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« No Crede Trade Imminent | Main | Rosenthal's Latest: Reed, Aardsma, Cueto »
Nationals' Surpluses Could Lead To Trades
Nationals GM Jim Bowden signed veterans Dmitri Young and Ron Belliard to curious two-year extensions last year. He's now faced with a logjam at two infield positions.
Ben Goessling of the Washington Times describes the first base battle between Young and Nick Johnson, who get along well. Johnson has more trade value, given his age. Neither player is a lock for 150 games though. Johnson is injury-prone, but his perennial .400 OBPs are appealing. He and Young are both signed through '09; Young has a vesting option for '10. The Yankees or Mets could be in the market for Johnson if their current options don't work out. Either team could then add Mark Teixeira after the season, creating another surplus.
The Nats have handed the starting shortstop job to Cristian Guzman, creating a battle for second base between Belliard and Felipe Lopez. Lopez responded with a "hell no" regarding a bench role. Hell no to your .659 OPS and lousy defense, Felipe! Belliard is more open to a part-time role, though he's been outplaying Lopez. Lopez may be the one to trade, given his impending free agency. Barry Svrluga notes that the Orioles have been scouting the Nationals this spring, perhaps with the idea of acquiring Belliard or Lopez if they trade Brian Roberts to the Cubs. The O's are also interested in Mark Loretta and Juan Uribe for that reason.
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oh felipe,
come party with me and we can talk about how awesome 3 quarter sleaves are
Posted by: braineater5000 | March 19, 2008 at 09:42 AM
but felipe, while you are at it come to my braves...
The braves have been rumored to strongly want a guy on the bench who is a pure shortstop, and felipe is that from his past, plus he gives the braves a very good option to back both kj and yunel... I think he could be a better option than omar infante, and his speed adds yet another dimension to the braves abilities off the bench, along with josh anderson... I would not overpay for the guy, but would strongly strongly support a move to bring him to the braves.... however, if he is unhappy in washington, he would get even less playing time here in atlanta, so a deal would probably still not go through, which sucks
but that is the way it goes i guess
Posted by: bravesbeast | March 19, 2008 at 09:51 AM
please keep your baditude away from my cubs, felipe.
Posted by: IowaCubs | March 19, 2008 at 10:02 AM
Let's keep in mind that Felipe has one of THE hottest wives in all of baseball. That has to count for something.
On a serious note, I would LOVE to see Nick Johnson in a Mets uniform. If we could pick him up, we could stay out of the Teixeira madness.
Posted by: stellar | March 19, 2008 at 10:05 AM
bravesbeast, I've heard nothing about the Braves wanting another shortstop. Infante is serviceable as a backup; Lillibridge could step and do fine if needed. And Prado's played a little there this spring.
And, I would guess that Escobar will play 155 games anyway, barring injury of course.
You may be right... but it's news to me.
Posted by: AtlantaMike | March 19, 2008 at 10:07 AM
Nick Johnson would be a good pick up for the Giants...Not sure if they have the trade pieces though.
Posted by: zito4cyyoung | March 19, 2008 at 10:13 AM
zito4cyyoung, I'm sure Washington would be happy to send you Nick Johnson if you offered, oh, say, Tim Lincecum ;)
Posted by: brianrein | March 19, 2008 at 10:44 AM
As a Braves fan I would not like Lopez on the team. Cox loves defense (Infante) and would rather stick with someone that bats a little better than Rafael Belliard than put Lopez on the team. He's also raved about Prado (although I'm not big on him).
Posted by: TheBaseballOpinion | March 19, 2008 at 10:49 AM
As always anymore, you'd have to think the Giants for Lopez...or any hitter for that matter. They could put Lopez at short until Omar gets back and then move him to second if they want to...ugh...put Fransden at third. Trader Jim may just take the salary dump and a mediocre prospect for him. i.e. a Clayton Tanner.
Posted by: TheBaseballOpinion | March 19, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Giants already have 3 second basemen Durham/Frandsen/Velez...can't take on anymore. We need a 3B and possibly 1B
Posted by: zito4cyyoung | March 19, 2008 at 11:49 AM
You know it's funny, when I saw this headline I thought it was going to be about the Nats' outfield situation. They've got Dukes, Willie Harris, W.M.Pena (hurt, I guess), Kearns, Langerhans, Mackowiak, and Milledge in camp, all of whom either are, have been, or have some reasonable shot at becoming starting outfielders. With a handful of teams around the league hunting for a half-decent 4th OF type, why have I heard Marlon Byrd's name 100 times in the last week but no one from this group ever comes up?
More on topic, isn't Bret Boone in Nationals camp doing another comeback? Couldn't he have done better than to take his shot on a team where he has a zero chance of making the roster? Or if not (which would be reasonable), why even bother to play it out.
Posted by: asm | March 19, 2008 at 01:10 PM
asm, I'm not sure you've got our outfielders straight? Pena, Dukes, Milledge, and Kearns will be the "Four", Harris and Mackowiak have to be backups, and Langerhans just sucks. The real talent-in-waiting logjammed in the Washington situation is Justin Maxwell - a future star stuck in AA. What will they do with him?
At any rate, I'm not convinced Washington has "too much" talent at 2B. Since when does Ron Belliard count as big talent?
Posted by: brianrein | March 19, 2008 at 01:45 PM
Well, few enough of that group are likely to be good enough to block Maxwell once he's ready, right?
I understand that of the group of 7 I named, each player pretty much already has his role assigned (Langerhans' role being "cut," I guess), but you don't think Harris or Mackowiak could help somebody? It hurts a bit that they're both LHB, and may both be rostered for a while anyway if WMP starts the season on the DL. But my point was, either of those guys is good enough to help a contender, yet whenever a mention comes up of some team or other looking for a 4th OF type, 20 people suggest Byrd and 40 more suggest Reed Johnson.
Posted by: asm | March 19, 2008 at 02:05 PM
Nick Johnson would be a great fit for any ballclub. Hopefully Was allows him his full-time reps because his skill-set is awesome.
A large ballpark team (Giants, Mariners, San Diego, NYM) would be best served with this guy because his power is mediocre, but his ability to get on base is nearly unmatched.
Posted by: The Juice | March 19, 2008 at 06:42 PM
Ahh, how karma comes around to bite you in the butt.
Another logical fit would be the catcher surplus (LoDuca/ Estrada) to the Reds, who are looking for one.
But it won't happen.
Bowden has burned BOTH Krivsky and Jocketty (now an advisor to the Reds) in the past with damaged goods so there's no way they made a deal.
Posted by: Devlsh | March 19, 2008 at 06:52 PM
loduca/estrada isn't a "surplus." it's a starter/backup. they're going to keep flores in the minors unless he's getting full-time reps in the majors, so there would be nobody to replace loduca/estrada if they traded them.
i would be surprised if bowden doesn't trade one of the reserve OFs before the season starts. wouldn't be surprised to see belliard moved, but flopez isn't going anywhere unless the nats get a legit backup SS, since the only SSs they have beyond flopez/guzman are A level guys who are nowhere near close to being ready for the majors.
Posted by: greg | March 19, 2008 at 11:09 PM
Any chance Lopez ever goes back to SS, or was his defense just that brutal? Shouldn't someone be concerned with the possibility that Cristian Guzman is a terrible baseball player?
Posted by: asm | March 20, 2008 at 04:12 PM