A mystery team has offered Furcal 3 yrs 39 million..hmmmm could it be the Reds??

[Heath]

The Giants are great at adding parts to a puzzle they don't need.

[westofyou]

The A's that's my bet for the mystery team

[fearofpopvol1]

The White Sox are my first guess (Ozzie and Kenny both love him) and the Giants are my 2nd guess.

[BRM]

Originally Posted by westofyou

The A's that's my bet for the mystery team

There's lots of rumblings that Beane is tired of waiting for Bobby Crosby to put it together and he'd like to pick up a veteran SS. Good pick.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Originally Posted by M2

Interesting question.

Contenders would be:

Red Sox (who seem to view Julio Lugo as a sunk cost)
Blue Jays (now with A.J. Burnett's $13M back in pocket)
White Sox (if they're shedding payroll, they'll surely be adding somebody)
Cardinals (another team that should have some scratch to spend)

Sleeper:

Yankees (because they've got money to spend and Furcal might fuel a winter of speculation about whether Jeter will move to CF)

But my guess is it's the Giants. They were rumored to be hot for Furcal and Brian Sabean moves fast.

You seriously consider St. Louis to be a contender? No way does their pitching staff deliver a repeat performance of last year. They're poised to lose Isringhausen, Izturis, LaRue, Looper, Lopez, Mulder, Springer and Villone in free agency. Yes, I'm sure they'll bring in multiple FA signings and maybe retain some of their old players, but until we know who...how can anyone consider them contenders? Bottom half of the division is more like it IMO. They played above their heads last year and still ended up 11 games out.

~edit~ Oh crap. I just realized you meant contender for landing him...not contender in general. Okay, forget all that I just typed. :O) Hell, I'm still half asleep.

[Kc61]

If it's the Reds, it's a gamble for sure. But Furcal at short could mean Gonzalez at third which means a dramatically better left side infield defense.

Then you put EE in left or you trade him for another leftfielder, platoon Dickerson and with someone in center, beef up the catching, add a fifth starter, get a number of good new relievers, fix the bench, and you are a pretty good team.

It's that simple.

[PuffyPig]

Originally Posted by Kc61

If it's the Reds, it's a gamble for sure. But Furcal at short could mean Gonzalez at third which means a dramatically better left side infield defense.

Then you put EE in left or you trade him for another leftfielder, platoon Dickerson and with someone in center, beef up the catching, add a fifth starter, get a number of good new relievers, fix the bench, and you are a pretty good team.

It's that simple.

You lost me with "Gonzalez at third".

[fearofpopvol1]

Originally Posted by Kc61

If it's the Reds, it's a gamble for sure. But Furcal at short could mean Gonzalez at third which means a dramatically better left side infield defense.

Then you put EE in left or you trade him for another leftfielder, platoon Dickerson and with someone in center, beef up the catching, add a fifth starter, get a number of good new relievers, fix the bench, and you are a pretty good team.

It's that simple.

This actually is not a bad idea...but a lot would ride on the health of Furcal and I'm not sure at $13 million a year that's a good idea.

[BRM]

Originally Posted by PuffyPig

You lost me with "Gonzalez at third".

Same here. While I would expect to get average to above average defense at third from Gonzalez, he'd be one of the worst hitting third baseman in the league. A career .694 OPS at third base? Pass.

[fearofpopvol1]

Originally Posted by BRM

Same here. While I would expect to get average to above average defense at third from Gonzalez, he'd be one of the worst hitting third baseman in the league. A career .694 OPS at third base? Pass.

If Gonzo is healthy, there would be a dip in offense, but that would be a pretty great IF defensively if everyone was healthy.

[BRM]

Originally Posted by fearofpopvol1

If Gonzo is healthy, there would be a dip if offense, but that would be a pretty great IF defensively if everyone was healthy.

There would be a pretty big "dip" in offense. I agree the IF defense would be very good though.

[Mario-Rijo]

His back was so bad he couldn't even play 90% of this past season and someone wants to give him 39 million 2 months removed from it? Where in the world has common sense gone. I wouldn't give that guy 3 yr 9 mill he's not likely to earn even it.

[Blitz Dorsey]

Furcal is broken down from all the steroids/HGH that went into his body. I'm completely serious. He is the opposite of what the Reds should be going after IMO.

[NJReds]

Maybe the Mets want Furcal to play 2B?

[The_jbh]

Yunel Escobar... I'd be interested in!