The SF Chronicle reported that the Boston Red Sox is the latest team to kick the tires on Armando Benitez (insert joke here :^). The Florida Marlins reportedly was very interested previously - the talk was that they would send Petit in exchange for Benitez plus money covering most of Benitez's salary for 2007. Perhaps that is why the trade never got done, maybe the Giants think that Benitez is going to be healthy and worth a lot more in trade if he can show that he is ready in the spring. Meanwhile, they have closer in training Brian Wilson around.
Boston have some interesting prospects, according to Baseball Prospectus, and they are looking for a closer since Papelbon is moving into the rotation from his closer stint of 2006. I would think a fully functional closer should be worth a good prospect or two, though none of the position prospects are that interesting out of the top 10.
This would be great, at least for my fantasy team. I tucked Brian Wilson away just in case!
ReplyDeleteLincecum is also an option: Closer Watch
As much as I'd like to see Buttmando on some other team, the Giants are hamstrung here. If they trade him now, they'd be lucky to get a mid-level prospect in return in exchange for the Giants picking up most his salary. They were hoping that he would impress scouts this spring and want to make a team like Boston or Florida up the ante a little. The problem is that he shows up at camp overweight..... again.... (not a good thing for someone with balky knees). Also, Wilson has not shown that he is ready to grab the horns and run with the job. Add all this to Buttmando's questionable work habits and less than stellar attitude and who will be a free agent at the end of the year and you get someone who has very little trade value. This has all the earmarks of another season of Buttmando on the Giants again. Let's hope Sabean can resist bringing him back next year like he couldn't resist with Feliz, Bonds, Durham, etc.
ReplyDelete