Come and Get 'em

It is sometimes difficult to remember what my purpose is here, what with pictures of ribs and pot shots at my buddies. I do know that one of the purposes is to track the activities of our own Pickled Pecklers. We’ve had some activity recently that affects us, so let me take a masturbatory moment to review where the team stands for 2008:

We have 7 sure fire, no brainer, top quality keepers, the guys you can’t get from us in trade:

1B - James Loney $5/09F – He showed the batting skills he always had shown, and added some serious power that he had only hinted at in the past.

SS - Jack Wilson $4/09 – Wilson had a monster second half, and showed power. Now if the Pirates would only stop batting him eighth...

OF - Eric Byrnes $13/08 – The poor man's Hanley Ramirez. We’re sure to raise him to $18. He became a true 4 category guy for the first time this season, and had 50 steals to go with his 21 homers. We’ll be happy with 20 homers and 30 steals, but he showed monster fantasy upside.

OF - Hunter Pence $5/09F – I think we can assume he won’t start in AAA this year. He’s got great speed for his size, and should mature into a 4 category stud. He’s likely to move to right field from center now that they have Michael Bourn. If will be interesting to see where they bat him in the linup.

SP - Brandon Webb $19/08C – Webb begins his final year for us after another phenomenal, staff anchoring season. I remember that we really liked him when we bid on him, even though we had no intention of actually buying him. When the bidding stopped at $14, we were shocked and thrilled as we moved on to Plan B.

SP - Adam Wainwright $4/08 – We’re not likely to extend him, but he had a good season in every category but WHIP, which improved to 1.243 from June through September. His ERA in the last 4 months was 2.97. Maybe we should extend him, though Geo would say we’re nuts.

RP -Kerry Wood $3/09 – He could be huge, and at worst will be a waste of a slot. If he ends up the closer in Chicago, he’s gold.

So that’s 7 for $58 (or $63 if we extend Wainwright). And we have one more guy who we’re pretty sure we’re going to keep, so long as he’s on an NL roster on cutdown day:

OF Carlos Gomez $5/09F – He’s probably the #4 guy in the Mets’ OF. Shawn Green hasn’t signed anywhere, but the Mets don’t seem interested in resigning the free agent. Gomez is faster than Reyes. At the worst he’ll put up Amezaga numbers.

So that’s 8 for $63 or $68. Unfortunately, our long potential keeper list is being whittled away.

The rest of these guys could be available in a deal. (Either a player, or a draft pick – we have no farm keepers). People we are considering keeping but would trade include:

3B - Ryan Zimmerman $21/08 – He had wrist surgery in the off season. If we know he’s healthy, we’ll keep him, partly because he’s worth it and will go for more in the auction, and partly because third base is going to be nasty this year. It’s going to be no fun to be without a keeper at 3B.

1B - Nick Johnson $10/09 –We hear he’s still a slow healer. We won’t know until March, but if you think he’s a bargain, come and get him.

1B - Tony Clark 1B $2/09 – A month ago we were sure we’d keep him. It hurt us and him when he didn’t say OK to the Dback’s 2 year deal. We think he’ll end up with the Giants. He’s a lefty, so you’ve got to figure some of those homers will turn into doubles.

SS Jeff Keppinger $5/09X – He had a great finish last year, but even though he plays all of the infield positions, he’s likely not going to start at any of them. Even as a backup, he might get 300 at bats, but since we already have a SS, we probably won’t keep him. BTW, this is going to be a bad, bad, bad position to fill in the auction.

SP - Kevin Correia $6/09X – We’d keep him if he was a little cheaper, though he could easily earn this pitching in a pitcher’s park.

RP - Mike Gonzalez $9/09 – Hurt. Too bad.

RP - Octavio Dotel $18/09X – Gone to the AL today.

RP - Jon Rauch $5/09 – The Nationals signed Cordero, so it looks like Rauch is still the setup man. Deals could still be made, but he’s probably not going to start the season as a closer.

And don't forget: Craig Wilson $8/09 is also available. It won't take much of an offer to land him.