Season thread. The Diamondbacks start their run to the playoffs tonight

[Dback Jon]

Originally posted by Zona90
Question for all. How great does the season feel now than three weeks ago? All I can say is I'm pumped!

Very pumped. I have felt they had a good run in them, but I thought it would happen when the vets got back - never dreamed our rooks would play so well.

 

[Lefty]

Originally posted by Dback Jon
No doubt!

And Toronto, Baltimore (sorry Schillingfan) and Texas fans as well!

Let's go AL. Sorry Schillingfan but we know you're pulling for the AL also.

 

[Ryanwb]

Originally posted by Zona90
Question for all. How great does the season feel now than three weeks ago? All I can say is I'm pumped!

Do you think Johnson and Schilling coming back will ruin the mojo????

 

[Dback Jon]

Originally posted by Ryanwb
Do you think Johnson and Schilling coming back will ruin the mojo????

Not worried about Johnson and Schilling ruining the mojo - more like Counsell, Bautista and Mantei.

 

[Lefty]

Originally posted by Dback Jon
Very pumped. I have felt they had a good run in them, but I thought it would happen when the vets got back - never dreamed our rooks would play so well.

This just does not happen in sports. You lose your best players and the young guys fill in and get you back in the playoff hunt. This is so huge because the young guys have gotten so much experience and have succeeded. Their confidence is way up and Brenly knows what young guys he can count on. Normally it takes a year or so to get the young ones acclimated but not here.

 

[Dback Jon]

Originally posted by Ryanwb
I sort of had a thought that they could get Carlos Beltran from KC...they want two major league ready guys in return. I say John Patterson and Danny Bautista and all of the sudden we have a really nice rightfielder with speed and a gun for an arm.

Beltran would look good in purple. Only drawback is he is in the last year of his contract (at $6,000,000) this year.

 

[Ryanwb]

Originally posted by Dback Jon
Beltran would look good in purple. Only drawback is he is in the last year of his contract (at $6,000,000) this year.

Is he arbitration eligable? KC can't afford him and they know it, so think he can be had for relatively cheap.

 

[Dback Jon]

Originally posted by Ryanwb
Is he arbitration eligable? KC can't afford him and they know it, so think he can be had for relatively cheap.

I think he is an Unrestricted Free Agent after this year.

 

[Lefty]

My MVP's of the game go to Finley, Overbay and the bullpen by committee. Also, the play of the game goes to Kata on that unbelievable dive.
<img src=http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20030628/capt.1056763467.diamondbacks_tigers_dts102.jpg>

 

[Ryanwb]

Kata reminds me of Brett Boone

 

[Tired_Cardinal]

I like Beltran a lot and he would come in and make a contribution. Any thoughts on Vladi or would the Expos not dump him. There has been conversation for a year + that the Expos and Vladi were going to part with each other ? With Rand and Curt comming back into the fold there should be a boost and the only reall worry is Bautista and Mantei taking there roster spots back from the kids

 

[Lefty]

ESPN Tonight just mentioned that if the Diamondbacks were smart they would make a trade after the All-Star break. They were mentioning that there are a lot of players who all can't be on the team and a trade makes sense. It will be interesting to see what transpires in July.

 

[Ryanwb]

Originally posted by Zona90
ESPN Tonight just mentioned that if the Diamondbacks were smart they would make a trade after the All-Star break. They were mentioning that there are a lot of players who all can't be on the team and a trade makes sense. It will be interesting to see what transpires in July.

What would be nice is to get some salary off the books and let the young guys play and still be in the playoff chase

 

[Alan]

Originally posted by Zona90
ESPN Tonight just mentioned that if the Diamondbacks were smart they would make a trade after the All-Star break. They were mentioning that there are a lot of players who all can't be on the team and a trade makes sense. It will be interesting to see what transpires in July.

Ummm...actually they said the Diamondbacks will basically be making a trade after the All-Star break because they are getting so many players back.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Originally posted by Dback Jon
Not worried about Johnson and Schilling ruining the mojo - more like Counsell, Bautista and Mantei.

Agree especially about Mantei - the guy has never been the same since his injury - and he was scary as hell but effective before that. The bully has never been better IMO than during this streak -don't screw up a good thing out of loyalty. Danny Baw scares me as well - he just doesn't seem to be all the way healthy and the guy in right now are producing. As far as Counsel goes - I love the guy to death - but where's he gonna play - Shea and Cintron should be at third and short - maybe put Counsel back at second - I mean we did win the World Series with him there.

 

[Dback Jon]

Counsell doesn't scare me like Matt and Danny do. It is just the infield is so hot right now with Cintron, Kata, Overbay etc. I hate to send Kata down, but he will be the one sent.

 

[Lefty]

Originally posted by Alan
Ummm...actually they said the Diamondbacks will basically be making a trade after the All-Star break because they are getting so many players back.

That's what I meant, too many players not enough spots.

