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.
Chavez Would Waive No-Trade Rights
My apologies for the misleading title – there are no indications Oakland third baseman Eric Chavez is a trade candidate currently. But he did tell Billy Beane that he’d waive his no-trade rights if the A’s needed to trade him to improve the team.
Chavez, who turns 30 soon, currently has a limited no-trade clause allowing him to block deals to the Blue Jays, Nationals, Rays, Mets, Twins, Brewers, Marlins, and Indians. After he finishes the 2008 season, he’ll get full no-trade protection as a 10 and 5 player. Under his current contract Chavez will make $11MM in ’08, $11MM in ’09, and $12MM in ’10. For 2011 he has a $12.5MM club option with a $3MM buyout attached.
Chavez is a tough guy, playing through a lot of pain over the years. He slumped to a career-worst .240/.306/.446 line last year. He’s already had three surgeries this offseason – both shoulders and his lower back. He had been playing with torn labrums in both shoulders. He hopes to be ready and finally healthy for the start of next season.
Susan Slusser’s above-linked article also has a quote from Chavez about how he’d welcome Barry Bonds but it would be hard to sign him now. A’s owner Lew Wolff seems to echo that sentiment.
Olney’s Latest: Benson, Lowell, Chavez, Mulder, Eckstein
Buster Olney’s ESPN Insider blog is always a good source for links from around the league. Let’s see what’s up today.
- Kris Benson’s agent Gregg Clifton says his client will to throw in Arizona about a week after the Winter Meetings.
- He says that the Yankees "haven’t put forth any offers that would give them a serious chance to get Mike Lowell." So did the Yankees pull back their offer, or did they even make one in the first place?
- Eric Chavez just underwent his third surgery in the past two months. With three years and $37 million left guaranteed ($34 million in salary plus a $3 million buyout for 2011).
- Brewers manager Ned Yost is asking NL Rookie of the Year Ryan Braun to take 1,000 groundballs per day this off-season. Maybe this will help Braun improve from his poor defensive year in 2007.
- The Cardinals are calling Mark Mulder’s progress "very positive." He’s slated to start throwing in January, and according to the team will be ready to throw off a mound come Spring Training.
- The Mets are still interested in David Eckstein as their second baseman.
Joe Pawlikowski is co-author of River Ave. Blues, a Yankees blog.
What’s In Store For Oakland?
Susan Slusser’s recent article for the San Francisco Chronicle had some interesting rumor tidbits.
- The Dodgers see the Esteban Loaiza handover as something of a small gift from the A’s. The team’s talked about sending someone to Oakland – Brett Tomko was mentioned – but ultimately Oakland moved Loaiza only for salary relief. However, the goodwill between Ned Colletti and Billy Beane from the deal could result in positive offseason discussions about Joe Blanton. The Dodgers could sweeten a Blanton package beyond what’s necessary, in rememberance of the Loaiza gift.
- The Tigers haven’t asked about Mike Piazza, and the Twins had only mild interest back in July. But that might be one last salary the A’s try to unload before tonight’s trade deadline.
- Interesting thought from Buster Olney the other day – is it time to shop Eric Chavez? His plus defense might play well in L.A., New York, or Boston. Olney speculates that the A’s might ask the Dodgers for Clayton Kershaw…can’t see that one happening. Chavvy makes $11MM in ’08, $11MM in ’09, $12MM in ’10, and a $3MM buyout in ’11. His limited no-trade clause allows him to block trades to the Blue Jays, Nationals, Devil Rays, Mets, Twins, Brewers, Marlins, and Indians.
- Slusser writes in another article that the A’s will slice their ’08 payroll by roughly $15MM.