Jimmy Talk

I don't know that there is much to say about the Edmonds trade since we won't know if it's turned out well until we see how the younger guys produce in CF and where the freed up $$ ultimately ends up.

Personally, given what there is in the free agent market, I hope they don't make a signing for signing's sake. I'd rather write off 2008 and use it for 2009. Or, in the miraculous case we are in contention come late July, look to make a deal for someone we would normally say we can't afford and use the money towards their existing contract or locking up an extension before they hit the free agent market.

UPDATE: lboros has a post up on Viva El Birdos about what to do with the money. His first option of starting pitching is obvious but the names mentioned (colon, jennings, freddy garcia, john lieber, matt clement, rodrigo lopez, mark prior, and kris benson) make me cringe. I still can't believe any pair of them for $10-15 million makes us contenders. His second choice is an OF bat, but despite the lengthy assessment, his heart clearly isn't in it. I still think I'd rather suck it up this year with a payroll under $100 million and hope, Hope, HOPE that next off-season we know exactly what we need (right now who the hell can say what we have and need with so many question marks) and ownership is willing to commit to $$ to get it. For once, I'd like to have the feeling in the off-season that the franchise was willing to do some real spending in a manner that is more than just bargain hunting, stop gap measures.