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Meetings mostly quiet, but The Big One looms
Dec. 15, 2003
By Scott Miller
SportsLine.com Senior Writer
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NEW ORLEANS -- In the end, for nearly everybody else, the winter meetings were a lot like walking past the Rollerskating Rastaman's spot on Canal Street here. There was a whole lot of stopping and looking at both the jewelry and the scene, and the music was nice, but there weren't a whole lot of transactions.
For the Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers, who dominated talk throughout the four-day session, the mother lode now appears tantalizingly close.
Alex Rodriguez is still a smiling Texas Ranger ... for now at least.(AP)
Front-office executives from both clubs left the Crescent City on Monday and traveled home appearing to have moved closer than ever to the colossal Manny Ramirez-for- Alex Rodriguez trade.
Though officials with both clubs remained tight-lipped and vague, sources close to the talks characterized the negotiations as complicated but steadily gaining momentum. Among other things, multiple industry sources confirmed Boston is looking to acquire another pitcher to package with Ramirez for Rodriguez.
For more than a week, Texas has demanded up to $5 million in cash annually in addition to Ramirez, money that the Rangers would then put toward improving their pitching staff. The Red Sox have balked, but they have spoken with multiple teams here over the weekend about acquiring pitching -- using reliever Scott Williamson as bait. That way, perhaps, the Red Sox could satisfy Texas' demand for pitching without having to put up as much -- or any -- cash.
The Red Sox, according to highly placed sources, dangled Williamson to St. Louis for Jason Marquis, the pitcher the Cardinals acquired from Atlanta on Saturday, only to have St. Louis decline. The Red Sox also shopped Williamson to the Chicago White Sox, according to other sources.
If Boston were able to acquire Marquis or another starter, they might have the pieces needed to make the deal with Texas without parting with a significant amount of money.
By late Monday afternoon, as a majority of baseball executives checked out of the Marriott here and headed for the airport, there was a palpable buzz over what would be the first exchange of two players whose salaries average $20 million or more annually in baseball history.
"The owners are talking," said Scott Boras, Rodriguez's representative. "I speak with Alex every day. I talked to him this morning."
Through mid afternoon Monday, the Rangers had not presented Boras with a proposal. That almost certainly will happen as a prelude to a deal because Rodriguez must formally waive his no-trade powers -- he has said he will -- and Boras most likely will be asked to rework parts of Rodriguez's contract.
That, too, will take time: While Rodriguez has said he will agree to defer part of his salary if it helps smooth the deal, the players union has rules in place demanding that the overall value of a contract not be diminished if it is reworked. Though that's not expected to be a problem, it's a highly complicated proposition that will drag the deal out another day or two whenever the parameters are finally agreed upon.
As for where the two ownership groups stand, Boras said: "Those are conversations we're not privy to."
Maybe not, but this much is certain: Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein is known to be traveling at least three trade routes simultaneously. In addition to the A-Rod acquisition, and in addition to his search for pitching to help seal the A-Rod acquisition, he also is talking with clubs about dealing his incumbent shortstop, Nomar Garciaparra -- primarily with the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to sources with knowledge of the Red Sox's talks.
The latter conversations have included Los Angeles pitcher Odalis Perez, though it's not clear whether that will end up being the deal that finally gets done -- assuming, of course, that things fall into place and the Dodgers are able to land Garciaparra.
The Chicago White Sox, looking to slice at least another $6 million from their payroll to reduce it to $58 million for 2004, have been pushing slugging outfielder Magglio Ordonez to the Dodgers but requesting left-handed setup man Guillermo Mota in return. So far, the Dodgers have had no interest in parting with Mota -- particularly since they already lost their right-handed setup man from '03, Paul Quantrill, to the New York Yankees.
To at least some degree, the Boston-Texas situation has paralyzed at least a portion of the market, in that several teams that would like to move are on hold until the A-Rod talks reach a resolution. The Rangers, for example, have inquired about free-agent outfielder Raul Mondesi -- but will lose all interest if they land Ramirez.
Same with the Dodgers and the White Sox. If the Red Sox take Garciaparra off the table, they might be more inclined to acquire Ordonez as the hitter they so desperately need. But with Garciaparra's situation unresolved, the Dodgers continue to keep their options open.
"The A-Rod-Manny trade is holding up a lot of things," one industry source said. "A lot of teams are waiting to see what's going to happen, and how it might affect them."
Meanwhile, in a sluggish market, most clubs and free agents are looking to keep as many options open as possible. Particularly with another flood of players expected to join the free-agent market after Saturday's deadline to non-tender arbitration-eligible players.
"Most clubs can't afford the big names," one veteran American League scout said. "The middle-market and small-market clubs are waiting for the non-tenders because the market is going to get flooded."
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That is all I have seen!!
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