Yesterday, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun learned from Melvin Mora's agent that the third baseman has two NL clubs and one AL team as suitors, none in the Eastern divisions. MLB.com's Joe Frisaro may have solved this riddle, as he tweets that the Rockies, Mets, and Angels have talked to Mora. The Mets don't fit given the non-eastern criteria, however.
Mora's agent, Eric Goldschmidt, says his client is looking for a team that will contend and "maybe give him 300-something at-bats." Mora, 38 in February, hit .260/.321/.358 in 496 plate appearances this year for the Orioles while playing 1,050 innings at third base.
Cardinals
Exactly my first thought. I could definatly see them wanting a cheap veteran in case Freese can’t handle the starting job
A’s.
Last I checked the Mets are in the East….
They are, but they’ll probably be in the bottom of the East. Bdum-ching!
Mets are the East last ime I checked
If you guys would read ONE sentence more, you would see Tim says “The Mets don’t fit given the non-eastern criteria, however.”. Read before posting people!
It has to be the Cardinals. All apologies to David Freese, but the Cards don’t have a third baseman anymore with DeRosa and Glaus now gone. A team that expects to contend for a division title can’t have that big of a hole. Mora is a good, cheap, one-year option and would be a perfect fit in St. Louis – especially considering the Cards will likely overpay this week for Matt Holliday.
Twinkies as a darkhorse?
Would fit the non-East, contender, 300 ABs scenario (splitting time with Punto/Harris at 3b). And it’s likely he’d only command $1-2m, which the Twins could probably afford, and is still cheaper than Crede would want to come back…
I can see Mora on the Cards. His best days are clearly in the past, but he can still play a respectable 3B and has some pop.
seriosly Mora hey we are heading into an uncertain 2010 year know i would take my chances at going for Betancourt,garret anderson,or trade for Kotchman at least for a year
If the A’s were after Beltre, they are no doubt one of the teams. He is cheaper, they can give him the at-bats, and he’d play in a non-pressurized zone.
If it’s for a million or so then I can see plenty of teams looking at him. He’s a nice insurance policy at that price.
Well this news pops up not too far after the Twinkies create room on the 40 man with the release of Keppel, so them as a dark horse could be it. Hopefully they have a full time 3b in mind and this is only a depth move if thats the case.
I agree.
Can he play 1B well enough. I know he doesn’t have much experience there, but could he do it? If so, I could see a fit in Colorado, if not, than I don’t see any point in it
A team is better off with Joe Crede than Mora. People should maybe remember that Mora not only was awful last year, but whined and pouted when was put on the bench, then wanted a trade.
Crede also signed last year for upwards of $7m (after incentives). Mora is likely much cheaper.
100% agree that 7M (even 1/2 that) is too much for Crede, but would you want to pay that for a 38YO 3B, that can’t hit or field AND will whine if sat on the bench and be a distraction? Twins may be better off seeing if Boston would eat the 9M of Lowell’s contract and get him, at least he can hit and not field and he is a known positive influence. Just about anybody is better than Mora, except for Mike Lamb again and not even sure about that…
We’re just listing potential suitors for Mora, but I completely agree that Crede is better than Mora.
I can see him going to the Angels on a one- or two-year deal, maybe $3 million a year.
I’d much rather have Wood play third than Mora. The Angels are too competitive to sign a guy like Mora to play third base.
To the Angels as a replacement for 1,5 a year
No. Far too much. Once again, there’s probably close to no chance the Halos sign him unless they aren’t very confident in Brandon Wood. Probably just kicking the tires.
Maybe the Pirates we’ll sign him. He could play 1B and split time with Jeff Clement.
Cardinals- Freese/ Mora platoon
Angels- Need a 3rd basemen. I would just say sign Branyan, but it’s the Angels not going to win AL west this year.
Rockies- Mora could back up Stewart.
This would not be a good idea for the Rockies, they should continue to use Stewart at 3rd. The homegrown talent formula has been working for the Rockies in the past. Stewart hasn’t even seen a full season at third. Give the kid a shot, its worked before. Last season Stewart was stuck behind an over played, below average player who had one good season and got a huge contract for it. The rockies do need in infield bat however. They are committed to Clint Barmes, however, they should look to 2nd base for the big infield bat they are looking for. Todd Helton, is healthy again and doesn’t need another player to share the 1B role with, as Brad Hawpe can step in and leave a perfectly competent outfield intact. I don’t see the Rockies adding a SS as Tulo will continue to succeed and be the leader in the infield, that is unless they find a SS/2B that can play either and give Tulo a day off every once and awhile.
Mora wont take over Stewarts playing time, he will simply be brought in to be able to back up him up and probably do some pinch hitting(not a terrible bat to have come off th bench)….maybe could be played at first if helton and hawpe both have days off but that wont happen more than a couple times if they both stay healthy
As long as they signed him cheap I’d be okay with it. Rather have Thome though as a pinch hitter that could also back up first.
very true…and i have thought about Thome in the past…but with brad hawpe and hopefully Giambi coming back(as there has been not a whole lot of news about him heading to the AL to DH) then why bring in Thome? Mora would then be the better sign because you then have depth at the corners and not just a surplus of bench players who can only play 1B.