Earlier today, I read on WFNY that Fausto Carmona is being shopped to free up money to sign Orlando Hudson. http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/?p=24003
This brings up two immediate responses from me. Number 1 being, are we really going to trade all 3 of our top guys in 3 years, granted Fausto has had trouble the past couple years 8-7 in ’08 and 5-12 in ’09, but he still has the potential to be an A+ starter, as seen in ’07 when he went 19-8, in the only season he pitched over 200 innings. I personally think with the trouble we’ve had pitching the past few years, a guy with his potential should be kept around because he could break out and win 20 games some day.
And 2, do we really need Orlando Hudson? A career .282 second basemen who is 32 years old, and we are thinking of having him over Valbuena/Bixler/Cabrera (depending on if Jhonny stays at 3rd or stays with the team)? Given Valbuenas’ .250 average (92 hits, 38 were extra base hits, including 10 homers) last year some might see Hudson as a step up, but remember, that was Valbuenas’ first year in the bigs. So we are looking at marked improvement from him this coming season. Do we really want to spend $4-5 Million on a Middle Infielder, when that money could go to fixing a broken rotation/bullpen?
My thoughts are if the Tribe does decide to trade Fausto Carmona, I’d say get 2-3 Minor Leaguers, and use the money we saved to get a back-end Bullpen guy or a new starter. For ideas of who is available on the Free Agent Market, look at our 50 Top FA’s board. https://lakeeriesoldiers.wordpress.com/top-50-free-agents-20092010/
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