MarlinGm

John Rheinecker > Mario Ramos

its all in the head KID RAMP...... anyways 7 mil???????? f*** that you all know ZOna has a better offer with the twins for Jones..... it just isnt gonna happen Twins have payroll problems just like us what makes you think they can afford Mantei who will earn more than Jones and is often injured. They can't even afford Urbina who is asking for 5mil no way they afford Mantei 7 mil salary.

Mantei 2004 salary is 7 mil and they need to get rid of payroll because they want to sign Maddux. No way will have to pay 4.8 if we give them decent prospects like a package of Hutchinson, Wayne, Williangham, Aguila, Akens.

Total 67-68 mil why it cannot happen Without Vlad we can keep the pitching and still be around 55-58 with my roster.

Okay so if we don't sign Vlad our payroll will be around 55-58 mil which still allows us to sign a Troy O' Leary and or Tyler Houston along with guys I forgot to mention in the payroll Justin Wayne, Tim Spooneybarger, Nate Bump, Micheal Tejera and Abraham Nunez.

Line-Up CF Juan Pierre 2.3 mil 2B Luis Castillo 5.5 mil RF Vlad Guerrero 13.5 for 7 years big IF LF Miguel Cabrera 310,000 3B Mike Lowell 7 mil 1B Jeff Conine/Hee Seop Choi 3 mil and 305,000 C Ramon Castro 450,000 SS Alex Gonzalez 2.6 mil Rotation Josh Beckett 2.2 mil Brad Penny 3 mil Carl Pavano 2.5 mil Dontrelle Willis 315,000 Byung-Hyun Kim(Until A.J is ready) 2.9 mil Bullpen Matt Mantei(Bring back the Ice Girls) 3.1 mil Dbacks pay rest Chad Fox 1.2 mil A.J Burnett(When healthy trades places with Kim) 2.3 mil Kent Merker 800,000 Mike Neu 300,000 Frank Gracesqui 300,000 Jeff D'Amico Minor League Contract if makes team 900,000 Bench Henry Blanco 500,000 Mike Mordecai 400,000 Chris Aguila 300,000 Wilson Vladez 300,000 Brain Banks 320,000 Hampton Pudge 11 mil Total 67-68 mil Total Without Vlad 56-57

Line-Up CF Juan Pierre 2B Luis Castillo RF Vlad Guerrero LF Miguel Cabrera 3B Mike Lowell 1B Jeff Conine/Hee Seop Choi C Ramon Castro SS Alex Gonzalez Rotation Josh Beckett Brad Penny Carl Pavano Dontrelle Willis Byung-Hyun Kim(Until A.J is ready) Bullpen Matt Mantei(Bring back the Ice Girls) Chad Fox A.J Burnett(When healthy trades places with Kim) Kent Merker Mike Neu Frank Gracesqui Jeff D'Amico(Minor League Contract maybe the next Pavano? Gut feeling I have) Bench Henry Blanco Mike Mordecai Chris Aguila Wilson Vladez Brain Banks How this happens? Trade prospects to Zona and have them pay a portion of Mantei salary then hope Kim is non tender by Boston which is possible. Henry Blanco, Kent Merker and Jeff D'Amico shouldn't be to hard to sign. So realistically this can all happen except possibily Guerrero. Either way thats a pretty darn good pitching staff.

