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Potentially Available Power Bats

By Tim Dierkes [June 9, 2010 at 12:07pm CST]

Several contenders could use a boost in the slugging department, especially the Padres and A's. Let's take a look at potentially available power bats for the trade deadline.

Prince Fielder, Brewers. Fielder has shown less power than the others on this list, with a slugging percentage of just .437. Still, he gets on base and has slugged over .600 in multiple seasons. He has $6.7MM left on this year's contract and will get a raise in arbitration after the season. Fielder obviously won't come cheap, if he's even made available.
Lance Berkman, Astros. He's not showing power yet this year and has $11.2MM left on his contract. And that's if he backs down from the idea of demanding his option be exercised upon a trade.
Paul Konerko, White Sox. Konerko's .610 SLG ranks fourth in the American League, so in that regard he's the best available power bat. Obstacles: he's owed $7.6MM and has a full no-trade clause. With a surprising .583 SLG, Konerko's teammate Alex Rios is another consideration. Rios is having a fine year, even if U.S. Cellular is giving his bat a boost. His contract still has over $56MM through 2014, and he can block trades to six teams. Andruw Jones should be widely available, though he's fared poorly since May 1st.
Corey Hart, Brewers. Hart somehow leads the NL with 15 home runs. Like Fielder, the Brewers might prefer to keep the arbitration-eligible outfielder around for 2011 if they want to contend.
Kelly Johnson, Diamondbacks. Arizona's second baseman is also arbitration-eligible after the season. He's plenty valuable, but keep in mind he's hitting a more reasonable .254/.361/.429 since May 1st. Johnson's teammate Adam LaRoche should be attainable, though he's down to .250/.344/.443.
Luke Scott and Ty Wigginton, Orioles. Both players are slugging over .500 and should be available. Scott is under team control through 2012, but he's already earning $4.05MM. Wiggy is owed $2.2MM through the rest of this season.
Jose Guillen, Royals. He's hitting just .213/.322/.394 since May 1st. Guillen is owed the same amount as Konerko, but could probably be had for just a slight amount of salary relief. More interesting is Guillen's teammate David DeJesus, who's hitting .306/.378/.461 on the season. He can be controlled through next year, so the Royals should get something useful in return.
Austin Kearns, Indians. Kearns is a cheap rental with less than $500K remaining, and he's hitting .306/.380/.482. Kearns' teammate Russell Branyan has a .463 SLG, if you prefer 1B/DH power.
Ryan Doumit, Pirates. The Bucs' backstop is at .281/.366/.461 on the season. He's got about $7.8MM left through 2011.
Others with pop: Jim Edmonds, Hunter Pence, Rickie Weeks, Garrett Jones, Ryan Raburn, Carlos Lee, Mike Lowell, Travis Hafner, Lyle Overbay, Jose Lopez, and Miguel Tejada. For now we've left the Blue Jays, Nationals, and Cubs off the list, but that could change.