After all the (much overblown) talk about Mark Buehrle flirting with the idea of playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, here's something else to chew on.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jermaine Dye likes the idea of becoming a Texas Ranger, or at least playing under former coach Ron Washington. The problem? He's still under contract for another year.
But playing for Washington, a coach with the A's for the past 11 seasons, evidently holds some appeal for Zito.
Even Washington admitted that money will be a deciding factor in the end. He said he is too new on the job to know if the Rangers will compete in a bidding war for Zito, whose agent is Scott Boras. Zito is 11-1 with a 3.75 ERA in 15 career starts at Ameriquest Field in Arlington.
Washington also said former A's outfielder Jermaine Dye called with the same message. Dye, however, will not be a free agent until next year, as the Chicago White Sox already picked up his option for 2007.
Now, maybe this is Dye just saying something like, "Congrats on the new gig, hopefully I'll get to play for you some day." But if Dye's already plotting 2008 with another team, then that's certainly more dubious than anything Buehrle's done.
Maybe this talk goes on all the time, and maybe Washington has a big mouth, but it's certainly something that's not great to hear.