While perusing MLB Trade Rumors this morning, hoping to find anything interesting happening on the Pirate front to write about, I noticed that there are still an awful lot of first baseman on the free agent market. Presumably, guys like Casey Kotchman and Derrek Lee and Carlos Pena are all waiting for Prince Fielder to sign before picking a team in hopes that one of the desperate runners-up in the Fielder Derby will pay them a little more than they’re being offered right now.
Here’s the thing, though: the Prince Fielder Derby isn’t nearly as heated as Prince or Scott Boras had hoped. Right now, it seems like almost a slam dunk he’s going to end up in Washington because they’re the only team that really seems interested beyond a passing glance. So what if we hit mid-January and Lee, Pena, and Kotchman are still on the market and could be had for reasonable prices? The Pirates haven’t been openly interested in any of them except for Lee and since they traded for Casey McGehee and tendered Garrett Jones, it seems like they’re probably done adding at the position.
But what happens if they suddenly find that they could have Carlos Pena on a one-year/$8 million deal? Or Kotchman for $5 million? It would create a bit of a log-jam that might necessitate a Garrett Jones trade, but it would probably make the Pirates a bit better in 2012 (well, Pena probably would, Kotchman would be a gamble).
I kind of doubt anything’s going to happen here, I just think it’s interesting that it’s now January are there’s still quite a few free agents on the market left at a position that the Pirates definitely had some need at when the winter started. I do think there’s a chance that Jones/Kotchman/Nick Evans make a better combo than anyone expects and end up being quite a bit more productive than the first base position was last year, pre-Lee, but there’s still some room for improvement.
