Reds and A's discussing A's Closer Andrew Bailey

[Cubs Fan Dan]

Reds Talking About Andrew Bailey Deal

By Tim Dierkes [November 21 at 9:00am CST]

The Reds are talking about a possible deal for Athletics closer Andrew Bailey, tweets ESPN's Buster Olney. The Reds have a need at the back end of their bullpen, with Francisco Cordero entertaining offers as a free agent. The Blue Jays are also known to have Bailey on the radar.

 

Bailey, 27, posted a 3.24 ERA, 8.9 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, 0.6 HR/9, and 37.1% groundball rate in 41 2/3 innings this year. He missed time with an oblique injury in 2010, and also had elbow surgery in September of that year. Effects of the procedure caused him to miss most of the first two months of the 2011 campaign.

 

Bailey is under team control through 2014, and we project him for a reasonable $3.5MM in 2012 as he'll be arbitration eligible for the first time.

 

 

Has to be a pretty steep price. Go for it Reds.

[Little Slide Rooter]

On one hand, the Phillies may have set the closer market nice and high, but on the other, with Ryan Madson, Heath Bell, K Rod, Francisco Cordero as well as Joe Nathan and John Broxton who could be lower cost but potentially equally high reward, there's no shortage of established closers on the market, so that could take it down a notch. I guess it depends on whether the Reds prefer to give up money or prospects to acquire one, and Billy Beane isn't going to let Bailey go for cheap and there are the injury concerns, which there more often than not are when acquiring an A's pitcher.

[erik316wttn]

At first I thought it was for Homer Bailey.

[dew1679666265]

Couple of interesting tidbits:

 

11:19am: A Reds source agrees that Alonso is way too much for Bailey, writes MLB.com's Mark Sheldon. Sheldon notes that starting pitching is a more pressing need for the Reds than a closer.

 

4:43pm: The Mariners have inquired on Bailey, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney (on Twitter). Olney suggests the A's will definitely move the reliever this offseason.

[Exile on Waveland]

At first I thought it was for Homer Bailey.

 

Me too. The thread title is very unclear and misleading. One of the teams involved has a far more well-known player with the surname "Bailey" and, therefore, everyone is likely to immediately think of Homer. It would be similar to starting a thread titled "Cubs and Dodgers discussing Castro" (oh, it's actually some dude named Juan Castro, not Starlin).

[imb]

Homer bailey is not more well known than andrew bailey

[toonsterwu]

On one hand, the Phillies may have set the closer market nice and high, but on the other, with Ryan Madson, Heath Bell, K Rod, Francisco Cordero as well as Joe Nathan and John Broxton who could be lower cost but potentially equally high reward, there's no shortage of established closers on the market, so that could take it down a notch. I guess it depends on whether the Reds prefer to give up money or prospects to acquire one, and Billy Beane isn't going to let Bailey go for cheap and there are the injury concerns, which there more often than not are when acquiring an A's pitcher.

 

I think Oakland's in a spot where they recognize that, once again, they aren't in a position to make a push in the next year or two, particularly with Texas developing into such a strong organization.

 

For the Reds, I think this is an issue of a FA closer being too expensive along with the fact that they have a deep system (but I still hesitate to call it quality, as a lot of folks are doing these days - a lot of highly intriguing pieces, a lot of raw assets, few arms worth mentioning.)

 

As a side note, love the Rangers move for Nathan. I think there's going to be one or two guys that will swallow hard and either take a setup role or settle for less money than they expected.

[UMFan83]

Homer bailey is not more well known than andrew bailey

 

This. I'm gonna say the guy with a ROY award and multiple All Star appearances is better known.

[Exile on Waveland]

Homer bailey is not more well known than andrew bailey

 

This. I'm gonna say the guy with a ROY award and multiple All Star appearances is better known.

 

OK, perhaps I should have said "more well known to NL Central fans." As for two all-star appearances, I don't think most people realize that -- lots of players make the all star game now. And, frankly, I already forgot he won the Rookie of the Year because, well, I don't really care. The Oakland A's live in near complete anonymity anyway.

[Tyrant]

The Oakland A's live in near complete anonymity anyway.

 

Someone should get them extra exposure by writing a book about the franchise and later turning it into a major motion picture starring a famous actor, like Brad Pitt.

[Exile on Waveland]

The Oakland A's live in near complete anonymity anyway.

 

Someone should get them extra exposure by writing a book about the franchise and later turning it into a major motion picture starring a famous actor, like Brad Pitt.

 

Yeah, and have it be about the 2002 A's. That will really help the notoriety of the 2011 A's.

[UMFan83]

Homer bailey is not more well known than andrew bailey

 

This. I'm gonna say the guy with a ROY award and multiple All Star appearances is better known.

 

OK, perhaps I should have said "more well known to NL Central fans." As for two all-star appearances, I don't think most people realize that -- lots of players make the all star game now. And, frankly, I already forgot he won the Rookie of the Year because, well, I don't really care. The Oakland A's live in near complete anonymity anyway.

 

So what you mean is we should specify Homer Bailey instead of Andrew Bailey because Homer is well known to you.

 

I mean he won ROY just 2 years ago and made 2 of the last 3 all star games and has been one of the premier young pitchers in baseball. Last year was a down year but the previous 2 years he pitched in 115 games and had an ERA of 1.70.

 

I would think anyone who paid enough attention to baseball to have 5000 posts on a baseball related board would immediately think Andrew Bailey when they see "Reds and A's discussing Bailey". I can understand reading it and saying "hmmm which Bailey?" but not "Oh Homer Bailey is going to Oakland?"

[Little Slide Rooter]

Homer Bailey's probably more well known by Cubs fans due to his one time prospect statues and the fact that he's in our division. Andrews more well known overall for the fact that he's the far superior player and if he were on a relevant team he'd be more well known than he is. This being said, I really lost limited sleep over the title of this thread which could have been slipped into the misc. transactions thread and this riveting debate never would have taken place.

[Exile on Waveland]

So what you mean is we should specify Homer Bailey instead of Andrew Bailey because Homer is well known to you.

 

OK, sure. We should be specific when any confusion might arise. That seems like a good rule to live by in any writing environment.