-The Reds want to acquire a starter, but they spent all their money on Francisco Cordero. The plan is to trade a young player for a cheap starter. Joey Votto and especially Jay Bruce would be near impossible to acquire. However the Reds will listen on Josh Hamilton and Edwin Encarnacion. They never seemed to like Encarnacion. Crasnick thinks the Cubs could work for Hamilton but they'd need to pony up more than Sean Marshall. Would Rich Hill be too much? It's been said in the past that the Rangers inquired on Hamilton. The Giants, meanwhile, would love to pry Encarnacion loose - Noah Lowry anyone?
If the Cubs cant acquire Fukudome or a guy like Crawford or Drew, Hamilton seems like a decent guy to get. Cubs had Hamilton earlier last year but quickly sent him to the Reds for cash considerations. He would be a good fit but not for Rich Hill.. How bout we send Marshall and Ohman for him. That seems fair. Here is Hamilton's stats-
http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=285078
-Hiroki Kuroda isn't dead set on the West Coast - he's keeping an open mind in terms of location.
He would be a good fit for the Cubs. A four year deal worth 40 to 44 million should get it done.
-UPDATE, 12-3-07 at 5:53pm: Geoff Baker checks in with some more info about the Cubs' interest in Ibanez. He is apparently their fallback option behind Fukudome. Baker notes the frightful possibility of using Ibanez in right field. One trade idea I hadn't considered is swapping Ibanez for Mark Prior.
FROM 12-3-07 at 9:48am:
Jim Hendry may view 26 year-old outfielder Matt Murton as expendable, if only because he's not the left-handed hitter the Cubs crave.
Murton has a respectable career line of .296/.365/.455 in 289 games. While it would be nice to see his power develop a bit, he's a decent option in right field. Outside of Kosuke Fukudome, the Cubs might end up acquiring an outfielder who is no better than Murton, just because of handedness. Even though he's been solid it doesn't seem that the price tag on Murton would be terribly high.
Meanwhile, Gordon Wittenmyer notes that Brian Roberts and Raul Ibanez remain on the Cubs' wish list. Murton would be useful for the O's but it would take a lot more to get Roberts.
Roberts would be a good fit for the Cubs but could cost Murton, Marshall, and Epatt. Ibanez is a good option if the Cubs don't land Fukudome. He would cost as much as Crawford or Drew but still would cost some good prospects.
-The Cubs are having all sorts of trade discussions involving Mark Prior. The Rangers and Padres are said to be two interested parties.
Of course the Cubs still have Kosuke Fukudome in their sights. But they also have their eye on Oakland's Nick Swisher and Arizona's Orlando Hudson. Both are switch-hitters, by the way.
The Rangers have some interesting players that the Cubs could take off there hands. Here is a few-
David Murphy- http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=461815
Akinori Otsuka-http://texas.rangers.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=430788
As far as Swisher and Hudson, both of them would be great in cubbie blue!
Swisher- http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=430897
Hudson- http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=407861
-OTHER RF OPTIONS-
Reasonable options in my estimation include Raul Ibanez, Ryan Church, Milton Bradley, Randy Winn, Gary Matthews Jr., Luke Scott, Geoff Jenkins, David Dellucci, and Shawn Green.
- The Cubs could also bring back Cpatt as a 4th outfielder and fall back option if Pie isn't ready.
4 comments:
we cannot forget that steve finley is still out there!!!! he is a great center fielder! and a left handed bat!
I like most of the names being mentioned here. Lets see if anything goes down tomorrow.
MLBTR and cubs.com reporting Cubs have traded Ohman and Infante to Braves for AA reliever Ascencio.
Basically we traded Jacque Jones and Infante for a AA reliever he had decent numbers in AA ball.
Sorry anonymous... I dont think Finley is "great" anymore.
There is a reason why he is at the winter meetings contacting teams instead of the other way around. There are plenty of options before we have to settle for that.
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