was listening to espn radio for st louis yesterday and they were just throwing out the idea that the pirates would move garret Jones and doumitt because of his age and there scouts had been watching them as a possible replacements for ankiel or holliday. since the pirates are deperately looking for more prospects for the future namely 2b. I was ready to throw my laptop after hearing this.sound like maybe neal is going to move jones and doumitt or exploring it (aka nyjer morgan type of move. why not no offense for us. the big club is horrid prospects are not guaranteed.

Doumit I could see them moving, but I am not sure there is a point, since you would get next to nothing in return.

Jones is not likely either. Why would the Pirates get rid of a power hitting 1B when they do not have anyone to replace him? He makes the minimum as well making it doublely unlikely.

Seems like it was just what you said, them throwing out ideas. Nothing more.

I have no idea why you would compare it to the Morgan trade, since you said it would be for prospects. There are no similarites, and the Pirates have never made a trade like this under NH.

They also have not sold low on players.

there are similarity nyjer was older and had control for 4 year jones is the same way they were both over 24 years old both being 28 . its comparable that neil would think this way so i don't discount management trading away jones either.

I'm sure there's a lot of teams interested in Garrett Jones. So what.

And I despise the idea of trading players to division rivals.

I do not see the similarity. They mentioned trading prospects. Morgan was not traded for prosepects.

Also, we have Jones for 6 more years, not 4.

Morgan was a CF playing LF. We might have been able to get by with him, but trading him was hardly a blow to the organization. We do not have any power hitting 1B in the system.

We have never made a trade like the one they suggested.

Maybe if the Cardinals went off the deep end and traded us Rasmus and Wainright for Jones and Doumit, I would do it...but the return for Jones would need to blow me away.

Honestly, trading Jones might not be a terrible thing...he is far from a sure thing still.

"Honestly, trading Jones might not be a terrible thing...he is far from a sure thing still."

When do keep our good players?

Well, Cutch, Dorf, you don't trade..they are younger...

Jones, with his age, makes me wonder, because there have been guys like him before, and most have come back to earth.

As I said, the return would have to be massive...say a Tommy Hanson type prospect...

We have no division rivals, we haven't been competitive in this division since it was formed 15 years ago. The only rival we have is with 7th place.

I got a question Alvy, why do we care how old a player is? We don't keep them after year 5.5 anyway, who cares if we trade them at 27 or at 32, in fact if they reach FA at 32 we might actually be able to keep them for a couple more years. Do you see us giving Cutch a 6 year, $80m plus deal if he continues to develop. I sure don't.

Is this a real question?

Because when a player breaks out at 29, there is much more chance it is a fluke...its very rare for baseball people to miss THAT badly on someone for so long.

And age does matter...most players start to decline around 32 or 33...why would you want to pay more money for a declining player?

Things are being done a little differently now whether the skeptics acknowledge it or not. I would not be the least bit surprised to see Cutch given a nice contract to stay in Pittsburgh through his arbitration years and beyond.

We don't pay players more with declining skills or in the prime of their careers. What I am saying is, we don't have anyone to replace Jones, so unless we get someone to replace him, I don't trade him, we own his rights for years and he is far hitting his decline as far as age is concerned. Age isn't the most important factor to consider, production is.

That is when the Indians and Twins might keep or get rid of good players, when do WE keep them? We don't

"I would not be the least bit surprised to see Cutch given a nice contract to stay in Pittsburgh through his arbitration years and beyond." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I agree with you Realist on Cutch, the kid is a special talent...I agree, the Pirates will lock him up. I hope things are changing, if he is locked up that will be a good sign for all of us, regardless if u r kovie, mcho, gamecock or alvarez..We all just want to see the Bucs win..

Another very analytical post from you. You sure have a way of destroying a good baseball conversation.

-----the kid is a special talent...----

Yessir , he is. His athleticism is astounding. I saw 2 of his triples this year at games I attended and you cannot appreciate his speed until you see it firsthand.