So much for all that hoopla about Orlando Hudson. The All-Star second baseman won't be signing with the Nationals, club sources confirmed this afternoon, and all signs point to him landing in either Minnesota or Cleveland.
Despite mutual interest between both parties, neither was willing to budge on financial terms. The Nats were believed to have offered between $3 million and $4 million; Hudson insisted on considerably more than that.
Washington GM Mike Rizzo wasn't willing to make that kind of commitment to the 32-year-old, who was an All-Star and Gold Glove winner last season with the Dodgers but lost his starting job to former Nat Ronnie Belliard down the stretch and continues to leave many concerned about a wrist injury that has lingered for two years.
The Nationals will consider signing veteran Adam Kennedy, who hit .289 with 11 homers and 63 RBI last season with Oakland, but club sources said Washington is willing to enter spring training with Cristian Guzman at second base and rookie Ian Desmond at shortstop.
[UPDATE AT 11:24 P.M.: It's official: Hudson has signed a one-year, $5 million contract with the Twins.]
18 comments:
Not getting the O-Dawg is a big hit to a fast top of the lineup BUT welcome Adam Kennedy, he is a bit more veritle defensivley than Hudson and hopefully his offensive production in 2010 is close to that of 2009 for him.
Where would Kennedy fit into a batting order? Is he good for the 2 spot? If he isn't, who goes there?
Projected 2010 Nats Lineup, pretty impressive if you ask me
Morgan CF
Guzman SS/2B
Zimmerman 3B
Dunn 1B
Willingham LF
Dukes RF
Pudge C
Kennedy/Desmond 2B/SS
Pitcher
Obviously, it would have been nice to have O-Dawg in the #2 hole, thus pushing Guz to shift around the #6-8 spots. But I still feel good about this lineup. Offense wasn't our issue. Sign Kennedy for $2-2.5M, and use the remaining budget for Wang or Washburn.
My hunch is Guzman would get first crack at batting 2nd. He's had his best success there and is most comfortable there. But if Kennedy/Desmond/TBA was getting on base at a higher rate, they'd probably supplant Guzy at some point.
Well at least its over. Good luck to 'O-Dog' but there's a clear line between caution and cheap. This is clearly a case of the Nationals being appropriately cautious. There are easily 6-8 teams who wanted a better second baseman this winter and not one of them has been willing to pay the price Mr. Hudson has been asking for. Good Luck to him, I hope he gets his price and has a great year, but he's no sure thing.
I was really hoping that Hudson would sign here, because I don't have much confidence that the Guzman/Desmond combo is going to work. But the points that others have made about Hudson's suspect health and productivity are valid.
Here's hoping that Rizzo pulls off some magic to get additional infield help before ST. They need it.
O-Dog, I say bleep him. This whole thing dragged on so long that I kind of soured on it, as irrational as that is.
Not that crazy about Kennedy, though. I worry that the glove is declining quite a bit. I wonder if Rizzo could trade for Barmes. Excellent glove, sporadic bat, with a bit of power, several years younger (29, I think). Maybe Martin or Ballester gets it done?
Who needs him. He didn't want to be here last year, doesn't want to be here this year. Much rather find out what we've got in Desmond.
Zuck,
Big League Stew, the Yahoo! MLB Blog, is doing a blogroll of all the teams blogs, I sent him along a link to here and your twitter name. I think all baseball readers should be aware of this blog!
Thanks, Craig. Keep spreading the word!
Mark, are you going to be going to Vierra this year? I hear everything is better there.
stand firm on those mediocre free-agents! despite my vote for being competitive this year, it would be better to have kennedy and let desmond sink/swim than give hudson 2 years and premium money.
Mark - any word on reports that Hudson wanted more from the Nats than he is willing to take from the Twins? That's the only way that I can excuse Rizzo/Kasten on this. If it's simply a matter of an extra 1-2 million bucks for one season, than it's a big miss on our part. I don't see a Guzman/Desmond combo having any chance of success, especially with Dunn alreay on the right side. For Rizzo to hold to his guns like this and not be willing to up the ante, I hope that he has a good Plan B in mind and better than Adam Kennedy. Are you hearing any trade rumors? Great to have this blog available to us also - appreciate the Nats info. It's an underserved market right now.
Natbiscuit: Since I'm not getting paid to write this blog, at the moment I can't afford to go to Viera for more than a couple of days. But I'm exploring some other ways to try to make it happen.
nats sign adam kennedy! he will be our every day 2nd baseman.
Natbiscuit-
Kudos to you for charitable wishes for Orlando Hudson. I personally hope he has a career-worst year, while Adam Kenedy has a career-best year. It's a game, and just like I got nearly as much enjoyment out of rooting against the Yankees as for the Mets growing up, I am perfectly happy to put Hudson/Kennedy in the good vs evil roles for the sake of sports enjoyment.
As for Mark and Viera, I hope he can find some advertisers for this page, and perhaps have a better situation with the funds that way. Until he gets a job, of course. Keep the page count rising, all!
Oops. You all realize I meant Kennedy gets the halo (he was an Angel, after all), and Hudson the horns, and not the other way around, I hope.
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