The latest from ESPN's Buster Olney (Insider required)…
- Olney explains why the Phillies' internal discussions about offering Ryan Howard for Albert Pujols were accurate and newsworthy: "When you have confirmed information that the Phillies have discussed internally an avenue through which how they might pursue the best player in baseball — and you know exactly who said what to whom, and how sturdy the intent was — that is news." Olney's information should be trusted despite the Phillies' denials, but keep in mind that this was simply one club's internal discussion.
- Certain talent evaluators believe Adrian Gonzalez is so valuable given his contract that the Padres may not find a comparable return. Some of Olney's sources believe the Padres should keep Gonzalez into 2011.
- Olney's hearing Chris Young's velocity is back in its customary 87-88 mph range. As the best-paid Padre and an impending free agent, Young has to be considered a midseason trade candidate. He is earning $6.25MM this year with an $8.5MM club option for '11.
Hey Buster…I’ve considered trading Hanley Ramirez and Adam Dunn for Albert Pujols in my fantasy league. Is that newsworthy also???
I’m considering becoming the new Batman. I haven’t talked to the movie studio or the director or producers but I’m considering it.
Breaking: Royals considering proposing Jose Guillen for Evan Longoria.
I’m pretty sure 28 other teams have had internal discussions about what it would take to get Albert Pujols too. I don’t find those discussions any more newsworthy than the Phillies.
This. Every front office from every team should be having periodic internal discussions about trading for all the better players in the league. The phillies have probably internally discussed trading to Johan Santana too, this doesn’t mean we should be reporting the “Phillies are working on a deal to trade with the rival Mets!” For that matter, the Cards have probably had internal discussions about the possibility of not being able to re-sign Pujols and what it would take to get Howard. It’s call preparing for all possibilities, and it is not news worthy. The reporting of this stinks of attention grabbing by Olney as the season is about to start. Well, congrats. You got your attention.
Bingo, it’s called due diligence. You explore every option out there, that way you don’t miss any potential opportunities. You discuss what you would be willing to give up, so that IF (and I cannot emphasize that word enough) the Cardinals decide they can’t resign him and start shopping him, you are prepared to strike quickly with a legitimate offer.
That being said…Albert Pujols will be a St. Louis Cardinal for the remainder of his career. End of discussion. Goodnight.
Well maybe the Pirates haven’t had discussions about Pujols yet…
“When you have confirmed information that the Phillies have discussed internally an avenue through which how they might pursue the best player in baseball — and you know exactly who said what to whom, and how sturdy the intent was — that is news.”
How sturdy the intent was…come on. Is Olney that oblivious to think that the Phillies expect to be able to pry Albert away? This was a miracle idea by them. A lottery ticket, and nothing more. It’s just an attempt to get attention, and the sad fact is that ESPN is rollling with it like it is news. It’s awful.
The Cardinals have been considering offering Skip Schumaker and Nick Stavinoha for Chase Utley as well from my sources.
How many more sarcastic trades can you guys come up with? It’s kinda old. Anyway, there could be good reason behind.
The Phillies might think they can not have either after 2011 anyway and the Cardinals might start to doubt they can afford Pujols, and Ryan might give them a cheap deal to play in his hometown. Without Pujols in the line-up, Ryno is the next best thing. I’d take 6-8 years of Howard over 2 over Pujols personally.
I’m not saying that there is even a small chance of this happening, but people are blowing this out of proportion, saying it is ubsurd, when it may actually make sense down-the-line. As a Phillies fan, I think Ryno is gone after this year to get more prospects any way. We could get much much more for a guy like Pujols, so maybe that is Amaro’s think as well…who knows. It’s all rumors right now. It does make this week interesting however.
It is absurd; why would the Cardinals do this now, even if it was a possibility? He has 2 years left on his contract, and they have a very good shot at the playoffs or even better than that. Why would you give up the best player in baseball if you have a chance to win the World Series?
What if the Cardinals are out of the race by the deadline?
If a team can get Albert Pujols, of all players, for a full season AND that trading deadline how much do you think they are going to give up for him? Let alone being able to be the first team to try to resign him. People act like he’s the most untouchable player in baseball, when in reality he’s the one of the biggest trading chips any team has in baseball has right now.
