Keith Law raises a good point in his blog post today – the Devil Rays might be able to spin Dan Wheeler for a younger, cheaper player. Law thinks it’s very likely that Andrew Friedman and Co. will aggressively shop Wheeler in the next two days. They’ve managed to spin Ty Wigginton into a more scarce commodity with higher demand.
For example: if Octavio Dotel is worthy of a discussion about Dodgers’ shortstop Chin-Ling Hu, does Wheeler fall within the same realm? If not, does controlling him through 2008 close the gap? With Reid Brignac struggling in Double A overall, why not attempt to add another shortstop? Or if Brignac succeeds (his bat has come alive this month), the Rays could move Hu to second base. Evan Longoria at third base would make Akinori Iwamura expendable.
Another option would be to target Seattle’s Jeff Clement, though I’d imagine Bill Bavasi would want more than just Wheeler. Carlos Pena would be a nice fit.
The Rockies could re-engage talks to get Wheeler, perhaps offering up one of their young flamethrowers or a guy like Jeff Baker.
