It may be a little early since I think Blanton is going to get traded, but I guess we can start guessing what 2008 looks like.
I like the Haren trade even if he was probably my favorite player on the team. We got six players, for pete's sake. They seem like a pretty good haul; good mix of placeholders for now and prospects for later (
link,
link).
It's going to be a tough year, but it could be a little exciting to see players like Barton and Suzuki develop, and I'm interested to see how Gonzalez looks in CF. I kind of hope BB and Geren just start him over Kotsay and see how he does. Between those three, Swisher and Buck, I think we could have a decent offense, even if it is one that may need a year or two to develop.
Hopefully we can address the middle infield through trading Blanton or some other way. Crosby probably needs to go, and if I recall correctly, Ellis is a free agent after 2008, so there's time to address that.
I don't really know what to make of the rotation at this point. I'm guessing if he's healthy, Harden is set to be our number 1, and then behind him would be Blanton (probably somewhere else by opening day, though), Gaudin (I think I read somewhere that he's having hip surgery this offseason, but I can't find a link), DiNardo, and then it gets a lot thinner after that. It's likely that our 4-5 starters will be two of Dallas Braden, Dan Meyer, Dana Eveland, Greg Smith, and Justin Duchscherer. Kind of frightening. I guess that's what will hurt us next year.
In any case, regarding Blanton, I saw the following on
MLB Trade Rumors
Quote:
Buster Olney heard that the Mets could acquire starter Joe Blanton from the A's if they'd agree to surrender Carlos Gomez, Aaron Heilman, and Kevin Mulvey. I wonder if Oakland would try Heilman in the rotation.
The A's would probably go with an outfield nucleus of Travis Buck in left, Gomez in center, and Carlos Gonzalez in right. That could make Nick Swisher - signed for five years through 2012 - expendable.
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I dunno about that one. It seems a lot like the rumors we always hear about who the Mets want to give us. Food for thought, anyway.