Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star reports:
The Royals were near a trade Sunday in which veteran catcher Benito Santiago would go to the Pittsburgh Pirates for minor-league pitcher Leo Nuñez.Royals general manager Allard Baird confirmed the two sides were talking but said no agreement had been reached. Pittsburgh club officials also confirmed serious discussions.
The proposed trade seems to hinge on Santiago, 39, passing a physical later this week in Pittsburgh. Sources said the Royals have also agreed to pay about $1.4 million of Santiago's $2.15 million salary for 2005.
Deserved or not, and rightly or not, the Bucs have a reputation for being down on short pitchers. Nunez's listed weight is 150 pounds. With all our starting pitching and the likes of 6'4" 220 Jeff Miller on the roster, Leo Nunez is pretty buried on the depth chart. If he can find a way to add thirty-five pounds of muscle to his frame, maybe Nunez can be the next Roy Oswalt.
I don't mind paying the old guy $700K to call a savvy game and bat eighth. I like the rumor a lot more now that I learn that we're dealing Nunez and that we won't be paying all of the old man's salary. Financially, it's a much better deal than the situations we were looking at with Charles Johnson. With Bones, I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief that deal fell through. Say what you want about his PNC career numbers, there's no way I'm going to believe that Charles Johnson would hit more than .250 / .310 / .390 as a Pirate. If we payed him a lot to do that a lot, we also fail to realize any potential value stored in Cota and House and semi-regular catchers.
The front office must think that the team needs more than a catching coach to help Cota and House along. I suppose there is the depth question. As a fan, I want to see twelve starters on March 1. Why would we expect them to start the year thin at catcher? Kendall was unusually durable for a catcher. Who would back up Cota and House if the team were to go with them for 2004? Ronny Paulino? And with many of our eggs in the one basket labeled "young pitching," I can understand the conservative approach to the catching position. Since Santiago would come in with a one-year deal (I'm assuming), Cota and/or House would have a better chance to catch three games a week than they would with CJ on a two-year, $3M+ deal.
The deal has the virtue of dealing off the bottom of our stack of pitching prospects to get a guy that won't totally block our two catching prospects. It also protects the young starting pitchers.
...Bob Dvorchak reports the team is not looking for a full-time catcher.
...Joe Rutter also reports on the deal. He reminds us that old man Benito has a history with the steroids people. A lot of good that did him. Maybe he was massaging the clear into the wrong body parts or something.
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