What’s Next For Oakland?
What’s Billy Beane’s next move? He’s already traded his team’s best pitcher and one of his better hitters. Let’s start with a couple of additional moves brought up by Susan Slusser.
Trade Eric Chavez. Chavez expects to go, and he was refreshingly candid in his comments. His contract runs through 2010, and he’s willing to waive his no-trade rights. He’s had three surgeries this winter, so he has to prove his health before anyone acquires him. A big first half would go a long way.
Sign Barry Bonds. Such a move wouldn’t surprise Chavez. Slusser believes a bargain Bonds chasing 3,000 hits and extending his home run record could be a way to get fans in the park despite a noncompetitive 2008 team. For $8-10MM, I could see it.
Other possibilities outside of the two mentioned by Slusser:
Trade Mark Kotsay. He makes $8MM in ’08 and only managed 56 games last year. Maybe the Braves would take him on in exchange for a nonprospect, if the A’s kick in $3MM.
Trade Mark Ellis. He’s signed at $5MM for ’08, plays Gold Glove second base defense, and is an above average hitter for his position. Too bad for the White Sox he didn’t get thrown in as part of the Swisher trade. Outside of the Rockies I don’t see many fits for Ellis.
Trade Rich Harden. Since he has a reasonable $7MM option for 2009, Harden is similar to Chavez and Kotsay in that it makes sense to wait to see if he can build a little value before trading him.
Trade Joe Blanton. I’d be surprised if this doesn’t happen, with Beane adding three or four more of some team’s top ten prospects.
Trade Huston Street. Why not? He’s got three years of service time left, so he should draw a better bounty than Jose Valverde did. Perhaps Beane can focus on acquiring a good young middle infielder here.
Vets like Bobby Crosby, Alan Embree, and Justin Duchscherer probably shouldn’t get too comfortable either.
Remaining Top 50 Free Agents
On November 5th, I posted my Top 50 Free Agents list. Let’s take a spin through to see what remains. I’ve included my old predictions for reference.
7. Barry Bonds – Padres. The Friars seem content to go with Scott Hairston/Jason Lane/Chase Headley in left field; I doubt they’ll be signing Bonds. With the A’s effectively out of the picture I have no idea where he ends up. But that 3,000 hit milestone is lingering for him.
15. Mike Cameron – Astros. This won’t happen; the ‘Stros are set with Michael Bourn in center. Possible suitors: Twins, Brewers, Cardinals, Reds, Braves.
18. Bartolo Colon – Mariners. This still could happen. Other possibilities: the Royals, Nationals, Mets, Rangers, and Phillies.
19. Jason Jennings – Rockies. I like the idea of Jennings returning to Coors, but the Rockies seem pretty full if they ink Josh Towers. The Rangers, Astros, Nationals, Royals, and Mets are possible suitors (similar to Colon).
24. Kyle Lohse – Cardinals. Will the Cards throw down $40MM to add an innings eater to their rotation? Probably not. Aside from the Mets the market for him has been dead so far.
25. Roger Clemens – Retirement. Clemens could definitely still retire, or he could try to hook on with the Astros or Red Sox at a large discount. Would he consider other clubs?
26. Livan Hernandez – Mariners. The Ms got their innings eater in Carlos Silva. Livan is a possibility for all of the usual suspects – Mets, Phillies, maybe the Astros and Reds.
27. Hitoki Iwase – Reds. Just heard he’ll stay in Japan on a one-year, $4MM deal.
29. Kenshin Kawakami – Royals. According to RotoWire on December 3rd, Kawakami is a free agent and should decide sometime soon whether to jump over to MLB. He makes an interesting sleeper if he does.
31. Freddy Garcia – Padres. The Padres have reached their quota on rehabbers. The Mets are eyeing Garcia; the Rangers don’t seem interested. Garcia had surgery to repair a frayed rotator cuff and labrum in August.
