Minnesota: The Last Frontier? A Look into the Market for Joe Crede

Let’s take a look at all 32 teams to figure out who could use Joe Crede:

Teams linked to Crede:
Minnesota – Harris/Buscher
Giants – Sandoval, Aurillia, Uribe

Teams who may be able to use him:
Tigers – Inge
Phillies – Feliz
Cardinals – Glaus (Injured through April, Crede could be a replacement)
Astros – Blum/Boone

Teams that have shown mild interest but probably can’t use him:
Angels – Figgins (Rumored to have some interest, just signed Abreu so I doubt the spend any more, especially with Figgins)
Rangers – Young (Attended his workout, probably no longer interested knowing Young will be a Ranger in 2009)

Teams who have a very slim chance:
Royals – Gordon
Blue Jays – Rolen
Nationals – Zimmerman
Diamondbacks – Reynolds
Marlins – McPherson (Won’t pay for him)
Dodgers – Blake (Just signed Blake, but always have cash)
White Sox – Fields (Don’t want him back)
Pirates – LaRoche – (Reportedly not interested)
Brewers – Hall/Lamb (Not likely, seem to be satisfied with Bill Hall/Mike Lamb)

Teams who have no chance in acquiring Crede:
Boston – Lowell
Yankees – Rodriguez (Unless something really funky happens here with the steroid case)
Orioles – Mora
Rays – Longoria
Indians – DeRosa
Mariners – Beltre
Athletics – Chavez
Mets – Wright
Braves – Jones
Cubs – A. Ramirez
Rockies – Atkins
Padres – Kouzmanoff
Reds – Encarnacion

This boils the market down to essentially 8 teams who have or could have marginal interest in acquiring Joe Crede for the 2009 season. Of those who haven’t expressed public interest: The Tigers, Phillies, Astros, and Diamondbacks could feasibly use him and should be able to withstand the payroll hit associated with acquiring Crede. Another team who could have interest, the St. Louis Cardinals, lost Troy Glaus through mid-April and have a chance to be interested in him as a temporary replacement knowing Glaus’s health history.

But again, none of these teams have publicly expressed interest and this is entirely speculation.

Of those who have shown interest, the Rangers probably are out now knowing that Michael Young is sticking around for 2009. The other team with mild reports of interest are the Angels, but with the recent addition of Bobby Abreu, it seems likely they’re done spending.

The one team that has actually offered Crede a contract seems to be going in a different direction. San Francisco’s recent signings of Aurillia and Uribe seem to signal that they are moving away from the Crede offer, if they haven’t pulled it already. Combine Aurillia and Uribe with Sandoval and it seems like they’re content throwing a bunch of mediocrity at the wall and hoping something sticks.

But again, these are all potential teams Crede could go to. Only the Giants and Twins have actually shown interest, but even then it seems like the Giants have lost their lust for him. And the Twins know that.

The Twins are still in on him. With such a limited market for Mr. Crede, the Twins are likely laying low, waiting for him to pull his ridiculous $7M price tag down due to lack of interest. Until then, Scott Boras and the Twins FO will be content playing the waiting game.

In other Crede news today:

LaVelle Neal just posted a nice piece on the value of Joe Crede based on the top performing third basemen last year. Right now Crede wants $7M with incentives up to $11M. LaVelle thinks that $5M with incentives just past $8 seems fair.

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