Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe is now on Twitter, under the handle @nickcafardo, so be sure to follow him. In the meantime, Cafardo also has a new column up for the Globe, in which he addresses the possibility of an Adrian Gonzalez trade and touches on a few other hot stove topics. Let's check out the highlights….
- Cafardo isn't bullish on the Red Sox' chances of acquiring Gonzalez, noting that a trade would deplete Boston's farm system. Plus, they should face stiff competition from teams like the Mariners and Orioles.
- The consensus among a few baseball people who spoke to Cafardo is that Padres GM Jed Hoyer will field trade offers for Gonzalez but won't necessarily deal the slugger. The situation could be similar to the Jays shopping Roy Halladay at last year's deadline, when Toronto wasn't sufficiently blown away by any offer.
- The Padres are more likely to move Chris Young and Heath Bell.
- Assuming the Sox don't land Gonzalez, Cafardo wonders if Carlos Pena might be an offseason target for Theo Epstein.
- Roy Oswalt could be an attractive trade chip for the Astros, given the lack of top starting pitchers that will be available during the season. Cafardo thinks Houston will move their ace if they have to, adding that "it looks like they may have to."
- The Brewers' extension of Yovani Gallardo is a good sign that they'll be aggressive in attempting to lock up Prince Fielder, though it will likely take a Mark Teixeira-esque contract to get it done.
- Cafardo's "dark horse candidate" in this winter's Carl Crawford sweepstakes? The Angels.
- The Red Sox looked into acquiring Curtis Granderson to replace Jason Bay, but were outbid by the Yankees.
I wonder who’d look at acquiring oswalt though.
Probably a team in the playoff hunt looking for a solid middle of the rotation option. I can see teams like the Mariners or Angels, if either of them are there, maybe even the Rays if some of their younger guys don’t take off this year.
Maybe even Detroit because of their unexperienced rotation.
im pretty sure the mets at least are going to make an offer
the Mets need a #2, and Oswalt would be an excellent choice. Only problem is, the Astro’s will likely want a lot in return. Other then selling their prospects, the Mets have little to trade. And this offseason has proven the Mets are being reluctant to deal their prospects
Ike Davis and Johnathen Niese would be a nice deal to make. But i dont see them trading Davis.
Yea, they have waited to long and let too many opportunities go by to say that they would trade Davis now. The only position with some blocked depth would be SS. Reyes in the majors, then Tejada, Flores, and Reese Havens coming up through the minors. Still I don’t think the Mets would make a package of Niese + a position player to just trade for another stater.
The Astros have a pretty nice SS prospect already. I forget his name but they like him
Jiovanni Mier ?
Yeah that’s it.
but i think that for geting oswalt we dont have to give a lot because last year oswalt era was 4+ so he didnt pitch like an ace
Still it would be a nice deal
They may want a lot in return, but the Astros aren’t going to get a lot in return compared to other pitcher trades. At this point, I’d say that Oswalt isn’t as good as Cliff Lee was last year. That doesn’t exactly scream “blockbuster deal.” If Houston can get something like the Indians got for V-Mart or Cliff Lee, they should jump on that deal immediately because they’re not going to see a better one unless Oswalt has a huge season this year.
Even then, Oswalt’s value is depressed because he’s said he’s going to retire after the 2011 season. So it’s not like a team is going to get him and try to extend him. If the Astros can get one high prospect for him plus some change, they should deal him. They probably won’t though, as their management/owners are a mess, so they’ll just be awful for a few more years.
Doesn’t Oswalt also have a no-trade clause and has publicly said he did not want to ever play in NY?
Lots of players say stuff like that and end up in NY.
However, the Mets would have to give up what little they have to get him, and I don’t see why Oswalt would waive his NTC to pitch there, since the Mets aren’t going anywhere in that division this year.
To be honest, though, he needs to get himself out of Houston FAST.
I have a feeling Wandy will be easier to move and will accumulate more value then anyone else. If Houston is to make a move it will be easier to trade him and more then likely better.
if he’s signed much more cheaply, then yes. I don’t believe he will be nearly as effective in a much better overall hitting-league, but he’ll still have some value.
Well, I would love to see the Sox go out and acquire Adrian, but who wouldnt. I say try all internal options before making a big prospect commitment. Lowell looked good last night, diving for some balls and looked alright at the plate last night, Varitek got a pair of home run last night in his first game and was decent behind the dish. With a little shuffling around and removing of David Ortiz from the DH spot, the team doesnt need it if they continue to get decent production from Varitek and Lowell.
