Winter meetings wrap-up Q&A begins with AL
For all the columns about winter meetings winners and losers -- and there should be 2,700 of these floating in the Interether by the time you read this -- I would argue that only one constituency truly emerged victorious: baseball dorks like me.
Whatever complaints one might have about the in-stadium experience (loud, expensive) and the playoffs (too short in the divisional round, too beholden to TV scheduling-wise), this is a hell of a time to be a baseball fan, which became even more manifestly clear during the past week. Amid the NFL jousts for playoff seeding, the Heisman banter and whatever it is that the NBA and the NHL do before April, the national conversation gravitated toward baseball. In December. When there aren't any, you know, games.
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| Who might the AL champion Rays have in mind to replace Cliff Floyd at DH? (Getty Images) |
Now, of course, stuff gets boring again. So let's take a lap around the league: 30 teams, 30 questions, 30 half-baked answers. We'll do the AL on Monday and the NL on Tuesday.
AL East
Tampa Bay Rays: Will the plan to bottom-feed for a corner bat or designated hitter pay off? Maybe "bottom-feed" is a bit harsh; it's not like they're hoping Corey Patterson drops in their lap. That sure seems to be Tampa's strategy when it comes to remedying their corner OF/DH deficit, though: See who's still single three weeks from now and swoop in with a crate of bonbons and a DVD of Love, Actually. Jason Giambi, as we all know, is an incurable romantic.
Boston Red Sox: Is excellent good enough? The Red Sox don't have any weaknesses, which is impressive given that the calendar reads Dec. 15 (contrast this with the "derrr, we can find a third starter in January" approach to roster construction taken by several dim-bulb front offices). If they add Mark Teixeira, the offense and defense surge from "awesome" to "prohibitive-pennant-favorite-y wacko insane." Losing to Tampa Bay, apparently, is quite the humbling experience.
New York Yankees: What if they're a wee bit optimistic about the offense? Forget for a moment CC Sabathia and the question of whether his body will prove as impervious to pancake consumption as David Wells' once did. Right now, the Yankees are counting on Jorge Posada (37 and coming off major shoulder surgery), Hideki Matsui (34 and with knees of cellophane) and Robinson Cano (lethargic to the point that one wonders if he suffers from some sort of vitamin deficiency) to replace the big numbers of Giambi and Bobby Abreu. It might be easier to find a bat than an arm at the trade deadline, but that's no excuse to sit still when the player who could solve most of your problems -- Teixeira -- is there for the taking.
Toronto Blue Jays: Why bother? The Jays have developed their own players (Roy Halladay, superstar-on-training-wheels Travis Snider). They've paid big money for other teams' players (B.J. Ryan, A.J. Burnett). They've anted up to keep their stars (Vernon Wells, Alex Rios). It doesn't matter, because they're plopped in the same playground with smarter, tougher kids who have BMWs and ponies at their disposal. Barring divisional realignment or purchase of the team by a Russian oil oligarch, the Jays are locked into third place or below for the next half-decade.
Baltimore Orioles: Should they throw Matt Wieters into the deep end of the pool before he's ready to swim? Probably not, but it's a moot point now that the fading Ramon Hernandez has been dealt. Don't understate the galvanizing effect that a young star like Wieters will have on the comatose Orioles fan base. They're finishing 25 games out regardless, but at least they'll sell a few jerseys.
AL Central
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| Jermaine Dye and his slugging mates on the South Side aren't getting any younger. (Getty Images) |
Minnesota Twins: Do they plan to employ a third baseman who can hit? One might ask the same about a designated hitter and corner outfielder, notwithstanding last week's "Delmon Young makes me sad like a rainy day but Michael Cuddyer makes me happy like ice cream" kerfuffle involving skipper Ron Gardenhire. Just because a team does a wonderful job at preventing runs doesn't mean it shouldn't try harder to create a few of its own. Unfortunately, the Twins don't seem to be in an ambitious mood (a trade for Adrian Beltre?). Ty Wigginton, just exiled by the Astros, fits the Minnesota third-base/outfield corner profile to a tee: modestly proficient on defense, occasional spurts of power, generally reluctant to accept a base on balls. You watch: He'll be brought into the fold within a week, and the Twins will be only incrementally better for it.