That being said a Pujols for Howard deal makes no sense for the Cardinals, from basically every possible perspective.
I can’t see the Cardinals trading Pujols, even if they are out of the race by the trading deadline. For the Cards to trade him, they would have to be convinced that they couldn’t resign him. Pujols is saying publicly that he wants to remain a Cardinal for life. Yes, everyone says that about their current team, but I think he’s actually serious. I also can’t imagine the Cardinals front office doing anything (financially) that may jeopardize their ability to resign him.
What would teams be willing to give up to sign him? I think you should also ask what the Cardinals would be willing to give up to keep him. Personally, I don’t see any reasonable package which would make me want to part with the best player in baseball.
how is it that no one recognizes that Pujols is light years better than Howard? Aside from his freakish power, he also bats for average constantly. Howard just for power and if he’s having a good year will hit just north of .280. Prince Albert’s never averaged below .314. NO WAY I trade Albert for anyone other than half the Yankees lineup.
The Cardinals wouldn’t just be trading Pujols, they would be trading a historic franchise player, the likes that only a few Cardinals have ever seen:Musial, Gibson, Smith, McGwire (yes, he was still iconic to the franchise), and now Pujols. Trading away Pujols would be trading away part of the fan base with it, and I think there would be a severe backlash involved.
If indeed the story is true and this has been discussed internally by the Phillies, it’s still a pipe dream. For major news outlets to be distributing this raises questions their credibility and ability to determine what is newsworthy and what’s not. Although the media has certainly generated a lot of buzz about this, I don’t think it’s quite the response they were looking for.
I’m sure some in the Cardinals organization have thought ‘what would it take to get Josh Hamilton or Matt Kemp’ because Ludwick will likely be gone when his Arb runs out. Such conversations are inevitable in any baseball office, but I don’t believe they’re particularly newsworthy. I wish there was a decent alternative to ESPN.
Josh Hamilton will prob. be traded come next offseason anyway. That Julio Bourbon will take over and they can get even more prospects. Hamilton could be CF for the Yankees (or LF) if Crawford falls through/
I completely agree with all of this.
As much as I love Kemp as a Dodger I would trade him in a heartbeat for Pujols. As long as the trade didn’t involved Kemp plus either of Billingsley or Kershaw I wouldn’t have a problem with it, but I still think that’s not possible.
Albert Pujols is the best player in the game and arguably the best in history. Howard isn’t even the best player on the Phillies. This “trade rumor” makes absolutely no sense and should have never been reported on ESPN. Its an attention grabber. I honestly think Howard will be trade sometime soon to free up money to keep Werth but not to the Birds.. Sorry Philadelphia. PEOPLE! Feel free to come up with all kinds of sarcastic trades, they are as true as the sarcastic trade Buster Olney came up with. Olneys a looser.
I think Howard has proven to be one of the most money hungry players out there. He’s set several records for arbitration and has not discussed long-term deals. I highly doubt he is going to give a discount and there is absolutely no chance in hell that the Cardinals would make a trade with that in mind.
It would be a huge mistake for Philly or St. Louis to trade their star 1st baseman for prospects when they are in a position to compete because there is a 99% chance that none of the prospects ever become near as good of players as Howard or Pujols.
In other news, the Royals have had internal discussions about attempting to pull off a “Butler+prospects for Pujols” megadeal. We even got Dayton Moore to stop reading ‘Superfudge’ for 15 minutes and partcipate…………………..
Dayton Moore: Fact, Butler is a strong and talented young player who shows lots of potential and even hits many doubles. His defense at 1B is truly “unmoving,” and “rocklike.” We really think Butler is the kind of guy who can make this happen for us. Cardinals fans will love Billy Butler’s big heart…………(seriously, he has an enlarged heart.) STL is about to get BUTLERED !!!!!!
I don’t know-if I’m the Padres, a guy like Chris Young might be good to have around with all those young starters. Young is an extreme fly ball pitcher; he isn’t going to be a good fit for a lot of clubs because of that. His stuff does play at Petco, and some of the other parks around the NL West. Do the Padres want to deal him to a division rival?
It’s Chris Young, not Jake Peavy, I don’t think the Padre’s would have too many problems trading him within the division if it that’s where the best offer came from.
