Twins In Talks Over Nathan, Too?

Okay, seriously here. Do you just randomly speculate on some of these trade packages? There is almost no imaginable way Melvin is going to trade Villanueva and Weeks for Joe Nathan. Not only would it be a horrible baseball move, but he would be crucified by the fans for doing something like that.

First off, second base in NOT the easiest position to fill on the field. I should know, I play second base. The Brewers are not going to fork over Weeks when his value is at its lowest and promise still unfulfilled, for a closer who will absolutely not be with the team in 2009. No way this trade happens.

Consider this Quote "If it involves (Rickie) Weeks, (J.J.) Hardy, (Corey) Hart, it's not going to happen," said Melvin. "If you're trading to fill that position, you're giving up players. So, you're weakening one spot to fill another."

I dont know who you are but you are on crack if you think milwaukee is going to part with weeks and villi for Nathan, who becomes a FA after next year. Even if Nathan was signed for 5 years Milw wouldnt deal Weeks right now. Did you see that kid play in the 2nd half? He was unreal. Weeks is a 30/30 type player and Melvin surely isnt going to trade him PLUS a young starter AND a prospect for a guy who might pitch 80 innings a year. If this is the kind of garbage rumors this site is going to offer, just shut down.

First off I did see weeks play the 2nd half (I live in Wisconsin). Yeah he was surreal, while being terrible also. The guy is as Bi-Polar as they come and not sure if he's fixable, but if they can fix him, yeah he's the makings of a 30/30 guy.

Also second base is one of the easiest position to find stop gap for. While it's not easy to find a guy who plays good defense (mostly because they'd be a SS instead) and puts up numbers at the plate, this is the position that older skill players fall into when losing speed/range and overall ability. 2nd base and corner outfield spots are the ones they put guys that aren't great on defense, depends on build and overall athletic ability to which one they choose.

Since you live in WI and see the Brewers maybe you remeber that Weeks was hurt with a wrist injury in the first half. The only thing about Rickie that needed fixing was his wrist, by proof of his second half numbers:

.251 .422 .481

The Brewers have no intentions of trading Weeks. As noted by Tom Haudricourt in this article:

http://blogs.jsonline.com/brewers/archive/2007/11/28/don-t-believe-those-rumors.aspx

yeah....weeks .903 OPS after the break was pretty bad. His .422 OBP after the break was pretty bad. No chance on that trade. Get real.

Okay, I'm stung by the second base comments. Just because several major league teams have moved in recent years to slugging, poor fielding second basemen over good defensive players, does not mean that it's the "easiest position to fill". You can easily fill any position outside of SS and CF. The issue become whether or not you want to give away games with poor defense.

At the big league level, 2B is just a notch behind SS in terms of required skills. It's a heck of a lot more challenging than 3B. Have you experienced turning a double play out there at second? Not in Little League, but how about the college or even amateur ball level? It is every bit as difficult as SS with the lone exception that the throw to first is shorter.

Guys like Jeff Kent, Ray Durham, and Chase Utley all put up great power numbers, but do they really help their team out at all defensively? Can you even think of a second baseman who is above average on both offense AND defense? There aren't too many. Placido Polanco is the one I will throw out there (would have been my pick for AL MVP this year). Orlando Hudson is another one, though historically, his offense hasn't been too great.

I'm just saying, yeah, you can throw a lot of people out there, as long as they can catch the ground ball. But they aren't going to give you any plus on defense, and you'll see a lot more baserunners for your pitchers, as a result of fewer double plays, more bloop hits dropping in, etc.

Ryan, just because YOU play second base, doesn't mean it's not the easiest to fill. I've played almost every position and second base is one of the easiest. As is first base.

And also too, what else is there to do with trade rumors? You speculate until you bleed from your ears. If you don't like speculation, then stop looking into trade rumors.

As a Twins fan, I'd be elated to have Ricky Weeks, but I don't see the Brewers trading him right now. He's got a ton of potential and unless Melvin starts going Wayne Krivsky and trades his young players for older relievers, I don't see it happening.

First no where did I say the Brewers were even going to think about trading Weeks. I merely responded to someone else's comments about how good he was in the second half. According to Melvin Weeks is untouchable (we all know how much that means though).

As for Weeks, yeah he's good and has great potential, as I said earlier. He did hurt his wrist, went to minors mashed like he always does (the wrist obviously didn't hurt him too bad) then came back the majors and played well in streaks. The thing that scares me is the guy can mash for a week, play incredible Defense and look nothing like the same guy the next week. He randomly boots routine plays at2b, usually come in groups, and then goes to the plate and looks like he's just hacking (I know it depends on a pitcher, but this usually comes in streaks too). The guy struck out like 30% of the time (thats not good). He has a lot of potential, but I wouldn't be so high on the 2nd half of last season.

2b is one of the easiest postitions to sacrifice defense. I know there are benefits of having good Defensive 2bmen. I'm a Twins fan and we had Castillo. Alls I'm saying is that when a guy is struggling on defense, but has a good bat, 2b is one of the first spots they'll look to hide him if he's not huge and fairly athletic.