[Mick]

It’s all about potential. The good news is that other teams see it too. I think back to Matty Alou. The Giants were infused with power... Mays, Cepeda, McCovey, Haller and Bailey. They had two good second place hitters, Davenport and Harvey Kuenn but inadequate lead off guys. Apparently Chub Feeney and others didn’t see the value in a guy who had little power but could get on base so they ultimately traded Matty who went on to a batting title with the Pirates.

If Bart could bring in a healthy starter (with three years under contract) who could go 16-6 with a 3.00 then make the deal but that won’t happen. They still have the switch hitting kid from North Carolina in the system. I would rather trade Belt but the stats guys on this board love him.

Alou had it tough.  He played with the Giants for the first six seasons of his career, batting a collective .244 with a .304 OBP -- not quite leadoff material, and he bats .231 in his last year with the Giants.  The next year with the Pirates, he works with legendary hitting coach Harry "The Hat" Walker, gets lit on fire and leads the league with a .342 batting average and .373 OBP.  His 15-year career slash line of .307/.344/.381/.726 is startling when compared with the first six years of his career with the Giants (.260/.304/.338/.642).

[Mick]

It’s all about potential. The good news is that other teams see it too. I think back to Matty Alou. The Giants were infused with power... Mays, Cepeda, McCovey, Haller and Bailey. They had two good second place hitters, Davenport and Harvey Kuenn but inadequate lead off guys. Apparently Chub Feeney and others didn’t see the value in a guy who had little power but could get on base so they ultimately traded Matty who went on to a batting title with the Pirates.

If Bart could bring in a healthy starter (with three years under contract) who could go 16-6 with a 3.00 then make the deal but that won’t happen. They still have the switch hitting kid from North Carolina in the system. I would rather trade Belt but the stats guys on this board love him.

Alou had it tough.  He played with the Giants for the first six seasons of his career, batting a collective .244 with a .304 OBP -- not quite leadoff material, and he bats .231 in his last year with the Giants.  The next year with the Pirates, he works with legendary hitting coach Harry "The Hat" Walker, gets lit on fire and leads the league with a .342 batting average and .373 OBP.  His 15-year career slash line of .307/.344/.381/.726 is startling when compared with the first six years of his career with the Giants (.260/.304/.338/.642).