A guy at orangewhoopass.com who has proven reliable in the past said he's hearing that the current possibilities for a trade for a center fielder are with the Mets and the Athletics. Which would lead one to assume, Cameron or Byrnes?
Not exactly news, both have been on the market for awhile and the'Stros have reportedly been interested in both. Either would be an improvement, but would prefer Byrnes.
Byrnes would be great. Of course, I base that entirely on the opinions of my friend above me. BTW, pick up some Hostetler if you're over that way today.
Cameron - better D, more power, strikes out a ton, much more $$$ Byrnes - scrappy, better OBP but still strikes out a bunch, locked in for $2.2M next season.
Also has a wrist injury and will be out about as long as Berkman. Not a good option since we would most likely have to send Lane in the deal. Which would lead to serious OF depth problems the 1st month of the season. Byrnes is the most probable target although if that was going to happen then why hasn't it already? I'll bet that unless there is a deal that knocks our socks off that we are going to go with what we got into ST. Which would be : LF - Biggio CF - Taveras RF - Lane Unless something happens like an unknown player explodes in ST or a trade.
Agreed on giving up Lane, he's a huge key (along with MoBerg, *the* key) to the offense this season. The player development guys don't think Willy's ready to hit big league pitching. Purp does seem open to giving him a shot in ST, though.
Mike Cameron is a disaster. I don't know much about byrnes other than what I have read. I'd love to swing a deal with the A's where we get Dotel back and put him in the setup role again for Lidge.
Apparently the Astros can't be THAT sold on Lane if its taken until the age of 28 to get him regular ABs
I am pretty sure (i could be wrong) that he brings a hefty contract with him....not to mention, we already have a guy missing at least the 1st month of the season....we don't need 2.
Here are some interesting stats: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=5492 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=5786 Look at both sets of career stats. But I do agree that Cameron is not a great option. 'd much rather have Byrnes.
I would rather have Cameron in a heartbeat, as long as his 4.5 million dollar salary isn't a problem. Mike Cameron is arguably the best defensive CF in baseball, Eric Byrnes isn't. And Byrnes is overrated as a hitter as you can clearly see by his yearly splits for the past 3 years. He hits LHP great, but is barely average versus righties. I like both players but give me Cameron with everything equal. For all the talk about his low BA, people forget he performs just as much offensively as Byrnes and he is one of the best defensive CF's in MLB. Assuming price tags on these players is similar and you get good reports on Cameron's wrist, I would rather have Cameron. Not that I wouldn't be ok with Byrnes as well.
how about neither and we just wait and see what our young guyz can do.....if they falter, we can make a deal then.....
This source reports Cameron's deal to be 3 years, 19.5 mill, with a 7 mill team option on year 4. ESPN reports Cameron's salary last year to be 4.33 mill, which would leave 2 years, 15 million remaining, most likely plus some buy out sum. That's a lot for a guy with a pretty sorry batting average, inconsistent hitting, and coming off an injury I think Byrnes is slated to make under 2.5 mill this year, which is a pretty big difference than the average of 7.5 per that Cameron will get in the next couple years. Byrnes is still arbitration eligible also, I'd assume. With Taveras on an ETA of 2005/2006, not being locked into a pretty big contract like Cameron would be beneficial. Not to say I'm particularly partial to Byrnes...the guy plays hard from what I've seen, but not the brightest player, either.
It is 3 years 19.5 mil. I can't seem to get an exact breakdown of his contract though, but sorry for putting his salary about 2.5-3 mil less than it will be, my mistake. But of course, the Mets are going to have to eat some salary or take some back in any trade for the guy, more than likely. However, I still say that if the salary part of the equation can be worked out and the players involved are similar to those for Byrnes I'd prefer Cameron. Like I said, Cameron brings GG defense to the table, and he is not that much worse a hitter than Byrnes if at all. I think that it depends how the organization views Taveras, and how soon he'll be ready. I have no problem with Byrnes, it's just I think Cameron is the better defender and the better player. But if the salary can't be worked out, or the players involved are substantially larger than those needed for Byrnes, I agree go for Eric.
Well, according to the chronicle, Purpura says he isn't planning on making any deals for a CF between now and spring training. This guy, from what some of you say, is supposedly a good talent scout. I haven't seen anything that tells me that he can negotiate or GM a team. I think we need to get someone in here to GM and let him go back to what he was doing. I equate it to the Dotel thing...he was great at what he did, but when it was time to shine, he didn't have a clue.
