Rumor Mill Starting Up

If Kent can't get along with Milton or Kemp, does anyone think he would be able to deal with Miggy's entourage of gluttony and complacency? This Latest Rumor makes little sense but it does confirm that Miggy is available and that the Dodgers are one of a handful of teams that have what it would take to pry Miggy away from the Marlins. I don't buy the Glaus rumor, everyone knows that he can barely play 3rd base anymore, and Ned is not going to bring in another injury case. Not when 1st base is occupied and the DH is not an option in our league. Glaus has always been one of my favorite players, back when he was the only Angel who knew what a walk was. I always thought of him as the RH Adam Dunn but with more value since he used to play a solid 3rd. Those days are long ago and even if winter surgery cures what ailed him this summer, something else will crop up.

Anyway back to the Miggy rumor mill. Hard to argue that Miggy is not one of the top 5 best young hitters in baseball. You could even take "young" out of the sentence and it would still work. However since 2003 when he burst on the scene much like Andruw Jones and played RF on a world championship team, his Adonis like build has deteriorated into Mo Vaughn territory. I've watched baseball for 40 years and I can't remember a player who weighed 185 at 20 turning into the Michelin Man by the time he was 23. Has he really ballooned as much as everyone says? This picture was taken on April 1st, 2007. That doesn't look so bad, but this  says he now weighs 250 lbs. It has to give you pause. How this man handles his weight issues will determine if he becomes the next 200Million man or just a great hitting DH.

Here is what Will Carrol had on BP regarding Miggy

"He’s at the end of his time at 3B," the baseball source told me, "but he’s still good enough to play 1B. They won’t get quite as much as [Jon Daniels] did for Mark Teixeira, but they’re looking for a different payoff." The rumored asking price is three players - one pitcher and position player that are under three years of service time and "solid ink-’em-in guys." The other would be a "plus prospect, not the best guy on the team, but useful. The Marlins will probably look for a slugger."

Quick breakdown of the Marlin needs:
1st - Jacobs - 26 years old with decent power, low batting average, low OB skills, gets hurt a lot - They could upgrade here

2nd - Uggla - ROY in 2006, and his sophomore year showed the same power but with an expected decrease in BA. However he took more walks and with his power this is nice player for 2nd base.

SS - Hanley Ramirez - One of the great young offensive talents in baseball. Also one of the worse fielding SS in baseball. A position change is in order. 3rd or CF?

C - Olivo - Young, but not very good, they could surely use an upgrade here

LF - Josh Willingham - solid offensive contributor, converted catcher, to bad he couldn't cut it defensively

CF - Yikes

RF - Hermida - been slowed by injuries but his 2nd half line of 340/401/555/956 showed why he was so highly rated. I expect him to have a better career then Matt Kemp.

What they do with Hanley changes where they need to upgrade. If Hanley remains at SS, they will need a CF and a 3rd baseman to replace Miggy. If Hanley moves to CF they will need a SS and a 3rd baseman. If Hanley moves to 3rd base they will need a CF and SS.

Where do we match up.
CF - Kemp or Etheir
SS - Chin-Lung Hu or Tony Abreu
3rd - Andy LaRoche

Florida did have a lot of good young pitchers but they fell on hard times in 2007. Anibal Sanchez underwent surgery and Scott Olsen became a lousy pitcher and a threat to the good people of Miami. They would probably not be adverse to getting a pitcher back in the deal.

So here are some deals I would offer for Miggy with the idea that he would play LF or 3rd base for us.

1. Matt Kemp, Chin-Lung Hu, and either of (Meloan, Elbert, McDonald)
   
2. Andy LaRoche, Chin-Lung Hu, Kershaw
   
3. Matt Kemp, LaRoche, Meloan

4. Loney and Kemp - to much or the perfect time to trade Loney as he may never replicate what he did this summer?
   
5. Loney, Hu, Kershaw
   
6. Loney, LaRoche, (Meloan, Elbert, McDonald)
   

I could easily be persuaded that I'm nuts.