Marty Lurie Talks San Francisco Giants Baseball
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Hot Stove League Geeting Very Warm


More players should be making their choices as this weeknd comes to a close Sunday night. The arbitration offering deadline for one’s own free agents looms at 9:00 PM Pacific Sunday.

For example, if the A’s don’t offer Miguel Tejada the chance to come back for one season through an arbitrated salary by the deadline, then they won’t be able to negotiate with him until May 1st.

If they did arbitrate and sign him with the idea of then trading him, they couldn’t make a deal for him until June 15th, when half his salary would already have been paid.

The biggest news of the weekend will be the signing of Kaz Matsui with the Mets. The newest Japanese import will play shortstop for the Mets and bat leadoff. Hot Met rookie Jose Reyes has agreed to move to second base for NY. With Mike Piazza and Cliff Floyd batting third and fourth, the Mets will have some excitement at the top of their order.

I expect the Mets to trade Roger Cedeno quickly and pick up Terrence Long from San Diego to play right field. Long played well for Art Howe in Oakland and is a decent corner fielder. He will be an upgrade from Cedeno and might hit .265 with 18 homers for NY, not all that bad.

So, how does the Matsui signing effect the market?

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Every indication now is that Anaheim and Seattle will be the hottest pursuers for Miguel Tejada.

Seattle clearly wants Tejada and has asked him to let them make the final offer once they are all in. Seattle consultant Pat Gillick even went to the Dominican Republic to see Tejada to gauge the shortstop’s interest in signing with the Mariners.

Anaheim has been after Tejada from day one.

Now it begins to get tricky.

A Rod will be a Red Sock, no doubt. I said it last August once A Rod threw out the line saying if Texas sought to trade him, he would be receptive, I knew he was on his way out of Texas. Plus he can’t stand manager Buck Showalter.

Boston and NY are in an unbelievable war against each other. Getting A Rod will be the next salvo fired by the Red Sox.

Nomar Garciaparra will go when A Rod comes into town. Will he go to the Angels? Perhaps, but sources in Anaheim tell me that they still have Tejada first on their list.

The money being offered to Tejada (reportedly 25 million over three years) is not that outrageous. Why won’t the A’s get in the mix?

BB and ownership already cut Miguel loose months ago, both mentally and in their plans to retool, which are already in motion.

If Miguel goes to Seattle, then Nomar comes to Anaheim.

Boston still needs bullpen help. Anaheim can give Boston Brenden Donnelly or even Troy Percival if Keith Foulke decides to go elsewhere, since Derrick Turnbow (who throws about 100 MPH) will absolutely make a name for himself in the Angel bull pen next season.

Manny Ramirez goes to Texas along with an extra 3-4 million per year for the Rangers, so they can sign Jeff Suppan or someone of his ilk for their rotation. Looks like reliever Jason Grimsley will sign with Texas soon as well.

Will Nomar land in LA? New owner Frank McCourt (whenever the Fox purchase goes down) is from Boston and might want Nomar for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers could trade Guillermo Mota for Nomar which would be quite a pick up for Boston.

Rafael Palmiero will end up in LA or Anaheim with his buddy Juan Gonzalez probably going to the White Sox.

LA’s Odalis Perez should be a White Sock by the end of the weekend in a deal for Carlos Lee or Paul Konerko.

Will Paul Lo Duca become an Athletic? Not impossible, Jermaine Dye’s days with the A’s are numbered and LA has always liked him. Lo Duca is an excellent teammate and a hardnosed kid from Brooklyn. I love his hustle and the way he plays the game. LA needs offense, so I’m not sure why they would do this trade, but if they would and the A’s kicked in for Dye’s salary, I’d do it from the A’s perspective before the Dodgers wake up.

Travis Lee or Doug Mantkiewicz would be terrific pick ups for SF. Both can field, in fact Lee is the best fielding first baseman in the game outside of JT Snow right now. Neither hit with tremendous power, but both are quality players who would help the Giants.

If Seattle doesn’t offer Freddy Garcia a contract by December 20th and he becomes a free agent, teams will line up to sign him beginning with Texas, Boston, and SF.

Kansas City is supposed to sign Raul Mondesi, Benito Santiago and Matt Stairs next week too.

If the Twins don’t resign Eddie Guardado by the weekend, then watch Seattle, Oakland, the Cubs, and Boston jump all over each other trying to sign him.

