And now we wait
Operating under the assumption that the White Sox are indeed the team that put in a claim on Alexis Rios…
…here’s what I know:
No. 1: The Sox have placed waiver claims with nothing to show for it before. They claimed Miguel Tejada in August of 2007, which would’ve altered the course quite dramatically.
No. 2: “Acquire ’em all, and let Oz sort ’em out.” That’s what Kenny Williams operated by last year, when he acquired Ken Griffey Jr. despite not having a clear-cut place to play him. Nick Swisher was considerate enough to play like garbage to make room.
Here’s what I think I know:
No. 1: It doesn’t seem like the Sox are blocking anybody. Detroit would have the motivation to add an outfielder, but they’re already dealing with Magglio Ordonez’s massive, unmovable deal, and they’re not in great financial straits. The Angels have more guys than they can play, and I don’t think Toronto would give Rios to a divisional rival with the low leverage waiver trades allow.
No. 2: The Sox are testing to see how desperate J.P. Ricciardi is. I don’t think the Sox are leading themselves into a Randy Myers trap. They could actually use him — first in center field, and then for leverage when figuring out what to do with Jermaine Dye.
I can’t see the Sox exchanging vital talent to make it happen. Either a change-of-scenery guy like Josh Fields, or a mid-grade talent like, say, Charlie Shirek.
Chances are nothing will come of this, so I’ll hold off in assessing this any further.
Your analysis is pretty solid, but I think Riccardi is under more pressure then you think to cut payroll and after the Halladay debacle ( I could write a book on how poorly that was handled) I have to assume management wants him to make this Rios thing happen. Fields is a good name, they just moved Rolen, he has upside, sox no longer have much use for him.
What gets really interesting is if Toronto is willing to eat say 16 mil of that deal, then they could justify giving up a solid prospect.
Kenny was doing his best to quell the excitement, saying that tons of awesome names get put on waivers and claimed during this time of year.
Which, of course, means nothing.
Can teams ‘eat’ salary in waiver deals? I did not think so,
Iโve never seen anything saying a team canโt eat salary. Hereโs a good jumping-off point for explanation for waiver-wire deals, and itโs never mentioned that I can see.
Rios seems like HE needs a change of scenery too. Always on the cusp of… something, just not quite making that last hurdle to finish with great numbers. Not bad numbers, mind you, just not what was expected.
I see this as a sign of the times. Jerry is a smart guy, which says to me that he’s in waaaay better shape in terms of $ than other owners. He’s shopping for bargains, and may get one. Peavy is one example, and we’ll probably see another one soon, whether it’s Rios or not.
Rios doesn’t look like a bargain to me, $60 mil over 5 years?? The market shifted last winter and I expect it to stay that way for a couple more years. Look for guys like Dye & Thome to get $5-6 mil for 2010 on the open market.