The Hunt for Bryce Harper

by R.J. Anderson on Jul 14, 2009 1:33 PM EDT Comment 22 comments

Justin Upton is playing like a phenom, which is exactly why Arizona should have him bunt every single at-bat.

I was planning on doing a ~weekly feature on the worst teams in baseball and how the fight for the number one pick was heating up, but then I noticed the Nationals have essentially clinched the position. Washington is doing a wonderful job and is well ahead of the pack. At this point you have to wonder when the Nats will start resting players like Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn, just in case.

Let's look at the win totals to date:

Team	W
WSN	26
CLE	35
SDP	36
OAK	37
KCR	37
PIT	38
ARI	38

A few of the teams could still make this interesting.

If Cleveland were to trade Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez, then replace both with replacement level players, they could find themselves losing ~5-7 WAR in the second half.
The Padres need to sell on Jake Peavy and Heath Bell while batting Brian Giles leadoff and Adrian Gonzalez ninth.
Oakland helped San Diego by taking Scott Hairston and giving them no immediate reward. If Billy Beane has his heart set on Harper, trading Matt Holliday, Adam Kennedy, and Ryan Sweeney would help.
Kansas City could ... actually; I think they're doing just fine.
The Pirates shipping off Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson would leave four of their top five positional player WAR values to traded players.
Arizona, stop playing Justin Upton, stop pitching Dan Haren, and play Jon Garland at shortstop.

With any luck, this race will be the one to watch down the stretch.

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Would trading Ryan Sweeney really help?

No power, decent at best OBP and his replacement player, Travis Buck, could potentially be much, much more valuable if the A’s ever decide to give him another shot.

"True fact: In a global thermonuclear war, the only human who would survive would be David Eckstein" -PT

by travdog6 on Jul 14, 2009 4:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Sweeney's a lot better in the field.

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by Sky Kalkman on Jul 14, 2009 4:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Buck has much higher power potential though

I’d think they’re even, especially in a corner.

"You end up with a name like ‘Outman,’" he said last week. "What else are you going to do? You’re going to get people out, man." ~ Dallas Braden

Free Travis Buck.

by Blicks on Jul 14, 2009 5:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Mets are still in this

What do you think that Francoeur trade was for? All the medical staff has to do is, keep everyone on the DL, get David out for the rest of the year on some bogus injury, shut down Johan, Pelfrey and K-Rod and they have replacement player at almost every position. The can also trade Sheff and Castillo for some mid level/crappy prospects. Look at this lineup: Argenis Reyes (2B), Alex Cora (SS) Daniel Murphy (3B) Jeff Francoeur (RF) Fernando Tatis (LF) Omir Santos © Nick Evans (1B) Jeremy Reed (CF) Tim Redding (SP)

There are double A teams better than that!

"We must win and we must know how to win rather than win because we have statistical people."

by Evan_S on Jul 14, 2009 4:22 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

way better

Cora is a beast though, always have liked him

I Have Spoken.

by The_Fan on Jul 14, 2009 8:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

nice assessment of KC

Dayton Moore is running out of 0 WAR veterans to acquire. I’m sure he’s already talking to Minaya about Francoeur

by gilmeche55 on Jul 14, 2009 4:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Moore cornered the market on 0 WAR vets last offseason

He’s focusing on negative WAR vets now.

"You end up with a name like ‘Outman,’" he said last week. "What else are you going to do? You’re going to get people out, man." ~ Dallas Braden

Free Travis Buck.

by Blicks on Jul 14, 2009 5:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

it made me laugh

I Have Spoken.

by The_Fan on Jul 14, 2009 8:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

i want somebody to lose more games than washington

dont want harper in the NL East….in a few years the nats could actually win 70 games!

by wrightnumber5 on Jul 14, 2009 4:25 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Assuming they can sign 2 straight Boras clients at record level contracts...

@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.

by bs.uf15bosox9bears23 on Jul 14, 2009 11:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oakland would also be "helped" to Harper by

maximizing the playing time Jason Giambi, Orlando Cabrera, Nomar Garciaparra, and Bobby Crosby got in general, and playing time Jack Cust got in the field.

"You end up with a name like ‘Outman,’" he said last week. "What else are you going to do? You’re going to get people out, man." ~ Dallas Braden

Free Travis Buck.

by Blicks on Jul 14, 2009 5:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Oh. And keep Trevor Cahill in the big leagues.

"You end up with a name like ‘Outman,’" he said last week. "What else are you going to do? You’re going to get people out, man." ~ Dallas Braden

Free Travis Buck.

by Blicks on Jul 14, 2009 5:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You've gotta think Orlanda Cabrera rebound, no?

He’s averaged nearly 3.5 WAR the past four years.

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by Sky Kalkman on Jul 14, 2009 5:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He's had a decent decline for a few years,

coupled with the fact that he’s now in a pitcher’s park. He also showed up to camp overweight, so there’s a chance he’s just never recovered from that as well.

"True fact: In a global thermonuclear war, the only human who would survive would be David Eckstein" -PT

by travdog6 on Jul 14, 2009 6:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs