Baseball Notebook: Winter Meetings Wrapup, Bonds Arraignment
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by Niteowl049
Note: Since I am working the next three mornings this will be the last post till next Tuesday unless I am scheduled to work on Tuesday morning also. We also could be losing internet on the 10th so if there are no posts for several days or weeks that would be the reason.
Baseball Notebook: Winter Meetings Wrapup
The 2007 major league baseball winter meeting concluded yesterday with only one major trade being made. The Detroit Tigers strengthened their team for the 2008 season by acquiring Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis, while giving up six players, who have not played long in the majors or are still in the minor leagues. Andrew Miller and Cameron Maybin could help the Marlins next season, and Mike Rabelo will probably be a backup catcher for them.
The Marlins also received three righthanded pitchers in the trade in Eulogio De La Cruz, Burke Badenhop, and Dallas Trahern. De La Cruz has 6 innings of major league experience and Trahern pitched in Triple A last season so one or both of them could find themselves playing for the Marlins at some point in 2008.
The rest of the trades are too minor to spend time discussing them since none of the players are that well known except for Elijah Dukes who may help the Nationals if he can avoid off the field problems. The meetings ended with only one blockbuster trade and several trades that interested only the most ardent baseball fans.
Free Agent Signings During Meetings
Andruw Jones has agreed to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2008 and will make $36.2 million in the two year contract. It is a surprise he could command a salary that large after having one of his worst seasons in 2007. Most major league players would have been happy to have his stats except for his .222 average since he did hit 26 home runs and drove in 94 runs last season but after hitting 51 home runs in 2005 his season was a major disappointment.
Randy Wolf strengthened an already strong pitching staff by signing with San Diego Padres. Jose Guillen gives the Kansas City Royals' outfield some power with his 23 home runs and 99 RBI's he takes with him from the Seattle Mariners. The Royals were last in the majors last season in home runs with 102 but that number should increase in 2008 with the addition of Guillen and as Alex Gordon improves he should hit more home runs in 2008. Guillen won't help the Royals from the start since he will be sitting out a 15 game suspension for a drug violation so the most games he can play for Royals in 2008 would be 147.
Kaz Matsui signed with the Houston Astros to play second base replacing the retired Craig Biggio. David Riske signed with Milwaukee Brewers after having a 1-4 record with a 2.45 ERA with Royals, but blew four saves in eight opportunities and in his career has 18 blown saves in 38 opportunities so he is not closer material. I can't see the reason Brewers signed Riske since they already had enough pitchers in bullpen not capable of saving games notably Derrick Turnbow.
Bonds to be Arraigned Today
Barry "Balco" Bonds will be arraigned today in San Francisco at 9 AM PT. This will be the first step in a lengthy trial unless Bonds later admits to perjury like Marion Jones did earlier this year.
If the evidence is too overwhelming his defense attorneys may advise him to take a plea bargain deal to avoid a longer prison sentence. However, I don't see Bonds appearing before the media admitting his guilt regardless of what he decides. His massive ego won't allow him to appear before media admitting his guilt like Marion Jones did.
If he gets a sympathetic jury that is full of Giant fans he may even win the case regardless of how strong the evidence is. The prosecutor will try to seat as many jurors as possible who are oblivious as to who Bonds is but that won't be easy in a city where Bonds has played for fifteen years. The jury could be the largest factor in deciding the fate of Bonds and he may decide to risk a jury trial if he thinks he can get a not guilty verdict. His only other alternative would be to accept a plea bargain lessening his chance of serving a long prison term.
Despite all the negative publicity surrounding Bonds the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Oakland Athletics are very interested in signing Bonds since it is unlikely the trial would start until after the 2008 season. If he is signed he would be given a shot at getting his 3000th hit in 2008 since he needs only 65 hits and getting his 2000th RBI since he only needs four more to reach 2000.
If he does play you can be sure he will be more surly than ever toward the media and fans who bring up the steroids issue to him or he may avoid the media altogether on advice of his legal team. If he does sign with the Athletics his contract would probably allow for him to miss time for any trial related matters. He signed with Giants last season for $15.8 million but can't see the A's paying him anywhere close to that amount since the A's may be the only team in the majors that would consider signing him so the ball would be in their court when it comes to the amount of salary. I would be surprised if the A's offer him more than $5 million but with Mike Piazza making $8.5 million to hit eight home runs in 2007 nothing would surprise me.
