The money matters. The Boss’s near final major decision to extend A-Rod is going to be a huge burden and drag on the Yankee payroll. Pujol’s contract is going to hurt the Angel’s in 5 years or so tremendously. The Phillies have saddle themselves with several terrible contracts and the Dodgers just took one of the worst contracts ever in Crawford. Beckett doesn’t matter as his contract will soon be done. Done before it harms them. A-Gon may prove more-or-less worth the money. I’m guessing he mostly will.
But how can you defend the prospects given up in a deal that basically rescued Boston of all but one of its terrible contracts?
I’ll cite James Loney as a sure fire top prospect that didn’t pan out and the depth of the pitcher prospects in their system. Not that the prospects don’t matter, they really do, and I am not saying that this wasn’t a high risk trade, it was, I am just saying that if the owners say they have another 300 million or so allocated for payroll and they do that care about the luxury tax AND even with the prospects they gave up they still have a farm system full of good pitchers, that this isn’t THAT crazy a deal.
Could they have gotten a better one? Probably. But they clearly don’t care.
Missed the edit window. I do know that I am probably wearing really rosey glasses, but who should they have targeted to fix their first base and left field problems?
The Nats lost yesterday, and their lead is down to 4.5 games. I’m starting to get nervous here.
Sure, if they play .500 ball over their last 10 games, the Braves would have to win 'em all to catch the Nats, but the way the Nats have been sputtering lately, and the fact that their last 10 games are against the Brewers (1), the Phils (6), and the Cards (3), that’s not exactly guaranteed.
Yeah, I was at the game on Sunday and the Nats were looking sloppy. The ‘highlight’ was that Wang exceeded my (low) expectations and even hit a double. Just hoping they can start trending up right when we need it most.
Left field had many solutions about as good as Crawford without the giant contract. Just taking his contract and Beckett’s was enough to get A-Gon for a bag of balls. That is my 2nd biggest problem with the deal. My biggest is that I am a Yankee fan and the Dodger’s just rescued the Red Sox but that is not a good argument of course.
A-Gon should be a fairly good pickup, but the cost was too high. Crawford is a player that plays with his legs. He is due for a decline and might already be in it. Yet he is still owed a fortune for many many years.
Where to go for a 1st base solution is a good question, but the price they paid was really high. They should have waited it out and seen what developed. A better opportunity may have happened. Odds are good they could have got Fielder or Cabrera from the Tigers in the off-season and for a reasonable trade and while the defense would not be as good the offense would actually be better. For left field any serviceable left fielder would have worked. Even going after Nick Swisher to play left would make more sense. He will probably get a contract for more then he is really worth but it will still look small compared to Crawford’s.
I choose to believe the Nats are safely in there. They’re just showing some wear at the end of a long season, but that’s not going to cost them more than a couple games off their pace. (I wouldn’t mind a couple early wins, though.)
One week to go and none of the AL divisions has been clinched. Does it get any better? Add the uncertainty of the one game elimination for the wild card and MLB has found a way to ratchet up the tension. As a Yankee fan, I want no part of it.
You know what’s amazing? We’re 6-7 games from the end of the season, depending on the team, and nobody in the AL has even clinched a playoff spot of any sort yet.
All of the division races are still alive, and even the Rangers, who have the best record in the AL, could still theoretically finish behind all 3 of the top teams in the East, and the A’s and Angels in their own division, leaving them out of the wild-card picture. Ditto the Yankees.
Meanwhile, in the NL, four teams have clinched playoff spots, only one division race is still alive, and the Cardinals are close to clinching the last wildcard spot.
Yeah, their roster is a joke. Their prospects (Carlos Santana) and pitching acquisitions (Lowe, Jimenez) have not panned out as expected. That they were somewhat competitive at the beginning of the season made Acta a miracle worker.
