He wants a chance to pitch at age 50. That will place him in a very small and select group. More power to him if he can pull it off.
Red Sox on the verge of landing slugger Adrian Gonzalez. Pretty big coup for them if the deal goes through (it’s still pending a physical + extension negotiations). Gonzalez in Fenway has the potential to be a monster (no pun intended). For those unfamiliar with the Padres’s lineup, he’s a left-handed 1B with excellent plate discipline and enormous power, especially to the opposite field. He also plays solid defense at first. The Sox will give up some defense at 3rd, as they’re shifting Youkilis across the diamond and presumably giving up on Beltre, but the combo of Gonzo-Pedroia-Lowrie/Scutaro-Youkilis gives them one of the best offensive infields in baseball, and one that is still reasonably solid defensively. If they sign Werth as well, the Red Sox will be an offensive juggernaut in 2011.
San Diego gets some nice prospects back in the deal, including a future #1 starter and high-upside first baseman. They effectively punt on 2011 with the hope of contending in 2012-2015. A risky but potentially very rewarding strategy by Padres GM Jed Hoyer. I’d probably rate this a win-win deal for both sides (although much moreso on Boston’s side), considering that Hoyer was openly resigned to being unable to re-sign (heh) Gonzalez after 2011.
Looks like the Yanks and Jeter are close to a deal. Reportedly 3 years @ 19m. Red Sox get Adrian Gonzalez.
The more interesting story, IMO, is that the Sox made an offer to Rivera and were ready to drop Papelbon if he accepted. Of course he didn’t and the story got out. Papelbon can’t be thrilled…
Papelbon’s gone after 2011, regardless. Boston’s not interested in paying him Rivera money, and they have Daniel Bard in place as a closer-in-waiting. The potential of hurt feelings from a reliever in his contract year aren’t sufficient reason not to kick the tires on the best closer of all time.
I’m not surprised the Sox made an offer to Rivera. I’m surprised they thought it might stay quiet. Or maybe they didn’t care, as you mention.
Some of the Blue Jays will be heading out on the road this winter. They’ll be stopping in Kitchener, Scarborough, Calgary and Vancouver.
Making the trip are GM Alex Anthopoulos, manager John Farrell, and players Travis Snider, Brett Cecil, Ricky Romero and JP Arencibia.
Looks like Gonzalez to the Red Sox is pretty much a done deal, although neither club has officially confirmed it yet.
It will be a shame to see Gonzalez leave San Diego. He’s an awesome hitter, a player of Mexican background in a town with a big Mexican population, and also grew up and played his high school ball in the area. Of course, everyone knew that the Padres were never going to spring for the sort of money that someone like Gonzalez could command on the free agent market, so it makes sense for them to deal him now; they probably get better value for him in the winter than they would in a deadline trade in July.
The only depressing (although still rather predictable) thing about the deal is that he went to the Red Sox (aka Yankees-lite). I was hoping to be able to cheer for him even out of a Padres uniform, but that’s going to be tough now. It’s a shame that the free agent market these days, at least for the true stars, is essentially comprised of maybe a half-dozen teams.
In other news, it looks like Jeter and the Yankees might have come to terms on a three-year deal worth $15-17 million per year. It has some deferred money, and also apparently has a “creative option for the 2014 season” which would depend upon performance over the first three years.
Damn straight. “Whatever Boston wants (ba-BUM, ba-BUM, PAUSE) Boston gets…”
And as you say a handful of other teams too.
I don’t understand this attitude. Yes, I DO understand the frustration with the system the MLB has in place. I don’t get the hatred for the teams in position to take advantage of the system. Don’t hate the Yankees, or the Red Sox, or the Dodgers. Hate the system that enables them.
Unless New York wants it too (cf. Teixeira, Mark). 
Problem with Boston is a tendency to act like a small market team when they’re not, and that tendency is erratic. Sometimes they’ll go crazy for a Drew or a Matsuzaka, sometimes they’ll nickel-and-dime a Martinez or a Bay out of town, leaving holes in the roster unnecessarily. There’s no need for the fascination they have with draft picks, or with the endless search for the Perfect Shortstop, now with what appears to be the endless search for the Perfect Catcher begun in parallel with it.
