Alright, I’m convinced. I have been holding out, insisting it wasn’t so, for many years. But the evidence is just too great to ignore. I have to tip my cap to the reality-based community, admit I was wrong, and accept the truth:
Yeah, I’m done defending Minaya. This offseason was off the charts terrible.
J.P. Ricciardi wasn’t that bad. He had horrible people skills, and made some terrible moves (though reportably with some ownership intervention), but winning as many games as you lose in the AL East when you aren’t the Yankees or Red Sox is not a bad result. A bit more luck and he would had a couple playoff appearances.
I’d imagine I’m the only Marlins fan on this board… Anyways, I’m optimistic about 2010. The core lineup is still intact, and it’s very good. Our weakness is starting pitching - aside from Josh Johnson everyone else is mediocre or worse. I was hoping they’d pick up a good starting ace in the offseason but it didn’t happen.
Nationals signed Wang, a good move at a good price.
Not that anyone will ever feel sorry for the Yanks, but this is a good example of where the arbitration system is broken. The Yanks cut him as the arbitrations rules are set to where Wang could not earn less than $4.5 million guaranteed from the Yanks. This is a rare situation but one that could happen to any team. If a player basically misses two years, a larger arbitration paycut should happen. Especially when the player is not even ready for Spring Training.
Pitchers and Catchers reported 1 hour ago! Yay! It’s almost here, folks, it’s almost here!
And as an added bonus for today, I just found out that my season opener is against my favorite not-hometeam team…the Dodgers. Atlanta’s my “daughter that’s settled down and popping out grandkids” team, LA’s my “son, the successful business man” team, and the Pirates are my “son that keeps stealing money from me to support his drug habit, but gosh darnit, I still love him” team.
I’m not sure what to make of him. He was so unreliable in '09, but I hope you’re correct.
And what the hell happened to Anibal Sanchez? I thought he was going to be the second coming of Livan Hernandez but he stunk after coming back from his latest injury. (I’d fetch some stats but I’m posting from my phone.)
Oh jesus. Now that you’ve said it was, I’m not even going to check. Certainly that wasn’t 12 years ago.
As long as we’re talking about the Marlins, with all the talk of bad teams making bad moves, allow me to point to the Marlins transaction page. I think Jayson Stark pointed it out, but they haven’t signed a single free agent to a guaranteed deal. They are incredible. Even in the same division as the Phillies, I have to admit they totally fascinate me.
11, actually. Man, that was an AWFUL Cardinals team, too. Just looked at the team page on BR, and the list of starters is like a “Who’s That” of baseball. Eli Marrero, Joe McEwing, Kent Bottenfield (who would be traded with Adam Kennedy and a bag of magic beans at year’s end for Jimmy Ballgame), the decaying remains of Eric Davis, Shawon Dunston and Willie McGee and the pieces that would be dealt for Darryl Kile, Fernando Vina and Pat Hentgen, who started the run that led us to the '06 Series.
In interesting news, the Cards have made Mike Matheny a roving catching instructor for the minor league teams, and the NRIs in camp include a knuckleballer. Remember, kids: chicks dig the knuckler.
The Blue Jays have signed Jose Molina to a one year, non-guaranteed contract. He’s guaranteed 400 grand, but that jumps to 800 if he makes the Opening Day roster.
There’s also a 1.2 million club option for '11.