Mench would be a great fit, Chris. He's a Philly guy (from Delaware) and hits a ton. Also a better outfielder than he gets credit for. The Rangers never should have gotten rid of him.

As a Dodgers season ticket holder, I am looking forward to this.

Then again, I'm also looking forward to never seeing the home team hit a home run again, unless we actually resign Maddux (who looks like he's taking the Pad way out)...

Maybe Manny will eventually cost less that 3 of the top 15 prospects in the game... It'd be exciting to see a Manny/ Juan Pierre / Andre Eithier outfield try to throw the ball back to the infield.

I'd keep Madson over Floyd..I don't think Floyd is much more than the second coming of Pat Combs.

No chance Aaron is coming back. We're hearing Williams is after Vernon Wells, Andruw Jones and potentially Manny and A-rod. Of course, who isn't?

My #1 would be Carl Crawford... but TB is notorious for overvaluing their players. We'll see... the Sox have what everybody wants and at reasonable prices.

sox sign jd drew for $70 million over 5 years according to sports illustrated.

They also say Manny Trade Talks are all but dead and that the Yankees are very close to signing Pettite.

I heard on the radio this morning that the Braves have put together a trade to get Brian Roberts from Baltimore. If that happens, I may have to be a Braves fan again, which will certainly doom the franchise. The last time I was a Braves fan Joe Torre was the manager.

The rumor is Adam Laroche and Marcus Giles from the Braves for Brian Roberts and Hayden Penn. If I were the Orioles, I would not make this deal.

A verbal agreement has been made between the two teams. Right now, it's Jon Lieber for Kevin Mench and another player to be named.

The other player rumored to be Derrick Turnbow or Jose Capellan.

With Drew signed, I figure the Saux will do everything they can to move Manny. Back to this signing... ridiculous. $70 million for baseball's biggest injured douche.

I'm glad they're getting rid of Mench....he was awful once he joined the Brewers...hopefully they ship Turnbow instead of Capellan.

Looks like they just signed Julio Lugo for $36 million, 4-year.

They may decide to offload Coco and Willy Mo for pitching and keep Manny.

Phils get Garcia for Gio Gonzalez and Gavin Floyd..I like this move by Gillick..Now if they could just move Burrell, I'd have an early x-mas gift..

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/16181228.htm

What's with all the Burrell hate?

The Braves are either trading everyone save Andruw, Franceur, and Chip or doing nothing though I guess Laroche, Marcus Giles and Horatio Ramirez are the first to be dumped off the ship.

It's just that he is sucha pretty boy and doesn't seem to give an honest effort night in and night out. Dude has talent, don't get me wrong, but he just doesn't seem to care to use his full potential. Dallas Green was pretty funny earlier this week when he ripped Pat in the paper.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/baseball/16164813.htm

i had a dream that brian roberts was a girl and i said, "hey, i heard you got traded." she wasn't very happy about it. (and then i drove a tank.)

Ken Williams has lost his mind.

In addition to the Garcia fleecing, he nearly just dealt Garland to the Stros for Taveras and Buchholz but it fell through.

he is a terrible batter. He hit like .130 with runners in scoring position and lead the league in looking at called strike three.

According to ESPN.com he hit .222 with runners in scoring position, but with a .376 OBP.
In 2005, he hit .313 with runners in scoring position (.429 OBP).
In 2004, he hit .263 (.392 OBP).
Overall three-year average is .269 with a .400 OBP with runners in scoring position.
Doesn't seem too bad to me. Unless you think he someone forgot how to hit with runners in scoring position this year and these numbers are now on the decline.

I think Burrell should go. I don't think I can handle watching him take strike 3 with 2 outs and men on second and third anymore.

On the other hand, the Phillies will need to replace his 30 HR, 100 RBI production so for now, I'd rather keep him.

An OF or Rowand, Victorino, Mench(?), Trot Nixon(?), Jeff Conine is not acceptable.

As for Mench, the deal with the Brewers has fallen through. The Phillies backed off the deal late last night.

You definitely don't want Conine. Want to take Millar from us?

I wish people would wait until Opening Day to categorize trades as "fleeces". He could very well be moving the guys gained from Freddy to yield us a centerfielder. If not, Garcia was gone next year anyway... we save $10 million and get two good, young arms in the process.

Now, the Garland fiasco is interesting. Taveras does nothing for me but Buckholz and Fischer as well would have made that move a no-brainer. Even more interesting is it was reported that trade fell through because Buckholtz failed a physical when the kid himself said he hasn't had a physical since spring training of last year.

Didn't Phillies fans boo Mike Schmidt?

Ken Williams should have gotten more for Freddy Garcia in this market than one failed prospect and one guy who has never pitched in the majors.

Even if you think Floyd and Gonzalez are worthwhile gambles, I don't see how you can't agree with that. For christ's sake, slightly above average guys are getting 14-17 million a year these days. Garcia at 10 mil is a good deal now.

It doesn't seem like much for him but Williams wanted young pitching in return. Teams don't seem willing to be very anxious to trade their top young pitchers or pitching prospects for even the likes of Manny Ramierez or A-Rod so they certainly aren't going to trade them for Garcia. And Garcia may be a relative bargain at $10 million but he's a free agent next year.

If they wanted more they should have asked for position players. Williams didn't want to do that apparently.