Now That Their Best Player Might Be Gone for a While...

Is it time that C-money finally gets off his ass and acquires a real centerfielder?  I mean it seems like the easiest way to upgrade the team.  Acquiring another third basemen may prove tricky because the nature of Alex's injury is kind of unknown as is his return time table.   I know they don't want to raise payroll, but the idea of Rodriguez being out long term is a very real thing right now.  It's foolish to spend as much money they have on a team that misses the playoffs, especially in the first year of The New Stadium.  So lets look at some possibilities:

(note, I'm going over these in order of likelihood)

Mike Cameron: Flirted with a trade before, makes 10M a year.  The Brewers aren't better than the Cubs, might be worse than the Cardinals and at any rate they aren't better than the NL WC favorites (looking like whoever finishes in second place in the NL East), so they should unload an aging player who makes too much money (in this market) for a young player with some upside.  Hits for quite a bit of power, a .340/.480 line with good defense should be about what to expect from him.  Last time we checked in on him, he only required Melky Cabrera....if that's still the cost, or something similar, Cashman should be all over this. 

David DeJesus:  Career .360 OBP, from what I've seen plays decent defense (UZR disagreed last year but +5.5 for his career), hits for a bit of power.  His trade situation is a bit tricky, as:

A.) He is under contract for a bit

B.) The Royals kind of suck, but so does the rest of the AL Central, so they might contend.  Right now most projections have The Tribe better than them by four wins or so, but let us not forget that Carl Pavano is the Indians three starter and Anthony Reyes is their four.  Regardless, with a little bit of luck the Royals make up four wins and take the division, not to mention when the front runner has two oft injured and mediocore pitchers taking up the three and fourth slot in the rotation.   So the Royals do have much more use for him than the Brewers do for Mike Cameron.

C.) He's only 29, and actually has some trade value.

In conclusion it will require a decent package to acquire him.

However, they just traded for Coco Crisp to play center, and are using him in LF where they also have Teahen (who I wouldn't mind as a 3B replacement for the time being, but whatev) and Guillen who need playing time in the corners.  He's going to get expensive soon, and the Royals will have no use for an expensive corner OF in his late 20s/early 30s (as Crisp is the clear choice for CF, there is no reason to acquire him unless you plan on using him in center).   So if the Royals were ran competently, they would and should trade him for a nice package.  I'm thinking Melky Cabrera, Ian Kennedy, and Jose Veras might get it done.  At any rate it shouldn't require one of the top tier trade pieces.   Furthermore, DeJesus can play a role too beyond this season, that is of course if Austin Jackson can play a capable CF.  He's a great defender in the corners and his bat can be just good enough for him to be acceptable out there for a year if the Yankees miss out on Matt Holliday.   He's not hte ideal solution, but he'd be acceptable.   He'd likely be my perferred solution.

Chone Figgins: We all know his benefits he's speedy as hell and he can play every position on the field.   That said, he is extremely overrated.  Career 96 OPS+ (though OBP heavy so that is a bit misleading) even with his stellar baserunning isn't enough to justify the hype, but he can play CF (or 3B for that matter) and he'd sure to be an upgrade over Brett Gardner or Melky Cabrera.  I'm not sure what the Angels would want,  but it might be too much.  I really don't see why they would ask a ton for him though....there's not a real clear role for him on the team right now other than super utility man, and the Angels have bigger needs than that.  However, the Angels are a poorly ran franchise and no one screams "Angels Baseball" like Chone Figgins.