I'm not one to really worry about the blocked aspect as I feel there can always be room for another good player. If Milledge is good enough, I don't see why he can't eventually push Beltran to a corner, unless Beltran will have a fit. In addition, I can envision a scenario where Duncan ends up as the NY 3B and I'm pretty confident that Cano will take over as the starting 2B before the end of the year.

Some other thoughts:

I pretty much hate all the articles analyzing Milledge's character because I feel he is looked on much more unfavorably than he should be based on what we know about the situation.

(I forgot what I was going to say here)

I thought the top 75 was supposed to be out on Friday...

Quick question about Milledge: I looked at his stats over at Baseball America, and it says there that he started the year in the Red Sox organization and then moved over to the St. Lucie Mets. How did this happen? Was he one of the pieces moved in the Nomar trade somehow?

Let's see Oakland has enough catching prospects for 3 teams, Mike Piazza is old. How about Milledge for Powell and Jairo Garcia or Huston Street.

I know not exactly what you asked for but close. I'm guessing Billy will need to trade some of those catchers at some point.

Jeremy Reed from Seattle to Philly for Gavin Floyd (or Cole Hamels)
-the Phillies are not going to need a full-time CFer eventually, and the M's need a ML ready pitcher

The basicaly perfect prospect for prospect swap, at least in my opinionis my beloved Braves sending Andy Marte to the Colorado Rockies for Jeff Francis. Now in truth, Francis is a better prospect than Marte, but is there a worse place for a young pitcher than Colorado? 8 R in 36 MLB IP says that there is not. Now Marte, possibly the best power prospect in the minors(Delmon Young?) would absolutely kill in the Rockies. The only downside to this deal is that the Rockies would have to move Helton(to let Ian Stewart or Andy Marte at 1B), which is probably impossible, or move one of the 3B prospects to the OF, but that wouldn't have to happen for a while. However, the Rockies showed how they can make the playoffs in 1995(though 77-67 really isnt that good), go "saber" to the extreme, power and OBP. Francis can probably be a decent pitcher in Colorado, but the best pitcher in Coors history is Pedro Astacio 1999-2001, so I doubt he would be great there. The Rockies then are looking at a lineup with Todd Helton, Andy Marte, and Ian Stewart in late 2006/2007, that is some serious potential starpower.

Ok, so I'm a Braves fan, but I can dream right?

Bryan, here's what I wrote about Hudgins on July 2:

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I was in Frisco last night, and I saw the future. His name is John Hudgins.

I’d told myself a couple days ago that even though Hudgins would be making his Frisco home debut on Thursday night, there’d be plenty of chances to see the righthander pitch this summer, and I’d just been to the park Monday and had plans to go again next week. But once I learned that Seattle was promoting 18-year-old righty Felix Hernandez to San Antonio and that he’d be Hudgins’s opposition, I couldn’t bear not to be there. Hernandez might be the best pitching prospect in the minors right now.

But he was the second-best pitching prospect who toed the rubber last night. Marvel all you want at Hudgins’s line — seven shutout innings, three hits, no walks, 11 strikeouts — but unless you were in the ballpark too, you couldn’t possibly comprehend how remarkable he was.

I’ve met John Hudgins, or at least I think I have. The guy I saw out there wore something as close to a scowl as you’ll ever see on a guy who was doing his job well, while the guy I met four months ago was about the most affable, humble pro athlete I’ve ever run across. Last night’s guy on the mound was so locked in, so intense, that he probably wasn’t aware that half a dozen Ranger front office men were in the stands or that twice as many of his own family members were there, hanging on every pitch. He probably wasn’t even aware that there were fans in the park at all.

At one point I thought that I’d figured out that Hudgins was varying his own pace to mess with the hitters’ rhythm, peering in for two seconds before some pitches and what seemed like 10 seconds before others, but I later learned that he was merely brushing off signs from catcher Jeff Smith — without moving his head at all. Hudgins and Smith were communicating, gesturelessly. It was as if there was no distance between them, and no air between Hudgins’s hand and Smith’s mitt.

Sometimes you carry out the plan to pitch to contact, but carry it out so well that you can’t help but miss bats. In one stretch, Hudgins set 8 of 11 Missions down on strikes.

And consider this: despite the 11 punchouts, Hudgins still needed only 90 pitches to get through seven innings. A crisp 70 percent of his deliveries were strikes.

I’ve never seen a better pitching performance in the minor leagues. Hudgins put every pitch where he wanted it, commanding a fastball that sat around 90 most of the night, mixing in a decent curve, and showing San Antonio hitters as dirty a changeup as those of them who eventually get to the majors might ever see. He dealt. He orchestrated. He was Greg Maddux.

Count on this: there aren’t too many players who reach the major leagues before they’re even Rule 5-eligible, but John Hudgins will be one of them. By this time next year, he’s a big leaguer. And when the day comes that he’s wearing a Ranger uniform, if I forget to do it on my own, remind me to run down for you how many of the 75 players chosen before him in the 2003 draft have beaten him to The Show.

The Braves need a power bat at 1st and the Brewers need a third baseman. Prince for Marte?