Marty Lurie Talks San Francisco Giants Baseball
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Sunday Morning Muse


While the Evil Empire fights their own private Star Wars episode with the good folks from Boston, the rest of the baseball world will begin their holiday shopping within the next week or so.

Now that Curt Schilling has chosen Boston as his home for the next three years, the remaining free agent pitchers will quickly fall into place.

No doubt that the Yankees will counter the Boston move by resigning Andy Pettitte one of these days. Houston won’t kick in the necessary 45 million or so to lock Pettitte up, so the Yankees should keep their top lefty.

Next who will it be joining Mike Mussina and Pettitte in the rotation? Most likely Bartolo Colon since he will cost mere dollars instead of first baseman Nick Johnson, the price mentioned for Javier Vasquez of Montreal.

But what about Jeff Weaver, the Yankees forgotten righthanded starter?

Click below for the latest on his possible destination?Various writers in New York are speculating that Weaver, Aaron Boone, and infielder Erick Almonte will be moving west to the Giants for Edgardo Alfonzo, Jason Christiansen, Nefi Perez, and Felix Rodriguez.

Even though the Giants need another established starter in the rotation to back up Jason Schmidt, Kirk Reuter, and Jerome Williams, Weaver isn’t worth all the talent that SF would have to give up.

How about Benito Santiago coming to the A’s to replace Ramon Hernandez? Santiago is at the end of his career, but would bring some veteran leadership to a young clubhouse. Santiago knows how to win and just might have enough left to give the A’s some decent defense behind the plate and a few needed homers. His situation seems similar to Pudge Rodriguez’s when he signed a late one year deal with the Marlins, then led them to the playoffs with inspired play. One thing about Santiago, he comes to play in October and the A’s could use someone like that.

How about Mike Cameron in Pac Bell? He certainly can cover the outfield with the best in the game. He would allow the Giants to sign a less agile rightfielder and is a great guy in the clubhouse. I still say Marlin Juan Encarnacion has SF written all over him, but Cameron would be OK too.

Richie Sexson has been the object of Arizona’s affection for two years now. He should be a Diamondback on Monday. Going to the Brewers will be Milwaukee native Craig Counsell, whose father worked in County Stadium while Craig grew up hanging around the ball park. Lyle Overbay, .300 hitting, little power first baseman, Second baseman and also very muscular Junior Spivey and one Arizona’s young pitching prospects.

Not enough for one of the premier power hitters in the game, but what can you do when you tell the world that you must trim your payroll 15 million and Sexon is your highest paid player.

Rightfielder Gary Sheffield sounds like he will sign with NY this week too. This probably means Alfonso Soriano will stay with NY as a second baseman.

Kevin Millwood won’t get ten million per year to sign with anybody and to me looks like he will come back to Philadelphia or go to Atlanta to replace Greg Maddux.

Sidney Ponson may go to Seattle especially if Freddy Garcia isn’t tendered a contract by the Mariners by December 20th.

Texas is desperate to trade A Rod so they will have some money to sign some pitchers. Ponson, Garcia, and Millwood could cash in with Texas if A Rod could be moved to Boston. Texas GM John Hart has had Carl Everett, Manny Ramirez, and Albert Belle on his teams with success, so he could be a willing buyer of Manny’s contract.

Don’t overlook a healthy El Duque as a potential Ranger or Yankee next season.

Keith Foulke is looking at a four year deal from Boston or the Mets, meaning the A’s might be out of the running for the AL’s top closer of 2003. If the deal stayed at three years then they would have a decent chance of keeping him in Oakland, but not at four years and 32 million.

If Foulke goes elsewhere, then Tom Gordon and Paul Quantrill become possible answers in the A’s bullpen.

Very quiet on the Miguel Tejada watch. Kaz Matsui, the latest import from Japan wants to play ss for a west coast team, meaning Anaheim, Seattle, San Diego or LA. The Dodgers have Cesar Izturis who many scouts love, so it’s the Angels, Padres, or the Mariners for Matsui. The Mets aren’t out of the picture either if they would move their own ss Jose Reyes to second to accomodate Matsui. Don’t count on that one.

So where does this leave Tejada? The Angels still seem the most likely team to pay the price for Miguel, but don’t rule out Baltimore either. Much of what happens with Miguel will be decided after the Nomar-A Rod-Matsui circus comes to a halt.

LaTroy Hawkins will be a Cub, I still don’t see anyone outbidding Chicago for him. If Foulke doesn’t go to Boston, then Everyday Eddie Guardado becomes the Hub’s first alternative. With Pedro, Lowe and now Schilling on board, Boston cannot fool around with the closer by committee business in 2004, they will sign a legit closer.

The Cardinals could do a lot worse than signing Armando Benitez for their bullpen.

Someone wrote that St. Louis was considering adding Kenny Lofton to its outfield next year. Tony La Russa can’t stand Lofton, so I don’t see that happening in this lifetime.

As soon as Pudge Rodriguez decides where he will catch next year, then Javy Lopez will fall into line. I see the Orioles in the middle of this equation.

Wouldn’t Todd Walker be a good DH for some team? So far no interest.

The Mets made a big time offer for Luis Castillo and now will fight the Marlins and perhaps the Yankees for the second baseman.

