What a Great Monday
Normally on Monday I spend most of the day going over what just occurred on the football field on Sunday. I like football, but everyone knows my passion is baseball. To that end this was no mere Monday of twiddling my thumbs as it was the first day of the Winter Meetings, and with it a torrent of rumors were flying about all day about the men on the diamond (for updates on all that is baseball – including potential player movement – check in with the BaseballGuys Twitter Page). Here are some of my thoughts on the highlights of the day.
Either the Mets or Yankees have seemingly been involved in every rumor, though as of this writing the only official move either team has made is the Yankees decision to trade Brian Bruney to the Nationals for a player to be named later (you’ll be able to read my thoughts on the deal at Fanball.com on Tuesday, so look for the piece then)
The Denver Post is reporting that the Rockies have offered a multi-year deal to infielder Clint Barmes (they also offered long-term deals to Chris Iannetta and Huston Street). I guess the Rockies didn’t read my review of Barmes in a recent Five Questions piece.
Ryan Doumit has had his name in the news of late as a handful of teams are interested in trading for the catcher. Given that he is owned about $8.5 million the next two years it’s no surprise that team’s are interested in acquiring his services giving his ability to be a difference maker on offense.
Edwin Jackson continues to have his name bandied about as a potential mover at the meetings. By the time you read this he might already be on the move. The latest rumor has both the D’backs and the Mariners as his most ardent pursuers. You can my thoughts about the hurler in Breaking Down: Edwin Jackson.
This is one rumor that I haven’t seen floated, but it makes total sense to me. The Giants, in desperate need of some pop, could target Adam LaRoche who wasn’t offered arbitration by the Braves making him a free agent. LaRoche would be able to provide his 25-HR pop while playing strong defense at first which would allow Pablo Sandoval to shift back to third base, the clubs desired location for him. LaRoche could likely be had at a reasonable price, and he likely wouldn’t have much problem lofting balls into SF Bay – do you think?
Reports suggest that Rafael Soriano might accept the Braves offer of arbitration. First, I think this is complete malarkey. Why would Soriano want to go to arbitration and sign a one year deal with his history of arm troubles? He’d be wise to sign a multi-year deal. Personally, I think this is just a negotiating ploy to scare teams into offering him more money. Second, the Braves would be extremely unhappy if Soriano accepted arbitration because (1) they wouldn’t receive draft picks to replace those they lost when they signed Billy Wager and (2) they didn’t give Wagner $7 million to split the ninth inning with Soriano. For more on Wagner give Breaking Down: Billy Wagner a read.
In closing, I’d like to invite everyone to join my Twitter following (you can access it above). While I resisted the whole Twitter phenomena for a while, I’m now posting a plenty. However, this immediate gratification cycle we are all living on now has led to some problems in accuracy. As an example, Edwin Jackson was traded to the Mets midday on Monday, that is until the reports came out that the original report had no basis in reality. Technology is fantastic, and who doesn’t want to know about your teams latest move a minute after it’s done, but the environment today is one in which everyone is pushing to break the stories, and as such there are occasions when inaccurate information is promulgated across the web (a shock I know). Don’t believe everything you read the minute you read it, and in fact, you might take up the old adage of needing two sources before blindly accepting any reported deal. Either that or just grab on to a source you trust like BaseballGuys for your baseball information.
By Ray Flowers
