The Las Vegas winter meetings stage show was busy, compared with those in the past. CC Sabathia agreed to a record-setting contract, record-setting closer Francisco Rodriguez landed with a new team, and three teams executed a 12-player monster trade. But there is still a lot of work to be done, beyond the Yankees' effort to fill out what figures to be a star-studded rotation.
The biggest issues still to be addressed:
1. The Cardinals: Closer
St. Louis is regarded within the industry as a natural landing place for the second-most-attractive closer on the market,
Brian Fuentes,
and the talks are serious, writes Joe Strauss. The Cardinals can justify
spending big bucks on a closer, writes Jeff Gordon.
| Olney's news and notes |
• Team USA wants Lincecum
• Bradley is Cubs' primary outfield target
• Mets like the odds of Perez returning
• Rangers' Young available in a trade
• Red Sox have new uniforms
Around the majors with Buster Olney 
|
2. The Brewers: Starting pitcher
Milwaukee now needs at least one starting pitcher, with the departure of Sabathia and imminent departure of
Ben Sheets, and the Brewers are looking at some veterans --
Randy Wolf,
Jamie Moyer,
Randy Johnson and others. Let's face it: The pitcher who has the best chance of stepping into the role of staff ace is not somebody they will acquire, but rather it's
Yovani Gallardo, the power-armed youngster. But the Brewers do need a strong supporting cast in the rotation, and a Wolf or a Moyer or Johnson would help.
Also, remember that the Brewers lost the guy who had been the stopgap in the ninth inning,
Salomon Torres, who headed into retirement. The Brewers might be able to lure Fuentes, but if not, the next-best option could be all-time saves leader
Trevor Hoffman.
3. The Padres:
Jake Peavy
As the Peavy saga continues to drag out, the likelihood increases that something unexpected will affect the Padres' efforts to trade him. Maybe some member of some contender's rotation will trip on a children's toy on Christmas morning, and maybe Padres GM
Kevin Towers will get a phone call. Maybe the Angels will lose out on
Mark Teixeira and decide that because no other offensive player on the market can provide what Teixeira does, they will turn their focus to replacing
Jon Garland in their rotation with a big-time starting pitcher and go after Peavy. Maybe, like Frankenstein's monster, the Cubs-Padres talks or the Braves-Padres talks will be revived.
No matter how it happens, the Padres are fully devoted to the notion of unloading Peavy's salary; San Diego's miserable offseason continues.
The asking price for Peavy was
too high for the Cubs, writes Chris De Luca. Towers was true to his word when he said that he
wasn't going to give Peavy away, writes Phil Rogers. Towers
refused to lower his stance. But, as Tim Sullivan writes, the Padres have to dump Peavy and
everybody knows it. The Angels
may be back into the picture with Peavy, writes Mike DiGiovanna.
4.The Braves: Starting pitcher
Rival executives believe Atlanta made a nice trade in acquiring
Javier Vazquez, but with this qualifier:
as long as they don't need him to be their No. 1. The Braves have solid middle-of-the-rotation guys, but they need an ace, which is why they're being so aggressive in their pursuit of
A.J. Burnett. It figures that they will learn very soon whether they're going to get Burnett or whether he's going to take the Yankees' dollars, and there really isn't anyone comparable to him on the market -- unless they pick up the phone and restart the talks for Peavy, or if they're willing to take a shot on fronting their rotation with the oft-injured Sheets.
Signing Burnett is
still a possibility, writes David O'Brien.
5. The Rays: Designated hitter
Rival executives loved the Rays' trade of
Edwin Jackson for
Matt Joyce, saying they think Joyce is a really nice and underrated player; at 24 years old, Joyce bopped 16 doubles, three triples and 12 homers in just 242 at-bats in 2008, for a .492 slugging percentage. But the Rays still have enough cash remaining to take one of the market's leftovers, whether it be
Pat Burrell or
Jason Giambi or
Milton Bradley; they just need to wait for the corner outfield/DH market to flush out a little more.
The Rays feel that
they acquired an up-and-comer in Joyce.
Andrew Friedman has
a knack for a good trade, writes John Romano.
6. The Nationals: Signature player
Remember how the Texas Rangers decided, in the winter of 2000, that they needed a signature star? Remember how they paid
Alex Rodriguez a staggering $252 million, because he was going to become the face of their franchise? Well, that didn't turn out too well. Except in very, very rare instances, such as with
Barry Bonds, history tells us that building a winning team is the most important factor in drawing fans.
And yet the Nationals are intent on adding a franchise player, a signature player, despite the fact that they might be eight to 10 player upgrades away from being a contender, and so they are willing to spend a whole lot of cash on
Mark Teixeira.
The Nationals have
formidable competition for Teixeira, writes Dave Sheinin. The best fit
isn't always obvious, writes Thomas Boswell.
7. The Angels: Hitter
The bidding for Teixeira may wind up going beyond where the Angels want to go, so if they don't sign Teixeira, they will need to turn to a Plan B, whether that is
Adam Dunn or
Jason Giambi or somebody else. They need another bopper, and it would be better for them if that bopper had the ability to hit left-handed.
8. The Red Sox: Teixeira
We've seen offseasons in which the Red Sox have had a thousand balls in play, a thousand proposed deals in discussion. That does not appear to be the case this winter, when the Red Sox are focused on one player and one player only: Teixeira. They seem to have an excellent shot at locking up the switch-hitting first baseman, and if they do get him, they'll probably move
Mike Lowell and shift
Kevin Youkilis to third base.
It might come down to
the Red Sox or Angels for Teixeira, writes Sean McAdam.
9. The Dodgers: Shortstop, closer, etc.
L.A.'s conversations with
Manny Ramirez are drawing the most attention, but they have greater concerns elsewhere. They are comfortable with the possibility that they might begin the 2009 season with
Angel Berroa as their shortstop, but they continue to talk with the agents for
Rafael Furcal. If
Takashi Saito's elbow is a mess, they could make a deal with
Trevor Hoffman, or they could just use
Jonathan Broxton. And at some point they are going to have to find a way to replace the innings thrown by
Derek Lowe;
Jon Garland might make some sense for the Dodgers.
The Dodgers are
playing a waiting game with Ramirez and Furcal, writes Dylan Hernandez.
10. The Royals and Athletics: Shortstop
These two teams with their modest budgets are in steady pursuit of Furcal, and the Royals seem to be the wild card in this bidding. A couple of years ago, we saw them bid aggressively to snag a top free-agent starter,
Gil Meche, and it's possible they will do the same with Furcal, who seeks a four-year deal for something close to the $13 million salary he made last season. Furcal has missed 150 games over the last two seasons, but his presence can be transformative for an offense.
Around the majors with Buster Olney
Buster Olney
