October 21, 2006
Rich Aurilia: the Most Talked about Red
By
Amanda
Posted at 7:57 pm
It seems like no one can stop talking about Aurilia. Joel Sherman says in today's New York Post:
The Mets can be pretty certain their pen and lineup will be strong next year. They need to find a second baseman, preferably righty hitting, and an intriguing possibility is Rich Aurilia, a New Yorker who was signed to his first pro contract by a Rangers scout named Omar Minaya. Minaya loves free agent Julio Lugo. But so does new Cubs manager Lou Piniella (who had him in Tampa Bay) and the Red Sox, so the price is going to get steep.
What the heck? Aurilia had the opportunity to go free agent last year and couldn't get a nibble; this year the press can't stop talking about him.
Dude's gonna cash in.
Basically Rich had such a terrible season in 04 that it took two years to prove that he still had some good ball left in him… no one would give him a chance in 05 except a lowly team like the Reds… last year I would have thought he might have more options, but still maybe people figured he was just playing on fumes for a small market loser… now people believe and its gonna cost the Reds because clearly he will choose New York over Cincinnati, especially if they offer him a starting position, which the Reds probably won’t do. It was nice knowing him. I guess Freel is back at 2B with Denorfia taking over RF unless something else occurs in the off season… actually yea I expect a lot of moves in Krivsky’s first off season so anything is possible… but I don’t think Rich will be back.
nice interview by the way… that was the first podcast I listened to. You might want to try to be more relaxed and witty, to better reflect the nature of this blog (easier said than done, I know…) but you sounded very professional… a little bit TOO professional, if you know what I mean… but I mean that in a nice way, and I do think you did a good job overall. I give you a solid B grade which gives you room to improve.