For everyone who is discrediting Buster you are not completely understanding what he is saying. What he is saying is that if the Cards come to the conclusion that they cannot sign him and would entertain the idea of trading him, that the Phils have discussed that they would consider trading howard for pujols. He is clearly not saying that these have made contact or the Cards would trade him. For what is it worth as a fan of that franchise it would iresponsible of the phils not think about that. Everyone who is bashing Buster, who writes creditable articles and is one of the best out there, you should actually read the content and listen to interviews on what he is saying before you begin to bash him and berate his articles. He is one point on the time.
This is correct. If it looks like the Cards can’t sign Pujols, and it IS going to take a quite large sum of money to keep him, they would be irresponsible to NOT deal him. Who knows how either one of these players is going to age? Olney reported something he was told. I guess that makes him the bad guy?
It’s not that he reported something he was told, it’s that he reported something that is simply not newsworthy. But that in itself hardly something new for the news industry as a whole and Olney can’t be criticized too harshly for it.
The major grievance, I think, should be filed against sporting news networks. I think the whole thing has been blown out of proportion by ESPN and Buster is taking the flak for it because news networks are using his name to blow this ‘internal discussion’ into something bigger than it is.
Again, I wish there was a decent alternative to ESPN. A nation wide sports network that didn’t have all the annoyances associated with the Eastern Sports Promotional Network.
Here’s the thing, what Olney said is of course true, but the media frenzy it intentionally created was ridiculous. It wasn’t newsworthy.
Irresponsible reporting by buster!
Yeah how dare a reporter report something he heard. Shame shame.
Olney you should be fired. Everything I have read from you is nonsense and its obvious your all about the east coast teams.. I do love Pujols comment regarding an older trade rumor involving the cubs.
“You know, that’s not the first time,” Pujols said before the Cardinals’ Monday afternoon Grapefruit League loss to the Mets. “It’s probably the first time it was in the news, but two years ago, somebody said that I was going to get traded to the Cubs. And I was like, ‘Pfft.’ People always try to speculate and try to start something so they can say, ‘I was the first guy.'”
What the hell is the Phillie Phanatic suppose to be anyway. Couldnt you guys have found a better mascot than a giant green bird on crank with a horn for a nose? How about a giant cheese steak sandwich? ANYBODY GOT A GOOD MASCOT FOR THE PHILLIES? lets hear them….
Wait…did you just diss the Fanatic? Them’s fightin words…
I think green mascots are in right now… Philles, White Sox, Red Sox, Pittsburgh (although the pirates one is an actual animal)… Southpaw looks like a booger, but I like him.
Pfft, the Phanatic is the best in baseball. I don’t see Fredbird in Cooperstown yet. Mascots that are real animals are overrated; I’d much rather have something unusual.
And you better watch out what you say about him. He’s the most sued mascot in sports for a reason and he knows where you live.
I wish I could be paid to make things up and then justify them. I can be good at it too, Buster. See: “The Red Sox today discussed trading Jacoby Ellsbury and a prospect for Albert Pujols. A source familiar with the Red Sox (also known as some random fan with an internet connection) stated it would be a good move for the Cardinals because they’d get a kick @$$ fantasy player in return and a prospect. JD Drew was overheard saying it sounded “like a great deal” (despite he fact he was replying to hearing his chiropractor’s fees went down). Epstein was unavailable for comment since I don’t know his phone number.”
So valuable he may night find a comparable return? The A-Gon hype is getting a little ridiculous. Yeah he is a great young player, on a team that has made it very clear they don’t intend to keep him around, but his numbers aren’t exactly “uncomparable” caliber. Until 2009 he put up pretty typical OPS numbers, and power hitting first baseman aren’t exactly the hardest guys to find.
You, like the average baseball fan, obviously don’t realize just how much Petco has an effect on hitters. If you look at OPS+ (which takes into consideration park factor) rather than regular OPS you might realize what kind of player Adrian is. Not to mention his gold glove defense. He’s going to be 28 next year with an unbelievable contract and he’s only getting better. He’s a great guy in the clubhouse and a great guy in the community. What’s getting “a little ridiculous” are the fans like you who don’t know what they are talking about. Adrian Gonzalez is one of the best hitters in the game under a fantastic contract for 2 years. It’s going to take a ton.
