FA Bargain Bin, Also Furcal Dance Continues

It looks like the A's are once again in the hunt for Rafael Furcal.  It looks like the A's are willing to up their offer by one or two million a year up to a four year - $44 million deal, and that Furcal is considering it.  It's right in the range of figures I guessed he'd get. so if this turns out to be the final deal I'll be happy. 

A Furcal signing would alo likely be the last of the A's big free agent moves.  Maybe if the A's can find a taker for Bobby Crosby (doubtful) they'd have some money to make another signing.  However, with a wide open rotation (only Duchscherer and maybe Eveland are guaranteed spots) the A's are known to be looking for a veteran to help round out the staff.  The A's have plenty of OK options to fill out the rotation, but adding a few cheap alternatives in the mix couldn't hurt.  A couple of guys who were non-tendered last week would fit this description.

The Brewers declined to offer Chris Capuano a contract after paying him $3.75 million last year to rehab from his second Tommy John surgery.  He also won't be healthy in time to start the season.  The Brewers probably made the right move as he's a big injury risk and it's yet to be seen how he'll pitch after recovering, so paying him a few million dollars would be foolish.  However, he is considering a minor league deal to return to the Brewers, which is something the A's can offer as well. Capuano has a career 4.39 ERA striking out more than 7 batters per 9 innings and walking 3 per 9.  If he can return to those numbers he'd be a good 3 or 4 starter.

Daniel Cabrera is also a free agent now that the Orioles have cut ties with him.  Cabrera has the stuff that you'd think would make him a top fo the line starter.  Unfortunately, he usually does not know where it's going once it comes out of his hand, leading to high walk rates and ERAs.  He had usually accompanied those numbers with a ton of strikeouts, but failed to do even that last year.  Still, the stuff is (or should be) there and if the A's think Curt Young can fix him, then he might be worth a shot.  The problem with Cabrera is that the A's would have to give him a number of major league starts to see if he can turn it around away from Baltimore.  I'm not sure that the A's can afford to let Cabrera flounder in the rotation for that long; if they'r'e going to put up with some struggling, they might as well have it be a learning experience for a guy like Sean Gallagher or Josh Outman (or Gio Gonzalez or Dallas Braden).  This really comes down to a scouting/coaching question.  Only if the A's think they know what's wrong with Cabrera should they consider signing him.

The A's should also consider Tim Redding if they're uncomfortable with starting the year with only one guy (Duchscherer) with more than 35 career major league starts.  Redding could be an innings sponge, having put up two full seasons of mediocre pitching.  There's no real upside here, but a guy you can pencil in for 30 average-ish starts has some value.  The certainty here (albeit certainty of mediocrity) has to be appealing to the A's.  While the rest of the contenders for the rotation have considerably more upside, their expected performances are way more volatile.  If the price is right,(maybe 1 or 2 million, Redding was due to make about 3 million with the Nationals) or if the A's can't sign Randy Johnson, then Redding would make sense.

Though Chuck James is out for all of 2009, he's an interesting talent the A's should consider for their 2010 rotation.  His minor league numbers are stellar, he struck out over a batter an inning while walking fewer than 3 per 9.  He doesn't actually have overpowering stuff, though, as despite his numbers he was never considered an elite prospect.  He put up solid numbers in two seasons for the Braves, though he was a bit homer-happy.  There's a lot of upside here and although the A's are likely to have even more solid options for the 2010 rotation (Cahill, Brett Anderson), you can never have too many arms.

Dspite previous reports, it's still not clear whether the A's intend on signing Jason Giambi.  He's not the ideal option for the A's as they already have Jack Cust to DH and both are left handed.  Altough Giambi can play first base, he can't do it well and I'm not sure if the A's would be better off just throwing Daric Barton at first and Cust at DH everyday.  If the A's don't sign Giambi they should also take a loot at Jonny Gomes, but only if they think he can play first base passably.  Gomes is unlikely to repeat his 2005 performance, but his career numbers of .235/,329/.455 seem attainable and he's right handed.  He'd have value even as a bench player if Barton makes a case to be the everyday first baseman.  He can spot Cust at DH against some lefties and for Buck in right from time to time as well (though it isn't pretty when he's in the outfield).   Gomes, like Capuano, is apparently considering resigning with the Rays on a minor league deal.  If they A's can convice him to come back to the Bay Area (Gomes if from Petaluma) on a minor league deal they should make that move.