One trade rumor that won’t die has the Brewers interested in acquiring St. Louis third baseman Scott Rolen… Rolen is at odds with manager Tony La Russa and probably would OK a trade, but the Brewers would want the Cards to pick up some of the money, which they’ve been reluctant to do.
St. Louis, which would prefer to send Rolen out of the division, is looking for starting pitching and reportedly has interest in left-hander Chris Capuano, who pitched his way out of the Brewers’ rotation near the end of the season. Melvin indicated that he hadn’t talked to the Cardinals for some time and said “nothing is imminent.” He didn’t totally dismiss the possibility of a deal down the road, however.
“I’m not going to comment on who we’re talking about,” said Melvin, who believes published reports make trades and signings more difficult to consummate.
...
Any swap Melvin seriously discusses likely will include his surplus of starting pitchers. Capuano, Claudio Vargas and Bush began the 2007 season as the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 starters in the rotation, but any one or two might be pitching elsewhere next season.
With returning starters Ben Sheets, Jeff Suppan, Yovani Gallardo and Carlos Villanueva, and another option in promising young lefty Manny Parra, Melvin has an extra arm or two to put into a trade.
If Melvin was trying to find the inside scoop on Rolen one way or the other, I suspect he placed a call to his good buddy Walt J. (who’s probably preparing his Christmas decorations at the moment and catching up on yardwork) to get his feedback..
NTNgod
Posted: December 02, 2007 at 05:18 AM |
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1. Silencio Posted: December 02, 2007 at 06:14 AM (#2631176)If St Louis isnt willing to ship some money over with Rolen I cant imagine anyone trading for him let alone trading away someone with some value like Capuano. I dont think Rolen would have anywhere the same value that a Gross/Mench platoon would have in left next year assuming that Braun goes to left if Rolen comes over.
whoknow Capuano's contract status?"He's unsigned, but arbitration eligible. In 2007, Capuano signed a one year, $3.25 million contract. They went to arbitration, but settled in the middle ($3.7M-$2.8M) before a ruling was made. I have a suggestion how the Brewers and Cards could pull this off, making it a 3-way trade:
1. St. Louis could trade Rolen to the Yankees for Derek Jeter. New York would then move A-Rod to shortstop.
2. The Yankees would the trade Rolen to Milwaukee for Chris Capuano and agree to pay 7$27 million of the $36 million left on Rolen's contract (08:$12M, 09:$12M, 10:$12M) .
3. St. Louis would then trade Jeter back to the Yankees for Capuano, and put Jeter at third base, which would be open with A-Rod's move to shortstop.
Because this trade is meshuggenah from New York's perspective, someone will have to tell the Boss that the Red Sox don't want the Yankees to get away with it.
I tend to agree, but it would depend heavily on how much money the Cardinals would be willing to pick up. Rolen at $6-8 million a year looks a lot better than Rolen (the current version, at least) at $12 million per. Having Rolen at 3rd and swapping Hall and Weeks would go a long way towards improving Milwaukee's porous defense. Braun and Weeks both have excellent speed and good arm strength so outfield shouldn't be a stretch for either of them.
As for Capuano, I like him, but the Brewers don't seem to need him. Over his tenure in Milwaukee he's often been their best starter, but he's also too often been their worst. The Brewers currently have 8 starters with some value which makes them one of the few teams (Angels and Twins are probably others) with a surplus. Bush, Capuano, and Vargas aren't great but they also won't hurt you in a back-end spot. The Brewers should be able to get some talent in return for a couple of them.
On the other, apart from the shoulder problems, I have a long enough memory to recall this, even though you don't hear much about it anymore.
(and it's not something where the problem just went away)
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