In the week prior to the annual Winter Meetings, which will commence Monday in Indianapolis, the Hot Stove began to boil. Chone Figgins, Placido Polanco, Marco Scutaro, Billy Wagner, and Takashi Saito signed news deals for 2010. The Rays, Phillies, Brewers, Mets, Orioles, and Mets (again) added new catchers, either in trade or vie free agency.
The trade market began a slow simmer, as Tampa traded for Cleveland's Kelly Shoppach, and the Chicago Cubs dealt two spare parts (including slugging reserve Jake Fox) to the Oakland A's for reliever Jeff Gray and a pair of prospects.
Aside from Figgins, however, the marquee free agents and trade bait remain primed to move, with just two days remaining before the start of the summit. Not all of those enigmas will be resolved by the time the organizations pack up and head out on Thursday. Some will, though. What follows is a preview of the week to come.
Free Agents
The top three free-agent talents of the winter are (in no definitive order) Jason Bay, Matt Holliday and John Lackey. All three remain unsigned, and there's a good chance that they will all leave Indianapolis the same way. If one has the best chance to sign soon, it could be Bay. No fewer than a half-dozen teams have shown interest (including, by one rather absurd report , the Cubs).
Among them, though, about three appear to be very real contenders: Boston (with whom Bay played the last season and a half), Seattle (the biggest projected spender in the market, and the recipients of an early Christmas present Friday in Figgins), and San Francisco. Bay fits in any of those places: In fact, save the North Side of Chicago, he fits nearly anywhere. Given that Seattle has a ton of money, a track record of aggressiveness, and the lure of proximity to Bay's native British Columbia, they look like the front-runners.
Second-tier guys close enough to potentially sign next week include outfielders Marlon Byrd and Jermaine Dye; third basemen Mark DeRosa and Adrian Beltre; and, apparently, all middle infielders and catchers.
DeRosa's best option is probably now St. Louis, with whom he played in the second half of 2009, after Philadelphia signed Polanco. Dye and Byrd have each drawn interest from Atlanta (who seek a power bat to play the outfield), while Beltre has been whispered about in places as disparate as San Francisco (where he'd fit nicely) and Boston (where he does not). If you want one most likely to sign, it may be DeRosa.
Trades
Obviously, much of the week's dialogue will be dominated by talk surrounding Toronto's ongoing attempt to trade ace starting pitcher Roy Halladay. Halladay says he won't approve any deals once he arrives for Spring Training, according to his agent, and so (although the Blue Jays insist otherwise) there is some sense of urgency here.
Still, it's hard to think Halladay will move soon, because there is such a dearth of evidence that any team is close to matching Toronto's sky-high demands.
Elsewhere, however, it could be a busy week of moves for a few high-profile players, and at least a pair of high-profile teams. The Cubs will work diligently to move outfielder Milton Bradley, along with as much of the $21 million owed him over the nest two seasons as they can get someone to accept.
Tampa is the most likely destination, though the Cubs decidedly do not want, and can not use the much-discussed Pat Burrell. Unless GM Jim Hendry knew in advance that Burrell could be moved somewhere else before Opening Day, such a deal would be folly.
Florida has made it clear they intend to move second baseman Dan Uggla, despite Uggla's historic power production at his position through his first four seasons. Whichever team pries him away (the Giants are the early favorites) will get a slugging soon-to-be 30 year-old who walked a career-high 92 times last season, in addition to clubbing 31 homers.
Uggla is not a good defensive second baseman but could be serviceable at third if his new team could talk him into a move.
Elsewhere in the NL East, the Braves continue to dangle their embarrassment of starting pitching resources, trying to leverage either Derek Lowe or Javier Vazquez into their aforementioned desired power. If a deal like that goes down, it could the underrated blockbuster of the week: Lowe and Vazquez are better than good, and could command an attractive return.
Finally, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will keep trying to move the weighty contract of reserve outfielder Gary Matthews, Jr. It's hard to think there's much of a market for Matthews, despite his 2006 All-Star selection. His career .740 OPS is a serious deterrent, as is the $23 million he will make over the last two years of his current deal. In a pinch, the Cubs and Angels might turn to each other for help but it wouldn't happen this week.
Keep an eye on...
The Detroit Tigers. General Manager Dave Dombrowski will have to cut some big-time money this offseason and that could mean trading any or all of Miguel Cabrera , Curtis Granderson , and Edwin Jackson. It might not get done this week, but something will need to. Even if the direction is rebuilding, the Tigers need to start moving toward the future soon, as they have a lot of things to address.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com
- Login to post comments