Morning Rumor Roundup

  • The White Sox are interested in bringing in former Cub, Henry Blanco, and are reportedly not the only team interested in his services. (Chicago Breaking Sports)
  • The Cubs are not one of the teams that have inquired about Mark DeRosa. (LA Times)
If you’ve missed the first few editions of the series, here are some links as well as the schedule for the week:

C / 1B / 2B / SS / 3B / CF / LF / RF (Fri) / Righty SP (Mon) / Lefty SP (Tuesday)

Contract Info for 2010

Alfonso Soriano – signed through 2014 at a rate of $18 mil annually. That includes a full no-trade clause and the following perks: suite on road trips, 6 premium tickets for each home game (spring training – post-season) and All Star Game (if Soriano is selected)

John Ford-Griffin – Minor League FA

Positional Summary

Today we take a look at the left field position, as much as it pains me to do so. It means we need to talk about a topic that I would rather not discuss, bad contracts.

Age PA R 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
Soriano, Alfonso 33 MAJ 522 64 25 1 20 55 9 2 40 118 .241 .303 .423 .726
*Griffin, John-Ford 29 AAA 386 39 29 3 5 40 5 2 36 87 .268 .342 .415 .757
Wright, Ty 24 AA 497 66 23 2 9 58 5 3 35 60 .290 .349 .412 .761
*Wyatt, Jonathan 24 H-A 435 44 10 1 2 33 9 5 35 67 .232 .295 .278 .572
*Rundle, Drew 21 L-A,H-A 280 29 13 2 3 23 3 3 37 82 .214 .328 .325 .653
*Andersen, Cliff 21 L-A,SS 139 9 7 1 0 11 0 0 7 45 .235 .273 .303 .576
Davis, Burundi 20 SS,ROK 209 25 7 4 2 23 11 1 17 66 .246 .325 .361 .686
Figueroa, Darlyn 19 ROK 183 26 8 1 0 15 6 5 23 44 .216 .344 .281 .625
*Cook, Glenn 24 ROK 103 11 4 1 0 8 1 4 11 32 .167 .311 .238 .549
Valdez, Rander 17 ROK 60 3 0 0 0 1 3 1 1 24 .052 .067 .052 .118
Damian, Alejandro 19 ROK 27 4 1 0 0 3 1 0 7 7 .158 .370 .211 .581
*Williams, Sean 18 ROK 11 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 .364 .364 .364 .727

Looking at the table above, I see a reason why Jim Hendry felt like it would be a good idea to sign Soriano for a multi-year deal. There simply isn’t much talent at the LF position in the system. The only top prospect from the Baseball America top 30 from last year was Ty Wright, but he’s basically a decent contact hitter with minimal home run power and average speed. He’s been a decent hitter in his three years in the system, but he really isn’t someone I could see being an impact bat in the lineup from a starter standpoint even if Soriano wasn’t around. His minor league breakdown is as follows:

Year Age Tm Lev PA R 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS
2007 22 2 Teams A_ss-A 303 45 13 2 10 49 11 3 28 37 .308 .387 .487 .874
2008 23 Daytona A_adv 480 60 21 1 8 72 7 2 41 71 .300 .370 .411 .781
2009 24 Tennessee AA 497 66 23 2 9 58 5 3 35 60 .290 .349 .412 .761
3 Seasons 1280 171 57 5 27 179 23 8 104 168 .298 .366 .429 .795

Other than Wright, what is there? Honestly stop and thing about this for a second. If Soriano doesn’t come back and come back in a big way in 2010, what other options do we have in LF? We could try Jake Fox out there. He can’t be worse from a fielding standpoint that Soriano. Other than that, what else is there? This is a position that is sorely lacking in talent and needs to be improved. You can look at the free agent crop and see a few options. I think Marlon Byrd and Reed Johnson are potential targets that could be plugged in as that guy who can be versatile in their role in the OF. Other than that, you have guys that are either too pricey, too good for a backup / platoon role, or just plain bad. Say some prayers that Soriano comes back big.

2010 Free Agents at LF
Scott Boras clients in Bold

Garret Anderson (38) – Type B
Marlon Anderson (36)
Jason Bay (31) – Type A
Emil Brown (35)
Marlon Byrd (32) – Type B
Johnny Damon (36) – Type A
David Dellucci (36)
Cliff Floyd (37)
Joey Gathright (28)
Matt Holliday (30) – Type A
Reed Johnson (33)
Greg Norton (37)
Wily Mo Pena (28)
Dave Roberts (38)
Gary Sheffield (41)
Fernando Tatis (35) – Type B
Marcus Thames (33)
Randy Winn (36) – Type B