34. Shannon Stewart – White Sox. This prediction ain’t happening. There has been almost no buzz on Stewart thus far.
35. Kazumi Saito – Not Posted. Haven’t heard anything about the Hawks posting him – he’s not eligible for free agency.
38. Pedro Feliz – Yankees. Oops, they’ll go with the best hitter in baseball at third instead. McCovey Chronicles doesn’t want him back on the Giants, but it’s still possible.
42. Kenny Lofton – Twins. I could still see this happening if the Twins don’t get a center fielder via a Johan trade. Otherwise Lofton can try to re-engage the Brewers. Some interested club is bound to pop up once Cameron and Corey Patterson sign.
48. Luis Gonzalez – Twins. This move probably won’t be necessary with Delmon Young, Jason Kubel, and Michael Cuddyer all in tow. Jerry Crasnick wrote a Gonzo article today, naming the Twins, White Sox, Rangers, Rays, Brewers, and Giants as teams that talked with his agent but didn’t pan out.
50. Jon Lieber – Nationals. He could end up in Washington if he’ll take a one-year deal. Talks apparently died with Houston, but the Mets, Reds, Royals, and Rangers are options.
Taking The Plunge
Yesterday was a big day for me. It was the first day fully devoted to my new job, which is basically this website. It still hasn’t fully sunk in – I quit a perfectly good, pretty cool salaried position to run my baseball blog full-time. I have a very understanding wife.
I can definitely say that I had no idea MLBTR would become my career when I started it in November of 2005. Thank you for reading and making it possible – it’s a dream job for me. Hopefully it will never feel like "work."
There should now be enough time available to make improvements to the site while still keeping up with all the writing. Not sure exactly what I’ll do yet but I know the usability and appearance of the site could be a lot better. If you’ve got ideas about ways to improve MLBTR, leave ’em in the comments! I’ll be doing more surveys as well.
Matt Clement Signs With Cardinals
UPDATE, 1-3-08 at 6:20pm: Clement gets a $1.25MM base with another $5.25MM in incentives for ’08. The ’09 option is for $8.75MM, an amount that can increase based on innings pitched. Seems a low-risk deal for the Cards.
UPDATE, 1-3-08 at 3:21pm: The deal includes a club option for ’09 and as you’d expect is heavy on incentives. The base salary is not known yet.
FROM 1-3-08 at 2:27pm:
According to Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals have signed Matt Clement to a Major League deal.
Clement, 33, jumps back to the NL Central after spending 2002-04 with the Cubs. He had rotator cuff surgery in September of ’06, so he’s a complete unknown at this point. He joins Adam Wainwright, Joel Pineiro, and Braden Looper in the Cards’ rotation, with Chris Carpenter and Mark Mulder due at various points during the season. They still might have money for one more starter.
Odds and Ends: Estrada, Payton, Kielty
Random rumors from the day…
- The Bucs are set with their starting five, unless they can trade Matt Morris. Dejan Kovacevic adds that the Pirates and Johnny Estrada have mutual interest but haven’t spoken in a while.
- Roch Kubatko expects the Orioles to shop Jay Payton now that they’ve acquired Chris Roberson. Really, all of their vets should be fully available.
- Bobby Kielty has interest from three or four teams, but his first choice is Boston. The likelihood of that increases if Coco Crisp is sent elsewhere. Kielty is willing to give up switch-hitting if his new team so desires.
- Troy E. Renck has salary details on Mark Redman and Kip Wells. Redman gets $1MM, with another possible $500K in incentives. Wells gets a $3.1MM base with another possible $1.5MM in incentives.
Latest Santana Buzz From MetsBlog
MetsBlog’s Matthew Cerrone has a couple of recent radio reports referencing the team’s talks for Johan Santana. One involves Mike Francesa, the other Jon Heyman.
- Francesa says the Twins are still demanding Jose Reyes, and the Mets will never do that.