Another sleeper team for Crawford this offseason could be the Tigers. We have a lot of money coming off the books, LF is a pretty big need and a owner willing to spend.
if they want crawford
why they trade granderson to the yankes?
I didn’t say that the Tigers want him, I am just saying that i wouldn’t be surprised if they made a run at him this offseason (assuming he becomes a FA)
this is just my opinion. Grandy looked like he was starting to decline defensively. He would make very good catches on balls that should have been more routine, his routes looked to be declining as well and when you add that up and playing half his games in spacious Comerica park, that has a recipe for disaster in the next couple of years. last year he turned more into a power hitter instead of hitting the gaps which what he was very good at. Which isn’t a horrible thing but when he was put in the LO role, his job is to get on base not to swing for the fences every time he was up to the plate and his horrible stats vs. LHP
ooo ok but its going to be hard that they outbid the yanks unless he likes detroit style and wants to play there
I completely agree, it will be almost impossible for us to outbid the Yanks. But i hope that wont stop Dombrowski from trying to sign him
Granderson isn’t even in the same league as Crawford. Granderson may hit more homeruns but that is it. And he has been on a decline since he was 26.
I would love to see the mets get crawford but that would require him playing rightfield because i dont see carlos beltran moving in his contract year. The right field in citi field is very difficult to play so jason bay wouldnt play right that leaves crawford but to sign him they have to trade jeff francouer and outbid teams like the Yankees and Red Sox.
i really want to see fmart playing for us because he have such i beautifull swing and i have a feeling hes going to be a very good player so we really should stick with him and see how he plays in the minors this year
Personally, if Frenchy keeps up the offense this season, I would like to keep him around. And with that arm he should play outfield. Left is Bay’s domain, and Beltran is by far the best defender of the 3, so that would keep the outfield full. But I agree, I would like to see F-Mart come up and play in the big leagues rather than trying to sign Crawford to some ridiculous deal. Instead, the Mets should focus on Starting Pitching
The mets wouldnt get oswalt because he is owed like 35 million dollars over the next 2 years and the astros wont pay that, so thats another like 18 million a year on the mets payroll. The astros would probably want prospects like Ike Davis and maybe Jon Niese and Jurys Familia in a deal which is a lot to give up. Oswalt last dominant season was in 08 when he had 17 wins but that was 2 years ago. I would prefer the mets go after a free agent this year like cliff lee or javier vazquez.
The Dodgers should go after Oswalt, they could use someone who can throw strikes and get through 6 innings.
I agree that the Orioles could make a run at A-Gonz too. They certainly have the prospects to do it and I remember they were believed to have made a 7 year $150mil offer to Teixeira when he was a free agent so they could be able to resign Gonzalez.
Pena has some power, but he is a bit too aged (32) and is weak in the hitting for average department (.248). If we are going out for powerful youth, I’d stick with my first choice, which is to try and make a deal with Detroit for Miguel Cabrera. He’s about to turn 27, is a career .300+ hitter with lots of power (6 consecutive 25+ HR and 100+ RBI years) and a very strong career OBP (.385). Because he already has the ginormous contract, Detroit will free up lots of money, which will soften the blow on our farm system, compared to trying to make a deal with the Pads for A-Gonz. I’m not suggesting that we won’t have to give up some talent, but that the amount of talent would be less because there’s no team control discount involved in M-Cab’s salary.
The Tigers wouldn’t deal Miguel Cabrera/Justin Verlander. That’s like trading Pedroia and Lester for the Red Sox. Plus, with the Westmoreland situation, the Red Sox doesn’t have any can’t miss prospects to trade asides from Casey Kelly.
Aside from the fact that there’s no such thing as a “can’t miss” prospect, both Kelly and Josh Reddick remain rated in the A-B category by all 3 pre-eminent raters. That’s more than enough talent to acquire M-Cab. He has about $106MM left on his contract for the next 5 years. Thank the Lord we get to negotiate with Dombrowski, who would love to free up $21MM per season, and not you. LOL.
With Westmoreland out of the picture and Kelly/Bard/Iglesias off-limits, I just don’t see the Sox being able to put together a package that San Diego will take for A.Gonz. Buchholz would obviously be the centerpiece but then what? Not sure about SD’s biggest needs but the Sox might try to pair Buchholz with Jacoby and 2 propspects….although I’ve heard the Padres are not super interested in Ellsbury and his agent. If Jacoby’s not included it would have to be something like Buchholz, 1 of Reddick or Kalish, 1 of Pimental or Doubront, 1 of Exposito or Federowicz and Lars Anderson. Would the Padres be interested in Beltre if we kicked in his salary?