Bay was a good decision, in retrospect, and was arguably a good one at the time too. VMart can barely catch right now, which means he either DHes or plays 1st most of the time, but he isn’t going to be an elite hitter at those positions, esp. as he ages. Not sure what your last sentence is trying to imply: what’s wrong with draft picks? That’s how they got the minor leaguers to trade for Gonzales in the first place, and sometimes they become stars for you too. My take on their strategy is that when a top star still in his 20’s becomes available, you see what you can do to go get him, because they don’t come along as often anymore (as their original teams lock them up into long-term deals a la Hanley Ramirez or Joe Mauer).
Hmm… so the Cardinals are betting that Lance Berkman can still play left field.
Yeah, I’d agree that Matsuzaka hasn’t lived up to his contract (and Lackey is looking like even more of a millstone), but Drew has been a spectacular player other than this past season. He’s more than worth his cost, even with his fragility.
And letting Bay go was an obviously good decision in retrospect. V-Mart is likely to be another, considering he’s only worth the money the Tigers paid if he’s their full-time catcher for the duration of the contract. Which he isn’t even going to be this year - Detroit’s pencilled him in as their primary DH/backup catcher. Which is just insane.
Werth is close to signing a 7 year 126 million dollar contract with the Nats. I think this is a early favorite for the next untradeable contract a few years down the line.
As a general observance it looks like the crazy inflation of contracts that disappeared for a few years is back with a vengeance. Teams clearly have money to burn.
What a terrible contract. You don’t break the bank for guys having a career season during a contract year.
Especially a player like Werth. He doesn’t really strike me as the “feared hitter” type. Baseball-Reference.com lists Brad Hawpe, Cory Hart, and Ryan Ludwick as similar batters.
I love Werth and as a Philly fan I will miss him. But, that is way too many years. The fact that the Nationals have a couple of years before they really can hope for contention makes the deal that much worse. They would have been better off spending less money/years on Dunn and working with what they had.
I’m surprised he went to DC. I really expected him to land with the Angels. The Nationals are close to the last team I would have expected.
Still. Werth and Zimmerman in the same lineup isn’t bad. For a couple of years they will put up some fantastic numbers.
Last I heard the Red Sox were unable to come to terms with Adrian Gonzales and the trade is cancelled. I guess this means they turn the heat on in the Beltre dealings? I am surprised they didn’t have a hint of how much Gonzales would be asking for. They have been lusting after him for most of the last season.
Gonzalez apparently wants a deal similar to Teixeira’s, and Gonzalez is 2 years younger. I think the Red Sox would be stupid to cheap out now.
If the Sox don’t mind waiting for a year, it might actually be a fairly prudent move.
Gonzalez is going to be a free agent this time next year, and will go on the open market. The Yankees already have Teixeira earning huge money at first base, so they aren’t likely to be part of the bidding. It’s possible that, in the absence of the Yankee factor, the successful bid for Gonzalez might not need to be quite so high as he is asking right now.
Also, the fact that this particular deal has fallen through right now doesn’t mean that the teams can’t continue to talk.
That Werth contract, though, is huge. Werth has, admittedly, improved fairly consistently over the past 5 years. His WARP over the past five seasons he’s played has risen steadily: 1.6; 3.2; 4.6; 5.6; 7.0. Still, that’s a lot of money over a long period.
Question: How would posters rate Gonzale’s defense?
Short answer: They have the means to win it all right now, every year, without having to wait for 2015. By not paying the cash (which they have) to keep their lineup able to win it all this year and every year, they never win it all.
There is some business sense to keeping your franchise always good enough to be interesting, to sell all those tickets and keep up those cable viewer ratings, but while keeping a cap on your #1 budget item, player salaries. But for the more serious fans, it sucks - your team is not allowed to win. Over time, the lack of championships destroys the franchise’s ability to keep the ticket sales and cable viewer ratings up, either. Just look at what that strategy has done for the Bruins. Now the Red Sox are trying it too.
You know what the Sox did on the field last year with holes in the lineup, including LF. Now imagine what Bay would have done to fill one of those holes. Now imagine what Martinez would have done in 2011, instead of some kid who’s already washed out with 2 other organizations, in both the order and behind the plate.
You can wait for some rookie to pan out in 2016 if you like, and you can even think that being always pretty good but never quite good enough is something to cheer for. I say fuck that shit, I want to win and I want to win now, and a Series trophy or three is worth a few future years of potential losing. And I think the players agree, don’t you?