A Tale of Two Orlandos
Hudson, I get. Cabrera, not so much.
That the Nationals are looking at Orlando Cabrera as a potential free agent signee is interesting, I'll say that. It's no secret that Cabrera has been associated with a lot of winning teams. Cabrera has seen post-season action with the Red Sox, Angels, White Sox, and this past season, the Twins. He doesn't walk a lot, but he doesn't whiff a lot either. He's a .275 career batter, with decent peripherals, averaging 11 home runs and 71 RBI every 162 games.
It's the fact that he keeps jumping around that concerns me. I've heard the rumors that he's not a great clubhouse presence, but there's always someone who wants him.
And the Nats are apparently interested in him as a second baseman, a position he's played just 33 times in more than 1,700 games.
Orlando Hudson is clearly their first choice, though Hudson's agent is looking for a huge payday, reportedly $9 million. Today's signing of Miguel Tejada by the Orioles for around $6 million should indicate to Hudson that he won't get even that much money.
Losing his job to Ronnie Belliard last September doesn't help his case much either.
Time is running out on players like the Orlando's. Clubs are going to start putting offers out to players like that saying "first one to call back gets it." The Nats hope it'll be Hudson, and knowing that Cabrera is also in the picture may hasten Hudson's decision.
The clock is also running on guys like Jon Garland and John Smoltz, both of whom are on the Nats' radar. Joel Piniero, Doug Davis and Jose Contreras are off the market. If the rest of the still-available free agents believe that dollar amounts are going to start increasing, they may be in for a rude awakening.
Next week could be fun.
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Categories (click for archive)Phil Wood |
I don't want Cabrera because the team already has one named Cristian Guzman.
The last thing the Nats need are two .280/.300/.300 hitters.
Two things seem pretty obvious at this point, Phil:
1) Rizzo is sending a message to Hudson that there are other options and he's not going to be kept waiting til February 20 like Ned Colletti of the Dodgers was last year. (THIS Nats General Manager doesn't mouth off just for the heck of it.)
2) Rizzo is determined that the Nats are not going to go with a middle infield of Ian Desmond and Cristian Guzman. (If so, I hope we'll see Desmond at second and Danny Espinosa at short at Syracuse, so the Nats middle infield of the future can start working together.)
(First, let me preface everything by saying that I don't want Guzman playing SS and I don't think either of these moves have any effect on him not playing there. The better analysis is why do they want a 2B? Playing Desmond and Alberto at SS makes much more sense defensively and financially. Give the excess money to international prospects.)
How is this hard to "get" for you? Hudson is reportedly asking for $9 Million dollars per year. Even if he drops his asking price 33% because a player at another position (Tejada) signed for $6 Million, it's hard to imagine Hudson accepting $3 Million or so. Tejada signed with the Orioles to go back to a city where he had some success. Doesn't it make total sense that he would take a discount? Using him as a market gauge would be a tough sell by the Nats.
Cabrera on the other hand is rumored to be willing to accept a deal for around $3 Million dollars. Bad clubhouse guy or not, he's shown that he is very good at being on playoff teams. You don't understand the Nationals wanting to save $6 Million dollars by pursuing Cabrera over Hudson?
The slash lines on the 2 players aren't too far off: .284/.316/.389 vs. .283/357/.417. Hudson is the better offensive player but he's also more brittle and in no way worth considerably more money.
If anything, the rumor of wanting Cabrera is a savvy move by the Nats to get Hudson's price down and if it doesn't, then Cabrera isn't a terrible fallback option. Deal him just like Oakland did for a mid to low level prospect at the deadline. If Cabrera is willing to accept $3 Million, low ball him on that and let him compete in training camp at SS rather than 2B. See if he has indeed lost a step.
Which other clubs want these guys as starters? Can we get a comment on how horrible the Nats Marquis deal was now that we see how much Doug Davis and Pineiro signed for? At least a comment on how they clearly paid a premium due to their ineptitude.
Hope you're right Phil!
They need to make some moves this week. O-Dog take the money buddy and you will be glad you did. Not a big Cabrera fan however at this point they need to shore up the MI. In my opinion its better to have Ian Desmond start the year in Syracuse working on 2nd. They have Danny E waiting in the wings and this could be the SS/2B tandem in 2011.
As far as pitching is concerned Garland would be the logical choice. Smoltz gives you 6 innings, that means every time he pitches you have to do a Manny and use the whole BP in one night, not good!