Monday, December 18, 2006

Alex Rios, Vernon Wells Consolation Prize?

The latest Dodgers power bat rumor mentions Alex Rios of the Blue Jays as a potential trade for Brad Penny, according to Ben Maller of FoxSports.com. The Jays may also be looking at Jon Lieber from the Phillies for Rios. Said Maller:

The Dodgers would seem to have starting excess now that they have signed Jason Schmidt and Randy Wolf to join Penny and Derek Lowe. [Toronto GM JP] Ricciardi was asked if something might be done to solve the next problem by, say, Christmas. "No, no, no, no," Ricciardi said. "I think this would be something — if we can get it, which is going to be hard to do — that might go right up to spring training."

The Blue Jays, who just locked down Vernon Wells to a 7-year, $126M deal, may be looking to deal Rios, 25. In 2006, Rios batted .302/.349/.516 (BA/OBP/SLG--all career years) over 128 games, with 17 HR and 82 RBI (three home runs and 18 RBI fewer than JD Drew). Rios had a one-year deal with Toronto last year for a scant $350K.

Just as a point of comparison, Andre Ethier batted .308/.365/.477 over 126 games, with 11 HR and 55 RBI. And Marlon Anderson, over his short 25 games with LA, batted .375/.431/.813. I'm just saying.

1 comments:

Orel said...

Rios has a history of minor injuries, but nothing alarming I can find.