Winter Meetings Preview

This week I will analyze what the winter meetings will look like and what might go down.

Hot Stove Info:
Greg Maddux will retire on Monday after 355 career wins. The Braves signed catcher David Ross to be their back-up behind Brian McCann. The Giants signed SS Edgar Renteria. Rafael Furcal rejected the A’s four-year offer. The Cardinals traded for SS Khalil Greene. The Indians signed Tomo Ohka to a minor-league deal and the Rangers signed Joe Torres to a minor-league deal. The Rangers also re-signed Elizardo Ramirez to a minor league contract.

Winter Meetings:

K-ROD: K-ROD’s agent has said that the serious negotiations would start at the Winter Meetings. It seems that there is a pretty good chance of him signing with the Mets during the Winter Meetings or shortly thereafter.

Rafael Furcal: After the Giants signed Edgar Renteria to play shortstop, it seemed like he would be going to the A’s, but he turned down the A’s offer of a four-year deal. It seems at this point that he will start over from scratch at the Winter Meetings, and the market will be wide open again.

Kerry Wood: Both the Mets and the Tigers are interested in Kerry Wood, and the Rangers have shown some amount of interest also. The market will probably be larger since the Cubs offered him arbitration which takes away the draft pick the team that signs him would have to lose in the process. He will probably come close to making a decision at the Winter Meetings.

Adam Everett: The Tigers are going after Everett hard and have a good shot at signing him during the Winter Meetings.

Mark Teixeira: Mark is looking for at least $20 million dollars a year for multiple years. He is even hoping for a ten year contract. Because of this he probably will not sign at the Winter Meetings, but only start getting into serious negotiations.

Manny Ramirez: Manny is also looking for at least $20 million dollars a year for multiple years, but he probably has a better chance at getting it in offers from multiple teams than Teixeira does. He probably will not get signed at the Winter Meetings.

Adam Dunn: The Nationals, Mariners, Cubs, Rays, and Angels are all interested in Dunn. He probably will not sign at the Winter Meetings due to the number of teams that want him, but he should get it down to two or three teams.

Bobby Abreu: Bobby only has four teams interested in him right now ( the Cubs, Mets, Yankees, and Rays). He will not get all that much money (in baseball terms) but will get a pretty decent sized contract.

Raul Ibanez: Only the Cubs and Mets are interested in him now and since he’s 36, he’ll probably sign late, after all the big-name targets are gone and he’s the last solid outfielder available.

Pat Burrell: The Phillies seem to be letting him go without even really trying to keep him in Philly. He probably will come reasonably close to signing at the Winter Meetings, but probably will still be a free agent at the end of the meetings.

CC Sabathia: There is a good chance that CC will sign during the Winter Meetings. He has probably been waiting for these meetings to see if he can get even more than $140 million, which is unlikely. If there is not a higher offer, he will probably sign at the meetings; if there is, it will probably be a long process for him to sign.

Nationals: The Nationals are expected to attempt to sign Ryan Zimmerman to a multi-year contract at the Winter Meetings. They are also trying to convince both Teixeira and Dunn to sign with them, so this might be the time to get on their list of possible teams. The Nats are also interested in Milton Bradley.

Results of last week’s poll:
Where do you think Rafael Furcal will go?
San Francisco Giants – 50%
Oakland Athletics – 37%
Other – 13%

Come back next week for a recap of the Newberg Bound Edition release party.