If you do it you do it to trade him at the deadline for kids but you wouldn’t wait for the Comp picks….Not worth it.

Turners Salary – $491,000
Bourns Salary – $15,000,000 (projected)

Justin Turner
.270 .319 OBP .392 SLG

Put a gun to a GMs head to give it to him or sit out a season where his value plummets next year when he tries to be a smarta$$ again?

Like I said two weeks till pitchers and catchers report….
Boras will be nullified when that day comes. He can ask for whatever he wants but once ST starts what he wants will change dramatically and getting Bourn on an MLB team will be much more important to him than his cut this year because he will lose money money sitting out than he will taking a one year to a contract someone is willing to pay where he could increase his value for next year’s attempt at robbery.

As to guys coming along, vaughn (assuming you think he will ever make it) is closer than Nimmo.

and IMo the FA pool next year is less of an issue, since the more likely scenario is getting some parts (OF) via trade, using some of the SP that is pushing through, with hopefully some of them having moved ahead enough to really ramp up the trad value.

the bigger issue is, he will still be a lousy hitter out there, and of all the guys on the team, he is about the last one that i want to find more ABs for!

14 Days until Pitchers and catchers report…..

He may want a 5 years deal but he doesn’t want to sit out half a season to a year to get it.

No matter what the price you project here are things you should take into consideration.

1 – Kirk is going to be in this OF no matter wat you do with Bourn
2 – You don’t have any Kid coming up save MDD to expect to fill a hole in the next 3 years as Nimmo is still 3 years away
3 – When you look at the list of poaaible FAs next year, many were passed over this year when they would have been cheaper, One or two will be the guy who costs you a 1st rounder unless we get protected next year, and Bourn is a damn site better than any of them!
4 – Say what you want about his ability to leadoff, he is still a better leadoff batter than Tejada
5 – You can trade Bourn later just as guys like Crawford and Reyes got traded for a near ready kid to fill whatever it is we see we need in a year or two.

And Finally….
If that first round pick is more important than what happens over the next 4 years then give up on any semblence of competing until 2017 at the earliest and kiss Sandy goodbye because he is on the ropes now and once there it is a year or two of being that that he will be strung up and sent packing if he doesn’t get us to a playoff or at least playing for one in September.

This assumes that Bourn performs as well as he did the past 4 years. As great players have come to flushing in the past and forgotten how to play baseball, I can see there might be some hesitation there.

I don’t see them trading Saunders, who’s not a FA till 2017 and is finally developing some power to go with his solid defense and speed. He hit 19 home runs (before they moved the fences in) and stole 21 of 25 bases, plus power, team control. Get his BA and OBP up a bit and they really have a burgeoning superstar in Saunders.

As for the King Felix extension, that I think is just the early beginnings of something they’ll end up hammering out. Prob. will need 6 years, but in my mind, they offer lower years, higher salary and work backwards from there to come to a 6 year, 138 mil deal, or something along those lines.