Look I am all for loading up on young pitching prospects. However this move would be more than just Bradley for Parker. The trickle down effects would hold this team back. Heres what I mean. Take Bradley out of this lineup and where is it? It automatically becomes more left handed dominant and as we’ve seen that is a problem. And don’t give me this “bring up Nelson Cruz because of what hes done in the minors” crap. Hes done it before and there is no reason to think he won’t come up to the bigs and continue to suck at this level. Plus who do you put in the 4 hole to protect Hammy? Byrd, Murphy, Davis, Hank? Thats three lefties which you would want to have a righty to break them up. So Byrd or Cruz. Wow that certainly scares alot of pitchers. So the trickle down of giving away Bradley is most likely our offense will see a drop in production.

Thats fine if we get a pitcher who can come in and help the pitching staff also reduce amount of runs given up. Parker could do that but not for another 2 years at the very earliest. Most likely 3-4 years away. Thats too far away for me to trade away arguably the most complete hitter on the market right now. The last 18 months have seen an incredible influx of talent into the lower levels of our minor league system. That was important because without that base you can’t build off it. Now we have that base in place its time to start adding more to the walls so to speak. The lowest level prospect i would take for Bradley is an arm that is in AA and can conceivably help this club out no later than Opening Day 2009. Trading for Parker would only go toward the continued perception that we are always “gearing up for two years down the road” that so many fans have right now. Its now time to start trading for ML ready talent. We have the base of good young core players. Its time to compete. And that time starts next year. Not in 3 or 4 years.