ponson marshall
4-0, 2.92 3-3, 5.03
this afternoon's unsubstantiated trade rumor / discussion starter: miklasz says keep an eye on craig wilson of the pirates (scroll down about 6 posts). not the first time i've heard that one; recall this link, posted only yesterday. if, as the latter article postulates, anthony reyes is the asking price, then forget it. but for a package of guys on the order of -- and i'm just naming random guys here -- brad thompson and chris duncan? if the bucs would take such a deal, sign me up.
wilson's primary drawback is that he isn't left-handed; he'd be the fourth rh power source (pu, rolen, en'cion) in the st louis lineup, balanced out from the left side (pending edmonds' return) only by johnny rodzo, larry smallbie, and switch-hitter scottie speezer. but never mind; the guy's a good hitter. put him in the stl lineup today and he'd be no worse than the 3d-best bat in there. the guy is 29 years old, has very good career stats, and is off to an excellent start so far this year -- 9 dingers, .874 ops. in his only fulltime season he mashed 29 homers, scored 97, drove in 82, and had an .853 ops; has averaged 27 homers per 600 plate appearances in his career.
if edmonds is out for any appreciable length of time, a guy like wilson can prop up the middle of the order (playing one of the corners, with encarnacion moving to center). and if/when edmonds comes back, i still like wilson as a platoon partner for j-rod -- or an outright replacement for him, if/when j-rod stops hitting .350.
is it feasible? wilson's a free agent after this season, which drives down his price; i wouldn't expect any team to offer a top-of-line prospect. and the pirates are notorious knuckleheads; their talent has been taken on advantageous terms many times in the recent past. he's only making $3.5m this season, not a big payroll imposition on our overburdened owners.
it may not happen, but i don't think this sounds unrealistic.