Time To Acknowledge The Rumors

Saunders is another story, though.

As to mean maybe not credible. It means we would be gaining something like 6 million dollars. I’d be flipping out over this deal if that’s true.

but at least you’ve got a power threat in the lineup. With this current lineup, I’d be surprised if anyone topped 20. I know the whole "85 Cardinals, blah, blah, blah, but I really don’t want a season of 3-2, 2-1 games.

After Damon he was the only OFer I could think of. I don’t want him at all.

It’s not outside the realm of possibility but it’s much more likely he experiences some hiccups while he learns to hit major league pitching. And there is a lot riding on the outcome of this season, it’s not like this is a rebuilding year where we can afford to take a chance on a newbie. The Cliff Lee trade necessitates going for it all.

If we’re going for it this year, which is what the indications are with the Lee trade, then we only have this year. 2011 matters far less, at least right now. Saunders projects to be about a 1.5 win player, and that’s if he adjust to the majors, which he might not. He also has plenty of options left, and has spent almost no time in AAA, so he could actually benefit from going there (unlike some of the players during the Bavasi era that were spending too long there).

Because Saunders can easily wait – in fact, because Saunders may BENEFIT from waiting so that he can have more practice with better pitching in AAA – we can easily look to that position as a place to upgrade our roster. And if we can find a good upgrade – say a 3 or 4 win player – we have a considerably better chance of making the playoffs this year, AND our young player has extra practice so that when he is up in 2011, he has a better shot at succeeding against the tougher MLB competition.

Also, there’s this whole thing.

Saunders is still a prospect that has not yet shown he can succeed at an MLB level. Can he? Probably. In fact, highly likely. But the growing pains are going to be there, especially with only half a year’s experience in AAA. If we’re going for it this year, we can’t afford his growing pains – at least not this year. And since Bradley may be playing the position anyway some of the time, IF we can replace Saunders this year with someone that is a significant upgrade, we should.

But for the Cliff Lee trade to make any sense, this year has to be a top priority. GMZ clearly knows the limitations – the chances of us getting to the playoffs this year are decent, but by no means exemplary. But the Cliff Lee trade is quite literally pointless if we are not trying to win this year, ergo he needs to maximize this ball club as best he can to do so this year.

“Win Now at All Costs” is an extremely stupid general management practice, but I think it is pretty obvious he’s trying to upgrade the roster considerably right now, and I think it should be obvious to anyone after the Cliff Lee trade and the Morrow trade.

Since the choices are as follows:

a) We play Saunders to give him a chance at the majors because we have no better options.
b) We turn down a significant upgrade just because we want to play Saunders, thus making our team worse this year than it could have been for no apparent reason during a season where we are only a few wins away from being division favorite with at least one of the best pitchers in baseball leaving after this year.
c) We get a significant upgrade at LF, send Saunders down to AAA where he benefits anyway, and both make our team better while still improving our chances for the future.

It would be foolish not to take advantage of C if given the opportunity.