what to do with Milton

[Will M]

The 2007 Reds starters I want
1. Arroyo
2. Harang
3. Free agent ( Ohka, Padilla,Lilly,etc ) or trade
4. Milton or Lohse
5. EZ Ramirez, Claussen or Belisle
6. Bailey in AAA then joins the Reds ~6/1 if he does well in AAA

what I don't want is:
1. Arroyo
2. Harang
3. Lohse
4. Milton
5. EZ Ramirez, Claussen or Belisle
6. Bailey in AAA then joins the Reds ~6/1 if he does well in AAA

I just can't see the Reds competing with both Milton and Lohse in the rotation.

I would prefer Lohse since I think he has more upside & is more likely to give us 200 IP.

Options for Milton:

A. keep him & Lohse :thumbdown

B. let Lohse go and use Milton as our 4th starter ( saving the $4M plus Lohse will make in 2007 )

c. Keeping Lohse & finding a trade partner for Milton. ( my preference )
Eating most of Milton's salary and trading him for a prospect is not enticing. I would prefer to find a match. The type of trade that seems possible is our overpriced player traded for your overpriced player where the salaries wash but each team gets a player that fits their needs better than the player they had.

One that seems possible is Milton for Geoff Jenkins. Here's why:
The Brewers want to move Jenkins, they have younger OFs they want to play. Jenkins is owed $7M next year ( the last year on his contract ). Both Ohka & Doug Davis are free agents so the Brewers could have an interest in Milton. Jenkins plays a decent RF. Still hits righties well ( .300 average with 17 HR ). Could be used in a RF platoon with Deno/Freel if Griffey stays in CF OR Griffey or Dunn is traded ( and the other plays LF ). They only scenario where the Reds couldn't use Jenkins is if we keep Dunn and move Griffey to RF.

I am sure there are other players out there that we could trade Milton or LaRue for.

What do other posters think?

- Will

[mth123]

Kyle Farnsworth is an overpriced player who could help the Reds. Larue and Lohse?

[Tom Servo]

Ridiculous salary aside, I actually trust Milton more on the mound than Lohse. Atleast you can pencil Milty in for about 6 innings and 3 runs per start, you never know what the Lohse-ster is up to.

[Will M]

Farnsworth is someone the Reds could target. He is OK just not worth the money he is making. Milton for Farnsworth I would do.

Look at Lohse this way ( if rotation is Arroyo/Harang/#3/Lohse/EZ ) - if Lohse fails then Bailey takes his place.
If Lohse & EZ fail well then we are screwed

[Unassisted]

While it would be nice to unload Milty, it just doesn't seem realistic without shipping him off with cash or taking on some other team's burdensome contract.

[Will M]

Milty is a bad fit for the Reds and has a bad contract.
Jenkins would be a better fit for the Reds.

Jenkins is a bad fit for the Brewers and has a bad contract.
Milton would be a better fit for the Brewers.

[mth123]

Why is Jenkins a bad fit for the Brewers? if the Reds trade Dunn, I could see a Jenkins, but the Reds traded Kearns, partially to open RF for Griffey IMO. Trading Milton for Jenkins leaves Griffey in CF. I'd rather have 5 Miltons in the rotation than 1 Griffey in CF.

[Patrick Bateman]

I think we could trade him while eating 5M and he would have some value. Some team would be willing to take Milton at 4M.

That way we could keep Lohse as the #4 and have enough money to get a Lilly type of pitcher.

[graveyard]

Why not try Milton as closer? He seems to pitch good for a few innings. this may work out.

[Patrick Bateman]

Why not try Milton as closer? He seems to pitch good for a few innings. this may work out.

Because he stinks?

Usually you move a guy with only 1 or 2 good pitches (and that's it) to relief. Milton has a full selection of bad pitches.

[Slyder]

Why not try Milton as closer? He seems to pitch good for a few innings. this may work out.

See Lidge this year? You wouldnt even get THAT good out of Milton with his Homeritis. If he still had the good fastball he had coming up MAYBE think about it. But now it would be worse than bringing Danny "one foot in the" Graves back.

[tbball10]

i hope griffey gets traded but it wont happen so i'm gonna hope dunn gets traded instead...

[paulrichjr]

I think we could trade him while eating 5M and he would have some value. Some team would be willing to take Milton at 4M.

That way we could keep Lohse as the #4 and have enough money to get a Lilly type of pitcher.

Milton is a good number 4 pitcher and those cost more than 4 million per year. One more year of Milton as our number 4 is fine with me but I don't really care about paying $5 million for Milton and then another $5 for his replacement who want be a whole lot better.

[Will M]

Why is Jenkins a bad fit for the Brewers? because they have several younger OFs that they want to play. they are looking to trade him

[Patrick Bateman]

Milton is a good number 4 pitcher and those cost more than 4 million per year. One more year of Milton as our number 4 is fine with me but I don't really care about paying $5 million for Milton and then another $5 for his replacement who want be a whole lot better.

It's basically spending an extra 3-4M on an upgrade from Milton to someone decent. To me, it's worth it, and we may actually get a decent player in return for eating 5M of Milton's contract.