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Free Agents
All of the baseball experts predicted that this off-season would produce an abundance of activity. The combination of very few free top-shelf agents available and a large number of free agents after the 2000 season creates an atmosphere conducive for player movement. The assumption is that most teams that have big names as free agents after the 2000 season know that they won't be able to afford to resign them, so the teams will trade their stars in order to gain some return for losing them.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/s/1999/1105/15279... Several teams that are contenders have holes to fill, and as usual the holes revolve mostly around starting pitching and left-handed power. A team can find some starting pitching on the list of free agents (Cone, Sele, Rogers, and Finley), but each has difficulties. Cone and Finley are aging, Rogers hasn't performed well in big games, and Sele's success can be attributed to his huge run support. Trades The prediction of big-name trades has already taken place, but is probably not done. Let's analyze the trades that have been completed and then look at the rumors. 1. Rockies/Reds The Reds received outfielder Dante Bichette and cash in exchange for outfielder Jeffery Hammonds and pitcher Stan Belinda. The Reds got Bichette for two reasons: his salary is relatively low and his power replaces the loss of Greg Vaughn. Hammonds and Belinda both received little playing time because of the crowded Reds outfield and the depth of the bullpen. After the dismal 1999 season, the Rockies and new GM Dan O'Dowd want to clean house and get some new blood. Hammonds is capable of double-digit, right-handed power, and Belinda has been very effective in some years, even as a closer. However, one has difficulty in seeing how this deal improves the Rockies very much. With the loss of Vaughn and the gain of Bichette, the Reds do nothing but hold their ground. 2. Tigers/Rangers In this blockbuster deal, the Rangers gave up their superstar outfielder Juan Gonzalez, pitcher Danny Patterson, and catcher Greg Zaun, and the Tigers gave up left-handed pitcher Justin Thompson, pitchers Francisco Cordero and Alan Webb, outfielder Gabe Kapler, catcher Bill Haselman, and infielder Frank Catalanotto. In my estimation, Texas became a better team through this trade, at least on paper. Although he has been injury plagued for two seasons, Thompson can help the Rangers pitching woes, and Gabe Kapler showed that he has a big up side in 1999. Detroit took a gamble with this trade. Gonzalez will improve their offense, but will it help them to win games? Last year's team did not win as most people expected, and GM Randy Smith wanted to grab a big name to fill the seats in the new stadium. Go To Page: 1 2
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