On Monday, Jason LaRue and Reggie Sanders filed for free agency. Yesterday, Mike Sweeney and David Riske filed as well.
The Royals will show the most interest in re-signing Riske, who is sure to get a multi-year deal worth more than the $2 million he received in 2007. He already turned down a one-year player option worth $2.9 million for 2008. Riske had a 2.45 ERA in 65 appearances and was a mainstay in the Royals' bullpen all season long. The Royals are still saying that they might bring Sweeney back, and I'd love to see it happen, but I have a feeling that Sweeney has played his final game in Royal blue.
The Royals also made the obvious choice of declining Odalis Perez's $9 million option for 2008. They bought him out for $1.5 million instead--half of which the Dodgers picked up. I can't seen any reason whatsoever to bring him back for 2008. He was was 8-11 with a 5.57 ERA in his 26 starts this year. Not good.
Now let's hope that will all of the cash coming off the books that we are able to pick up a legitimate power threat--someone like Torii Hunter. But I'm not crazy about Hunter's demand for a five-year contract--especially at the age of 32. If he's unwilling to budge on that, I wouldn't sign him. Aaron Rowand is available. He had an impressive season in Philadelphia, and I wouldn't mind seeing him play for the Royals, but I think we need to sign at least one proven power hitter and so far he's not exactly proven.
Here's a link to a list of free agents if you want to follow along.
2 comments:
Why would you love to Sweeney back?
That's a fair question. The answer is, for several reasons:
1. Rarely do teams go completely "young" and have success. They need a mix of veterans and young guys--much like the Red Sox had this season. Sweeney has been around. He's been through the bad times. And most of the players who have been through the clubhouse in recent years will tell you that Sweeney is a veteran who will try to keep everyone pumped up.
2. He can still hit, especially in the clutch. I'll deal with the injuries in a minute, but he's a guy who continues to hit with runners in scoring position, in spite of the fact that his overall batting average is starting to decline. He hit .333 last season with RISP, which is just slightly above his .330 career average with RISP.
3. Obviously he's injury prone and that's an issue, but not so much for the type of money he would be signing for, which I'm guessing would be less than $2 million. The risk you take financially is worth the possibility that Mike Sweeney finds his groove again.
4. As a fan, I like him, so to a degree he's a sentimental favorite. He plays the game the right way. He's been the face of the organization for the last seven or eight years and I'd rather not see that end if he's got another year or two left in him.
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