In an interview with Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle, Berkman mentioned that there was a lot of interest in him around the league saying:

“Now my focus is on who is going to contend that wants me to play for them. There’s been a lot of interest — Cardinals, Cubs, Rockies, A’s, Pirates, Blue Jays, a bunch of teams.”

“I haven’t had a single offer in terms of X amount of dollars, but I think this is the time of the year when there’s a lot of tire-kicking.”

One has to wonder how reliable hearing all of these teams in one sentence actually is. It seems highly unlikely that the Cardinals or Pirates in particular could be serious options for Berkman, though he does have a preference to playing in the National League, where he will likely end up.

Image Courtesy of Sports Illustrated

Berkman is marketing himself as not just a 1B/DH option but as an outfielder as well, where he hasn’t played since 2007. Realistically speaking though, no team is seriously considering him as an outfielder.

In 2010, split between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees, the switch-hitting Berkman had the worst season of his career. He finished 2010 with a combined .248/.368/.413 line along with 14 HR and 58 RBI in 122 games between the two clubs. (more…)