After the holidays that cooled down the hot stove from earlier this winter, the hot stove really picked up some heat this week. So far this week there have been a flurry of rumors surrounding Brian Roberts, Erik Bedard, Mark Kotsay, Johan Santana, Mike Cameron, Bill Hall, Troy Glaus and Scott Rolen. Let's try to break down some of these completed deals, still talking deals, dead deals, and never-actually-were-being-talked-about deals.
At the start of the week, it looked like the Brian Robert's to the Cubs was a done deal. Several websites were reporting the deal done and it seemed like the Orioles were going to trade Roberts for more pitching. Then articles started to rise about the disagreements between the Orioles and Cubs about which players would be involved in the trade. (mlbtraderumors.com reporting that they could have been over players like Rich Hill and Felix Pie). Being around Orioles fans, if their golden boy was to be traded, they wanted someone like Felix Pie only because he plays OF and the Orioles offense is dead (and that the Orioles only have a RF, no real LF or CF). Now according the mlbtraderumors.com, the trade seems just about dead.
The story about the Orioles this year and trades this year is that they keep getting pitchers, but they are not getting offesne. They did not have an offense last year, and they have promising young pitchers, so bringing in more pitchers has always been a bit of a question of why.
On that same note, the OF spot has been the issue with trading Bedard. Several times this winter, it looked like the Reds were making progress, but they couldn't get the deal done because they would not trade Jay Bruce, OF prospect. The buzz surronding the Orioles and Mariners has been the Mariners including Adam Jones, OF prospect, which is what the Orioles want. Mlbtraderumors.com made an interesting note today, Adam Jones was removed from winter league play today.
The Mark Kotsay trade is the next trade in the A's firesale this year. The Braves gave up pitcher Joey Devine for him. Devine will be 24 next year has played 25 games in the majors so far from the pen (pitching 19.7 IP). His notable statistical year was last year when he posted a 1.08 ERA for 10 G, 8.1 IP. When you look at the trade, it is real obvious that the A's were looking to get a young player with potential because they are still paying portions of Kotsay's contract. The Braves do gain a veteran OF who just had an off year last year. He is a carear .280 hitter.
I feel in the long run, the Athletics become winners from this trade. The Braves really didn't need a big bat because they still have Chipper, Francor, McCann has heavy hitters. I also see Kelly Johnson as a potential threat. This deal doesnt scare me, but I don't like any help the Braves get.
I am not going to spend too much time on Johan Santana here, but if the Mets are prepared to trade Fmart and Gomez for Johan, then the Angel Pagan trade makes a lot of sense as insurance for OF.
Old friend Mike Cameron signed with the Brewers recently, but not without some other buzz surronding him. There were reports that the Yankees were interested in Cameron. Buster Olney reported that the Yankees never seriously considered Mike. I am a little intrigued by Scott Rolen for Troy Glaus only because I don't understand it. The benefit I see from it is change of scenery could create better offensive results. We'll see if this trade goes through. (At the time I wrote this, mlb.com and mlbtraderumors.com was reporting it close, and espn was reporting it done).
