Monday, January 5, 2009

Who else could be in on Manny?

Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports (not the guy who is my favorite receiver of all time) wrote an interesting article about other teams that could be in the Manny run. With guys like Mark Teixeira, C.C. Sabathia, and A.J. Burnett all signed for huge contracts (hey, all by the Yankees! What a shock!), all eyes are now on Manny to see what happens with him.

Brown provides a list of possible teams involved, and their likeliness to sign him. Here they are:

LA Dodgers
- Still the likely front runners in all of this. Even though the Dodgers might be better off by getting more pitching help, Dodgers fans simply won't accept not getting him back. With Andruw Jones deferring $12 million of his salary, that only helps the odds of getting him. Plus, Jones and Manny share the same agent, the infamous Scott Boras. Coincidence? We will see.

San Francisco Giants - Getting Manny could instantly catapult them into the favorites for the NL West (keep in mind, this is a weak division). The pitching has been upgraded, but the offense still needs that extra punch. Don't sleep on them.

Tampa Bay Rays - Could be the perfect fit for the DH... but Pat Burrell was just signed today for that role, so forget it. Beside that, the price tag just is too high.

Washington Nationals - They're looking for a "face of the franchise" to fit in. Teixeira would have been it, but Manny probably isn't. They'll look for less.

New York Yankees - Why the hell not? They obviously don't give a damn about price tag, so another $100 million could be not big deal. But, they already have enough OF/DH guys, so even the Yanks might have to drop out of the running. Then again, I doubt many people thought they'd get Teixeira...

New York Mets - They're focusing more on getting another starting pitcher, such as Derek Lowe. If Manny still wants $20 million +, then they won't go after him. Lower the price, and they could be players.

Toronto Blue Jays - Unless Lyle Overbay and Scott Rolen are moved, it's not likely they'll want to add more payroll.

Texas Rangers - They were mentioned on the MLB Network yesterday as now being in the mix, but it's just talk right now, and nothing serious.

The other teams are the Baltimore Orioles, Anaheim Angles, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, and Oakland A's. None of those teams look serious at all, but were at least worth a mention.

No comments: