Word floating around Major League Baseball on this the final day of the 2010 Draft, is that the Chicago White Sox have told other clubs that they are willing to deal. Be on the look-out for talks of as many as five current Sox veterans to be packing their bags at some point before August hits. Don’t expect a fire-sale however, as GM Kenny Williams won’t want to cripple his 2011 chances in an effort to bring prospects back.
Williams expects the Sox to contend every year, so guys like Mark Buehrle, Gavin Floyd, and Jake Peavy aren’t likely to be on the market. Instead, interested clubs (my thoughts in parenthesis) will find A.J. Pierzynski (Rangers), Andruw Jones (RedSox, Yankees), Bobby Jenks (Phillies, Reds), and Paul Konerko (Angels) available.
Look for Juan Pierre to be a possible lost-cost addition to a contending club. The Dodgers are paying $7MM of his $10MM salary this season, plus nearly half of the $8MM he’s owed next year.
The Cliff Lee Saga
Seattle’s ace left hander twirled a complete game victory in his last start, but the Mariners are going nowhere fast in what should have been a very winnable division for them this year. Cliff Lee (4-2, 2.77) has already stated that he would like to test the free agent waters after the year, so any club that deals for him is guaranteed nothing beyond 2010. (…)
What it means for Seattle is that when they trade Lee, they’ll not bring back anywhere near the haul they gave up to get him from Philadelphia last winter. At best, Seattle will likely end up with no more than one top-tier prospect and possibly two more mid-to-low level guys. Lee is a less costly option for contending teams than some other available arms (most notably Houston’s Roy Oswalt), so the competition figures to be heavy for a guy that has proven he can dominate in the American league, and has shown he can dominate the post-season as well.
Lee is the top-of-the-rotation gem of this year’s trade class, so any team with a shot at the playoffs would be doing themselves a disservice to not at least make a call to Seattle. Outside of Tampa, there isn’t a club in baseball that wouldn’t benefit from having him.
The most likely suitors? My gut tells me that the Dodgers and Cardinals would be the biggest players (St. Louis is looking into Jeff Suppan, so you know they need pitching). Lee doesn’t require the long-term dollars that Oswalt does, and he’s not all that expensive this season, either. Seattle will want a potential impact bat in return.
O’s Looking at Managers
Baltimore Orioles president Any MacPhail has a search underway for a new skipper, now that they have parted ways with Dave Trembley. While Juan Samuel has the interim tag right now, the O’s have had a long run of inexperienced managers fail on this job.
In accordance, MacPhail has apparently contacted former Mets and Rangers manager Bobby Valentine, currently of ESPN, and former Indians skipper Eric Wedge about his current vacancy.
The Orioles have a young team that’s about to get younger once they trade away Kevin Millwood, Miguel Tejada, and Ty Wigginton. They’ll need a proven voice to right this ship, someone with experience building a young club. Valentine would be a better choice than Wedge, who is much more of a players manager than a disciplinarian, something young teams usually need.
I don’t know if he’s at all interested, but I’d add Buck Showalter to the list if I were MacPhail. Showalter built up a young Yankees club before handing it over to Joe Torre, then he built a young Diamondbacks team into a World Champ under Bob Brenly, and he also had moderate success with Texas. His style tends to wear old on his players after a few seasons, but so does that of Valentine, and Showalter has a better track record at bringing teams back to relevance. He’s like the Larry Brown of the Major Leagues.
Baltimore is just about to clinch their 13th consecutive losing season, might as well try something new.
Reds Looking for Relief
Cincinnati has a first-place ball club for the first time in a long time this season, but the bullpen is doing their best to keep the rest of the division in play. The Reds don’t have the same type of thunder in the heart of their order as the Cardinals and Brewers do, but their lineup is deeper than either of those two.
They don’t have anyone who can out-preform Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, but they have five quality starters, at least once Homer Bailey returns from injury. The rotation only figures to get better once Edinson Volquez returns from Tommy John surgery in July, and Aroldis Chapman is still just a short while away in the minors.
The problem is for Cincinnati, that the middle relievers have been terrible of late. The Reds have one of the best in the National League in closer Fransisco Cordero, and the ageless Arthur Rhodes has been very good since coming to the Reds a season ago. Daniel Ray Herrera is a serviceable LOOGy, but after that the Reds have a revolving door of unproven, hard-throwing right handers, who so far have been unable to put out most fires they have faced.
With the Reds in contention, former Red David Weathers has told John Fay of the Cincinnati Inquirer that he would come back and help out if the Reds are interested. Weathers, a free agent who was believed to be retired, is 40 now, but was quite effective last season for Milwaukee and Cincinnati.
If the Reds look to the trade market, and I’d advise that they do, there should be a wealth of relievers available for the right price. The key is that you never want to give up good prospects for relief arms, especially middle-relievers. Still, a guy like Chicago’s Scott Linebrink, or Baltimore’s Jim Johnson would help get the ball to the late innings. Kansas City’s Kyle Farnsworth has been very good this year and is available as well.