otherwise are akin to those that grumble when the Rays do not sign every mediocre free agent in the off-season, using the argument they are marginally better than what we have.
I think Friedman’s point about not getting too high or low makes sense. I am confident they are assessing the needs of the team in trying to determine what makes the most sense both for a run this year and to protect our assets for the future. There is no reason to think they are rigid about protecting the farm, only that they have to balance potential gains now (stress on potential) against potential needs later (again stress on potential).
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