Any chance you can kill futureredbirds.com. That, or put a link there to this site.

I’m just coming back into the world and noted with some disappointment that futureredbirds.com was frozen at July. I did not realize you had moved until VivaElBirdos pointed over here.

why is losing a first round draft pick seemingly something to be avoided at all costs?

when you lose a first round pick, you gain something…cash. the cards would have an extra million or so to allocate to the rest of the draft if they lost their first round pick. they could pocket the money. i hope they wouldnt do that. i think their draft strategy would change a little bit, and the cards would pick 1 or 2 guys with strong college commitments that fall in the draft. if they throw some over slot cash at a few guys it would help ease the loss of the #1 pick, although it likely wouldnt replace it. there arent always people like this in the draft, but melville fell to the third or fourth round last year. it isnt exactly rare for late first round talent to fall a round or two lower. the cardinals could also take the whole bundle to latin america to see what they could buy. i dont think they can exactly replicate the lost first round talent, but they can certainly bring in some decent amateur talent with that first round pick money. that leads me to think people arent using the right equation to evaluate these scenarios. they seem to use:

fuentes @ 3/$30 vs. 1st round pick and signing player X

instead, i think they should be using:

fuentes @ 3/$30 + latin american prospect(s) @ $1MM vs. first round pick and signing player X

Defensively, he has trouble with the balls that get up on him quickly. Interestingly, he moves really well laterally and plays those balls better than the ones hit right at him. His arm is average at best but playable. He is stuck at the corners because he does not have the athleticism to move to second.

Dustin

@Burt: that is an excellent question – well framed. I don’t have a great well-thought-out answer, but it is a great topic for discussion and one that will go well with our Prospect List(s) when those are complete. It would be an interesting exercise to draw a line in the list where every prospect above the line is worth more than a first round pick and every prospect below would be worth giving up if it meant we would keep our first round pick.

I don’t think the Cardinals need an experienced reliever as insurance for Perez / Motte. The front office appears to disagree; the organization been linked to numerous FA relievers and a few others that would be acquired via trade (Scott Downs and Ryan Madson come to mind but I doubt these rumors were accurate). One name I haven’t seen mentioned anywhere is Juan Cruz, a pretty terrific reliever. I don’t know what his salary demands are but he does have the awful stink of Type A status attached to him. He might as well have the Black Plague or Hepatitis (type) A.

Hypothetically, let’s say Schumaker would net Downs or another reliever of his caliber (John Grabow, perhaps?). Is that preferable to signing Cruz and losing the draft pick? I think so. Schumaker is easily replaced w/in the system. What about Joe Mather? Again, I say yes (reluctantly). I don’t think I would trade Bryan Anderson or Daryl Jones, however. I think they both are currently worth more than a first-round pick.

All of these hypotheticals and scenarios essentially brought me to one question: In your expert opinions, what Cardinal prospects or youngish players are worth more than a first-round draft pick?

What? I’m supposed to say something about the baseballing?

Um, okay, how about this: I’m really surprised that we haven’t heard Craig’s name being tossed around a bit more here and there as part of potential trade packages. I think it’s pretty clear that he and Mr. Freeze are pretty similar players, but due to Freese’s stronger package defensively he has the edge over Craig. I look for Freese to grab a big league roster spot in ’09 as the backup corner guy (a la Scott Spiezio), and Wallace is quickly moving into uber-prospectdom. Craig looks more and more to me like trade fodder. I suppose if one wanted to move him to left field on a more permanent basis, he might have the bat to get to the show, but then again, that would only toss him on to the pile of OF prospects the Cards already don’t have room for.

And as for him playing somewhere in the middle of the diamond, it’s certainly not a bad thought, but having seen Craig play a few times at Springfield, I would have to say I don’t think it would work. He’s awfully big, and while he moves fairly well, I just dont’ think he has the nimbleness to play up the middle. Just one man’s opinion, though.