-- The freshly freed Matt Capps is beating off suitors with a stick, according to his agent, Paul Kinzer, and MLB Trade Rumor's Tim Dierkes (with links galore).
Dierkes counts the Nats, Rangers, Rockies, Marlins, Orioles, Cubs, Diamondbacks, and Cardinals as kicking the Mad Capper's tires. We gather he's looking for a multi-year deal with a chance to close at a minimum of $3.4M/year.
Guess Capps and Kinzer gauged the market a little better than Neal Huntington.
-- Dierkes also heard that the Bucs are in on second baseman Kelly Johnson, formerly of the Braves. What, Iwamura is already old hat?
-- Alyson Footer of MLB.com tweeted that Jason Michaels has signed on for another stint with the 'Stros for $800K with a 2011 option.
The Kelly Johnson thing makes no sense at all. Even if there is a big deal brewing---as I suspect---we've got second basemen coming out our ears.
ReplyDeleteWell, I half take that back. He makes more sense if he is actually going to be playing another position, or more likely, positions, as a super-utility guy. Johnson has a near .800 career OPS, so he can hit some, certainly better than most 2Bs. And he makes more sense if the team is going to cut Ramon Vazquez, since most observers are now saying he can't play shortstop anymore and he is a poor option at third, supposedly the only position he can field.
ReplyDeleteAll of which pretty well guarantees that both Crosby and Cedeno will make the team out of spring training, which is not a bad thing, but of course also means that we'll be looking at shortstop again in 2010 and probably 2011. Perhaps one of our minor leaguers will step up to solidify the position by that time, but it is sobering to remember the dark days between Tim Foli and Jay Bell, and how many horrible SSs the Pirates ran out on the field.
Yah, Will, your second thought was what I was thinking - Johnson lets them dump Vazquez, and leaves them an option after Iwamura has finished his one-and-out campaign as a Bucco.
ReplyDeleteIt tells me all I need to know about what the suits think of Shelby Ford and Jimmy Negrych.