[QUOTE=RetroVertigo]
Carlos Lee could possibly be a 45-55 HR/year player with that sorry excuse for a ballpark in Houston.
[/QUOTE]
That’s a good point. I guess playing in Houston makes anyone more expensive, given the numbers that should follow (position players only).
[QUOTE=RetroVertigo]
Carlos Lee could possibly be a 45-55 HR/year player with that sorry excuse for a ballpark in Houston.
[/QUOTE]
I’ll second the verbal fellating. Very good point.
[QUOTE=RetroVertigo]
Carlos Lee could possibly be a 45-55 HR/year player with that sorry excuse for a ballpark in Houston.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, but they’re gonna have to get him a Rascal to play defense, because he’s the size of a small house and runs like old people screw: slow and sloppy.
[QUOTE=brianjedi]
Yeah, but they’re gonna have to get him a Rascal to play defense, because he’s the size of a small house and runs like old people screw: slow and sloppy.
[/QUOTE]
And it’s going to be even more delicious in years 4-6 of the deal when he weighs about a half-ton but they’re still paying him that untradeable contract in a league without a DH spot to hide him in. What these GMs are thinking, sometimes… (though I imagine the problem here is exactly what they are thinking: if we don’t win within the next couple of years, those later years of the deal will be the next guy’s problem anyways).
Some small updates:
Yanks pay $26 million to talk to lefty Kei Igawa of the Hanshin Tigers. He is not considered a #1 or even a #2 but scouts feel he will be a good fit for the stadium as a 4 guy and with a 4 year contract for $16 total will only cost about the same as Lilly with a much lower Luxary Cap Hit.
Mets lose another good reliever as Chad Bradford signs a three-year deal with the O’s for $10.5m.
[QUOTE=boston.com]
The Red Sox are nearing the completion of a deal with J.D. Drew that would pay the outfielder $14 million a year for a total of around $70 million if he stays with Boston for five years.
[/QUOTE]
Jim
I was about to bring up the impending signing of your new Japanese pitcher (or “Skinny Toad”).
Apparently, the Red Sox gave Matsuzaka a “fair” and “competitive” contract. Should be interesting to see how Boras likes that.
Also, the Red Sox might be talking to the Giants about a trade for Manny Ramirez, which all but ends Barry Bonds’ reign in the Bay City. (Anyone got the Angels on speed dial?
Also, the A’s are looking at Mike Piazza to replace Frank Thomas as their big right-handed bat.
And, as a complete wrapup (and to trump Jim), Buster Olney’s update from Espn Insider:
Spoke with an official yesterday who said that on the scale of 1 to 10, the chances of the Red Sox dealing Manny Ramirez are “a 9.” The Dodgers remain in the best position to make the trade, if they become devoted to the idea of landing Ramirez, and Michael Silverman reports that the Red Sox are close to getting what they want for Ramirez.
But remember this: Boston GM Theo Epstein could do all kinds of work in these trade talks and reach an agreement, and the whole thing could still blow up. Manny could be Manny one more time.
After repeatedly requesting a trade, Ramirez could look at his possible destination and say, ‘No thanks.’ Or he could effectively kill the trade talks by demanding a large contract extension in return for approving the deal.
Some executives interested in Ramirez are talking to the Red Sox because they like the current price for Ramirez – $38 million over the next two years, a nice bargain in an offseason when Alfonso Soriano got $136 million and Carlos Lee got $100 million. But if Ramirez were to demand another two years in his contract, another $30 to $40 million, some teams may back out of talks or greatly reduce their offer of players to Boston, effectively saying, Hey, we’ll take his contract off your hands, but we’ll give you nothing for him and you’ll like it.
The ratio is direct; the more money that Ramirez asks for to approve the deal, the less the Red Sox will get in the trade package for the slugger.
And would anybody be really surprised if Ramirez did a complete 180 degree turn and say he doesn’t want to be traded? Would it surprise anybody if he were to decide that he wants a contract equal to that of Soriano, a younger player who has never approached the kind of production put up by Ramirez? Would it surprise anybody if Ramirez came to believe he should get as much as J.D. Drew in his financial package? (The Red Sox deal with Drew is for about $70 million, writes Gordon Edes.
By the way: David Ortiz told El Diario that if Manny is traded, it is not a problem (for those who speak a little Spanish).
• The Yankees made the winning bid for Kei Igawa, writes George King. The Yankees got the poor man’s Matsuzaka, writes Murray Chass.
Heard that the Mariners may have finished second in the Igawa bidding, and the Mets definitely finished third.
The Igawa deal effectively takes the Yankees out of the Jason Schmidt and Ted Lilly markets – although they’ll probably keep a toe in the water, just to drive up the price for somebody else.
• Tom Glavine wants to go back to the Braves, writes David O’Brien, but there’s just one hold-up – the Braves haven’t made an offer to Glavine.
• The Dodgers are not interested in Barry Zito, writes Steve Henson. That could leave only the Mets and Cubs as possible big-market suitors for the left-hander.
• The Indians are interested in Keith Foulke, writes Paul Hoynes.
