**UPDATE 3:55 pm: Never mind. The Cardinals cut Rincon on Friday. Two years, $2.9 million, 3.1 innings, 10.80 ERA. That was money well spent.**
The last few days of spring training often move the slowest, as Opening Day is so tantalizingly close yet so agonizingly far away.
So the obsessive Internet nerds while away their anxieties by inventing trade scenarios. I ran across an interesting one at The Phanatic Magazine:
A source told The Phanatic Magazine Thursday that talk around the league has the Phillies entered into discussions with the St. Louis Cardinals about the possibility of a Chris Coste-Ricardo Rincon swap.
Sure, Ricardo Rincon is a likely trade candidate, but for Chris Coste? You might remember him as a feel-good story from last year: After 11 seasons in the Northern League and various affiliated minor-league locales, Coste finally made the majors is 2006, hitting .328/.376/.505 in 98 games.
Great. But he’s a catcher. The Cardinals are set at the major-league level and have options in Eli Marrero and Michel Hernandez should anything happen to Yadier Molina and Gary Bennett.
Coste just doesn’t make sense for the Cardinals as a trade target. But one of his Phillies teammates might.
The Cardinals, as you’ve read, are thin in the outfield ranks, especially after having banished John Rodriguez to the Memphis bench. And the Phillies are thin in the bullpen, as The Phanatic mentioned.
So it makes better sense to me to send Rincon, Rodriguez and cash to the Phillies for Jayson Werth and and a low-level relief prospect. Here’s why:
- Rincon would slide into the Phillies bullpen at least as their top lefty, and possibly into setup role.
- Rodriguez could replace Werth as the Phillies’ fourth outfielder.
- With Juan Encarnacion out and Jim Edmonds recuperating, Werth can fill in anywhere in the outfield and also knows how to use his glove.
- Best of all, acquiring Werth would obviate the need for Preston Wilson and/or So Taguchi.
I’ve been on the Werth bandwagon for some time now. He does have some injury concerns, but he’s finally healthy after two troubling seasons and is swinging the bat fairly well this spring.
March 30, 2007 at 11:53 am
If he’s really healthy, that would be a huge pickup. He had a decent spring with a couple of home runs, so who knows.
Maybe Rincon + Wilson for werth. Or Rincon + Wilson + Bennett for werth + coste?
March 30, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Sleepy, I think P-Dub is P-Done. I proposed J-Rod because La Jocketty seems done with him and because he could help fill the Werth void better then Wilson could.
April 3, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Finally read that insane blog poem posting you told me about weeks ago. Hilarious. Viva la Revolution!
Oh, and I’m currently in first place in my fantasy league. I have no idea why. Or how.
As for outfielders, isn’t Jose Canseco available? He’d play for free. And he can misplay fly balls as well as any corner outfielder currently on the Cardinals’ roster.