Tony Graffanino

It looks like the Red Sox have place Tony Graffanino on waivers. Most likely he'll be gone by Wednesday. Here's my understanding of the situation:

- Graffanino is on waivers but if a team claims him the Red Sox can pull him back and try to make a trade
- If Graffanino can't be traded then the Red Sox cut him Wednesday so that they are responisble for just $512,500 of his $2.05 million deal

A couple of weeks ago I took a look at what teams might want Tony and here's what I came up with:

That leaves the Twins who are weak at 3rd (Tony Batista is an abomination), Mariners at 2nd (Jose Lopez is no prize), Marlins at 2nd (Pokey Reese is always a question mark), Mets at 2nd (they would love to replace Kaz Matsui), Phillies at 3rd (David Bell is also an abomination), Reds at 2nd and 3rd (Freel has off field issues and Edwin Encarnacion is no prize) and Padres at 2nd and 3rd (Vinnie Castillo is the mother of all abominations and Mark Bellhorn may be the best option at both 2nd and 3rd). Of these teams - I doubt a deal will be made with either the Mets or the Phillies (Minaya does not like dealing with Boston and the Phillies kinda have to go with Bell at third because of his contract). That leaves the Twins, Mariners, Marlins, Reds and Padres. If I were one of these teams - I would pony up a B-level prospect for Graffanino in a heartbeat because if they wait too long Graffanino will be gone. And that will be their loss.

I still think those are the most likely teams to wind up with Graffanino. Even with Pokey retiring - I'd take the Marlins out of the mix because they are too cheap to pick up even half of Graff's salary. By the same token - I'd put the Phillies back in play because Bell's back has been acting up.