This could be a short post. No, no one will bite and claim Bobby Crosby and his $5.25 million contract. For the sake of completeness, though, let's run through who might conceivably pick up Crosby.
The Padres' current options at shortstop are Luis Rodriguez and Everth Cabrera. Rodriguez will be 29 next season and in three seasons of part time play has a career line of .257/.316/.343. That's bad, but he's also cheap and the Padres aren't going anywhere this year anyways. There's no reason they'd pay over $5 million for a guy who will probably only be slightly better and has a very small chance of being somewhat decent (albeit a greater chance than Rodriguez who has almost no chance of being decent). Cabrera, a Rule 5 pick, is most likely bench fodder, having not played above low-A ball. But since he has to stay on the big league club if the Padres want him, they may as well see what he can do and play Rodriguez if Cabrera is overmatched. Odds they claim Crosby - 1/100
As currently constrcted, the White Sox will start Alexei Ramirez at short. There are two main problems with that. One being that it's not clear how he'll be defensively there as he only started 2 games there last season and was billed as a second baseman/center fielder coming out of Cuba. The other problem is that this leaves them a question mark at second base, where they plan on going with Chris Getz. who has average minor league numbers and middling scouting reports. The White Sox could use a shortstop and move Ramirez back to second. The question, then, is Crosby the right guy? If they're not going to bring back Orlando Cabrera, their best bet in the free agent market would probably be David Eckstein, who wasn't as bad as Crosby was last year. They could also trade for Jack Wilson, but Wilson would likely cost even more money than Crosby and would require them to also give up some players to trade for him. Odds they claim Crosby - 1/20
The Twins just re-signed Nick Punto, but it's unclear if they'll play him as an everyday shortstop or keep him in a utility role. They also have Brendan Harris, but he's slated to start the year as the Twins' third baseman. They had been linked to Rafael Furcal (I thought I'd never have to write his name again), so presumably they have some interest in a shortstop. Punto, however, actually hit better than Crosby has in 2006 and 2008. However, he wss absolutely horrible in 2007 and is probably a step below Crosby as a defensive shortstop. The Twins have the same options at short as the White Sox, so if they feel they need a shortstop and believe Crosby at $5 million is a better deal than Eckstein, Orlando Cabrera, or Jack Wilson, then they may bite. Odds they claim Crosby - 1/20
So I have the odds that a team will pick up Crosby a little over 10% which is about right. So what does this mean for the A's? It's hard to say. On the one hand, the most likely scenario is that the no one will claim Crosby and the A's will be stuck with him. The A's could try to send Crosby to the minors, but he has the option to refuse a minor league assignment. If he does so, the A's will still be on the hook for his entire salary and Crosby would become a free agent. Therefore, this move either means that the A's are comfortable with Crosby at short (so long as no other team wants to take him and his salary) or it means that they're comfortable with Cliff Pennington at short (or God forbid want to go after Orlando Cabrera, but I reallly, really hope that's not the case). The only other option I see is trading Crosby for some other team's unwanted bad contract (Andruw Jones?), which is probably the most palatable solution, but not particularly likely.
Update: Nope, no one claimed him. We'll see what the A's do next.
