If we were willing to go $15 million/yr on Hunter (5 years/75 million) why wouldn't we make the same offer for Jones?  It looks like the best offer was for two years/32 million by the Dodgers.  Surely we could have gone 3 and 45, or even 4 and $60, which would only be $3 million more annually than Guillen, but for a considerably more talented player.

---

I wish I could share the board's optimism on the Guillen signing, but we're paying a franchise record per year dollar amount on a guy that has a career OPS of under .800.  

Granted he's played in some difficult parks, but his away splits the last three years were good for just .288/.334/.499.  That's not bad, certainly, but that .833 puts him right near Raul Ibanez/Kelly Johnson country (.831 each.)  

I'd love to think a move to Kauffman will help out his power numbers, and there's reason to believe that it will as far as doubles, but likely not to such an extent it will turn him into a top 50 offensive player.

In fact, we're likely to see his homerun total drop in 2008, despite moving away from Seattle.  Safeco is actually a more-homer friendly stadium than Kauffman (1.002 vs. .909).

Here's my prediction for 2008

.289/.341/.472  33 doubles 21 hrs  .813 OPS

Not bad, but probably not worth what we're paying.  

For comparison's sake, that's the sort of production we got from Emil Brown his first two years.  I'm guessing it'll be about 60 or 70 points lower and about 15 hrs fewer than what Andruw Jones puts up next season.   (And that's if he plays the whole season, which there's a good chance may not happen.)

He's posted an OPS+ of 115 four of the last five years. That's pretty consistent and a big improvement over last year.

I don't get the Teahen to 1B talk. He would be one of the lightest hitting 1B in the league. We already have a log jam of flawed first basemen. Enough with the position switches.

Uh, Joey Gathright on sale now!

Some crazy rumors out there. According to Joel Sherman the Indians and Blue Jays are reportedly talking about a swap that would send Alex Rios to the Tribe for Franklin Gutierrez and Cliff Lee. That seems pretty ridiculous.

Anthony Reyes seems available - San Diego is interested.

Cards-Brewers talking about a Scott Rolen-Chris Capuano swap.

Reds talking about dealing Josh Hamilton, possibly to the Cubs for Sean Marshall or Rich Hill.

Houston talking Chris Burke to the White Sox for a reliever, possibly Mike MacDougal.

Cubs trade IF Omar Infante and P Will Ohman to Atlanta for P Jose Ascanio

Yankees trade P Tyler Clippard to Washington for P Jonathan Albaladejo

The Rays turned down the Mariners' offer of a Ben Broussard-for-Edwin Jackson trade, according to the Seattle Times.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Cubs and Braves are interested in Nate McLouth.

Crap. Cleveland and Detroit seem intent on making things tough for us.

The Royals' preliminary agreement with Jose Guillen on a three-year, $36 million contract might not preclude them from making a run at another free-agent outfielder, Andruw Jones. The Royals also are bidding for Japanese free-agent right-hander Hiroki Kuroda, whose price has risen above $40 million for four years. They presumably could redirect that money toward Jones, but probably could sign him only if he agreed to a shorter deal.

DeJesus for Chuck James

Rangers also showing interest in DeJesus per Rotoworld.

Royals still in the hunt for A. Jones.  No one seems to be offering him more than 2 years so far.  Maybe the Royals could get him for 3/45.

Kuroda - MLB.com's believes that the first team to offer Kuroda a 4-year deal might land him.  So far, despite one earlier report, no team has offered him more than 3 years.

http://www.kansascity.com/385/story/389025.html

NYRoyal (New York, NY): Quick thoughts about a couple current rumors: David DeJesus for Chuck James; Mark Teahen for Matt Murton.

Kevin Goldstein: Can't see either happening.

He didn't say why, so that doesn't tell us much of anything.

If we can get anywhere near the same return, trade Gathright.

* The Royals have expressed interest in Sammy Sosa, according to a source. Sosa has the same agent as Jose Guillen, Adam Katz, and the two sides are trying to determine some financial numbers that make sense.

The Royals continue to be active on the free-agent market, contacting the agent for lefty reliever Ron Mahay shortly after reaching terms with outfielder Jose Guillen on Monday night. Mahay, 36, is also drawing interest from the Yankees, Giants and Astros. The chances that the Yankees sign Mahay would increase if they fail to land Johan Santana and decide to fortify their bullpen. The Royals currently have three left-handed relievers, but could trade Jimmy Gobble.

It doesn't surprise me that Gobble might be traded or included in a trade.

Also, I'm told by someone with Royals that they view Chuck James as a "breakdown waiting to happen" because of his size, delivery, etc. They're not interested it trading anything valuable for him, if interested in him at all....

I haven't seen him pitch much, but if he has a delivery which puts undo stress on his arm/shoulder/elbow, I don't like that at all.

The White Sox deal would strip their rotation and top prospects.  It would really, really hurt that team for years.

Would a bigger 3 (3/40?) or an extra year (4/44) be acceptable?

(I know there's a whole string of Kuroda comments somewhere up above, but I'm just too tired to try to find it right now).

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/thebuzz/

Royals outfielder Chris Lubanski to the Marlins with the fourth overall selection. Lubanski, the fifth overall pick in 2003, was touted for his speed and developing power early in his career. He's still just 22, and a lot of teams have him on their Rule 5 radar for that reason more than anything else, but the fact is that Lubanski isn't a plus runner anymore as he's grown into his frame. He's not even above-average. "This is a fringe-average runner for me," said one AL scouting director. And Lubanski didn't do himself any favors in the Arizona Fall League, often making weak contact and wound up hitting .200/.266/.412 in 85 at-bats.

Otherwise, we're back to where we were at the beginning of the season: only two competent OF's.  Gathright/Maier are probably 4th outfielders at best -- but if Guillen and Jones are in the lineup their offensive shortcomings are much more hidden.  Still, Guillen, Jones, Teahen our best option.