All that said, and semantics aside, I think we’re both agreed – Bell would be a marginal, expensive upgrade, and neither of us want him. I think we’re more or less on the same page here :-).

In your or my biased eyes, perhaps. I prefer to recourse to the stats.

See here http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/shane-victorino-is-better-than-ryan-howard/

or in fact, just look at their respective values in recent seasons:
Howard:
2008: 3.0 WAR
2009: 4.6 WAR
2010: 1.3 WAR
2011: 1.2 WAR
Total: 10.1 WAR
Victorino:
2008: 4.7 WAR
2009: 3.6 WAR
2010: 3.7 WAR
2011: 4.4 WAR
Total: 16.4 WAR

So, frankly, it’s not even that close. Victorino is better. Factually better.

YET AGAIN, you’re totally ignoring defense. Howard is a bit of a butcher at 1B, Victorino a competent CF. Even though Howard’s a slightly better hitter, that makes a huge difference in their value. That’s not even taking into account the fact that Howard is a horrible baserunner and Victorino is good (which is incorporated into the WAR figures), and the fact that Howard has an appalling platoon split and can be neutralised by LOOGYs in high-leverage ABs (which isn’t). It should also be noted that Howard has significantly more PT and PAs over this timespan. Also, Howard’s older and on the downward slide of his career IMO, and has a skillset and body type that tends to age pretty badly. Going forward he’s likely to be trailling Victorino by an even greater margin.

Again, I strongly suggest you rethink your attitude as regards the value of different positions on the defensive spectrum, and the fact that you seem to hugely over-rate slugging-type 1B/DH guys and more or less ignore defense and positional adjustments. Again, this is no knock on Adams (who i think could be almost as good a hitter as Howard, and who I’m warming to as a possible long-term answer at 1B), but just pointing out in a friendly way perhaps that you might be looking at things the wrong way; if you genuinely believe Howard is a much better player than Victorino you’re not necessarily in the minority of casual fans, but you’re way off the mark.

OPS leaders of .980 or better in AAA and AA from 2010-2005 with MLB OPS:
1.123 Nelson Cruz .834
1.120 Todd Linden .638
1.090 Joe Dillon .722
1.076 Geovany Soto .814
1.076 Kevin Orie .709
1.074 Randy Ruiz .820
1.060 Kila Ka’aihue .683
1.057 John Lindsey .237
1.053 Dan Johnson .738
1.047 John Bowker .679
1.035 Clint Robinson NA
1.033 Tagg Bozied NA
1.025 Rick Short 1.404 in 15 AB at 32
1.019 Brian Myrow .534
1.017 Sean Rodriguez .682
1.016 Jack Cust .815
1.016 Chase Headley .736
1.016 Alex Gordon .756
1.015 Mitch Jones .785
1.011 Chris Carter .506 in 100 AB still young
1.010 Conor Jackson .762
1.009 Jamie D’Antona .440
1.009 Andy Green .547
1.002 Justin Huber .580
.998 Dallas McPherson .738
.997 Scott Hairston .740
.994 Ryan Shealy .755
.993 Josh Whitesell .665
.986 J.P. Arencibia .692 in 283 AB still young
.986 Lou Montanez .589
.986 Brandon Guyer .833 in 6 AB still young
.985 Terrmel Sledge .745
.980 Joe Koshansky .676
.980 Jason Botts .669

Talent speaks louder than Stats, if stats meant you would be a good big league player then we would need to about 30 more teams because every team in the minors has several guys who post good looking stats every year and never get a shot in the majors.

The Braves would have to be thinking that Colby is as low as he gets right now and Hanson could be hurt next week. Both of which are possibly true. The Colby situation even likely.

I don’t necessarily want to trade Colby. But, if the Braves want to sweep me off my feet, then it’ll take Tommy Hanson and not Desmond Jennings….not even Waylon. ;o)

If Pujols is gone, what’re the backup options? Adams is part of that discussion so that’s why we all get so worked up over him. If you don’t believe in him, then you’re worried that the club might consider Adams an option. If you do believe in him, you’re worried he might get traded anyways or the Cards might go a different direction and block him.

Howard hasn’t quite been that player the last two years. Still good but not producing at 2006-2009 levels.

Adams doesn’t have the power of Howard. Heck, almost no one in the league outside of Jose Bautista and maybe Adam Dunn does. But Adams doesn’t strike out like Howard or Dunn. Adams also has shown a lot in terms of average.

All I’m saying is that if Adams ever put up a .300+/25+/100+ stat line in the majors, that it would take a heck of a lot, even for a CF, to beat that. Only 13 players last year had 100+ RBIs and of them only 6 had a BA .290 or better. Not saying Adams puts that up, but if he ever did, Jennings would have to be like a prime Grady Sizemore or Juan Pierre to be close.