MLB winter meetings will be a mad dash for bats
SAN DIEGO - Those lovable Kansas City Royals should be the role model for every franchise in baseball at the annual winter meetings.
They built with mostly homegrown talent, put together a sensational bullpen, and ended nearly three decades of losing this summer, winning the American League pennant and coming within one rally of winning the World Series.
Then again, if you listen to the sage David Ortiz, one of the last of the dying breed of power hitters as the Boston Red Sox DH, he says the Royals taught us another lesson.
They showed what happens when you don't have enough weapons by losing the World Series.
"They didn't have the offense,'' Ortiz tells Paste BN Sports. "That's why they lost. They needed to score just one run those final (six) innings, and couldn't do it. Kansas City had the best pitching in the game, but they didn't win the World Series.
"You can't have all of the great pitching in the world, but if you can't score, what good does it do? Come on, look at it. If you have a pitcher make 35 starts, you might get 20 quality starts, so what does that do for you? You've got to make up for it with offense.
"Offense is more important than ever.''
While Ortiz is hardly advocating that the Red Sox keep that $150 million in their bank account and snub free-agent starter Jon Lester, his views certainly underscore the dramatic change in the baseball landscape.
These days, everyone's looking for hitting, and are certainly willing to pay a significant price.
There have been 11 multi-year contracts given to free agents this winter, and nine have gone to hitters.
The Red Sox had the third-worst pitching staff in baseball after trading away Lester and John Lackey at the trade deadline, and what do they do?
Yep, shell out $183 million for free-agent hitters Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez.
The seven most lucrative contracts this winter have all gone to hitters - Sandoval, Ramirez, Russell Martin, Yasmany Tomas, Nelson Cruz, Victor Martinez and Nick Markakis.
And now that virtually all of the elite hitters are gone from the free-agent market, with Melky Cabrera about to turn his two-year, $16 million deal into a monster payday, it leaves the trade market.
Hitters are going to dominate the trade talk at these meetings perhaps more than any time since the last time the winter meetings were in San Diego, back in 1985.
You will hear more talk about Atlanta Braves right fielder Justin Upton this week than you will about Philadelphia Phillies ace Cole Hamels.
Teams will have Andrew Friedman on speed dial inquiring about Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp and his other array of outfielders while Oakland A's GM Billy Beane hopes to get his phone to ring on starter Jeff Samardzija.
Oh, sure, there will be some pitchers on the move.
The Washington Nationals are listening to offers for starters Jordan Zimmermann and Doug Fister, who are on the last year of their contracts. The Detroit Tigers have let teams know that David Price and Rick Porcello could be available.
The highlight of the meetings still will be the day Lester signs his $150 million contract, while rumors will be flying whether Max Scherzer gets $200 million from the New York Yankees, Washington Nationals or that infamous mystery team.
Yet, while the pitching market has become suppressed - just ask Phillies GM Ruben Amaro, who may not extract a ransom for Cole Hamels - the whisper of any decent hitter becoming available has 30 teams making offers, regardless of the salary.
Hitting is so scarce these days that you half-expect someone to call New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman and ask for Alex Rodriguez.
"It seems like everyone has pitching,'' says Ortiz, in a telephone interview from his celebrity golf tournament in the Dominican Republic. "I mean the bullpens are incredible. When I first came up, I got to face guys like (soft-tossing White Sox starter) Jim Parque. Now, you got everyone throwing 95 mph with three different pitches.
"So now you got to find guys who can hit that pitching.''
Good luck. We haven't seen an offensive power outage this severe since 1975, with even walks down to its lowest level since 1968.
It's a whole lot easier to find 20-game winners these days than 40-home run hitters.
Considering Nelson Cruz was the only man in baseball to hit 40 homers last year, no wonder nobody blinked when the Seattle Mariners shelled out $57 million for him.
Talk to every front office in baseball, listen to every manager in the game, and they'll tell you how they're desperately searching for hitters.
"I don't have an answer for it,'' says Cashman, whose team scored just 633 runs last season, ranking 20th in baseball.
Where else could you find a free-agent third baseman who has hit 13 homers each of the last two years, driven in more than 64 runs just once in his career, and have a four-year, $65 million offer on the table, and not grabbing the nearest pen and signing it?
Take a bow, Chase Headley.
Remember the days when everyone tried to tell us that pitching and defense wins championships?
Well, the Red Sox just shelled out $88 million to put Hanley Ramirez in left field, a position he's never played in his life.
And the Atlanta Braves say they're serious about moving catcher Evan Gattis to the outfield and making him the everyday left fielder.
If Albert Belle came along these days, he'd be baseball's first $400 million player.
"I'm telling you, that's why you need offense,'' Ortiz says. "Look at us. Our offense sucked last year. Look at the Orioles, they had the offense and won. If you don't have the offense, you're not going to make it out of the AL East.
"It's just that simple.''
Yes, and this is why you have teams like the Cincinnati Reds, who had a wonderful pitching staff last year, but now are willing to break it up by trading Mat Latos, Mike Leake or even Johnny Cueto.
For a power hitter, of course.
Welcome to the 2014 winter meetings where the words already are echoing throughout the lobby:
Hey buddy, can you spare a hitter?
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