But Fathom's point, which I agree with, is if the Sox were clearly looking for an upgrade at SS(even before the re-signed Uribe they said they were), why weren't the Halos contacted to see if Cabrera was available. Did something happen in the landscape of baseball that suddenly made Cabrera obtainable? I have to imagine Cabrera was expendable for all of the off-season, as LAA knew what they were going to target in the off-season.

 

Uribe's option had to be picked up 10 days after the WS. In this case, the contract was renegotiated rather than the Sox picking up the option. Regardless, he was a day or so away from becoming a free agent. There wasn't a lot of time there for exploring the market.

But Fathom's point, which I agree with, is if the Sox were clearly looking for an upgrade at SS(even before the re-signed Uribe they said they were), why weren't the Halos contacted to see if Cabrera was available. Did something happen in the landscape of baseball that suddenly made Cabrera obtainable? I have to imagine Cabrera was expendable for all of the off-season, as LAA knew what they were going to target in the off-season.

I read a story the other day about the Edgar Renteria, basically slamming him. It mentioned the teams that gave up on him and how because his arm has lost a lot of zip, he has to play a few feet more shallow than most SS, so a lot of balls that most SS get will be hits against the Tigers. The article then mentioned what was rumored last summer that Renteria was very close to being traded for Garland. Considering the Cabrera/Garland trade was so similar it seems weird if KW didn't at least approach the Angels with it before he signed Uribe. Maybe he did, and at that time Cabrera was unavailable, or maybe he just figured he wasn't available. The Angels traded for Garland before until their ownership vetoed Darin Erstad as the return. (BTW, another lucky move for KW) so you had to figure they would have interest. We may never know, but it may not be KW's fault.

But Fathom's point, which I agree with, is if the Sox were clearly looking for an upgrade at SS(even before the re-signed Uribe they said they were), why weren't the Halos contacted to see if Cabrera was available. Did something happen in the landscape of baseball that suddenly made Cabrera obtainable? I have to imagine Cabrera was expendable for all of the off-season, as LAA knew what they were going to target in the off-season.

 

Thanks for making my point more clear. And it's ironic that the thing they were targeting was T. Hunter.

It's still a terrible waste of resources though.

 

A team such as Tampa Bay would love to have that 4.5M to spend.

 

I have that much lack of faith in Uribe offensively, I don't know if he's ever going to have a +.300 OBP again as a hitter (IIRC, even after that late offensive HR explosion he had last season, he still finished below .300).