Dont forget, without Adrian, the Padres would be a losing team!
…See why the “don’t trade Adrian” crowd is weird?
Value is not determined exclusively by talent & production. His contract — in combination with his talent & production — make Gonzalez exceptionally valuable TO OTHER TEAMS. Teams on which he’d be a difference-maker. And by difference-maker one doesn’t mean 75 wins instead of 65.
Keeping Gonzalez would be completely foolish. It means two draft picks (not even guaranteed) instead of 3 or more vetted prospects. The two years of production coming with the draft picks is inconsequential for the Padres.
Yes. This. Exactly. AGonz’s value to the Pads is as a trade chip, because he is so amazing that the Padres still suck with him on the team. Every other team knows this, so there are only two main things setting his value: 1) any deal has to be plausibly better than the comp picks SD would get if he left, and 2) interested teams have to make their offers facing concerns about getting outbid. Apart from that, his numbers and goodness as a player don’t determine the return the Pads will get.
This has got to be the most elitist tone I have ever heard in my life. What the hell is your problem?
Adrian Gonzalez was 4th in MLB in OPS+ last season
baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2009-standard-b…
Scroll down to the individual players.
He was top ten in MLB in just about every offensive metric including wRC, wRAA, ISO, wOBA, WPA/LI, WAR.
Even playing in Petco he ranked in the top ten in unadjusted OPS.
I think the big reason that AGon is getting so much hype is because of the 40 home run numbers that he has put up in a huge pitchers park like Petco. Sure, most of the home runs were on the road. But the point is, if he WASN’T playing half of his games in Petco, shouldn’t he be able to power out 50-60 home runs EVERY year?! That’s what sets him apart from the pack. Ryan Howard also can hit 40 home runs a year, but he’s in Philly. IF AGon went to Boston, as it has been rumored quite often lately, you would assume that in a teensy little hitter’s park like that that he could easily mash 50+.
And that, plus stellar defense and decent (if not spectacular) OBP is why his hype is HUGE right now. Oh, and he’s only 27. JUST about to START hitting his prime. Crazy.
While Petco is very much a pitcher-friendly park, Citizens Bank Park is one of the fairest parks in baseball, boosting scoring by 3% in each of the past 3 years (ranking 14th, 15th, and 13th).
So you may think that outside of their home parks, AGon would be a better hitter than Howard, but comparing their career Road stats, that’s not the case:
AGon: 1,524 PAs, .370 OBP, .935 OPS, 17.5 PAs/HR
Howard: 1,636 PAs, .371 OBP, .955 OPS, 14.4 PAs/HR
On My Fantasy team Would a Pujols for fielder and j.Hamilton be good…..I see Fielder as having an excellent season this year.
yah I’d make that trade in a heart beat and I’m a die hard cards fan. Pujols is the best player in baseball but he isn’t that much better than the rest of the league and while I hate him, Fielder did a lot to establish himself as an elite hitter last year with a 1.000 OPS season. I would say this though, hamilton’s value depends whether your league requires you have a centerfielder or just 3 outfielders.
“Olney’s information should be trusted”
It shouldn’t for the simple fact that it’s Olney’s information which is actually misinformation.
its funny that IF ( i SAID IF) the cardinals were to trade pujols for howard, the reason would be for the money he will/might command in his next contract. Pujols brings in more revenue than he costs the team, so they lose money for trading him and they lose money for keeping him and paying Arod money.
quite the cache-21.
what all fans have to remember is the bottom line for the team owners.they will do what is in their best interest.don’t ever say that the cardinals will never trade pujos. if the time comes and they can’t afford him they will figure something out to benefit them and go on from there.the fans will moan and groan but in the end they will still attend the cardinal games. the fans give the team their loyalty the owners are loyal to the bottom line
the bottom line is the cardinal ownership will do what is financilly sound for them. don’t think that they would never trade pujos, if the time came and they could not afford him they would have to trade him.the fans would be up in arms but in the end the owners know the fans would still come out and support the cardinals. the fans might be loyal to the team but the owners are loyal to their bottom line. in this day and age no player gets in the way of the owners bottom line… bet on it!!