Dickering with Geo

We've opened the negotiations with the Cappers for his depth. With the #1 and #7 picks, he's not interested in the minor league draft. He's interested in a stud at a great price. Well, we've only got one of those kind of guys, Jim Edmonds at $29-06. George is interested in Edmonds - he asked for him. The key to dealing with George (and really everyone) is to find out what they want, offer it, and ask a lot for it. George is an experienced player, who has actually won this thing once, so we're not going to talk him into anything. If he wants Edmonds, well, we're not married to the guy.

He confirmed he's going to keep Casey, Freel, Lane, Castilla, Mota, Hoffman, Burnett, Reyes, Wells and Foppert. He's thinking seriously about Guzman if he ends up on the major league DL (probably will, so that's another spot). That means Tracy and Mohr (who he offered) are available, along with Schneider, Ayala, and one or possibly two of the guys from the list of 10, since Edmonds would step into one spot and possibly Guzman the second spot.

It's a great deal for George, who has a great keeper list, and gets to add a well priced stud who even stole 8 bases last season. He's got good, cheap keepers and needs to spend money on some expensive players. And he's giving up guys who are worth nothing to him.

For us, Edmonds is a great player who is right at the top of his value. For us to move him for younger, cheaper parts is an opportunity to sell high. We won't be able to buy a big hitter for Edmonds' price (which is why George wants him). We've already asked for Foppert in addition to Tracy and Mohr. We'll see, but if he balks we'll ask for Wells and call it a day.

We don't actually need Foppert or Wells. We probably can't find a place on the roster for either of them. It's looking like David Bell will be back this weekend, so our keeper list would be Barrett, Tracy (CI), Bell (3B), Gonzalez, Drew, Mohr, Drew, Werth, Tomko, Suppan and Looper. That's only $72 for 10 players. No space for JJ Hardy if he makes the team. No room for Valverde, though we'd only keep him if officially annointed the closer.

And we'd have to buy some seriously expensive guys. In fact, we could afford Beltran if we want him. Here's a snapshot of us buying Beltran, Hudson, Thome, and Patterson, all for $30+ that falls just short, but would be tweakable:

C Barrett 3
C 2
1B Thome 38
2B Gonzo 1
SS 5
3B Bell 4
MI 3
CI Tracy 5
O1 Drew 20
O2 Patterson 33
O3 Lawton 25
O4 Werth 1
O5 Mohr 5
O6 Beltran 48
U 2
HITTERS 197
P1 Tomko 5
P2 Suppan 3
P3 Lowry 10
P4 Hudson 30
P5 4
P6 3
P7 3
P8 2
P9 2
P10 Looper 25
PITCHERS 87
TOTAL 284

This list has power and speed, decent numbers if we pick well among the middle relievers, one closer (fixable later in the season). There are 3 4-category players here. Might be a little light on BA, but again that's fixable as there are no Tony Batistas here. And there are a lot of guys right at the start of their prime years.

As for the extra player, it would be tradable. But we're not going to kill this deal over a guy we don't need. And we'll hope for Hardy to start at AAA, which he should. We could be a contendah.