Monday, December 13, 2004
Hold the Presses!
Its now 3:30 Central Time, and no further word on Richie Sexson. In fact, it seems far from a done deal.
I've seen reports mentioning 3 years, $33 million, or "bigger than Glaus", or even 5 years. But there is nothing definitive yet. So far, David Andriessen's article in the PI mentions two anonymous M's officials. Larry Stone throws out bigger numbers, and says that the M's offered around $150 million for Sexson, Delgado, and Beltre.
But at 3pm CST, this AP release came out indicating that the Orioles believe they are still in the running. And Sexson's agent, Casey Close confirms this. "Nothing is conclusive at this moment. We'll have to see where this thing goes the next 24, 48 hours. It's all speculative as to what people's perspectives are." While, I don't have a clue what that last sentence means, it definitely sounds like its not a done deal.
Here's my best guess: By "pre-announcing" the deal, the M's put pressure on both Carlos Delgado and, to a lesser extent, Adrian Beltre, to start getting serious about negotiations. They still keep the door open to Delgado by saying that Sexson has agreed to a move to left field. Rumors indicate that we have the largest offer on the table to both Delgado and Beltre right now, but this sends a message out that those offers could be revoked.
There is a lot of smoke here, but I don't think the Sexson fire is burning just yet. I, for one, would like to make every effort to get Delgado and Beltre before we commit to Sexson, who is coming off of a serious shoulder injury, and who has never consistently put up the numbers that we see from Delgado.
Stay tuned...
I've seen reports mentioning 3 years, $33 million, or "bigger than Glaus", or even 5 years. But there is nothing definitive yet. So far, David Andriessen's article in the PI mentions two anonymous M's officials. Larry Stone throws out bigger numbers, and says that the M's offered around $150 million for Sexson, Delgado, and Beltre.
But at 3pm CST, this AP release came out indicating that the Orioles believe they are still in the running. And Sexson's agent, Casey Close confirms this. "Nothing is conclusive at this moment. We'll have to see where this thing goes the next 24, 48 hours. It's all speculative as to what people's perspectives are." While, I don't have a clue what that last sentence means, it definitely sounds like its not a done deal.
Here's my best guess: By "pre-announcing" the deal, the M's put pressure on both Carlos Delgado and, to a lesser extent, Adrian Beltre, to start getting serious about negotiations. They still keep the door open to Delgado by saying that Sexson has agreed to a move to left field. Rumors indicate that we have the largest offer on the table to both Delgado and Beltre right now, but this sends a message out that those offers could be revoked.
There is a lot of smoke here, but I don't think the Sexson fire is burning just yet. I, for one, would like to make every effort to get Delgado and Beltre before we commit to Sexson, who is coming off of a serious shoulder injury, and who has never consistently put up the numbers that we see from Delgado.
Stay tuned...
