Not sure if you saw this but, Travis Denker our PTBNL in the Mark Sweeney trade did reasonably well in his SJ Giants debut - 6 rbi and a grand slam.

I'm not sure if "massive" is quite right. He got him for nothing. 7 mil isn't out of line for what Loiza would probably get on the market, and he gives the Dodgers the flexibility to exercise Wolf's release clause and get out from under that 9 mil contract next year if they decide (as seems likely) that he's not quite the picture of health his camp was suggesting last winter.

Re the GIants shedding some of their contracts..........dream on.

Just back from 6 innings at Safeco. The M's will either move Sexon (he has lots of holes in that big frame and swing) and his 14. 5 mil if someone will pay just a little of it OR they'll not offer arbitration to Ben Brussard. What do you think? Also they don't love Beltre up here but he plays hard and plays great D. Maybe a return to the NL would boost his BA.

I wouldn't be thrilled about either, but with a gun to my head I'd take Beltre over Sexson. Only two more years of his contract after this year, and if he hits 20-25 HRs with .330 OBP and Gold Glove D, he might actually be worth $12 M a year at today's prices.

Gun or no gun, I say we take neither one unless most of their contracts are eaten. We are rebuilding, both are old, declining players.

I think Roger has it right, didn't know about Wolf's contract. Then again, Loaiza was no prize even when the A's signed him to that contract (thank goodness they beat us to him, else we might have had both him AND Morris). He's their new Tomko, as far as I'm concerned, so that makes me happy.

Yeah Denker!

Teams already had their chance and passed on everyone, apparently, except for Vizquel, and that team didn't bite on a trade. So I don't think we'll be rid of anyone, particularly since the only one doing really well is Bonds, everyone else is doing so-so or worse.

Yeah, Lowry appears to have morphed into a crafty lefty over the past two seasons, when he was much more valuable striking out guys like he did in 2004-2005. Not sure if anything is really wrong physically, as he was able to keep his ERA low last year as well without striking out a lot, until he had his arm problems in September, which sent his ERA skyward.

Oh yeah, when I saw the title, I thought you were going to riff on Bob Hope using cryogenics to stay alive or something.

Beltre isn't old, actually. He's 28. And he's gotten better each year of his contract in Seattle, but that doesn't mean I want him on my team.

wow...chulk doesn't have a blood clot. He has a vascular inflammatory disease known as Buerger's disease which is usually secondary to tobacco use. Hopefully it improves when he quits the chew.

According to MLBTradeRumors someone actually put a claim in on Sexson and Seattle pulled him back. Frankly, if true, that's a puzzling move. Even without getting anything back being out from under Sexson's contract (and "production") would have been an asset in itself. They're going to have a playing time crunch as is (and Adam Jones will probably draw the short end) and that 14 mil could have used to find something productive in the offseason.

Roger, you are correct about Sexson. The problem is that the M's are in the thick of a race for the playoffs and didn't make any moves. They know (or hope) from his past what he is capable of. He's hit close the the Mendoza line all season but around .280 in August (when they need him most). They need all they can get going into the final month of the season and I think they are hoping (foolishly probably) that he'll catch fire down the stretch. The talk up here is that "the last chapter" hasn't been written yet. But they will make a decision in the off-season on what to do. They cannot keep both Sexson and Brussard (who I like). Brussard is Arbitration eligable and they will either trade Sexson and eat a large amount of his contract and keep Brussard or keep Sexson and let Brussard walk. I too do not like Sexson (too many holes-see Dave Kingman). I would have let him go when he was claimed and put Brussard in every day. Sexson just screwed that philosophy up by playing better in the last 3-4 weekis.

Analysis of Sexson's batting peripherals shows that he's actually having a better year, but poorer results and production.

So I would imagine the thought is that you keep him around as he returns to normal, and whoever was willing to claim him, might be willing to part with some better prospect for him in the off-season plus still take his salary.

But yeah, I would have let him go and play Broussard, or even bring up other minor leaguers who have produced, like Wladimir, and play him at 1B. That's a huge chunk of payroll that would have been freed up with him being taken. At least they still have Ichio!

Doh, is Beltre still that young? Still, he has gotten better each year, but that reflects more how poorly he played his first two years there. His salary is still too high for a barely above average hitting 3B, and his defense couldn't be so good to make up that difference.

I'd be pretty happy to take on Beltre for two years. As a hitter, he's middle of the pack, about like Glaus or Zimmerman or Edwin Encarnacion. When you consider that he stays healthy, plays great defense, and suffers a bit from a tough park/league, he's worth $12 million a year. And of course, there's still a much, much better player lurking in there somewhere.

Sexson I'm not so interested in, but for some reason it just seems inevitable that he'll be playing first for the Giants next year.

The thing I love about Beltre is that you know he would just tear up the Dodgers. That alone might be worth $12 million.