Update [2005-11-28 14:27:27 by lboros]: buzz at bernie's has mabry going to the cubs. haven't heard/seen a thing about it anywhere else. anyone know? . . .
and another thing: giles' people have told will carroll point-blank the outfielder won't be giving st louis any discounts.
and now to the regular post:
coupla stray outfielder items to add to this morning's post. first, the st pete times claims the devil rays are fending off suitors for joey gathright. 10 teams are said to be a-courtin', including the dodgers, marlins, chisox, cubs, angels and giants; i don't know if the cards have inquired or not, but since gathright meets a couple of chief criteria -- young (turns 24 in april) and cheap (still makes the minimum) -- and hit .276 last year with 20 steals in less than half a season, i'd imagine walt at least placed a courtesy call.
gathright's minor league line reveals him to be the second coming of vince coleman and willy taveras -- tremendous speed but absolutely no power. even in the minors his isolated power was a pathetic .045. he has shown some ability to improve his plate discipline; his walk rate increased significantly in his second go-round at each level of the minors. so he might get himself up to 50 or 60 bbs a year, and if he can do that, hit .270, and run he can have a career.
gathright stole 81 bases per 162 games in the minors, 44 per 162 so far in his short ml career; was a 77 pct base stealer in the minor leagues, 81 pct so far in the show. his range factor was well above league avg last year, but gathright was below average via rate2 -- prob'y a sign he was out of position in centerfield and would be better deployed in left. his 1.5 defensive win shares -- pro-rated for playing time -- were not far behind so taguchi's total and about equal to the totals of sanders and walker.
i wouldn't mind having him on the team to see if he develops decent on-base ability; if he could manage .340, with all those stolen bases he'd be a reasonbly valuable contributor. but i wouldn't give up much to acquire him, and if there are really 10 teams in the running the price is likely to be too steep. and gathright's still so uncertain that a team with postseason aspirations would have to invest a fair amount of resources in a plan B. . . .
second item: any of you secretly hoping that st louis might provide a loving home to troubled milton bradley, sorry -- looks like the cubs are gonna get him. a natural fit, no? . . . . .