Hooray for the Winter Meetings! The latest rumors coming out of Dallas surround 32-year-old LF Josh Willingham, and the Rays potential interest in signing him. Fox Sports baseball analyst tweeted earlier today that,
“while the Rays are not close on Willingham, they’re one of three to four finalists.”
As of the two o’ clock hour, nine teams including the Twins, Red Sox, Indians, and Reds, have also called on the free agent left fielder. The Pirates, too, have been connected to him.
Willingham had a .246 BA/.332 OBP/.477 SL batting line, including a career high 29 home runs in 563 plate appearances with the Athletics in 2011. A utility player of sorts, Willingham spent 823 1/3 innings in left field, in 2011. Of note also, he has experience in right field, and first base and designated hitter could be options as well. According to his agent Matt Sosnick (in an October tweet), he would probably sign a 3-year deal.
Though the Rays could be just doing their due diligence, the prospects of the Rays putting an offer on the table is interesting to say the least, especially if there is a legitimate chance that they do not re-sign 1B Casey Kotchman, or trade CF BJ Upton.
Willingham made $6 million last year, and though Tampa Bay is expected to increase their payroll, (if just slightly, somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million), a contract similar to Johnny Damon’s 2011 contact could be expected; a contact in the neighborhood of $5-$6 million with incentives.
*Tuesday, December 6th Update*
In a tweet by Fox Sports analyst, Jon Morosi noted that,
The
#Nats and#Rays have had recent conversations about B.J. Upton.
Yesterday the Rays mentioned that they would have to be “overwhelmed to move” Bossman Junior. However, an anonymous team source for the Nationals said that they are “fixated” on leaving the Winter Meetings with a new center fielder. Could the Nationals “overwhelm” the Rays with some sort of trade package? Could this news be indicative of more than just talks with the Willingham camp?