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Catch of the day Orioles' Johnson becoming intriguing trade bait
Posted: Thursday June 22, 2000 01:37 PM
If making a deal for pitching proves too difficult, renting a Gold Glove catcher could be the next best thing. Instead of improving your staff in one spot, you could make 12 pitchers better. That's why teams are closely watching what the Baltimore Orioles do with catcher Charles Johnson, who can be a free agent at season's end. With Mariners catcher Dan Wilson out for a month with a strained oblique muscle, Seattle makes sense as a possible trade destination. Look for the Cardinals and Reds to get involved, too, mainly because top advisors Jim Leyland and Gary Hughes, respectively, can attest first-hand how much Johnson meant to the Florida Marlins pitching staff in '97. And Johnson, whose career average is almost 40 points higher after the All-Star break, is much improved at the plate. Said one club executive: "He's a different player than he was a year ago. He would have a big impact on a pennant race."
Running the optionTeams also are closely watching the Minnesota Twins to see if they grant Brad Radke's request for an opt-out clause in his contract.Radke's agent, Ron Simon, recently asked the players' association for a copy of the contract Carlos Delgado signed this winter with the Toronto Blue Jays. Delgado can demand a trade at the end of this season if he's not satisfied with the club's progress, and the Jays would have until Feb. 1 to trade him or lose him as a free agent. If Radke is granted a similar clause, one top agent predicted opt-outs would become the hottest trend in baseball.
Silver bats, lead glovesAs if we need more proof that the game belongs to the hitters, the top two records in the American League belong to the White Sox and A's, teams that ranked among the bottom three in both fielding percentage and errors, and had combined to allow a whopping 81 unearned runs.One scout who called the A's "almost comical" in the field, said, "It looks like slo-pitch softball out there." The White Sox aren't much better most nights. They offset those deficiencies, of course, by ranking 1-2 in runs scored. Says one manager, with a tinge of sadness: "The rules have changed. In this era, it's all about who can mash the most." Mike Berardino covers baseball for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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