I agree with all of this. Excellent summary of this side of the argument.Exactly. Objective analysis doesn't point to anything in particular here. Edmonds could bounce back but after two subpar seasons, but what is more likely? That he bounces back or stays the same? To me, the objective answer is he stays the same and perhaps gets worse with the advanced age. Body type aside, that would be supported with facts. Nor is it the "managerially incorrect" move to move Edmonds to allow younger players to get in there. I have no problem with that approach and am looking forward to seeing Barton and Rasmus whenever they're available to play, in addition to seeing Ankiel.
Freese may be nothing, or he may be something. He's more than we would have gotten if Edmonds retired. Others may not agree, but there's nothing stupid about it. Suggesting he's junk doesn't seem supported by either his statistics or the scouting reports on him. I don't understand dwelling on his age when he's had only a season and a half in the minors in total, and top prospects are in front of him. That's not reaching for excuses, those are facts.
And again, I don't see a whole lot of inconsistency in the moves thus far. Nearly every one is in line the stated goal of getting younger and bolstering the farm system. Taguchi is gone. Edmonds is gone. Eckstein is gone. Miles is gone. We have Brian Barton and Freese in the system now, and both those moves appear to have made the system better. Piniero - two year deal. I know Izturis is the Antichrist, but he's also only one year. We have dumped payroll. If somehow a player becomes available that isn't now - just use Clemens as an example - we could take advantage of it. And it's not like 6 million is some magic number. If a $12 million player becomes available on a team looking to dump payroll when they fall out of contention, then DeWitt has 6 million off the books already and only has to come up with another 6 million if it's needed. I don't believe they're trying to go cheap. We just spent 8 million on Isringhausen. That doesn't look like a team that is giving up to me.
The only thing that I would add is about Edmonds.
Let's say that he is more likely to bounce back. Well, bounce back to what? Let's just take Jimmy's 2nd half last year when he was definitely healthier, and definitely hitting better. He managed an uninspiring .267 .344 .413 .756 line. What's concerning is the power or lack thereof, but it really isn't an awful line. I could definitely see him replicating that over the course of a season in '08, assuming he was used properly.
That's a reasonable projection for him. A somewhat optimistic one, but a reasonable projection nonethless. It's still probably replacable from within, and isn't really all that far off what ZIPs projects for Rasmus. In fact, I would go so far as to suggest that there's probably an equal chance of Edmonds bouncing back to a 130 OPS+ as there is of Rasmus posting a 130 OPS+. Both are highly, highly unlikely.