Cleveland Indians: Will anybody see them coming? Even after trading Sabathia and dealing with injuries to boppers Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner, they were one of the AL's better teams in the second half of last season. Now they've added a closer not surnamed Borowski and lined up a pile of big arms in front of him. I think they'll win the Central by 10 games and put up a hell of a fight against whatever burly-man AL East team emerges from the scrum.
Kansas City Royals: Is there a scintilla of evidence that GM Dayton Moore is even minimally competent? It's hard to separate the facts from the noise, so let's assume the Zack Greinke/Jeff Francoeur rumor was crazy talk. Even so, following the pointless addition of 1B/DH Mike Jacobs to a team loaded with 1B/DH types, Moore invested $9.25 million in two years of Kyle Farnsworth's worst-possible-moment gopher balls and whimsical hunting stories. This is not the kind of move that makes the Royals that much better in the short term, nor is it one that makes the Royals better for when they can realistically be expected to contend (2011? 2026?). If you're going to lose, you might as well do it with interchangeable young righties in the pen, rather than overpaid veteran ones.
Detroit Tigers: Seriously? With the proudly mediocre Gerald Laird and Adam Everett in the fold, they'll catch the ball better than they did in 2008. It's the deal that sent improving young hitter Matt Joyce to Tampa that should make Tigers fans wonder if the team is as screwed as the automakers (topical humor! suck it, Colbert!). The pitcher they netted in return, Edwin Jackson, has one of those arms that makes scouts' cheeks flush with the warm glow of budding romance. Thing is, despite an upward blip in his cosmetic numbers, Jackson wasn't appreciably better in 2008 than he was before it. The drop in his walk rate was neutralized by a comparable drop in his strikeout rate, so essentially the ERA improvement can be attributed to the guys behind him catching the ball (his BABIP fell from .351 in 2007 to .301 in 2008).
If these statistics are available to halftards like you and me, how is it possible they don't reach the offices of 35 percent of the game's general managers? Sometimes I wonder if intelligence is a conscious choice, rather than an inherent ability.
AL West
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| The Angels have the money to re-sign Mark Teixeira, and they need him in their lineup. (Getty Images) |
Texas Rangers: Can mankind subsist on catching alone? It would be an interesting experiment: stack the roster with catcher types, all wearing eye-black and eager to get in the face of any opposing batter who dares to chirp at the pitcher. Jason Varitek would be its player/manager and its dirty-uniformed muse. The only problem? You'd have 13 guys fighting over the team captaincy, which would leave the clubhouse overrun by homemade "vote for Billy!!!!" oaktag signs.
Yes, the Rangers will probably deal one out of the Jarrod Saltalamacchia/Taylor Teagarden/Max Ramirez trio before too long. They're smart enough to know that they have other needs (pitching, perpetually) and that it's unlikely all three guys will retain their current value through 2009. If they deal with the catching overload smartly, the Rangers could have a Tampa-in-2008 season in 2010, especially given the other talented kids set to arrive around then.
Oakland Athletics: Are they in or are they out? The Matt Holliday acquisition might have been one of Billy Beane's fart-in-the-face-of-conventional-wisdom specials, or it might have been another thinking-eight-moves-ahead tweak by a guy who acts more like a mad scientist and less like a Wharton MBA every day now. For all the A's on-base charm and sexy bullpen magic, they're still a team that counts Justin Duchscherer as its ace and Bobby Crosby as its starting shortstop. It's not like they're the only organization that plans to go bargain-hunting come mid-January, either.
Seattle Mariners: Should other teams be paying more attention to them? This might be one of my craaaaaay-zeee ideas on par with "Orlando Hudson, center fielder," but bear with me. The Mariners project to have a sad-face batting order even if they splurge on hand-carved bats of calcified oak and a Stanozolol slurpee machine for the clubhouse. But the starting rotation could be half-OK, with Brandon Morrow, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Jarrod Washburn and a (supposedly) healthy Erik Bedard lined up behind Felix Hernandez, and the bullpen looks functional enough.
So let's say you grab a decent righty bat (Juan Rivera?) to platoon with Endy Chavez in left field. That gives you one of baseball's best defensive outfields, a must in spacious Safeco. You've already got a defensive whiz at third in Beltre ... could the Mariners push toward respectability in 2009 with a roster geared around run prevention?
No? Well, it was worth a thought.
