I wouldn’t do Davis alone.

made me throw up in my mouth. that is three players at the very beginning of solid to spectacular careers for a player with an ERA in the high 3’s and who missed time two years ago from depression. i am not sure if there is a pitcher in baseball i would give up that much for.

could highlight a trade that brings back a ML pitcher. Waaaayyyyyyyy tooooooo much for Greinke.

I know you are really getting bashed on this one so I’ll try to be nice about it. I wouldn’t do much more than Davis alone for Greinke.

I’ve said before something like Salty, Harrison, JMJ/Cruz, and Arias or a low level guy would be about as high as I go.

…if i’m Dayton Moore, the first person i’m asking about Davis.

realistically, i don’t think we would come away with Greinke without giving him up.

Clinton
beltre 0-4
moreland 2-4 2b
smoak 2-4 2b

Hamburger 1ip 1h save

Bakersfield

Osuna 2B 2-3 1bb 12b
lemon 2-4

Tufts 3ip 3h 1bb

Frisco

Moonshine CF 3-5 2b 2rbi
The King 0-5
Vallejo 2B 1-4

Laughter (BS, 5)(L, 2-3) sucked 0.2ip 3h 4r 4er 2bb

OKC

MadMax 1-3 1bb

Lizard sucked
Fukusucky sucked

5 Ks, 2 H and a BB. ERA in AA thru 24 inning: .75

on a HR. most important thing…two baserunners in five innings.

is a pretty good AAA guy.

with his second save…no hits, no runs.

You sure about that? Same age, identical WHIPs in minors over a nearly identical number of starts, Harrison has the better K/BB ratio and keeps the ball in the park.

this is a rebuilding year…lets rebuild…not tear down

…but part of building is taking the assets you’ve built up and reallocating them in ways that better meet your needs. Look at pretty much any successful building team, they make deals to cash in prospects or young player for young player deals that change positions. Tampa Bay cashed in their prime guy Young to bolster their pitching and infield defense. Arizona cashed in for Haren (yes, it has been less than a perfect result).

You can wait until you are mostly built, but I don’t know that you absolutely have to. The Rangers are pretty clear on their strengths and weaknesses. It obviously requires confidence in the front office to make the right move, but assuming that, there is nothing wrong with it, imo.

In my eyes we need to answer a few questions before we start selling the farm…

1) Once 2009 concludes and we should a much better idea of whether BMac, Hurley, Harrison, Hunter and even Feldman have what it takes to be legit rotation guys. If three of this group can become solid bottom rotation guys that eliminates a need to trade for or sign a middlin’ SP. Feliz and Holland might make their MLB debuts next season, but it would be foolhardy to think they’d come up and be highly successful right off the bat.

2) See if Millwood pitches well enough to pick up his option…or if his option vests automatically (Don’t know where he’s at on the IP stipulation). If he pitches the way he has the past few starts, we have our #2 rotation guy. If not we’ll probably need to acquire one if we have any hope of contending.

3) See which catcher needs to stay and be the Ranger catcher going forward. I think that Teagarden needs to stay in AAA all year next year with MaxRam shuttling back and forth from AAA to Arlington. It’s not the ideal situation for MaxRam, but it will suffice for one year and one year only. If we finish 2009 we will see whether Laird can follow up his strong 2008, whether Salty forces his way into the line-up, whether Teagarden looks to be able to hold his own with the bat and whether MaxRam can continue to progress offensively the way many (including me) believe he can.

4) See if Andrus can do what he’s done this year in AAA for the whole of 2009. See if Davis can handle 3B sufficiently well next year (I have a sinking feeling that JD re-ups Blalock to play 1B). When Hank’s gone then Davis moves to 1B and Andrus shows he’s the future at SS in OKC, MY has to move to 3B. he just freaking has to. FOTF or not he’s gotta take one for the team.

If all 4 of these questions are answered positively then I can see trading away some key pieces for a young SP like Greinke as some pieces will show themselves to be expendable or not. I don’t think we know right now if Salty or Teagarden is the weakest link in the Catcher pool or whether Hurley or Harrison is the weakest link in the pitchers pool. I like Greinke but I do not think he is someone we should trade Salty AND a Hurley/Harrison for. If the second piece coming back with Greinke was a bit better than Ramon Ramirez, then I’d seriously consider it. But until the above questions are answered I’d rather stand pat and see what 2009 holds.

….very good in two years for the next 5+

Lemon (ok)…Vallejo (ok, kind of same thing)…JMJ (ok, they might appreciate that)…Font (whoa).

Big difference there.

We know our division pretty well, and everyone but LAA has plenty of high profile prospects to get us well past 20. This division is much stronger, especially on a per team basis, than the ALE.