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Odds and Ends: Morneau, Jocketty, Santana

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Your usual dose of random rumors and links…

A’s Interested In Cameron

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Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports in with new info regarding an A’s target.  She says Mike Cameron is in their sights, and the A’s have had "several conversations" with his agent.  The A’s weren’t mentioned as a contender for Cameron last night; he is expected to land with the Brewers or Yankees.

Slusser also names a couple of available right-handed hitting free agent outfielders in Reggie Sanders and Rondell White.  Those are just examples, though – there is no current indication that the A’s have interest.

Slusser adds that there’s nothing to recent rumors of a Huston Street for Coco Crisp swap.  That one sounds like fan speculation (in fact I think I saw it in our comments somewhere).

Slusser On Barry Bonds Possibilities

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We recently named Susan Slusser Rumor Royalty for the A’s.  She is the team’s beat writer for the San Francisco Chronicle.  As part of the feature she answered a few questions for us.

MLBTR: Could you see any team beside the A’s signing Barry Bonds?  In your estimation, what’s the most the A’s would pay for a year of Bonds

Slusser: An insider told me at the winter meetings that two other teams besides the A’s had asked about Bonds, so it’s impossible to rule out. If he plays – and that seems to be a pretty big if — Oakland has the best shot, but estimating a salary is really tough. If there’s no other interest and Bonds really wants to play, considering all the issues that surround him, the price tag could be pretty cheap, say $5-$6 million. If there’s more interest, it could go up. The A’s did pay Mike Piazza $8 million last year.

Do the A’s really want Bonds, though? There are good reasons to sign him, and equally solid reasons not to. They need to put fans in the seats after moving their most popular player, and they don’t have much in the middle of the order right now. On the other hand, they might alienate much of their fan base with Bonds, and a team that is in "full bore” rebuilding mode might not be looking to spend on a 43-year-old free agent with lots of legal problems and an iffy clubhouse reputation. There is no doubt it has been discussed internally, however.

Odds and Ends: Reyes vs. Ramirez, Blanton, Colon

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Let’s round up some random links for today…

Slusser On Blanton/Street/Ellis Trade Possibilities

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Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle was recently named Rumor Royalty for the A’s.  As part of the feature, I asked her a few questions.

MLBTR: It seems Joe Blanton is a hot commodity, but we’re not hearing much about Huston Street or Mark Ellis. Do you expect any of these three to be with the team on Opening Day?

Slusser: I think Blanton gets moved by the trading deadline, at the latest, but probably before then. Street opens the season with the team but potentially could get moved by the deadline if a contender were to lose a closer, but overall, he’s less likely than Blanton to get dealt – he’s three years younger and, coming off an arm injury, he’s not going to bring back as much. Ellis has one year left on his deal, so wouldn’t bring a ton in return, plus he’s a great guy to have as a role model for young players. Clearly, no one is untouchable at this point, but of all the A’s more veteran guys, he’s the best bet to be around all year.

Rumor Royalty: Susan Slusser (Athletics)

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As originally described here, Rumor Royalty is an MLBTR series where I name the one journalist for each team who has done the most for us hot stove junkies.  If the writer is up for it, I ask that person questions for publication on the site.  You can see all of the entries in the series here.

Today we present the honor for the Oakland Athletics to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle.  Here’s a link to the newspaper’s A’s page.  Slusser also contributes to their A’s Drumbeat blog.  Slusser has been the A’s beat writer for the Chronicle for over a decade, bringing a refreshing sense of humor to what can be a grueling job.  She has answered three questions for MLBTR, and they’ll be running over the next few days.

Other journalists on tap: La Velle E. Neal III (Twins) and Mike DiGiovanna (Angels).

Mets Still Like Joe Blanton

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Peter Botte of the New York Daily News says the Mets have asked Billy Beane to "keep them in mind" as he’s shopping Joe Blanton.  Blanton could be their fallback plan for Johan Santana.  Botte says the Twinsa are still hung up on Jose Reyes, though La Velle E. Neal III heard otherwise.

On December 20th, Buster Olney said a package of Carlos Gomez, Aaron Heilman, and Kevin Mulvey would probably net Blanton for the Mets.

If the Mets can’t get Santana or Blanton, they may move on to free agent targets such as Kyle Lohse, Livan Hernandez, Jon Lieber, Freddy Garcia, or Matt Morris.  Botte does not mention Bartolo Colon as a free agent on the Mets’ radar.

What’s Next For Oakland?

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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.

Nick Swisher Traded To White Sox

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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

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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.
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