It seems like we never talk about anything else
Dejan has a good round-up of all of the Gonzalez talk at the PG today. Everything Dejan writes makes sense. To summarize: the Braves would love to have him but will require more for LaRoche. The Yankees would love to have him and may be interested in sending Melky Cabrera our way. According to Dejan's sources in New York, we are "intense"ly interested in Melky. Cabrera is not "Lefty McThump." He may or may not be down the road, but he's the type of player I think we should be interested in. He's got one year playing in one of the toughest markets in baseball under his belt, and he put up an OPS of .751 at age 22 for the Yankes. That is impressive. When considering any of his minor league numbers, age is a factor. Charlie has a good post up talking about his merits. The bottom line is this: a 22-year old outfielder with a bunch of upside is better for this team than a 28 year-old reliever who's got some injury questions and has likely peaked. Mike Gonzalez has never pitched more than 54 major league innings in a year. Since being converted from a starter before the 2003 season, he's pitched more than 60 innings in a season once. He's very good, but someone that pitches as often as he does is expendable for a team that only scored less than 700 runs the last three years. LaRoche is a good fit for the Pirates, but that doesn't mean that Melky Cabrera is a bad one.
Anyways, Dejan says that a deal is not imminent, though something will probably happen with Gonzo before the dawn of 2007. You will know when a deal is imminent because Mike Gonzalez will disappear from this:
Anyways, Dejan says that a deal is not imminent, though something will probably happen with Gonzo before the dawn of 2007. You will know when a deal is imminent because Mike Gonzalez will disappear from this: