Well….we gotta sign somebody for left field. I don’t feel good at all about having the worst outfield offensively in the majors so sure. Ludwick had a great year last year and he has to be better than what we have now. I think we have a to get a really good deal in a trade for it to be worth it though. I don’t wanna trade Kelly for Ludwick.

I could deal with Ludwick in LF. And No-He won’t hit like he did last year but something close would be fine. I don’t want to trade KJ though. The Cards have depth in the OF (keep in mind that they have Shumaker, Duncan, Ankiel, Ludwick, and Rasmus for their OF right now) and if they are hitting an in pass with Ludwick it may be a good time to make a deal. The cards would still be interested in KJ because their starting 2B is Kennedy..not a good thing for them. However, I would be more open to the deal if we could trade a propsect like Reyes or Morton and maybe Boyer (who is out of options anyway) as part of a package. KJ’s upside to me is still high. Yes he is 27 but he missed a whole year so developmentally you could think of him as 26. If we moved KJ Prado would do fine, but I still think that KJ Projects as a .280 hitter with a good OBP and 20+ HRS a year. That is nice production from 2B in a post steriod era.

ESPN just reported on First Take that the Braves are VERY interested in Abreu and have even offered him a one year deal but that he is holding out for a multi-year deal.

Ludwick scares me a little bit. The guy didn’t break out until he was 30 years old. He was very good last year but if it took him that long to have a good season, it could have just been a fluke. He’s very hard to judge how much it would take to get him in a trade. I doubt that they would want Johnson because they already have $5M tied up in that position. My assumption is that they would want pitching. We might be able to swing Morton, Soriano, and a low level prospect for him.

Bear in mind that while Ludwick is seen as a “late bloomer” he was actually considered a good prospect-and was included in two different trades. The first was from Oakland to Texas and then he went to Cleveland (I think as part of the Hafner trade). He was always looked at as a good corner OFer who projected power but not average. So as he is finally healthy I don’t think his power is a complete surprise.

I am glad to see that someone else is concerned about the pen. Looking at how we stack up I think we will be in the same situation as this year. I would love for us to sign a Juan Cruz as insurance/set up. Our three closer/set up options are all injury risks. Boyer has a history of injury..yet we ran him out there all the time last year. There were times I thought his arm was going to fall off. We don’t have a solid lefty in the pen w/o Ohman. Acosta has nasty stuff…but nasty control. He scares me when he is on the mound. The only sure things are Carlyle and Bennett and they are nothing more then journeymen who had decent years last year. IF everyone is healty and IF everyone pitches up to their potential we could have a great pen. However, more then likely multiple people will be injured and at least a couple people will underperform..leaving us with a thin pen…again. Too bad we don’t have a young, inexpensive, stud reliever…someone like a Joey Devine? Sorry-had to take the shot.

Why not take the chance with Ken Griffey Jr. Seems like he will take a cheaper contract and lots of reports are saying that he’s healthy right now. If he looks sloppy during spring training, then it’s time to trade for sure things. Griffey should be the brave LF this season. He still has pop and if that knee is better like the reports say then we should all be all for Griffey being signed.

the offense of ‘08? here lies the problem:
the problem with not having a power left fielder can probably go unnoticed on days when we face a right hander and everyone is healthy. however, the days where chipper is hurt, mccann is resting, francoeur is sucking, and kj isn’t streaking (not in the naked sense), we will blow and blow hard. those would be the days where an adam dunn bomb with 1 man on would be the difference maker. a power outfielder is needed on an offense that’s so inconsistent.

(and I don’t think anyone really knows what kind of money we have to spend), but if it is, I have no problem with starting the year with Diaz/B. Jones in LF. Jones had a solid minor league career and battled injury last year. Still, 10 doubles, 1 triple and 1 HR in 116 ab’s shows something. He just struck out an awful lot.

Anyway, if money is tight, I’ve got no problem with holding back a few mil so we can trade for a needed piece – whether it’s bullpen, OF power, or something else, midseason. Once we really know what the need is. It’s a long, long season, and some flexibility could make a big difference.