Joel Sherman of the New York Post runs down some trade candidates for this spring. His list is fairly comprehensive. A quick rundown:
Starters
Carl Pavano, Jon Lieber, Mark Hendrickson, Brad Penny, Mike Maroth, Dan Haren
Relievers
Akinori Otsuka, Armando Benitez, Chad Cordero, Scott Linebrink
First Basemen
Todd Helton
Outfielders
Jacque Jones, Rocco Baldelli, Ryan Church, Adam Dunn, Chone Figgins, Jay Gibbons, Ryan Langerhans, Brady Clark, Geoff Jenkins, Kevin Mench, Aaron Rowand, Ichiro Suzuki
Excellent list. How we expand it to summertime to consider some more trade candidates? I have a hunch Kenny Williams will do his fair share of wheeling and dealing. It would make sense to cash in Mark Buehrle for something good, as he seems unlikely to stay. Jermaine Dye will be tougher to part with, but he too is an impending free agent. Joe Crede will reach free agency after ’08, so there’s less urgency to send him packing.
As far as the whole trading off impending free agents idea, here are some possibilities: Mike Lowell, Michael Barrett, Jason LaRue, Ivan Rodriguez, Eric Byrnes, Torii Hunter, Andruw Jones, Mike Sweeney, Byung-Hyun Kim, and Jake Westbrook. Jones and Rodriguez have full no-trade clauses, however. Sweeney and Hunter have partials.
Anyone being pushed by a stud prospect? Orlando Cabrera and Scott Hatteberg may feel the pressure, in addition to the aforementioned Crede and Jacque Jones. Adam Miller could force his way into the Cleveland rotation, which could result in a trade of Westbrook, Paul Byrd, or Cliff Lee.
When should we expect some deals? Nothing major happened in February of 2006. The biggest deal of March ’06 was probably Bronson Arroyo for Wily Mo Pena. In April of last year, we saw deals for Brandon Phillips and David Dellucci. All in all, expect just a handful a trades until we hit summertime.
