Clement and Willingham. Boonser meh. Abreu will require too much $$$. I was interested in Duncan earlier when the season was just beginning but it seems we have plenty of okish 1b options at this time. Saw him on tv once in the outfield-it was Butler esque.

I’ve never been a big fan of Boof Bonser, and at best, he’d be a placeholder for one year until Rosa and/or Cortes get ticketed for full-time starting rotation duty. Despite decent stuff, he has had two back-to-back years where he was mediocre at best. Unless we end up in a position where we need starting pitching for next year (ie, we trade Greinke), then I say pass. We are not in a position where we need to give up talent for a #5 starter/long reliever.

I’d be interested in Clement, but am worried that the M’s asking price would be too high (if they are looking for prospects, I imagine they would start with someone like Moose Tacos—not Butler—and escalate from there).

Willingham is probably the only guy on this list whom I’d spend a lot of time trying to pursue. Good plate discipline and ok power. I could see him being a great #2 hitter for us. It would mean we’d have to keep DDJ in CF, but I can live with that. Not sure what the Marlins would demand for him, though, and he’ll turn 30 over the offseason, so he’ll probably start declining towards the end of the three years we’d have him. I don’t know how bad his D is.

I would stay away from Abreu, if for no other reason than he has “overpriced, declining veteran” written all over him. If we’re looking for OBP, then Willingham has almost matched Abreu for OBP in the last two years (.369 and .371 for Abreu, .364 for Willingham both years). You can see the decline in Abreu’s stats since 2004—aside from a brief bump when he joined the Yankees, his numbers have been consistently dropping, and I see no reason to think they won’t continue to do so. I also would imagine he’d want a multiyear contract, and that could very well become another albatross around GMDM’s neck (see also: J. Guillen).

As for Duncan…I’d be fine platooning him at first with Shealy and/or Butler (and subsequently releasing Ross Gload), but I would try signing Eric Hinske first—Duncan is probably the better player, but Hinske will come cheaper, and I wouldn’t want to give up much for someone who would end up being a platoon player anyways.

If I had to rank them, in order of most to least interest, it’d probably go:

Willingham
Clement
Duncan
Abreu
Bonser

for those of you wondering – I get Cardinal games as well as Royals games on cable here in Jeff City, and let me assure everybody that Duncan is an absolute BUTCHER in the outfield. He is, indeed, like Butler in the outfield. He is passable at 1B, but the Royals have enough options at that position already.

I say pass on Duncan – he’s just not a good fit for our team or our ballpark.

Bonser would be a nice gamble. The one thing keeping Bonser from being a solid middle of the rotation starter is his HR rate. The K would help the HR rate, but it suppresses HRs at a rate only a little better than the Metrodome. He is from the Gil Meche school of decent control/bad command pitchers, but with lower upside due to the not quite as good raw stuff.

Clement is the right idea, but I doubt he would be available. The Mariners are in full tilt rebuild mode, and would be looking to acquire players like Clement, not trade them away. As Mr. Fingers noted above, if Clement does not stick at catcher, he can move to 1B or DH (both of which are currently vacant). Plus, as the only team with an open GM job, their list of interviewees is quite impressive, so they are pretty much guaranteed to get a very good GM who should know better than to keep their other catchers over Clement.

Willingham would be a nice pickup, but would not come cheap. The one concern is that he will already be age 30 by opening day, so he might have already played his best seasons.

Abreu would need to DH the majority of the time, and while he profiles as the type of hitter who can remain productive in to his late 30s, I would bet some other team significantly overspends on him. If his price falls (particularly the number of years), he could be a good signing.

I like Duncan, but he is strictly a platoon hitter. He probably would need to move 1B eventually, but he could stick in LF for the short term. He is kind of like Emil Brown in that his defensive miscues tend toward the spectacular, but his overall defense is solid.

so if it is Abreu, He will be expensive probably more than Guillen. Love the OBP and willingness to take the walk. Hope that patience would rub off on some of the others.

Willingham is a guy I have been interested in seeing what it would take – perhaps a package with Scott Olson. Florida would be looking for cheap ML players or prospects. They like young arms which KC has. If they move arbitration eligible players, Marlins will have holes at 2B, OF and pitching.

Clement would cost KC at least one of our top 5 minor league guys so that is a bit of wash. Don’t think Seattle will trade him.

Bonser hasn’t ever done anything for me. Just don’t see it. Duncan is the minor league type that KC needs to consider plugging into a platoon or bench role.

so after posting another good year in 08, could he fetch even more than Kubel? Interesting, because Bradley is arguably BETTER than Kubel.

I would not trade Billy Butler right now. It’s the whole, buy low, sell high thing. I would trade Greinke or Soria or DeJesus, if they could bring something good.