Teams with Extra Outfielders

by ~ February 11th, 2009 at 10:50 pm

Even if Seattle were to sign Ken Griffey or trade for Nick Johnson there would still be room for improvement in left field.  Here are some teams with expendable outfielders.

Washington Nationals

We’ve talked about their outfield logjam a few times here, and Jeff at Lookout Landing shows how ridiculous it has gotten in an amusing visual.  As things look now, Austin Kearns and Willie Harris could be out of a starting gig, and either player would be a nice upgrade for Seattle in left field.

I suspect that Kearns could be had in a bad contract swap for either Jarrod Washburn or Miguel Batista, though some sweetener may have to be added.  I’m not sure how much they’d want for Harris, who has resurrected his career over the last two seasons.  Despite being a 3 WAR player last season I don’t think he holds a ton of value in the trade market.

St. Louis Cardinals

There is a few ‘ifs’ here.  IF uber prospect Colby Rasmus earns a role on the Opening Day roster and IF the Cards acquire a second baseman, then they’ll have an extra outfielder to give up.  If not, they could go with a Ryan Ludwick-Rasmus- Rick Ankiel outfield with Skip Schumaker at second base.  If they were to go out and sign Orlando Hudson or Mark Grudzielanek then perhaps Ankiel, who is in the last year of his contract, could be expendable.

The Cardinals could make use of Jarrod Washburn and there has been some speculation in the past that they were a good fit, but it would take much more than that to pry Ankiel away.

Baltimore Orioles

With the acquisitions of Felix Pie and Ty Wigginton, Luke Scott looks like he’s out of a job.  The 30 year old put up a decent .257/.336/.472 offensive line last season while playing above average defense in left field.  He wouldn’t be a long term solution and his overall value is similar to that of Endy Chavez, but he would add some punch to the lineup and wouldn’t cost much to get.

Texas Rangers

Trades within a division are rare enough that I probably shouldn’t bother mentioning this, but the Rangers could have a crowded outfield if Andruw Jones returns to form.  The outfielder is with the Rangers on a minor league contract and is said to be in much better physical condition, and if he wins the center field job there could be a few expendable outfielders on the Ranger roster.  Marlon Byrd is especially interesting and completely underrated.

Minnesota Twins

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire has made it clear that he prefers a Michael Cuddyer-Carlos Gomez-Denard Span outfield, making Delmon Young the odd man out.  I’m not a Young fan and don’t believe he’s worth giving up anything we might miss, but the Twins land here by default.

New York Yankees

We’ve talked about this before, but Nick Swisher would be a great pickup while Xavier Nady would be an okay addition.  The Atlanta Braves seem determined to acquire one of these guys.

Other somewhat interesting outfielders without a starting gig: Reed Johnson (CHC), Nick Schierholtz (SF), Geoff Jenkins (PHI)

Anything I’m missing?

There are still some interesting options out there.

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  • Mariners121212

    I say trade for Swisher Of Scott, we could use some more power in the lineup.

  • Mr.Benton

    Marlon Byrd is a great player, and a great clubhouse guy. He is fun to watch down here in Texas; however i don’t think Texas would deal him. Also, i know it’s within our division but, the Angels have alot of outfielders as well, including, Gary Matthews Jr. and his horrible contract.

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    They wouldn’t want to deal him, but he still has to earn a spot. If he gets beat out by Andruw Jones and Nelson Cruz, then it would be an awful waste to have him as the 4th outfielder.

    Cruz would be another guy worth picking up.

    Gary Matthews Jr? He makes $33M over the next three years and isn’t an improvement over Endy or Wlad unless he reverts his two decent years between 2006 and 2007. If we can dump Silva it might be worth looking at, but what are the chances the Angels would bother doing that? Very, very slim.

  • BoiseM

    I’ve been pitching the acquisiton of one or two of the Nats OFers for a while now. It looks like they want Dunn to play first base…we could certainly take Nick Johnson and Elijah Dukes or Willie Harris off their hands for Washburn and one of our newly acquired relievers or AAA arms. We probably wouldn’t have to eat much salary either.

  • BoiseM

    Kearns to me looks like DFA material. He’s kind of fallen off the cliff the last couple of years…red flag material. IMO

  • Mariners121212

    I say trade for someone with power of no one at all. Every new person we get the less chance Morse has of making the team. I really don’t want to see Morse lost on waivers, because I like him a lot and feel that the M’s should at least give him a shot after asking him to change positions for them multiple times.

  • Mr.Benton

    I wasn’t saying trade for matthews but that his huge contract makes him not expendable, and that maybe they would need to free up space on their roster by getting rid of some of their other outfielders

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Dustin Shires

    Not something to fuss about, but it’s Nate Schierholtz.

    Willie Harris and Nick Swisher are the ones I want to see the most..

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    Kearns to me looks like DFA material. He’s kind of fallen off the cliff the last couple of years…red flag material. IMO

    Last year he was hurt and had a bad year, but the two years before that he was a very valuable player. 3.6 and 4.1 WAR seasons in 2007 and 2006, which is pretty solid.

  • BoiseM

    “but the two years before that he was a very valuable player.”

    No doubt.

    The whole two years ago thing…breaking down/underperforming flip the coin. Did he fall off the map for unspecified reasons or…

    I like him as a player but with his contract do you roll the dice and take his salary? I’m betting he’s a contract the Nats want to lose for sure. If he hit LH’d I’d probably take that leap of faith…looking at him right now can you make a better case for him than Wlad?

  • BoiseM

    I wish you had an edit feature…what I meant to say at the end was …than giving Wlad a shot.

    I must consult the omnipotent Armstrong and meditate.

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    First of all, you could definitely make a better case for Kearns than Wlad. Better defense, better offense. Boom.

    Second, it would be about moving Washburn more than getting Kearns. Washburn is blocking RRS or Olson from a rotation spot, which to me is worse than Kearns blocking Wlad and Endy.

    If you want to play the kids, Kearns holds more value as a bench player than Washburn does as a reliever. Kearns could be a viable defensive replacement for Wlad, Griffey or whoever you have out there (Gutz and Ichiro are obviously fine), and is a decent enough hitter in spot starts. What kind of bullpen role would Wash have? Lefty specialist? Not without a real out pitch. He’d probably be a swing man, holding next to no value.

    I can understand what you’re saying, but if I had a Washburn for Kearns swap laid out in front of me I would take it in a heartbeat.

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    I do need an edit function.. I’ll have to look into that one of these days.

  • BoiseM

    “but if I had a Washburn for Kearns swap laid out in front of me I would take it in a heartbeat.”

    Definitely.

    Kearns is not going to get playing time in DC and I looked up his contract…and I didn’t realize his contract is as bad as Washburn’s. In fact with a Wasbun/Kearns trade we should get something else thrown in from the Nats side, because Wasburn would fit right in to their rotation and Kearns would be sharing time with Chavez mostly, and Ichiro on his limited days off.

    It would spell the end for Wlad…Isn’t he out of option?

  • Mariners121212

    Yes, he’s out of options.