More info on Neu from ESPN Mike writes: I rode a bus from Logan (Mass.) to Cape Cod a few years ago with a kid from California named Mike Neu. I gave him a pep talk because he was worried about his size. The scouts told him he was too short. I know he went to the minors eventually, but I haven't heard of him since, and don't know how to track him down. Any ideas about where he is? I've had my eye on Neu as a sleeper for a couple of years. He was a successful college pitcher for the University of Miami, but despite closing for the College World Series champs in '99, he was just a 29th-round pick by the Cincinnati Reds. He has a live arm, hitting 90 mph and showing a good breaking ball, but scouts discount him because he's a short right-hander, listed at 5-10 but probably shorter. We've discussed the irrational prejudice against short pitchers before, and Neu is another guy who has a chance to break that barrier. The most intriguing thing about his pro performance has been his strikeout rates. He fanned 95 in 69 innings in 2000, then 102 in 65 innings in 2001. This year he fanned 85 in 67 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A, racking up a combined 23 saves in the process. Neu's control can wobble at times, but the movement and velocity on his pitches is major league, and his high strikeout rate is an excellent sign for his future. He's clearly a sleeper who could slot in as a middle reliever with the Reds sometime next year. Rooting for guys like this is a big part of what makes baseball fun for me.

Mike Neu YEAR G GS IP H R ER HR BB SO W L Hld Sv BS BAA WHIP ERA 2003 32 0 42.0 43 18 17 2 26 20 0 0 0 1 0 .261 1.64 3.64 Look at that Neu is a soft tosser yet he still has more walks than strikeouts plus a horrible WHIP. His best pitch is a change up.

Mike Neu is a soft tossing righty who the A's pick up last season in the Rule 5 draft from the Reds. I guess im upset because I went from thinking Redman for Williamson to Neu :o I don't like this deal at all unless like I said this is an attempt to sign Vlad. But hey Beinfest has proved me wrong before and I sure hope he does again with the Neu deal.

What the hell is Beinfest doing trading Redman for Mike Neu :angry come on is that the best he can do? That PTBNL better be good or the amount of cash has to be significant if not Beinfest loses my respect. Lets all hope with Redman gone this will allow us to sign Vlad.

Looks like we offered a contract already. http://www.sunspot.net/sports/baseball/bal...ports-headlines

The scary thing is they think they might sign all three of them plus Ponson.

According to :angry Gammons the O's are expected to sign Guerrero within the next two days. :banghead He also said Guerrero would prefer not to go to Baltimore but with the money they are showing him he migh not have a choice. Guys lets hope this isn't true and Vlad will be a Marlin by Wednesday. Make it happen Beinfest. :unsure :

How about a Mark Redman for Colby Lewis and Ryan Snare deal?

Article also said we got two minor-leaguers to be named later for Encarnacion.

How about Mantei instead of Benitez? Maybe a Looper, Hutchinson, Ungs package can get us Mantei with us only having to pay about 2.8 of his 2004 while the Dbacks pay the rest. Imagine this Rotation and Bullpen 1)Josh Beckett 2)Brad Penny 3)Carl Pavano 4)Dontrelle Willis 5)Byung-Hyun Kim(if non tendered) Matt Mantei Chad Fox Scott Williamson(traded for Redman) Scott Sauerbeck(if non tendered) Frank Gracesqui A.J Burnett(when healthy he trades places with Kim)

If Kim is non tender we should sign him imagine this rotation. (That is until Burnett is healthy) 1)Beckett 2)Penny 3)Pavano 4)Willis 5)Kim Willis and Kim back to back will give batters fit with there deliveries.

Over in the ESPN board I proposed a Redman for Williamson and prospect deal and most of them liked it. http://boards.espn.go.com/cgi/mlb/request....ove=firstThread I say we trade for Williamson and wait until they non tender Kim who will likely get a raise through arbritration. As a free agent we can probably sign him for around 3 mil.

I have no clue who it is going to be but I wouldn't mind if it Yhency Brazoban who is rumored to be one of the PTBNL in the Brown deal. This guy throws in the upper 90s.

How about a deal simlar to this one with the Dbacks. Marlins get Matt Mantei Dbacks get Juan Encarnacion or Braden Looper Nate Bump or Blaine Neal Trevor Hutchinson Also Marlins pay around 2.8 to 3 mil of Mantei 2004 salary while Zona pays the rest.

Im hoping for Maine, Riley and Ryan.

I think Baltimore other lefty specialist John Parrish is better and we should get him instead of Ryan.