Might as well weigh in

Looks like everyone is chipping in their opinions on the Perrotto article about possible targets at the winter meetings, so I figure I better put my two cents into the ring as well. The candidates, as listed by Perrotto:

• Wily Mo Pena, CIN
  
• Lyle Overbay, MIL
  
• Aubrey Huff, TB
  
• Hank Blalock, TEX
  
• Kevin Mench, TEX

Of the group, I like Pena and Blalock. Blalock will only be 25 next year with two very good seasons and another pretty good one under his belt (though I suppose there is some concern that he's gone a bit downhill the last two years). Still, I think he's the best hitter of the bunch and a decent glove at third, filling a need that we have on the team. Of course he'd probably require quite a ransom to pull from Texas, one I'm not sure we'd be willing to give up. Pena, meanwhile, will be 24 in January and has, to use Bill Simmons' term for NBA players, "tremendous upside potential." As in, he's young and he hits the ball real far. He's also a decent outfielder. Still, he's got pretty low OBP rates and strikes out a lot, so we'd be taking a big risk of putting another Eldred into the lineup. With his youth though, I'd say he'd be worth a shot, especially if the price is right from Cincy.

I don't like the other guys, mostly because I don't see Overbay bringing a whole lot more to the table than Wilson and/or Eldred and I don't see that trade being worth a young pitcher (plus he's almost 29). Huff's slide over the last two years has been pretty scary (OPS from .922 in '03 to .853 in '04 and .749 last year) and again, he's almost 29. As for Mench, well, I don't think he's enough better than our potential right fielders to justify a trade for him.