Devil Rays Close On Carlos Pena
Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times writes that the Devil Rays are close to signing first baseman Carlos Pena to a minor league deal. Tampa Bay wanted him last year too after Detroit released him. The Yankees picked him up but he didn’t get the call. He then exercised his option to become a free agent and signed with Boston. Pena’s best season was 2004, when he hit .241/.338/.472 in 142 games. He’ll turn 29 in May.
Pena will join a contingent of first basemen competing for time in Tampa Bay. They’ve got Ty Wigginton, Greg Norton, Hee Seop Choi, and Elijah Dukes as other possibilities.
Speculation: Choi or Pena to Reds?
Publicly, the Reds’ plan seems to be using Scott Hatteberg as a full-time first baseman and shifting Adam Dunn back to the outfield now that Wily Mo Pena is gone.
Hatteberg authored a .256/.334/.343 line for Oakland last year in 464 at-bats. That’s just nowhere near the work of a starting first baseman, even if he does dial that OBP up to .370 again. A commenter on the Wily Mo thread, Mike Murphy, had this to say:
"I predict… the Cincy Reds will wind up with either Carlos Pena or Hee Seop Choi."
To that I say, good call! One of those interesting first base projects would be an ideal fit for Cincinnati. Other possibilities: Tony Clark, Ryan Shealy, and maybe Walter Young. Hell, Calvin Pickering deserves another shot, the big lug. Not sure who the Reds could send over to acquire Shealy, but that would be a fantastic pickup.
Trade Candidates Part 2
Last time we looked at players in their contract year and trade possibilities. Today we’ll open the field and see who else could be available.
Dealing Shea Hillenbrand or Eric Hinske would probably make sense for the Blue Jays. It looks like the two will enter 2006 splitting DH duty for the Jays, and Hillenbrand may have twice as much value with the bat as Hinske. The problem is figuring out which team actually has a need for a middling 1B/3B/DH type.
The Red Sox have six starters (seven if you think Papelbon is rotation-ready), but they shouldn’t be so eager to send one packing. Josh Beckett and Curt Schilling are highly unlikely to make all of their starts. Epstein might send Arroyo over to Tampa Bay for Julio Lugo anyway. More likely, of course, is a signing of Alex Gonzalez and a trade of David Wells for a spare part or prospect.
A lot of folks think Carlos Pena still has some good seasons ahead of him. For example, PECOTA projects him to hit .255/.349/.482 in 514 ABs in 2006. The Tigers could probably use some sort of contingency plan in case Carlos Guillen misses time again.
The Diamondbacks have too many veteran OFs and no place for Carlos Quentin. I’m sure Shawn Green and Luis Gonzalez are available, it’s just a matter of finding clubs to take most of their salaries. Both outfielders are still contributors.