Better Together

While the big news in Seattle is of course the signing Chone Figgins but what is equally important is the Phillies signing of Placido Polanco. His 3 yr/ 18 mil dollar contract set the market standard for third basemen.

With the Mariners offering Adrian Beltre arbitration he at this point in time stands to make the most money from the Mariners because of Polanco and Figgins deal he stands to end up somewhere in the middle as far as of contracts.  Unless of course a bidding war breaks out over his talents.

I suppose that is possible with Boston always in the mix to drop Mike Lowell. Poor guy has been standing at the door with his bags packed for the past two years.

The Twins may want to re-sign Joe Crede but they also have been rumored to be interested in his service.

The Angels of course are going to need a third baseman now that Chone Figgins won’t be returning. They have been sitting waiting for the day that Brandon Wood takes the torch and suddenly finds his way to translate all his talent into something tangible on the field.

I’m sure there are more teams out there that would love to have his service. But because of the Mariners offering arbitration there is now a certain clock ticking. He has until December 19th to accept or decline.

While this may seem like a long time with the winter meetings this week, they are sure to change a few perspectives – not to mention line-ups and or even pitching rotations.

But despite all that is ahead, there is little that is going to change the fact that no team is going to pay nearly 1.5 times the amount that it was going to take to get Chone Figgins. If there was a team willing to do that they would have been bidding for Figgins services.

The only thing that you have to take into account is if Beltre is willing to sacrifice 4-5 million dollars this next year in return for heading south for the summer.

A week and a half ago I had written Beltre off as all but gone. But with Polanco taking the contract he did and with no real outrageous bidding wars coming about for Figgins. It leaves Beltre in a real pickle. I must say at this point int time anything could happen.

If I were a betting man, I’d wager that the Mariners were the leaders for Beltre’s services at this point in time. They are making some serious upgrades and pushes for the division next year. I can only imagine that it’s enough to intrigue him into coming back for just one more year.

This leaves a questions of what happens to Jose Lopez? I think we’ll all have a better idea of what’s going on within the Mariners front office at this time next week.

Here’s hoping for another year of Beltre!