Another nail gets hammered into Glaus's coffin in the East Valley Tribune: "The Diamondbacks will not ask Shawn Green to play center this year, Kendrick said, and plan to keep Luis Terrero in a reserve role. "You want to have Shawn Green in right field and have a more natural center fielder out there," Kendrick said." The implication of that is, if Green is playing right, then where does Chad Tracy go? The most obvious answer is, back to third, meaning in turn that Glaus will be gone by Opening Day.
The (somewhat-unlikely) alternative would be moving Tracy across to right-field to replace Gonzo as he steams off into the sunset of his career. I can't see this happening on Opening Day: if that is the plan, it will likely involve Gonzo being slowly benched with his replacement getting more playing time. It might not be the best thing as far as performance goes, but it's probably the honourable way, and this team is pretty high on "doing the right thing", which is fine by me. We may lose a couple of games in the short-term, but an organization with a good rep for being fair and solid, is one that free agents will want to play for.
Glaus to Pittsburgh? It's a possibility suggested by mlb.com...and then rapidly shot down: "Glaus still has three years and $36 million remaining on a four-year deal he signed with the Diamondbacks prior to last season. Even with the Bucs' bump in payroll in 2006, that's probably too big of a pill for the team to swallow. The fact the Diamondbacks reportedly want to attach Luis Gonzalez and his $11.5 million contract for next year to any deal involving Glaus doesn't help the Pirates' cause either." Hmmm...interesting: you want Glaus, you gotta take Gonzo too? Clear that payroll!
Texas have been shopping their outfield surplus, with recently-acquired Brad Wilkerson apparently on the block. He was someone the D'backs were apparently interested in before he was dealt from Washington; with Corey Patterson looking like he might stay with the Cubs, perhaps we could swing him into CF? According to Kendrick in the Tribune story referenced above, we are still looking for someone in CF: a platoon is being strongly hinted at, presumably involving Terrero. Wilkerson is a lefty, so would fit nicely as the other piece of that jigsaw.
[Though Gambo has apparently been reporting (on 860 AM, I imagine) that we're close to signing Jeff DaVanon to a two-year contract. Eyebrows raised at that one: why would we bother, with Chris Young waiting in the wings, and Terrero as a credible backup? DaVanon is, at least, a switch-hitter, so that would fit in with the platooning idea mentioned above.]
Congratulations to Devin, who won the World Series 2005 DVD, and proved he has no life to speak of, by emailing me within about 10 minutes of me posting the contest. Thanks, but commiserations, to Joe [no, this was not a scam to get your address!], Craig, Randy, Eileen and Stephen who followed in - even if the last-named initially thought, before realising his mistake mid-email, that I was giving away the 2001 World Series DVD. No chance of that: it's a sacred relic in our house, which we bow down to worship, every time we pass the DVD shelves. And thanks to Englishdback for not entering - though since it's a Region 1 NTSC DVD, it would be merely a novelty beermat unless you've a funky DVD player!