Where will Keith Foulke go? Good question. Boston wants him, so do the A’s. Whoever gives him the fourth guaranteed year will get him. In any case, he should decide by the end of the weekend too. If he goes to Boston, then watch the A’s up their offer to Guardado. Personally, I wouldn’t put Guardado in Foulke’s class and the A’s would be better off trying for Shigetoshi Hasegawa or Arthur Rhodes, if Seattle lets them go.

Hey, what happened to Bartolo Colon? The Yanks backed off and are waiting on Andy Pettitte before reconsidering the chunky hard throwing righty. Colon could surface in Chicago (Sox) again or Anaheim if NY is a dead end for his services.

Fernando Vina got an offer from Detroit as supposedly Tejada will too. Who needs 119 losses unless they pay extra for every loss over 100?

Roberto Alomar is still out there and could the Yankees be in his future? NY definitely wants Alfonso Soriano off of second base and Alomar is an option, although he isn’t what he used to be by a long shot.

Minnesota’s Luis Rivas would be a better fit for NY especially because infielder Nick Punto who the Twins just got from Philly for Eric Milton is an up and coming player.

Is NY really interested in Kenny Lofton? He can play center, but hardly seems to be the kind of impact player they go after.

Rich Aurilia in Colorado? Why not, he can hit and they need a shortstop.

Pudge Rodriguez and Javy Lopez. One goes to Baltimore and one goes to the Cubs.

Vladimir Guerrero, most likely Baltimore, it seems that they are the only team willing to kick in the 15 mil per year for the games brightest young star, bad disk and all.

If I was LA. I’d sign Guerrero and build around him and forget the other moves.

Jose Cruz will most likely land in Texas and I highly recommend Ben Grieve for the Rangers too. Grieve has hit the hell out of the ball in that ball park and is a local kid who will play for food after his experience in Tampa Bay.

Rangers are still in the hunt for righty John Thomson, even though he will cost 6 mil or more. Crazy, he ain’t that good, I’d much rather have Sidney Ponson for less money.

Situational lefty Steve Kline is out there. If Arthur Rhodes leaves Seattle, they should pick up Kline, he’s a good one.

What’s up with Ricardo Rincon? Is anyone making an offer? The A’s should offer him arbitration and then sign him to a two year deal ala Mike Magnante’s in 2001.

Todd Walker has first base/DH for Anaheim written all over him. Where is Scott Spiezio going to land? I’d like to see him in the Bay Area, he is a gamer, a winner, and hit one of the most clutch homers in series history off Felix Rodriguez in 2002, Spiezio owes the Giants plenty and could help them at first or off the bench at third.

By the way, why wait if you are the A’s if you really want Eric Chavez after 2004? NY signed Aaron Boone for one season and he will be keeping third base warm for Chavez unless the A’s act soon.

If you think this weekend is something just wait until after the non tenders (players with 3-5 years experience who aren’t offered 2004 contracts by Dec.20th) hit the market.

Good weekend for baseball.

0 comments

1 Anonymous { 12.07.03 at 3:02 am }

Nice rundown Marty.

Thanks for keeping your ears to the ground.

Reno Bill

2 Anonymous { 12.07.03 at 12:12 pm }

If Tejada signs somewhere for 3-4yrs without the A’s making him an offer, then I think a grassroots campaign needs to be started to get rid of both Beane and Schott. On a serious note, this is why my loyalty to the A’s only goes so far. It’s a business and the A’s only care about their players and the community insofar as they can make a buck. Sorry, Schott, you’re not getting a new stadium in Oakland anytime soon. Go try to get taxpayers to flip the bill somewhere else.
Marty, who replaces Dye in the outfield if he is traded? Don’t the A’s need some homerun production in the outfield? Would Cameron provide it?
-Mike

3 marty { 12.07.03 at 1:08 pm }

If Dye could actually be traded, then Cameron could be an answer, but somehow all his strikeouts will probably turn off Oakland because of its reliance on OB%. What’s taking so long with Keith Foulke? The offer is on the table from both Boston and Oakland, seems like he knows both situations quite well. Now the White Sox are thinking about Eddie Guardado. The Red Sox-Texas deal is getting closer because apparently ARod has agreed to restructure his contract. Garciaparra could bring Jarrod Washburn in return from Anaheim, but if I was Boston I’d think bull pen. The Brewers want a rightfielder, how about Eric Byrnes right now for catcher Chad Moeller?
Marty

4 Anonymous { 09.22.07 at 1:14 pm }

5 Anonymous { 09.22.07 at 1:51 pm }

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