• The Mariners are looking to re-acquire Freddy Garcia, writes John Hickey. Within this piece, Hickey also writes that the Mariners remain the front-runners to sign Jason Schmidt.
• The Rays are trying to move a regular-season series in May to Orlando, writes Marc Topkin. Within this same piece, there is word that Tampa Bay has signed Hee-Seop Choi.
• When it comes to high-profile negotiations, writes Tony Massarotti, agent Scott Boras is willing to kill the hostage. Major League Baseball says that the Red Sox can’t take back some of their posting money, if they are able to reach an agreement with Daisuke Matsuzaka, but executives with other teams say that type of hurdle can be easily navigated through back channels.
Many, many eyebrows have been raised around baseball that the Red Sox are now talking about forging a relationship with the Seibu Lions. The public and private response of other teams to this will be something to watch going forward.
• The Cardinals landed four players, and GM Walt Jocketty tells Derrick Goold that he’s looking for more help, including two starting pitchers.
• The Orioles had a busy day, writes Jeff Zrebiec, signing four players, including backup catcher Paul Bako. The Orioles have spent about $45 million this offseason, in bullpen help, and the Cubs have spent about $240 million – and there is really no question that toward the end-goal of making the team better for 2007, Baltimore has, so far, made more progress, because the O’s have improved their pitching. They had a serious bullpen hole and they’ve worked to fill it (The Cubs did well in addressing their bullpen issues last year, but all the money spent on offense will be wasted in 2007 if the team doesn’t fundamentally improve its starting pitching).
Dan Connolly thinks the O’s should abandon the idea that they could be the 2006 Tigers, Redux, come to grips with the idea that they’ll finish fourth, and close their checkbook.
• The Dodgers would like to sign Mike Lieberthal, writes Steve Henson, as a backup to Russell Martin, and they’d like to trade Toby Hall.
• The Blue Jays wined and dined Gil Meche at Tuesday’s Maple Leafs game, writes Jeff Blair. And the Jays are serious about signing Meche, J.P. Ricciardi acknowledges.
• Any White Sox deal for Chone Figgins will be complex, writes Mark Gonzales. The Joe Crede situation is all about cash, writes Phil Rogers.
• The Brewers are in negotiations to bring back Craig Counsell, writes Tom Haudricourt.
The flush market for second basemen has really started to play out, and the agent for Ray Durham, Ed Setlik, will meet with the Padres and executives with other interested teams at the winter meetings. Durham would be a great fit for San Diego, depending on the price. The Padres have made a one-year offer to Tony Graffanino, writes Tom Krasovic.
• Tony La Russa stands by Mark McGwire. La Russa could say nothing, he could say ‘no comment.’ Regardless of what you think about McGwire and his Hall of Fame chances, you have to respect the fact that La Russa is standing by a friend and former player of his.
McGwire’s silence on the steroids issue has done serious damage to his candidacy, writes Joe Strauss.
Thom Loverro is another who will vote ‘No’ on McGwire, and so is Lynn Henning. Fay Vincent says within this Joe Capozzi piece that anyone who cheated – and he thinks of steroids as cheating – should not be in the Hall of Fame.
John Harper says he won’t vote for McGwire this year, but will re-examine his candidacy and the steroid issue in the future. Jeff Blair says that he will vote for McGwire. Tom Powers says he’s voting for McGwire, and adds: Get over it.
• Within this piece, there is word that the D-Backs are still talking about a new contract with Eric Byrnes.
• The Rockies’ Brad Hawpe has been told he will not be traded, writes Troy Renck. Within this piece, there is also word that Colorado has signed Eric Dubose.
• The Phillies gained a draft pick, as Todd Zolecki writes here. Randy Wolf was offered a two-year deal by Philadelphia, writes Marcus Hayes.
• The Pirates are interested in Tomo Ohka.
• Frank Thomas says he’s a character guy, writes Richard Griffin.
• The Royals will not offer arbitration to Mark Redman, writes Bob Dutton.
• The Tigers have re-signed Ramon Santiago, writes Jon Paul Morosi.
• Rondell White wants to re-sign with the Twins.
• The Commissioner is looking at the racing ties of Steve Swindal, who is George Steinbrenner’s son-in-law and the executive increasingly at the center of the hour-to-hour operation of the Yankees. George King spoke with Selig for this piece.
• Furman cheated.
(Not really. It’s looking like a rough year in Nashville.)
(There are links, but they didn’t copy over. Grr.)
I am really happy that the Orioles signed not only Bradford, but Scott Williamson as well. These are two great pitchers to watch. Bradford has a very unusual underhanded picthing style which makes his delivery very entertaining to watch. And although his best years as a picther are behind him, Williamson is still a great strikeout pitcher. Both of whom I really enjoyed watching in Boston. To be honest, it was Williamson in the 04’ playoffs, closing out those close games for Boston against the A’s, that really made me fall in love with the pitching aspect of baseball. Before him I just thought all baseball was was hitting homeruns. After that baseball replaced football as my favorite sport, and then I became “one of those” Sox fans. So now that they’re both in Baltimore I can get to watch them again in division matchups, with the security of keeping them both on the other team so I don’t have to watch them blow things up for the Red Sox.
