posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 12:00 AM
by
Jim
Free association with free agents
Oakland's re-signing of
Mark Ellis sent me to
the list of free agents to see who else might 1) be available for a reasonable price, and 2) actually make a difference on the 2009 White Sox.
The results aren't encouraging. Not that Ellis was incredible, what with the bad shoulder and entering the
Roberto Alomar Collapse Age For Second Basemen Territory, but he theoretically could have offered improvements in three separate categories. It's hard to find many transformational figures that fit in the Sox's plan, otherwise, though there are plenty of gap-fillers like Mark Grudzielanek.
Orlando Hudson is a similar ballplayer with two big differences: One is scary road splits in the weaker league, and the other is that he's a Type A free agent. It's hard to see him getting a shorter contract than three years, which pretty much eliminates all utility of signing Hudson considering they could be well-stocked at the position by the time Gordon Beckham rolls around.
I'm not particularly excited, otherwise, but take a look at the list and tell me if there's anybody that interests you.
Meanwhile, I'm going to spout off some immediate reactions from the list:
Josh Bard is perhaps the most credible backup catcher replacement for
Toby Hall on the list, but it's hard to tell if he's worse at throwing out runners, or San Diego's staff is that bad at holding them. They're pretty much a staff full of Freddy Garcias when it comes to delivery time to the plate.
Ray Durham would be fun. But at that point, they're better off sticking Ramirez and Durham in the short gaps in the outfield, pinch
Paul Konerko and
Josh Fields (or whoever) at the corners and just try catching every fly ball that's hit.
Tadahito Iguchi, same thing, although he hasn't proven he has two fully functioning arms yet.
Jerry Hairston played only six games at shortstop in his first 10 seasons as a big leaguer. He played 34 games there last year, and at age 32, to boot. That's kind of backwards.
Hank Blalock would've been a good thought if
Joe Crede hadn't fallen victim to the Scott Boras mindmeld. For most of their careers, they were the exact same player offensively -- except Blalock couldn't hit lefties, and Crede could. In another world, they would've made a pretty entertaining platoon. Kind of like how Cleveland got a .319/.376/.534 line from
Ben Broussard,
Eduardo Perez and
Ryan Garko two years ago.
Nomar Garciaparra almost joined the White Sox before the '04 season, when he was rumored to be involved in a three-way trade that would've sent
Magglio Ordonez to Boston. I bring this up because
Kenny Williams traded for
Ken Griffey Jr. a few months ago. You've been warned.
Casey Blake makes a lot of sense ... if you really don't want
Josh Fields, but think he has some trade value. Those two seem to be mutually exclusive right now. But since we talked about Dave Cook yesterday,
Blake's another example of a slow climber/late bloomer.
And I still don't see any fifth starter options better than
Clayton Richard.
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Arizona Fall League roundup:- Peoria Javelinas 18, Peoria Saguaros 11
- Not a good day for Lucas Harrell, who allowed six runs on four hits and two walks over 1 1/3 innings. He only threw 25 of 45 pitches for strikes.
- Derek Rodriguez was worse: 1 1/3 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 0 K.
- Aaron Poreda... one perfect inning, two strikeouts. Phew.
- Stefan Gartrell walked twice in three plate appearances.