(Ed. note — the purpose here was to give my opinion of where Lugo could be traded based on needs/value. As for the actual trade, I realize I may have offended Bob and others by not being crystal clear — St. Louis would need more than one ‘free’ veteran to get a top-notch closer or anything back that could help the 2010 team.)
I absolutely love this time of year and can’t wait for the games to begin! It will be a busy week here at PH8, and my role is to stir the pot so to speak.
We have an ESPN League to draft, UCB Radio and Roundtables to debate, 2009 Player Grades to finish, and one job interview (okay so the last one is just for good luck).
Not lost in all of this, actual games start up Thursday with the newest Cardinal making life interesting all over the place. While talking with C70 Daniel yesterday we found out Felipe Lopez grabbed a single digit jersey. More surprising still was that No.3 currently resides in Ruben Gotay’s locker for the time being.
Joe Strauss makes some fine points in his above story, and that is where we are now. Lopez should remove most doubt about needing another lefty on the bench, and he may even make Julio Lugo an interesting trade piece. Boston is still paying for the middle infielder and getting cheap veterans may be just what the doctor ordered for some of the cash-strapped teams out there.
Who exactly may want/need the help? Here’s a quick scan of a couple of teams that would make interesting trade partners for St. Louis:
Dodgers: they let Hudson go and have a huge financial crunch due to the selling of the team. Not sure anyone wants to deal with LA after last season’s playoffs, but Torre’s troop does have some bullpen arms that could do the trick.
Royals: when was the last trade between these two? Lugo has to be a roster upgrade over what KC is throwing out there on a regular basis, but I really only mentioned this for a Joakim Soria sighting. Now there is a guy who offers insurance in the bullpen!
Pirates: doubt a deal is made within the NL Central, but I would like to snag one of the lefties Pittsburgh’s rotation employs . On a side note, the trades of Wilson and Sanchez last year have left me clueless to who will even be manning the middle of the infield for the Pirates…hmmm?
Padres: two words for this potential trade partner — Heath Bell. San Diego has a new hierarchy in place so maybe this isn’t the best option. But since a couple of deals were done in the recent past, anything is possible when both clubs know each other.
Have an option of your own? Throw it in the comments or to me over Twitter @aprfool79 as today is the lazy Sunday of TV surfing. NASCAR is always fun in Vegas and there might be a hockey game of some importance on in a couple of hours (USA, USA).
Of course as I’m finishing this up, the Cardinals are saying all the right things about keeping both FeLo and Lugo. This has been status quo for the front office and the preferred plan of attack in my opinion. They kept the interest level seemingly low in Lopez until the perfect time, and that will also help any potential Lugo deal. Now it is time for MO to do his magic one more time!
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Seriously? Boston gets a broke down Chris Duncan but the Cardinals could get Joakim Soria, one of the Pirate lefties, or Heath Bell for Lugo. I thought ridiculous trade ideas were for message boards not respectable blogs like this one.
Glad to have your feedback, so I tried to make it more obvious. Mo is a great GM but not a magician so pulling off a Bell or Soria deal would involve much more than Lugo. I feel a March deal is in the works, so I guess another post is due. Please feel free to give your idea of what the Cards could expect in return for him?
Yeah, I think you’re grossly overestimating Lugo’s value. The Cards won’t be able to get more than two PTBNLs for him.
It is a given that Lugo by himself holds little value, at least to the 2010 club. My question to all is would it do any good to package him with a couple of AAA players who don’t have a spot in St. Louis?
The Cardinals have quite a few they added to the 40 man last Winter that are ticketed for Memphis until at least 2011. Bryan Anderson and Mark Hamilton are the two names that jump out at me the most.
Not to mention a number of RHP who may or may not have a role in this campaign. Two PTBNLs makes me think Mo is better off holding on to Lugo until someone gets hurt and desperate. Putting a package together now is the right move for March. Thoughts?
I guess the Rangers are at the top of the list now. Not only looking at Lugo to fill Greene’s spot, but looking for a cheap RH swinging corner infield type. Maybe we could do a twofer and get one of the better of the many cheap RHRP on the Ranger’s 40 man.
Hope someone is better acquainted with the Texas team than I am. The only pitcher that stood out was C.J. Wilson who has closing experience, but I don’t feel St. Louis needs another lefty reliever.
I won’t dispute that assessment, but you can’t expect to get stand-outs for non-standouts. I wonder if the Cards had somebody in Suprise yesterday watching several of those minimum wage pitchers contrubute to three-hitting the Royals, giving one walk and no homers.
well if this standout was vastly overpaid, I would disagree with you then.
A few examples
a trade for Barry Zito
a trade for Derek Lowe
a trade for Miguel Cabrera(yes even he is overpaid http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/miguel-cabreras-trade-value)
Derrick Goold said on his radio show on 101 ESPN this morning that he could envision the Cards swapping Lugo for a starting pitcher that can eat up innings in the fifth rotation slot if their options already in-house don’t pan out.
His words re: Lugo (I’m paraphrasing) – Lugo is a useful player who is free. He has some value because he doesn’t come with a salary and he can still play at the major league level.
Not saying that necessarily makes him a great trade chip, but he does have some perceived value.
With the money being paid to #1 thru #4 this year, I can’t imagine the Cards are convinced they need another innings eater. Theoretically, they have four of those already. A five inning guy, who could get thru the lineup twice every time is really all they need. Its reasonable to think that can be found in house.
You’re certainly right, but at what cost?Who replaces McClellan in the bullpen? Hawksworth and Boggs are seemingly better suited in the ‘pen. Hill still has plenty of proving to do, and Garcia is still likely to start the season in Memphis.
I think the key with Lugo is that he has a similar value to the Cards as a trade chip that he does to other teams as a trade target. He’s essentially free – so if the Cards hang onto him, no big deal. His value is enhanced by his contract status. And he’s more or less surplus with the signing of Lopez.
Key here in my opinion is that the Cards have a lot of flexibility in Lugo’s case.
Don’t disagree with any of that. No hurry. If Kyle is the #5, we may end up looking for that guy who can come out of the pen in the 5th or 6th and be counted on to throw strikes and keep the ball in the park for an inning or two. That’s more like what I see Lugo bringing in trade, rather than a reliable innings eater. That’s also the role we had problems with last year. Would be nice if somebody stepped up and we could just keep Lugo in case somebody goes down.
Yep, I think we agree in principle – fact is that Lugo has become expendable, and there’s no necessary rush on the Cards to deal him – which allows them to take their time to determine the best hole to fill with a Lugo deal, and whether the deal is right at the price.
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