 

[Smolder]

i really hope we get some prospects for womack, though. hmm, if i had to pick, i'd say keep kata at 3rd, cintron at ss, and you're right, counsell at 2b. at any rate, i'm certain counsell will need time to get in the groove anyway (remember the start of the season?), and apart from that, he's always been ok as a bench player, so there's really no problem there. about bautista and mantei though, i say ship em out. asap.

however, if we do decide to keep mantei, think about it, just think about it. our bullpen will be:

situational lefty: oropesa
long relief: villareal
set-up: koplove
closer: valverde
situational righty(!): mantei?

geezes. remember how they used to say that the arizona bullpen was very average coz we had nobody who "strikes fear in the hearts of batters" i remember kim being singled out as the best reliever and he "only" threw in the low nineties.

now, think about it, we could have two, really deadly lights-out guys, and a lot of quality relievers to set em up. combine that with johnson, schilling, and webb, and you have a whole lot of goose-eggs come playoff time.

the way i see it, we gotta get rid of: womack, danny bautista, and mike myers. we can afford to keep mantei. that's a heckuva luxury. lets just get prospects. enough of these "Veteran free agents." our boys will do fine.

btw, about johnson and schilling messing up the dbacks mojo...dude, you're talking about a guy who's won 5 cy youngs and another guy who was runner up in 2 of those. there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that those credentials mess up our mojo. heck, no matter how good batista's been, if i were a batter i'd rather have any of those two on my side, any day of the week.

 

[pinetopred]

The guy I would trade to headline a deal would be Spivey he is relatively young, but the things that I've seen from Kata I think this kid is a gold glover in the making with enough pop and speed to be a solid/spectacular 2nd baseman.

Then I would look at moving Womack(damn he sure is getting his usually hot 2nd half of the season going thou) but he is a little streaky for my taste, the problem with moving Womack IMO is I don't feel that Cintron is an everyday SS defensively, but with Counsell coming back he can take a bunch of the pressure off by playing some at SS.

Hillenbrand when he gets back should get Gracie's starts at 1st in a platoon role, but still get the majority of the starts at 3rd.

Mantei, Myers, Dessens, Bautista, Barajas/Moeller(one or the other) are all guys I would look at moving in package deals, but if you move any of the guys that I mentioned we would need at the min. an allstar outfielder, with a prospect or a good outfielder with 2 highly rated prospects.

We are in a good position to get value from the guys that we can move so I would hope we get serious return out of any deal we would look at making.

The other option is trading some of the young guys that may or may not be the real deal even thou I personally feel that would be a mistake ( from what the broadcasters have been saying most scouts are in love with Hammock, and with the way Kata has been playing his defense has to have caught an eye or two) this team is going through a transition we need to keep the guys that we have brought along through our system, fans like myself identify with watching these kids that we drafted and brought along grow up (thats part of what pains me to put Spivey as a headliner for any trade) but at some point youth must be served and when you can do it because you are loaded at one or another position I think you take the chance to help other areas of your team.

Another thing to do is move some of the young guys back down to AAA when we get healthy, that would be the biggest mistake IMO. The young kids have brought this team back from the dead and brought excitement back to BOB.

 

[spleenk]

Put Womack in right field. Sure we lose power at the plate, but who's hitting them out anyway? If this is the usual Womack-late-season-tear then I say keep him for now. Can't teach speed and he could spell Finley when he starts his backslide at the plate.

And Zona, nice idea you got here.

 

[pinetopred]

I was thinking about Womack and RT field, but I just don't think you move your SS out to RT field unless he is poor defensively which in Womacks case I don't think he is, maybe Cintron can play the outfield. In Cintrons case I just haven't seen him play very good defense, I love the way he hits the ball, and maybe its just his youth, but in the games that I have seen he looks alot better at 3rd then he does SS, but like I say it may just be a youth thing, or me not watching the games where he sparkles in the field.

 

[AZCB34]

Originally posted by Zona90
Question for all. How great does the season feel now than three weeks ago? All I can say is I'm pumped!

Evey win gets me more excited but there is still a long way to go, both for success and failure. Things are definitely alot better looking than they were 3 weeks ago though.

 

[AZCB34]

Unless a big bat is in the trade talks, the Dbacks should pull the trigger on trades for prospects. The big bat may be harder to come by but I think they can deal some and get a real stable of prospects in return. They will have alot of trade opportunities once all these guys start returning from the DL. Hopefully some good offers will come across the table.

I doubt Vladimir will be offered in trade but Beltran is certainly a possibility. The issue with Beltran is that KC is in first place right now and I would find it hard to believe they would trade arguably their top player in this instance...even if he is due to become a FA at years end. I mean, they need to ride this thing out as long as possible. Especially since Sweeney has that winning record clause in his contract which lets him opt out if the Royals don't play over .500 ball...if I recall the contract wording right.

 

[Lefty]

Great news, the A's have scored 5 runs in the top of the first and lead the Giants 5-0.

 

[Tired_Cardinal]

AZCB34

I really think Guerrero is available, because of a few reasons. The first being the Expos did not get Juan Gone and the second is he is hurt right now. The last part is his contract I believe is up at the end of the year and he is not playing right now. The Expos would love to get something for him before his contract is up

We would get great hitter for average and lots of power plus add a good glove in the field. In addition since he is hurt right now and with the Expos still being in the race they could easily use a closer, bullpen lefty, and a SS.

I am starting the vote to say trade Womack, Mantei, and Myers for Vladimir Guerrero. I could just see a outfield with Gonzo and Guerrero

Financially I beleive it also fits ? Does anyone know how much each player is to make and what there average contract is for next year