With the baseball hot stove league in full swing (it's the most wonderful time of the year!), the Twins are yet to do anything whatsoever, so I'll talk about the Phillies instead.
It's been determined by consensus of Phillies fans that they must get rid of right fielder Bobby Abreu. He may be a reliable 100-RBI man and the team's biggest home run threat, but he's got a reputation for being "lazy"- an unforgivable offense for Philly's marauding talk-radio monsters. I've heard all sorts of rumors this week alone, most notably Abreu to the Giants for Jason Schmidt, and Abreu (with Mike Lieberthal) for Jorge Posada, Carl Pavano, and Eric Duncan (the Yankees would be nuts, absolutely batshit insane, to make that deal). The latest, according to the New York Post: Abreu to the Red Sox for Manny Ramirez.
Makes sense on a certain level- they're similar players, about the same age, each signed to three more years, though Manny's a bit better and making a lot more money ($57 million to Abreu's $30 million). Both teams would be able to get rid of problem players without sacrificing much in terms of production. And the Phils would get the added bonus of stealing Manny from right under the Mets' nose, just days after the Mets stole away Billy Wagner.
One problem though- Ramirez has a full no-trade clause, and has been quite vocal about only being traded to the West Coast. If he's sick of Boston, its hostile fans and suffocating sports media, would he really approve a deal to Philly, which in terms of sports culture is the closest thing to Beantown in America? And even worse, if the Philly fans have a problem with Abreu being lazy, wait 'til they get a load of "Manny being Manny."
Fascinating developments. Can't wait to see what goes down at the winter meetings next week.
UPDATE: Maybe not so fascinating. Jayson Stark of ESPN reports the trade is "highly unlikely," as the Phillies would reportedly only trade Abreu for "top of the rotation starting pitching" (namely, Schmdit).
Posted by Stephen Silver at December 1, 2005 07:10 AM