- According to Heyman, the Mets might be willing to give up any four of their prospects. As in Fernando Martinez, Deolis Guerra, Carlos Gomez, and Kevin Mulvey? That would seemingly be impossible for the Twins to turn down. ESPN’s Keith Law went as far to say today that he "wouldn’t deal Martinez for one year of Santana under any circumstances."
Nick Swisher Traded To White Sox
Baseball Digest Daily is reporting that the A’s have traded Nick Swisher to the White Sox for Gio Gonzalez, Fautino De Los Santos, and Ryan Sweeney. I’d heard about the Sweeney part but hadn’t been able to confirm it. This is a fascinating trade – let’s discuss.
I have to imagine the White Sox plan to use Swisher as their center fielder for the next couple of years; he did play 59 games there in ’07. Kenny Williams stuck to his word about adding OBP to his team, picking up Swisher and Carlos Quentin to fill out his outfield. Swisher, 27, is signed at a very reasonable price: $3.5MM in ’08, $5.3MM in ’09, $6.75MM in ’10, $9MM in ’11, and a $10.25MM club option for ’12 with a $1MM buyout. The option gets a $1.75MM bump if Swisher is top five for the MVP voting during the contract. He has limited no-trade protection for 2011-12.
The White Sox paid a massive price to get their man, however. Pitchers De Los Santos and Gonzalez were their two best prospects, according to Baseball Prospectus’ Kevin Goldstein. De Los Santos is said to have a huge ceiling, whereas Gio is a solid lefty who’s nearly big-league ready. Goldstein ranked Sweeney eighth on the team, but projects him as more of a fourth-outfielder type (he was once very highly regarded though).
If it wasn’t obvious with the Dan Haren trade, the A’s are in full-fledged rebuilding mode. Joe Blanton, Huston Street, and Mark Ellis could be next to go.
Gammons Chat: Crisp, Santana, Ramirez
The Boston Globe ran a chat with Peter Gammons today, and some good hot stove material came about.
- Gammons believes the Rangers or A’s could go after Coco Crisp if he’s not dealt to the Twins. He notes that "the A’s think he’s the best CF in the game right now," and that Billy Beane could acquire him to flip him.
- He says the Mets are currently trying to build up inventory to trade for Johan Santana, and that might be why Bill Smith hasn’t pulled the trigger on anything yet.
- Gammons believes the Red Sox will exercise Manny Ramirez‘s $20MM options for the 2009 and 2010 seasons. He notes that Manny is getting himself into phenomenal shape this winter.
Yankees Won’t Re-Sign Clemens
Anthony McCarron got another tidbit out of Hank Steinbrenner in his interview yesterday. He learned that the Yankees will not consider re-signing Roger Clemens, if he does play in 2008.
Hank feels that Andy Pettitte will provide all the veteran leadership his staff needs, and he doesn’t expect Roger back anyway. Back on December 15th, Ken Davidoff suggested that Clemens was leaning toward coming back, with his sights on the Red Sox or Astros.
Clemens will address Brian McNamee’s steroid claims Sunday on 60 Minutes.
Hank Speaks About Johan
Yesterday it seemed that the Yankees’ talks for Johan Santana were pretty much dead, with his contract extension presenting an issue. But Hank Steinbrenner weighed in with Anthony McCarron, and the Yankees seem squarely in the mix. Key points of the article:
- The implication is that the Yankees’ best offer – Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, Jeff Marquez, and a fourth player – is still on the table.
- Hank says point blank the Yankees are best-equipped to handle Santana’s contract demands. Yesterday Gordon Edes said Santana’s agent implied a seven-year, $140MM deal would be necessary and the Red Sox were willing to pay it.
- Despite just "minor dialogue" between the Yanks and Twins lately, Steinbrenner seems unwilling to let the situation linger more than another two weeks.
- McCarron says the Mets remain in the mix as well. Matthew Cerrone believes the Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox "have essentially made their final offers."
- The Sports Hernia weighs in on Hank’s comments.