Rajai Davis - Athletics

Davis' career highlight may always be the guy who Pittsburgh dealt for Matt Morris' corpse, but he's really not a bad player. After 18 at-bats without hitting the Giants had apparently seen enough and designated the 27 year old for assignment to make room for Emmanuel Burris. Naturally Billy Beane picked Davis up and gets him a start in center almost immediately. This seems like a typical Beane move; acquiring a player at little cost and allowing him a chance to showcase his talents for a potential new suitor, in Davis' case he'll likely play each of the outfield spots with a couple of starts per week.

Frank Thomas - Athletics

Another usual Beane move. It wasn't too long ago that Thomas was "done", even the White Sox wouldn't give him a courtesy deal, instead he landed an incentives laden deal with the Athletics and slug his way to a .926 OPS. Thomas would walk at the end of that season and sign with the Toronto Blue Jays, however he would also have a free agent "rank" of Type-A, landing Beane a first round pick as compensation, that pick would turn into Corey Brown, an outfielder who is assaulting the minors with his bat. Thomas' new go around with the Athletics likely won't end with the same success, however it's a nice low-risk, high reward move that Beane duplicated just two seasons ago. 

Gabe Gross - Rays

A nice little swap of an underachieving former second round arm (Josh Butler) and a former top prospect who makes for a nice platoon mate. Much like the Dan Johnson waiver claim or the Carlos Pena, Hee-Seop Choi, and even Sean Burroughs moves of the past, the Rays seem willing to give former top prospects one last shot at success. Gross will likely form a triangle platoon with Eric Hinske and Jonny Gomes, but an outfield of the range heavy Carl Crawford and strong armed B.J. Upton plus Gross is about the best defensive unit the Rays have produced in a while.

Josh Banks - Padres

We could've called this post "Typical Smart Moves by Smart Organizations", Beane, Rays' general manager Andrew Friedman, and Padres top men Kevin Towers and Paul DePodesta are some of the best at getting great production for little or no cost. Banks is a control pitcher with a small history of being a groundball pitcher, put him PETCO and could he possibly be a Cla Meredith clone?

If you would've asked a baseball fan in the late 1990's for their top 20 players I'm almost positive Barry Bonds, Frank Thomas, Mike Piazza, and Sammy Sosa would've popped up. As we stand today none of them have a job, and only the former two seem to be in any sort of demand, so where could The Big Hurt and Bonds possibly land? Let's take a look at some possible DH jobs.

Toronto: Obviously Thomas is no longer an option, but Bonds might be. America's most hated may become Canada's most loved if Adam Lind fails to build upon his hot start in Syracuse (.360/.411/.640). J.P. Ricciardi hasn't seemed to care what critics think of his work during his tenure -- remember the "White Jays" incident? -- so a PR hit wouldn't be too much of a concern for the charging Jays.

Detroit: Recent reports suggests the Tigers aren't too interested in signing Bonds despite manager Jim Leyland's past with the slugger. Thomas however could be a more intriguing option. Signing Thomas for the required 320k also may bump Jacque Jones out the lineup, a plus for the ever slumping 33 year old with the OPS+ of 11.

Tampa Bay: Eric Hinske and Jonny Gomes are hitting well, and they recently added Dan Johnson, plus Cliff Floyd could return by June, so the question is where would they fit all the pieces? A Bonds signing has been rumored since the off-season, but clubhouse atmosphere was thrown around for a team with a bunch of youngsters and a few veterans sprinkled in. Thomas doesn't have the rep of Bonds (either with the bat or in the clubhouse) but he does has some murmurs of being a malcontent at times.

Seattle: Even if Thomas is done -- his line drive percentage is within career low 12% territory and a recent slow starter -- he's probably better than Jose Vidro, in fact Jay Buhner could probably outhit Vidro right now. It's a bit peculiar that the Mariners would make the Erik Bedard move as a way of saying "Hey, don't forget about us as contenders!" Only to keep Vidro as their designated hitter with the best option on the open market.

Texas: They just called up German Duran and with Frank Catalanotto amongst others sitting around they'd have to create some space. A lineup with Josh Hamilton, Milton Bradley, a resurgent Hank Blalock, Michael Young, Ian Kinsler, and Bonds/Thomas is nothing to blink at. They still wouldn't make the playoffs barring some pitching miracles, but a fun offense none the less.

Obviously there's no guarantee any of the teams makes a move for either however it's a fun exercise none the less.