I think that Cameron is an A to B++ caliber defensive CF. He is a much better defender at the position than Biggio, Lance or Lane could ever really be and he has played his last few seasons at Safeco and Shea, two expansive centerfields in their own right. That is why I am in support of acquiring Cameron if they have soured on Burke this much. However, I never said I dislike Eric Byrnes, I just think his value as a player is being overstated. And considering they have Lane and Berkman(when he is ready) in RF/LF, Eric Byrnes doesn't really bring optimum value to the team like a really good defensive CF does. Lastly, sorry about the mistake concerning defense in CF, I noticed it after I posted my breakdown.
I thought we were letting Jeff Kent go because we wanted to give Burke a chance to take over 2nd base. Now Kent is gone and we are thinking about trading away Burke for an injured center fielder. We are really making some bad moves.
During negotiations they might have factored in that Burke was waiting in the wings. Obviously I have no way of knowing if this is true, but if they did it may have impacted how much they were willing to offer Kent.
What if they'd known that Beltran wouldn't sign? Do you still think they would have let Kent walk? Honest question, I'm not sure myself.
If Beltran would have made his mind up before we made an offer to Kent there is no way they would have let him go....IMHO.
and it MIGHT have taken more than that. the guy CRIED during his press conference because he was going to play for the team that his father rooted for as a kid. he grew up in southern california.
I think, if they knew they couldnt get carlos, they would have made more of an effort....not saying he would heave stayed, but they would have made it a little more attractive
Why would we have had to pay him 8.5 mil for 2 years? Didn't we have an option on Kent? Couldn't we have had him for one year at 9 mil?
Well, while I was never one to bash Biggio or Berkman's performance in CF, I do think Cameron is head and shoulders above them defensively.
The potential outcome of this deal hinges almost entirely on Cameron's health. For his career, he is the very definition of an average offensive player (104 career OPS+), which is rather impressive for a guy with a career average under 0.250 - talk about a backhanded complement. However, the other things that he does to overcome his offensive deficiencies are completely dependent on his health, and those things are not headed in the right direction. He has stolen 200+ bases in his career at a 78% success rate, which is a plus, but his totals have dipped the past couple of seasons, probably due to injury. As is common knowledge, he is a tremendous defensive center fielder but, again, he has slipped beyond the top-tier the past couple of seasons, again largely due to his injuries. I honestly don't know enough about Burke to determine whether this would be a good move or not. My inclination is that Burke will be a solid big-league player, and this trade would end up hurting the team more than helping it. Cameron will be 32, which is not an age that you would consider young enough to bounce back from injuries.
