5. Jermaine Dye: The White Sox right fielder fits so well with a few teams, including Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, and the Mets. Dye was a player the Red Sox were hot after before pursuing J.D. Drew. The Rays are trying to deal the back of their starting rotation - Andy Sonnanstine or Edwin Jackson - for a power-hitting righthanded [sic] bat, but the White Sox would want more.
Dye makes 11.5 million in 2009. Let's do the math, assuming the soon to be 35 year old loses some hitting and fielding ability.
Position: -0.75
Fielding: -0.8
Hitting: 1.0
Replacement level: 2.25
Wins above replacement: 1.7
Estimated value: 8.6 million
That's without talking about the one million dollar buyout (I'm guessing the Rays would rather not have a 36 year old with a 12 million dollar contract around.)
Assume Edwin loses a run or so off of his tRA and becomes a 4.5 reliever, who throws 75 innings as a long-man/mop-up type. He's a 0.5 WAR player just like that, and we're assuming he doesn't improve by much more than the average transition. Plus Edwin's going to be paid right around what an ARB1 0.5 WAR player should be (~1.2 mil) and they want more?
No thanks, I'd rather take my chances on Nick Evans.