If the Giants did trade Alfonzo and didn’t tender a contract to Aaron Boone, wouldn’t they have enough money for Tejada? Stranger things have happened.

Isn’t Bob Geren the next A’s bench coach when Terry Francona moves to Boston? A’s coaches Brad Fischer and Ron Washington might say something if they are overlooked once again for the number two spot.

The Reds should jump at the chance to hire John McClaren as manager. Anyone who can be Lou Piniella’s right hand man for ten years and survive, is over qualified to handle the Reds job.

Schilling was the first piece of the NY-Boston puzzle to fit, now it’s up to the Evil ones to make the next move which will have deep reprecussions in the market.

The next two weeks should be something to watch.

0 comments

1 Anonymous { 11.30.03 at 9:44 pm }

Excellent prognostications. I gonna save this one for the future and watch the process develop but your thoughts make a lot of sence even if they don’t materialize.

2 glenpark { 11.30.03 at 11:15 pm }

Today’s NY Post article mentioning a NYY = SF deal makes little sense –this is just a Yankee fan dreaming- Aaron Boone is weak fundamentally and erratic at the plate, he is defensively all over the place — Weaver is fine in Detroit situations but didn’t work out where every performance counts — and Almonte is not needed here –Perez is superb defensively, Alfonzo is a blue chip player, and the relievers are solid in the Giants rotation –people down on Felix’ big game moments need to remember Speizio just pulled off an awesone Hall of Fame at bat, and the Marlins just showed great plate discipline, especially when Lee pulled off the HBP –this is way too much for the Giants to give up, this trade is ludicrous

the Yankees have big problems, what exactly is up with Jason? — and both Toronto and Tampa are building a solid nucleus, Baltimore has enough money to do good things as well

as for Miguel surfacing as a Giant — well, sure, that would be great for him and for SF, but just crushing for A’s fans — if he has to leave at all, lets just hope its to a contender far away from here

one player interesting to me is Jose Guillen — he would be terrific as a Giant if the A’s don’t sign him — and if the Giants bring Nen back, maybe Worrell will return to the A’s –seems Foulke is gone, he is just too good to come in from the market with a number Schott will go for.

when the non-tenders come in, things should really heat up — some estimates have as many as 33% of all MLB players without contracts and on the market this year

3 Anonymous { 12.01.03 at 12:21 am }

Whoa! Contemplating a Boston rotation with Martinez and Schilling at the top is something!
…I’m finding myself quite thankful for these unbalanced schedules!

…gotta believe Cashman got an earful from the boss this week!
…Schilling and what looks like Foulke set the bar quite high!

Back to the home front…
Ever since the word on the Hernandez deal came out (which was a bit shocking and took a bit of time to comprehend…) its been a go at contemplating possible alternatives…
Santiago easily popped to the top of the free agent list!

If Beane doesn’t trade for a catcher I would see Santiago with the A’s as a great fit:
-tough veteran presence.
-has enough left in him to get Melhuse established.
I liked what I saw of Melhuse in Sept & Oct. -but its clear that he needs to be brought along.

If Beane does bring in Santiago I’m expecting it to be a while… Santiago is down a ways in the pecking order for free agent catchers… Beane knows he won’t have to break the bank to get Benito or similar and will let time drive down the price.

SF would have to have a ton of confidence in Righetti and his ability get Weaver on track to make a deal like that…
I could only envision Tejada at Pac Bell in a bizarre dream… -just think how Bonds would hit with Tejada to follow! …and how many RBIs both would rack up!

Correct! -the Schilling deal broke the ice!
I’m sure GM’s are itching to get their big deals cookin’ and grab back some of the attention Boston has been able to monopolize this week!
-C. Pyle

4 Ed { 12.01.03 at 7:47 pm }

Is there any joy in being a Brewers or a Pirate fan these days? The rich go out and buy a new ball club every year. If the people in NY can’t figure out which free agents they should be signing, having in mind the disastrous choices the Mets are accustomed to make, the writers following the club dream up what has been accurately described as a ludicrous trade. The deal talked about gives the Giants absolutely nothing. Alfonzo for Boone is ridiculous. Weaver has never given evidence of becoming a solid starter. The other players suggested add nothing and the Giants are being asked to give up two bullpen pitchers who have far more value than the players they are getting in exchange.
I don’t believe the A’s should be in the market for Santiago. From what I saw of him last year he is far from the defensive catcher he was only a few years ago and his hitting has fallen off significantly from what it was a few years past.
With all of the turnover going on these days it is fruitless to begin to contemplate what most of these teams will look like in April. We know that the Yankees have Sheffield and we can only hope that at 37 he will be on a dowhill slope and that the Evil Empire will get no more value from him than they are getting from Jason. Arizona has, in effect, traded Schilling for Sexson. They received the best of that exchange. Schilling gave some indication last year that the best years are behind him. The Sox may find the curse following them.
Where does all this leave Guerrero? Tejada? It would be the most wishful of thinking to expect the Giants to be in the running. Cameron would be a help. Their two center fielders could share right field and the Giants would probably win the division again. Who can predict what then happens in the other season. Strange clubs win it all. We can only hope the Yankees keep getting eliminated.

5 Anonymous { 09.22.07 at 1:14 pm }

6 Anonymous { 09.22.07 at 1:51 pm }

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