The Score's Bruce Levine was on the Mully and Hanley Show Wednesday morning, and during his appearance he speculated about the possibility of another big trade for the White Sox. According to Levine, he believes there'd be mutual interest between the Sox and the Rays in doing a deal for Evan Longoria.
Which, if true, well excuse me I need to go fan myself for a few minutes.
What's not clear is if Levine is just pulling this idea out of his ass, or if he's seen or heard any possible chatter between the two sides, even if they're extremely preliminary discussions. All I know is that I found out about the talk this morning, and now I can't stop thinking about it.
Evan Longoria has taken over my mind.
When I close my eyes there's Evan Longoria hitting a home run at The Cell. Then he's there making a diving stop on a Miguel Cabrera rope down the third base line and throwing that fat bastard out at first.
I'm imagining a lineup that consists of Adam Eaton, Jose Abreu, Avisail Garcia, Adam LaRoche, Alexei Ramirez and Evan Longoria and I'm swooning.
I'm pairing that lineup with a rotation that now includes Jeff Samardzija to go with Chris Sale and Jose Quintana. Then there's a bullpen behind that rotation that has an actual closer in David Robertson and will allow all the other arms to fill roles they're suited for.
Now I need a few more minutes.
Longoria did not have his best season in 2014. Even though he played in 162 games for the first time in his career, his final line on the year was .253/.320/.404. His OPS+ of 107 was the worst of his career. He had the lowest walk rate of his career at 8.1%, while his extra-base hit rate of 7% was also the lowest he's produced. A lot of things went wrong for him, yet he was still worth 3.4 WAR.
There are some signs that he'll bounce back in 2015, though, as there were other anomalies.
Longoria also had a BABIP of .285, which was the second lowest of his career, and below his lifetime BABIP of .301. This despite the fact his line drive rate of 24% was the highest since his rookie season in 2008. So he was hitting the ball hard more often than ever before, but the balls weren't flying out of the park. So there's a chance for a course correction next season, but I am worried about a lack of patience shown by Longoria.
His walk rate dropped, he saw less pitchers at the plate, and he swung at more pitches than he ever had before. I didn't watch the Rays closely, but I wonder if he was pressing at the plate as the season went on, or maybe he was dealing with injuries all season long even while he played through them. I don't know.
What I do know is that he's still only 29, and he should have plenty of good seasons left. I also know that he's signed on a very reasonable deal through the 2022 season (he's owed $116.5 million with a $5 million buyout after 2022) with an option for 2023. Compare that to the money being thrown around in free agency right now.
If Longoria did come here he'd actually be making less than LaRoche the next two seasons.
I also know that he wouldn't come cheap. If the White Sox were going to pry Longoria from the Rays the asking price would start at Tim Anderson, and I don't see it coming down. Not with that friendly contract.
But I'd do it. I hadn't even thought about it before this morning, but now I can't stop doing so, and I really want it to happen.
The Sox have really improved the last few days, but they're by no means a finished product, nor are they a sure thing to even make the postseason.
Adding Longoria would get them a lot closer.
I don't think it will happen, but oh do I fucking want it to.
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