• San Francisco (Odds: 20-1) - Ray Durham is in his contract year and has had a history of leg problems. The Giants are one of the oldest teams in the Majors, and are very much in "win now" mode. Durham exercised his $7M option in October, so there's little chance of the Giants moving him in a deal pre-season. That said, if the injury bug bites hard, I could see San Fran getting very interested in Sori very quickly. Giants GM Brian Sabean has a wealth of quality young arms (Noah Lowry, Matt Cain, Merkin Valdez, Jonathan Sanchez) which could help the Nats restock the farm and get younger overall.
• Houston (Odds: 20-1) - Should Clemens come back to pitch for the 'Stro's, they will again be thinking of the present and might be only a Craig Biggio breakdown away from being interested in Soriano. Targets: Wily Tavares, Brandon Backe, Jason Hirsh.
• St. Louis (Odds: 40-1) - The Cards have no lack of power in their lineup, especially if Scott Rolen returns to form. Junior Spivey is not a threat at all with the bat, however, which is what makes me consider this a possiblity at all (albeit a very long shot). Target: Jason Marquis' name was bandied about in trade rumors earlier this offseason and the Cards are 6-deep in their rotation (though Sir Sidney Ponson should not really be considered a #6 SP at this point).
• Chicago Cubs (Odds 18-1) - I give this possiblity decent odds, since there have been persistent rumors that the Cubs would like an upgrade at 2B over Todd Walker. At this point, I'd be willing to revist my antipathy towards Jerome Williams if the Cubs could add a marginally decent prospect to the deal. With Mark Prior's and Kerry Woods' health issues, however, I doubt that the Cubs would be willing to thin their rotational depth any further though.
• New York Mets (Odds 15-1) - The Mets are another team in "win now mode." They have clearly soured on Kazuo Matsui, whose .300 OBP in 2005 was even worse than Soriano's .309. This deal has the best potential to get done, IMO, and I would have given it 10-1 odds if the Mets hadn't been in the same division at the Nationals. That said, I think that an Aaron Heilman/Victor Diaz for Soriano deal could potentially be the best of the bad deals that the Nats could make to extricate themselves from this situation.
  
• New York Yankees (45-1) - As if the other ideas weren't already, this one is mostly wishful thinking on my part. The Yankees, as always, are in win-now mode again this season. Granted, Robinson Cano opened a lot of eyes last season, but Soriano's best years came as a Yankee. I thought getting Shawn Chacon out of Colorado was a great move by the Yanks, and they may be willing to listen to offers for him considering Aaron Small's strong performance in the 2005 offseason. The Yankees don't have much depth in their farm system, but what little they have may be enough to get a deal done. Maybe Chacon and Philip Hughes or Christian Garcia for Soriano? Just a thought.

There are some trade possibilities, notably Tony Graffanino with the Red Sox and perhaps the expensive Alfonso Soriano once he returns to the Nationals from the WBC. However, the Mets aren't likely to pursue Soriano now that their offense has been beefed up with the addition of Carlos Delgado in the offseason.

# posted by JammingEcono @ 12:57 PM