Critique this wacky trade idea

[Natty Redlocks]

Hello everybody. I know a lot of questionable (okay, idiotic) trade ideas get thrown around here. Far be it from me to break tradition.

Chicago Cubs get:

Adam Dunn
Ryan Freel

Reds get:

Matt Murton
Ryan Theriot
David Aardsma
Carlos Marmol

I thank you in advance for your enthusiastic response to my brilliant proposal.

[vaticanplum]

I wouldn't take all of that even for Dunn. I expect better, more established pitching in return for him.

[Will M]

Dunn should be traded for the best established pitcher we can get for him

[Joseph]

I've seen Matt Murton play, why the love for him?

[Natty Redlocks]

Originally Posted by vaticanplum

I wouldn't take all of that even for Dunn. I expect better, more established pitching in return for him.

I'm sure we could get a more established pitcher for him, but the idea behind the trade is to fill as many needs as possible with promising, cheap guys who've already contributed on the ML level but would be attainable precisely because they're not fully proven.

[Degenerate39]

That trade makes me sick to my stomach

[Natty Redlocks]

Originally Posted by Joseph

I've seen Matt Murton play, why the love for him?

Have you seen Dunn play?

Murton's year has been very similar to Encarnacion's: patient approach, uses the whole field, hits for average, lots of doubles, and looks like he might be a very good hitter in the near future. He struggled in the first half, lost some playing time, but came on pretty strong (.900+ OPS) in the second half. At the very least, he'd be an outstanding platoon partner/ 4th OF, if the Reds signed someone else to replace Dunn.

[Patrick Bateman]

Don't trade quality for quantity.

[Highlifeman21]

Originally Posted by Natty Redlocks

Have you seen Dunn play?

Murton's year has been very similar to Encarnacion's: patient approach, uses the whole field, hits for average, lots of doubles, and looks like he might be a very good hitter in the near future. He struggled in the first half, lost some playing time, but came on pretty strong (.900+ OPS) in the second half. At the very least, he'd be an outstanding platoon partner/ 4th OF, if the Reds signed someone else to replace Dunn.

Right there you're admitting a glaring weakness created by your trade proposal. And to say MM will produce like EE is the pipe dream of all pipe dreams.

It was a wacky trade idea, i'll give it that....

[Natty Redlocks]

Originally Posted by Highlifeman21

Right there you're admitting a glaring weakness created by your trade proposal. And to say MM will produce like EE is the pipe dream of all pipe dreams.

It was a wacky trade idea, i'll give it that....

Actually, I think Murton might wind up better than EE, but only time will tell. Not sure what you mean by a "glaring weakness". As long as Griffey is on this team, the Reds probably should have a starting quality 4th OF available to replace him, like Kearns and Pena used to be.

[mth123]

Originally Posted by vaticanplum

I wouldn't take all of that even for Dunn. I expect better, more established pitching in return for him.

What she said!

Actually, I like the players you are proposing, just giving up too much for them. Wouldn't mind having Theriot and Marmol. Not sold on Murton yet, but I think he will be an ok guy. Maybe a Trot Nixon type. Don't know much about his defense. I don't understand why Aardsma isn't in a much bigger role somewhere by now. He either is a big disappointment or he's not been given a chance by Dusty Baker.

If you are talking Cubs, I think they could get better really quickly. Pie in CF. Lee back at 1B. Theriot all year at 2B. Solid Bullpen. They need to sign a starter. They have Pierre and Wood coming off the books so there is probably some cash available to sign some one. They need to sign Aramis Ramirez to an extension so he doesn't opt out.

[Highlifeman21]

Originally Posted by Natty Redlocks

Actually, I think Murton might wind up better than EE, but only time will tell. Not sure what you mean by a "glaring weakness". As long as Griffey is on this team, the Reds probably should have a starting quality 4th OF available to replace him, like Kearns and Pena used to be.

You said we'd have to go out and get a player to replace Dunn after the Murton deal, so your original trade idea left us with that "glaring weakness" as I called it. We'd have to make two trades, according to you, and go get another OF.

I'm not too familiar with MM, so I'm gonna have to go see how accurate a statement that MM might be better than EE can be. Maybe you're right, who knows?

[Natty Redlocks]

Originally Posted by mth123

What she said!

Actually, I like the players you are proposing, just giving up too much for them. Wouldn't mind having Theriot and Marmol. Not sold on Murton yet, but I think he will be an ok guy. Maybe a Trot Nixon type. Don't know much about his defense. I don't understand why Aardsma isn't in a much bigger role somewhere by now. He either is a big disappointment or he's not been given a chance by Dusty Baker.

If you are talking Cubs, I think they could get better really quickly. Pie in CF. Lee back at 1B. Theriot all year at 2B. Solid Bullpen. They need to sign a starter. They have Pierre and Wood coming off the books so there is probably some cash available to sign some one. They need to sign Aramis Ramirez to an extension so he doesn't opt out.

I hope you're right and we can get more for him. After the Nats trade, I'm not holding my breath. Aardsma could be a closer somewhere for a long time; I'd rather take a chance on him than someone like Borowski.

I agree about the Cubs, though reportedly they want to bring Pierre back. Freel would make a great stopgap til Pie is ready; it would be way better than 3-5 years of Slappy.

A lot of Cub fans aren't sold on Theriot since he never did anything in the minors, but he looks like a Freel-type overachiever so far. Love to see him and Olmedo share the other middle infield spot -- they both play second and short, so if Phillips doesn't work out at SS, we're still okay.

[flyer85]

I hope that is a bad joke.

When you trade for young guys you want to target ones that could be special, not ones whose high side is to be average.

I'd rather take just one guy who could be special than 4 guys who could be average at best.

[Natty Redlocks]

Originally Posted by Highlifeman21

You said we'd have to go out and get a player to replace Dunn after the Murton deal, so your original trade idea left us with that "glaring weakness" as I called it. We'd have to make two trades, according to you, and go get another OF.

I'm not too familiar with MM, so I'm gonna have to go see how accurate a statement that MM might be better than EE can be. Maybe you're right, who knows?

We wouldn't necessarily need another OF. I'd be happy to see Murton playing every day. The 4th OF has more to do with Junior's unreliability than Murton. But he'd be cheap enough they could afford to sign someone like Craig Wilson or David Dellucci if they wanted to.