Now that ken agrees with you, rusty, do you want to change your answer?

The Indians have promoted Chris Antonetti to president of baseball operations.

The new front office structure comes on the heels of Mark Shapiro taking an opportunity with the Blue Jays. Mike Chernoff has been promoted to general manager and Derek Falvey will serve as assistant general manager.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Peter C wrote:Now that ken agrees with you, rusty, do you want to change your answer?

Let me think about that....... Got to stick with it. Makes no sense for a player that was not going to make an appearance in the wild card game to distract his entire team for no reason at all. What was he going to be doing ? Drinking in the bullpen.... carrying a flask ?

CC has a lifetime pass to the Playboy mansion. When the all-star game was in San Francisco, CC threw a huge party at Hefner's house. I am pretty sure he got busted and did not want to lose half or more.

The Tribe actually reminds me now of the Tampa Bay Rays. Promising pitching but the limited payroll plagues their offense.

That said, trades can be made.

Look at the Cavs. At the beginning of last season, who would have known that Shumpert, JR Smith AND Mozgov would be on that team by the end of the season.

Those guys were nobodies. But trades were worked out and they did even better than Griffin could have imagined.

So it can happen. It HAS happened with the Tribe. As you know, Brantley came in a trade - a nobody at the time. And heck, guys come out of the minors and surprise all the time.

Would I trade a starting pitcher for a bat? Obviously it depends on the starting pitcher and the bat. But you trade from areas of strength to upgrade areas of weakness. It's how it works. So in a vacuum I would. But it always depends on the bat and the arm.

What does anyone think of this trade Santana and possibly Salazar for Jose Abreu. We lose 60+ BB for 10 more HR. But get a RH scary bat. We may have enough pitching without Salazar. Of course a Cuban player may not be as comfortable here as in Chicago.

How about Santana and Bauer, and offer Salazar instead of Bauer only if they don't bite?

What does anyone think of this trade Santana and possibly Salazar for Jose Abreu

Well, you asked. I think the White Sox would be out of their minds to do that. So yeah, I would offer it.



Jose Abreu is a top 5 slugger in MLB. It would take WAYYY more than a Santana and Bauer/Salazar to get him. Way, way more.

I said a while back that I would like to see us offer up two of our good young pitchers and a hitter for a legit young star hitter.

For example ... Urschela and a two young SP's like Salazar or Anderson and Bauer or Sheffield to the Rockies for Arenado

Or ... Santana, Salazar or Anderson, & Bauer to the D'Backs for Goldschmidt. .... Or to the White Sox for Abreu...

To me I think that is fair, or at least close enough to start.

Time to pull a Billy Beane....trade your closer. Cody Allen, Santana, Bauer, and Anderson would be on GM Seagull's list of "make me an offer".

By the way, I see that Billy Beane got kicked upstairs.

Santana, Salazar or Anderson, & Bauer

Santana, Salazar and Bauer would be a closer package for sure. I still don't think the Sox would do it. It would be the potential equivalent of when the Marlins traded Miguel Cabrera to Detroit years ago.

Fun to speculate but those types of deals are pretty darn unlikely. I really think a lower level, but still good hitter is much more realistic.

Just to give a couple examples, a Brian Dozier, a Kyle Seager (would be a giant upgrade at 3B), a Justin Upton. Upton and Dozier are RH bats, so it's another plus.

Not suggesting that the Tribe should go after those guys - that's silly. Those are 3 names out of tons of MLB players. But that level of bat is more realistic.

For example, a Salazar for Seager and an arm Before your scoff, the guy hit .266 with 26 homers which blows most or all Tribe hitters off the planet besides Brantley and maybe Kipnis. The devil is always in the details so the arm you got with Seager would be important.

Again, all theoretical garbage, but to me the type of hitter that would be a large boost to the lineup without trading your 2 best starters. Or Justin Upton for similar package.

Yes, relatively boring guys compared to Abreu or Goldschmidt but infinitely more doable IMO.

Have to disagree. I think you start talking about good young SP's who are locked up affordably for a while and you would get a teams attention. Think they would definitely be interested in the drop off to Santana for that, who is a 20 HR guy in his own right.

But one thing for certain, you wouldn't know till you tried. Like to see them work hard for a big splash this winter. BIG right handed stick. Star.

I plant Chris Johnson or Jesus at first and say this is your position. Santana becomes full time DH. I always thought Santana is too short for first.

HB - they certainly can try. If I am GM of the D'Backs or Chisox I want someone proven for a proven stud hitter. And I mean proven. As excited as I am about Salazar or even Bauer, even Carrasco, I don't call them proven even close a Goldschmidt type. Kluber would be the only one I would consider proven on that level. Kluber and Santana? To me, now you are talking.

By the way, while I am on this binge, here's an example of a hitter who would have really upgraded our team this year. RH bat. Plays 3B. BlueJays were so loaded they had to drop him when they made the trades for Tulo and Price, and A's pounced.

He's a no name, but so what? The numbers speak, 2 years in a row now. Blows away Urshela, that's for sure. Check the link.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/playe ... da01.shtml

Just an example of a low cost, low risk upgrade. Upgrades add up.