Milledge for Dontrelle Willis even up: Yes or No?

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

In the Zito-for-Milledge poll, there are currently 21 votes for keeping Milledge and 4 in favor of swapping him for Zito.

To continue our experiment, let's see how untouchable we consider Milledge to really be.

Same as before: It's a one-for-one trade, only this time it's Dontrelle Willis, signed through 2008, who'd be coming to the Mets.

Make the trade? Yes or No.

[metirish]

Yes....when I first saw the post I thought it had happened...

when I try to vote ot goes to a refresh page...I'll do that later.

[MFS62]

Yes, in a heart beat.

Later

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Sorry to mislead.

I vote YES as well.

[Guest old original jb]

Since Willis would be more than a brief rental, absolutely.
Of course, there is no way that the Mets could get Willis for Milledge straight up, unless the Marlins GM has decided that his only chance at greatness is to help the Mets win the World Series.

[smg58]

I'm yes this time, the big difference being the two years before free agency. Again, I'm not sure of the plausibility, because I think the Marlins can contend with the Mets next year if they hold on to Willis and Cabrera. But the Marlins have confounded me before...

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I agree. I don't think this trade is at all likely, or even possible. I just wanted to get a sense of how much of the vote against the Zito trade is because we love Lastings so much.

I'm not surprised to see that so far we're all leaning towards Dontrelle.

EDIT: (Voting is 8 to 0 as I post this.)

[TransMonk]

Yup.

[soupcan]

Yes. No question about it.

[Centerfield]

Yup. No hesitation.

[metirish]

We need an insider here to give us the scoop, where's that Healey fella these days?

[Guest Rotblatt]

Absolutely. Not only would he help this year (assuming we could straighten him out a bit--although he's pitched very well out of Dolphin Stadium, oddly enough: 2.49 ERA v. 6.00) but he'd be under our control for what, another 2 years, relatively inexpensively? And he's only 24?

I'd do that in a heartbeat.

[Elster88]

Um. Yes.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

15 Yes votes, and one No vote.

Would the No voter like to step forward and voice his or her opinion?

[Frayed Knot]

Totally different kettle of fish than with Zito.
Trading a potential star for an existing one who's young, under control for 3 more years, and is left-handed and can hit!!

Now if only you could get someone to actually offer that trade.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Willis is 6-7 this season, and his mechanics are scary to watch. Over the long haul, I worry about his long-term effectiveness and health.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, but think about the promotional tie-ins when it's 'Bubba Shrimp' night everytime he pitches!!!!

[metirish]

Plus he's Mom is an iron worker, she could probably work on the new stadium.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (who I'd never heard of until now) lists five deals that he thinks should happen.

This is the fifth of them:

]Florida Marlins' Dontrelle Willis to the New York Mets for Lastings Milledge and Mike Pelfrey: At some point, Florida owner Jeffrey Loria needs to make a commitment to building a team and not just stockpiling baby faces until they hit arbitration. Not here. To pass up talents such as Milledge, a star-in-the-making outfielder, and Pelfrey, a fireballing right-hander, would be short-sighted. Which is exactly why the Mets should do this deal. Because for them, it isn't. A World Series appearance is there for the taking, and a rotation with Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine and Willis gets them a lot closer. Plus � and this is why they could include Pelfrey instead of, say, Aaron Heilman � Willis has two more years until he becomes a free agent. Granted, they could keep Pelfrey for the remainder of the season, as he's not eligible to be traded until January, a year after he signed his first contract, meaning he'd need to be included as a player to be named later.

I'd do Heilman and Milledge for Willis as eagerly as I'd do it if it was just Milledge alone.

Pelfrey and Milledge? I'm not sure. I'd be tempted...

[metirish]

WOW, I don't think I'd do that trade, Pelfrey would be some ptbnl.

[Theoldmole]

You'd have to. But I still hate giving up home-grown talent.

Vote is yes.

[Zvon]

yes without hesitation.

I really think the Marlins misuse the guy in many ways.
I know he's a workhorse and all but you still should be careful with him.
More times than not they leave him in there when he really has no business stayin in.

Check how many complete game losses he has this season.
Or last season.

Id like to to see how Rick P works with him-
Willis has all the talent in the world.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Milledge for Willis even up. Since Willis is controlled through 2008, I'd pull the trigger on such a deal. So, put me down as a yes.

[Guest Iubitul]

No - he has pitched too many innings at too young of an age - he's an arm or shoulder injury waiting to happen...

[Frayed Knot]

Not sure that the; too many innings/too much abuse charges for Willis are accurate.

IPs:
'03 - 161
'04 - 197
'05 - 236

That's a nice progression that doesn't smack of forcing a young'un into too big a jump in innings; and it's that jump, rather than just # of IPs thenselves, which throws up a red flag in a lot of people's eyes.
The motion's a bit funky and there's a lot of moving parts that can get out of whck from time to time but, while 236 isn't a small amount of IPs, it's hardly abuse, plus he's big & strong and 24 y/o. Those numbers alone don't bother me.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I don't know that it's accurate either, but a little more data should be thrown in there.

One is additonal minor-league innings. Dontrelle threw 36.1 of those in 2003.

Two is age. He was 21 in 2003, and is 24-ish now.