14 September 2008

Tigers to Trade Ordoñez in Offseason?

Could he do this in a Braves uniform next season?


I talked earlier about how this made sense to do because of Matt Joyce and Brent Clevlen. Now, John Morosi is thinking it wouldn't be a bad idea to trade him. This season, he is hitting .321/.380/.505 with 19 HR, 88 RBI, and 32 2B, so he's still a very productive player. However, at age 34, you have to be concerned with him declining eventually, but I don't think he'll decline too much next year, if any at all. He's in shape, and he's always a consistent performer. Also, he makes $18 million next season (possibly $18 and $15 million the next two seasons with options), which could be prohibitive. So my question (as always) is does this make sense for the Braves? They need power in the outfield, and adding him would definitely be a huge shot in the arm for this team. He'd slide into the four spot and go to town. The Braves will have plenty of money, so the $18 million shouldn't scare them away too much. He's also a pretty good outfielder defensively.

However, with guys like Raúl Ibañez, Pat Burrell, and Adam Dunn available this offseason, spending $18 million on Ordoñez would probably be more than any other of these players. With the exception of Ibañez, they're also younger (Ibañez has actually been better this year). Ordoñez would also cost quite a bit in prospects (could a Escobar-Ordoñez trade work?) unless the Tigers were willing to take Escobar and another prospect. With the state of the Braves farm system, I don't think they can afford the trade unless the latter scenario took place.

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