Cubs make play for righty Schmidt
Please explain why I’m not that excited about the prospect. He’s the best FA pitcher out there apparently, certainly better than Zito in my opinion, but I just have a sinking feeling he’d be a big mistake.
Chad Bradford is a good pickup for the O’s. If he’s healthy, he’s solid out of the pen;
the weirdness of his delivery makes him a good choice against almost any batter. Not as sure about the Williamson signing. He was good in Boston–those were the '03 playoffs against the A’s, not '04–but erratic in other settings (I think he got dumped by Cincinnati a few years back when they had zero pitching–no small feat.)
Frankly, I’m getting a little envious–there’s so much going on everywhere else, and the Bay Area has seen next to nothing in terms of signings. Time to throw some smelling salts at the A’s and Giants…
Winter Meetings start Sunday. I am betting on a few big trades and several small ones.
Boston made a good economical pick up yesterday. They signed Japanese free agent lefty reliever Hideki Okajima. Two years for only $2.5m and a mutual option of 2009 at $1.75m. He is a crafty veteran with a devestating overhand curveball if I remember correctly. A few weeks ago I mentioned him as the free agent I most wanted the Yanks to pursue as we need a lefty setup guy.
Jim
Good pickup for the Yanks. We’ll see if he wilts in the Heart of Darkness…er…New York City.
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever]
Good pickup for the Yanks. We’ll see if he wilts in the Heart of Darkness…er…New York City.
[/QUOTE]
Wait, who are you talking about? The lefty went to the Red Sox.
In other late afternoon news. **Glavine ** signs with Mets for $10.5m and a player option worth $6m for 2008 that kicks in if he pitchers 160 innings.
Just curious: have you guys actually seen any of these Japanese (or other Asian) players play, or are you basing your assessments on written reports in the media? I know Matsuzaka pitched in the WBC, but even that I don’t regard as giving a true gauge of his ability; some of these other guys are complete ciphers to me. Did you watch tape of their Japanese league games? Or is the Sporting News giving detailed scouting of Pacific Rim players these days? I guess I’m not seeing much info on a lot of these players–admittedly, I’m not looking too hard–and that’s why I find myself baffled by the eagerness some teams are showing for signing these guys. I know Ichiro is great, and Nomo was pretty good in his prime; but Irabu was, well, Irabu, and the A’s had a guy on the roster for about half a season a couple of years ago, but he was a washout (can’t even remember his name). Has the Western Hemisphere really run out of good ballplayers? Are teams really getting value by scratching every cranny of the globe for players? My feeling is, no, they’re not. But maybe I just don’t have good data in front of me.
So are you guys experts, or just going with the flow?
[QUOTE=Not A Tame Lion]
Just curious: have you guys actually seen any of these Japanese (or other Asian) players play, or are you basing your assessments on written reports in the media? I know Matsuzaka pitched in the WBC, but even that I don’t regard as giving a true gauge of his ability; some of these other guys are complete ciphers to me. Did you watch tape of their Japanese league games? Or is the Sporting News giving detailed scouting of Pacific Rim players these days? I guess I’m not seeing much info on a lot of these players–admittedly, I’m not looking too hard–and that’s why I find myself baffled by the eagerness some teams are showing for signing these guys. I know Ichiro is great, and Nomo was pretty good in his prime; but Irabu was, well, Irabu, and the A’s had a guy on the roster for about half a season a couple of years ago, but he was a washout (can’t even remember his name). Has the Western Hemisphere really run out of good ballplayers? Are teams really getting value by scratching every cranny of the globe for players? My feeling is, no, they’re not. But maybe I just don’t have good data in front of me.
So are you guys experts, or just going with the flow?
[/QUOTE]
My review on Hideki Okajima is from multiple print reports. I estimated that this years Lefty Reliever market was worthless and Hideki would come cheap enough to allow for a mistake to be made. The salary the Red Sox paid is write off money for the Yanks & Red Sox. (Sorry LOUNE)
I have no faith in the big name expensive auction pitchers being worth their money. Neither the Red Sox or the Yankees. On the other hand Philly signed Eaton to a 3 year deal worth $24 million. I have seen him pitch. I know he is not worth it. 
Jim
[QUOTE=What Exit?]
Wait, who are you talking about? The lefty went to the Red Sox.
In other late afternoon news. **Glavine ** signs with Mets for $10.5m and a player option worth $6m for 2008 that kicks in if he pitchers 160 innings.
[/QUOTE]
Oh! Shit, I just read it. I assumed that because you were posting it, it was a Yankee acquisition.
I am an idiot.
Additionally, the Tigers have abnormally deep pockets as well. They exercise this thing called “restraint”.
[QUOTE=Least Original User Name Ever]
Additionally, the Tigers have abnormally deep pockets as well. They exercise this thing called “restraint”.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, just like the Redwings always did. 
[QUOTE=Not A Tame Lion]
He was good in Boston–those were the '03 playoffs against the A’s, not '04–but erratic in other settings (I think he got dumped by Cincinnati a few years back when they had zero pitching–no small feat.)
[/QUOTE]
Wait, it’s 2007 right now, isn’t it?