but can we outbid other teams to do it? it waould make so much sense to sign blalock, making our line-up deeper and stronger not only for 2010, but the magical 2011 season. i like andy laroche and he grew on me as the season went by, moreso because of his glove, but he is just not a major league third baseman. before the season even started i liked the idea of moving him to second base, but like iwmura at that spot alot better. i know many people on this board fel he hasnt had a real "chance" to prove himself, but this team cant afford to wait with our lack of power(and with alvarez witing in the minors for june to come).

blalock made 6.25 million last year and had a very good season. i think it would be reasonable to pay him anywhere from 8-9.5 million a year. not saying we would spend that kinda cash, but would rather have him than ankiel for the following reasons: blalock starts the season at 3rd with grret jones at first and delwyn young in right. when alvarez is ready in june, he comes up to play 3rd, pushing blalock to 1st and jones to right. this is the ideal situation because young moves back to his super-utility role. finally, when tabata is ready it really gives u flexibilty. if milledge works out, which i think he will, we now have trading chips in jones/blalock,doumit,capps

Great idea. This would make us a better team.

His offensive numbers were on par with Andy Laroche......of course, why pay a guy 500 k when you can pay the same type of player 6 million????

25 HR's vs. 12 HR's in less at bats. I guess they are "on par"

Kovie

But how many of those 25 came while Blaylock was a DH?

nero-was that a sarcastic response saying it makes us a better team? or do you agree with me that it makes sense?

g1omarsico-what does his homeruns as a dh vs his homeruns when he played the field have to do with anything? usually, players tend to hit better when they play the field anyway because they are in the flow of the game

Maz

It has to do with his ability to actually play defense. He is more suited to DH, but can play 1B semi adequately. 3B is more of a long shot due to the injuries he has had over the past few years.

Andy had a similar OPS, better Average, similar RBI totals, and isn't hurt often and fields well.

They are very similar at this point in their career.

Alvy,

Question then: assuming Andy will be able to better his offensive numbers at 3B, what happens? I mean, Pedro could go to 1B. Also, assuming Jones is at 1B (imo, he should be) does he then go to RF? What then about Tabata, when he is ready?

All in all, if we do get a positional player in FA, especially at 3B or RF, we should expect a benching or a trade come time the newbies are brought up as we all expect them to be, sometime.

If we are going to most likely lose in the interim, I think Pedro and Tabata should be given every opportunity once they are brought up. On the converse side, I think the club should get a meaningful talented FA to supplement the club. My hope is most of the money goes to an ace vs a position player for the afformentioned reasons, but having better bats in 2010 would be nice too.

It will be curious.

Well, that is the other issue...where does everyone go if you sign him? You sure as he!! don't want to block Alvarez with anyone outside of maybe David Wright, ARod, or Evan Longoria and a few others, but NOT Blalock.

Here is what I think. Andy will start at third, with Aki at second...Andy will continue to work at second, and if he progresses enough, he will take over for Aki once Pedro comes up. Aki would fit nicely into a util roll.

Well Alvy,

I hope you weren't knocked out of your chair, because the world just stopped. I agree.

I was worried about the trade blocking Andy from 2b, but that makes sense.

Also, they may just trade Aki...again, a great complimentary player on a good team. I could also see Andy starting at second and Aki at third, if Andy progresses REALLY well out of spring.

Then again, Andy could stink and just flat out be benched.

If he did just stink it up, I think it would help Neal make certain decisions easier.

I suppose the law of averages says Andy will make some strides, even if miniscule.

In my head I have Andy's 15 hr and 70 rbi at 2b, which would be acceptable.

I also in my head have the idea of getting to the crux of the Neal experiment sooner than later, meaning that I want Pedro and Tabata, and perhaps a few more farm hands to get the ball rolling. Without those two at least, I don't see much reason to tune in next season, barring some suprise FA signing.

Please, God, no!

lvy

Did you know? Really, did you know, that you played one less game at 3B in the Majors last year than Hank Blalock? Maybe we could get you a FA contract. That should help Maz127 understand the Merits of signing Blalock.

Lets see, we have a below avg to avg 3rd baseman at the MLB level with years of control, we have a first round pick that we haven't gotten a look at yet who is a 3rd baseman and the top prospect in the organization is a 3rd baseman.

I think if we were going to drop 8-10m on a player for mulitple years, I would think 3rd base wouldn't be a priority and we would have to get a player a heck of a lot better and a heck of a lot healthier then Hank Blalock.

I was kinda hoping that with the Andy move to 2nd we could get a long look at Walker at third and hope he played well for a year and then use him as a trade chip to aquire a starting pitcher or Left Fielder at the trade deadline next year or at the end of the year when Alvarez is ready. But with the Iwamura aquisition I think gives us a better chance of winning more this year, but eventually we need to see what Walker has. If Andy doesn't show he can hit at the major league level, I hope his leash is short and Walker gets the call.

Maz,
It was not a sarcastic response. Blalock is exactly the kind of guy we need a 3B.

I have no idea why Kovie thinks this would be a good idea. I cannot think of one reason why it would be.

As Alvy said, production wise, you are signing Andy LaRoche. The 25 Hrs vs Andy's 12 does mean that Blalock hits for more power, but he is terrible at getting on base. I do not know why you would advocate signing someone that gets on base less than 30% of the time. Not worth the trade off since he is highly unproductive unless he hits a HR.

I do not have a clue why LaRoche was brought up though. Blalock is not a 3B. The comparison should be with Garrett Jones, who is obviously a better play. I would rather sign a player to pay RF. Jones wants to play 1B, and he is better at 1B.

The odd thing about Blalock is he was a better hitter on the road last year, which makes no sense.

i do not believe even if they did go after him i doubt that they would sign him. theres no way we sign anyone this offseason the trade with the rays was to put a temporary band aid on a big hole because if he would have been a free agent he would have never signed here. they will be looking to acquire specs for anything with value this offseason aka duke maholm doumitt jones capps if he really has any and No big splashes .

Blalock spends half his career in the disabled list.
Looked at his stats. Finally played most of season in 2009.

462 AB Yeah 25 HRs but with a .234 average and K'd 108 times.

Why don't you just bring back Adam LaRoche, sounds like the same
thing to me.