Where the A's Stand in Shortstop Roulette

Shortstops are changing places left and right.  In the past two days the Giants signed Edgar Renteria, the Cardinals traded for Khalil Greene, the White Sox traded for Brent Lillibridge, and Jack Wilson looks to be on his way out of Pittsburgh.  That leaves the A's, Dodgers, Orioles, Padres, and Tigers as teams that may be looking to add a shortstop, though it looks like Wilson may be on his way to Detroit.  Assuming Wilson does go to the Tigers, that leaves four teams who have holes at shortstop and might be interested in signing Rafael Furcal.  The Braves, once thought to be in the running for Furcal, appear to be set, as a Furcal signing appeared to be contingent upon trading away Yunel Escobar for Jake Peavy.  Now that they've acquired Javier Vazquez, it is less likely they'll make that deal.

I assume that the Orioles and Padres aren't contenders for Furcal.  For one, I've yet to see a rumor that either team is interested.  Secondly, neither teams look to be in a position to contend any time soon, with the Orioles in the same division as the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays and the Padres looking to trade Jake Peavy and rebuild.  Apparently, the Orioles are more interested in Cesar Izturis, who presumably will be a cheap placeholder until the Orioles kind find a more permanent solution.  The Padres have Luis Rodriguez, who played decently enough after Greene hurt himself last season.

The Dodgers as of now seem like the only logical competitor for Furcal's services.  I'm not sure if they're comfortable with starting the season with Chin Lung Hu as their starting SS.  On the other hand, they do have Ivan DeJesus Jr. who will likely be ready for the majors next season, so signing Furcal to a three or four year deal would certainly block his path.  That being said the Dodgers are probably looking to win in 2009, and Furcal is more likely to help them reach that goal than Hu/DeJesus are.  I'd consider the Dodgers to still be competitors, though the A's seem more able to offer a longer deal.

There are a handful of teams that could jump in and be surprise suitors for Furcal.  At times, the Cubs, Twins, and Reds have all aaid to be interested, though it always seemed as if the A's, Giants, Dodgers, and Braves were the most interested.  Even though the Braves and Giants appear to be out of the mix, I doubt this will lower the contract demands of Furcal.  The lower his price, the more likely it is that one of the teams on the fringe of interest would swoop in and sign him.

If the A's are unable or unwilling to sign Furcal, they'd be left with some unappealing options at short.  They could stick with Bobby Crosby, who is pretty much guaranteed to be horrible.  They could sign Orlando Cabrera, who'd likely be less bad, but probably somewhat expensive and as a Type A free agent, would cost the A's a draft pick.  None of the rest of the remaining free agent shortstops (Ecksteim, Uribe, Felipe Lopez, Adam Everett) are likely to be much of an upgrade over Crosby and there are no obvious trade candidates.

You'd hope that with the pool of suitors for Furcal shrinking that his price tag would fall accordingly, but the dearth of other options for teams looking for a shortstop dampens those prospects.  If the A's are committed to upgrading the shortstop position (which they should be), they'll have to pony a decent chunk of money for Furcal.