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What’s going on with Austin Kearns?

POSTED BY ON 1:59 pm, December 7, 2007 - POSTED IN News reel

Austin KearnsUPDATE: The Washington Post says Kearns is unlikely to be traded and that the Nats will start the season with four outfielders. I guess it’s one thing to hope for Elijah Dukes to stay on the field, but it’s another thing to count on it.

I’ve been refreshing MLB Trade Rumors every hour on the hour, just like the rest of you. And it’s the same names over and over: Bedard, Santana, Jones and Cabrera.

But one name I haven’t heard, and I don’t know why, is Austin Kearns.

This off-season, the Nationals traded for Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes. Yesterday, they signed Wily Mo Pena to a one-year contract. Ditto Ryan Langerhans.

Langerhans isn’t a candidate to start. He’ll most likely serve as the team’s reserve outfielder. But Wily Mo, Elijah and Lastings are all young guys who are still developing and need quality minutes.

There is no place to put Kearns, other than the outfield. Third base is being manned by potential all-star Ryan Zimmerman and first base is taken by Dmitri Young, who just signed an extension at the end of the season and is even more valuable now, since he’s been given the task of mentoring/monitoring Dukes.

So where does that leave Kearns?

Are the Nationals going to bring four outfielders (and Langerhans) to camp and let them fight it out?

There’s a reason I’m not a major league GM (the man has been keeping me down), but I suspect there is a market out there for Kearns, who probably should have won the gold glove this season, and who had an OBP of .355 and stole 24 bases. He only hit 16 homers in 2007, but RFK is/was a pitchers park. Kearns has hit as many as 24 in past seasons.

Kearns agreed to a three year extension with the Nats prior to last season. In 2008 he’ll make $5 million. In 2009 he’ll make $8 million.

Does anybody know anything I don’t? Is Kearns being shopped? Or are the Nationals going to let Milledge, Dukes, Kearns and Pena slug it out?

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5 comments so far

5 Responses to “What’s going on with Austin Kearns?”

  1. Paul Moro says:
    November 16, 2007 at 12:58 pm

    Here’s the thing. Let’s say that Boras actually “lost” in this instance. But in losing, he still gets $13.75m out of it. Not a bad consolation prize.

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  2. melissa says:
    November 16, 2007 at 5:14 pm

    Do you actually believe the Yankees offered him more now than they would have if Boras had negotiated before opting out? The Yankees would have been able to add on $21 million of Rangers’ money before the opt out. It doesn’t make sense that they would now offer him that money out of their own pocket when the market for A-Rod was not competitive. Boras and A-Rod had more leverage before they opted out and would have had access to an additional $21 million. Once they opted out and the open market wasn’t offering what they thought it would A-Rod returned to the Yankees. It would appear that Boras actually miscalculated A-Rod’s worth on the open market and over-played his hand.

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  3. Rich says:
    November 20, 2007 at 10:04 am

    I am always more inclined to believe human incompetence than conspiratorial machinations.

    Especially since Rogers fired him.

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  5. Double D says:
    December 11, 2007 at 4:07 pm

    Ryan Langerhans can’t be considered a big-league outfielder. He’s awful. There should be no rush to deal Kearns until Milledge/Pena/Dukes make it through spring training without an injury or personal issue. Milledge and Dukes haven’t shown themselves to be the most mature and dependable guys, so you need Kearns at least as an insurance policy entering the season.

    I’d wager Kearns is early- or mid-season trade bit.

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