Adam LaRoche cleared waivers, so the D'Backs can now trade him to any team, according to John Gambadoro of KTAR.com (on Twitter). The 30-year-old, who was traded twice last year, has a .272/.339/.489 line with 20 homers this season. That line is virtually identical to LaRoche's career averages, so this level of production seems sustainable.
The D'Backs owe LaRoche $1.15MM between now and the end of the season, plus a $1.5MM buyout on a $7.5MM mutual option for 2011 (the option climbs in value to $9.5MM after a trade). LaRoche currently projects to be a Type B free agent after the season, though there's no guarantee that his team will offer arbitration.
The Red Sox had interest in left-handed first basemen early in the month and the Rays and White Sox could also have interest in LaRoche's bat. Here's MLBTR's complete list of players who have cleared waivers.
I would have liked him back on the Braves because of his great 2nd half year all the time but they are too busy trying to finalize a deal with the Cubs for Derek Lee.
Yep – it looks like LaRoche is having his usual second half, with a .900+ OPS and a fistful of homers. Like most Braves’ fans, I’d imagine, I would rather see him return to Atlanta for round three than trade for Derrek Lee’s bad back.
Sox should get him back. He did not get the chance to to prove his worth in Boston the first time around and his bat and glove would be an upgrade over Lowell at this point.
would be a great addition to the Sox line up, would give someone for Lowell to platoon with, add another good bat. If I were Theo, I’d trade for him
Agreed but it seems Theo has mailed it in for this year. Sox really needed a BP arm and didn’t get it.
The price was rediculous, we got Doubront and Bowden, they can hold it down better then RamRam and Oki.
Yeah but every time MDC or Oki throws a baseball it’s scary.
I am guessing Tampa and White Sox are all over this. Huge upgrade over their DH’s now. AZ and CWS are common trade partners so I would guess Kenny gets his DH.
Please god, Kenny, either go get him or go into selling mode. The sox need all the help they can get to merely limp in to the playoffs. We need more pop and more starting pitching, I think the bullpen will come around. If not, start trying to trade the vets.
There is no reason for us to go in to sell mode tone down the hyperbole, secondly our starting pitching is fine.
I agree I’m a little on the pessimistic side, but honestly, even if we make the playoffs, we’ll have to face the Rays, Yanks and/or Rangers. ALL of which eat our lunch year in and year out. An AL Central Title is not worth us limping into the playoffs only to get swept. All this is neglecting the fact that there is a very real chance of us being 6 games back after tomorrow (Thursday) having faced Liriano and Pavano.
The Rangers don’t eat our lunch we took 2 out of 3 from them at their place..We need to take the last two games of the series from the Twins somehow.
We are 3-3 in Texas and 1-2 at home against Texas this year.
Braves probably don’t want him back since he’d be yet another LH bat. And it would cost $1.5MM to get rid of him next year, which the Braves presumably would want to do with Freddie Freeman ready in AAA.
Lee will end up costing less in prospects going back to Chicago. LaRoche will probably demand a quality advanced prospect because he is relatively cheap for his production plus the option for next year is reasonable.
Trade him. B Allen and P Goldsmidmt are waiting in thhe wings. All for re-signing KJ.
Allen is the 1B….Goldschimdt will be trade bait down the road. He has major holes in his swing but huge power. Reports are his glove is not good either.
I agree on Kelly Johnson. Goldschmidt has huge power, but also 138 K’s in 118 games….in Single A. I dont see him being the 1B over Allen.
Good call but Allen hasn’t been that impresssive.
Allen looked good watching him against the dodgers at the end of last year, and Kelly Johnson’s got another year of arbitration left so he’ll likely be back.
LaRoche to the White Sox sounds good to me. Too bad he can’t close games too.
And spot start for Freddy, who has lost his golden thong / horseshoe / four leaf clover.
That would also help!
White Sox are done. Their Sept. schedule is tough compared to the Twins. I give up on them and it’s Kenny and Ozzie’s fault. Why would we not sign Thome and go with Kotsay all this time? Kotsay off the bench is fine, but not an everyday guy. Shame on Kenny for making nothing happen, and then gamble on a trade for Edwin Jackson, which turned up nothing (Dunn). I also think the Tony Pena trade was stupid, he has been poor at best for the Sox, instead giving up a quality prospect to AZ for him. Signing Linebrink for a ton of money was also dumb. Hinsight is 20/20, but Kenny has made some silly decisions as well.
I disagree with you on Pena. He’s had some bad outtings, but he’s also had some realy good outtings. He’s our long reliever and I think he’s been a good one overall.
I was happy we moved on from thome and generally liked Ozzie’s new DH philosophy but Kotsay was not the part that we should have used to fill that role. People forget how bad thome was last year with his base clogging and constantly swinging at crap low and away
Also Edwin Jackson has been a good addition.
Base clogging? What clap trap. And a .847 OPS (what Thome had last year with the WS) is not that bad for a DH. What is the OPS of the current team? .718 I think Thome could have helped that.
How about a LaRoche to CWS for Stefan Gartrell? He is 26 and an OF who has power. Would be a great return for AZ to play LF or platoon with Parra. He has 24 hrs in AAA this year and has no future in Chicago. I would love this.
Why haven’t D-Back fans learned their lesson about guys with power and bad averages? Every player in our lineup has power yet they can’t advance a freaking runner. We should’ve traded Reynolds last summer and signed Placido Polanco. At least he can get on base. Power = Overrated.
Giants?
I know that LaRoche went on record saying that he doesn’t want to play in SF, but maybe the possibility of a playoff run would change his mind? Him going to the Giants would be the longest shot possible [from both ends] but I think this would be the Giants last shot at making something of this season. They’re running out of gas and look like they’ll pull the same shenanigans as last year when they owned the WC all year, then lost it with great authority in the last month of the season.
Even if they make it to the post season with their current roster, it doesnt look like they can handle the Padres or the top contending team coming out of the East and would probably be bounced in 4 games.
LaRoche isn’t a huuuge bat, but atleast he’s consistent.
Did you just really say consistent? He is consistent at being bad in the first half of the season and good after the all star break.Yeah he is consistent allright.
When you take a sample of 6 years and his RBI & HR totals dont sway more than +/- 5 from year to year, then yes, I’d say “consistent”.
In LaRoche, you get 20+HR, 90+RBI per year and .270AVG, which SF is not getting out of Sadoval at the moment.
If he has a history of getting hotter in the 2nd half, then all the better, because he’s on his way to matching his career highs as is.