I don’t read anything bad into McLane’s decision not to offer Clemens arbitration. Chalk it up to Boras’ handling of Beltran last year and being understandably unwilling to get singed two years in a row, especially since we’re in desperate need of trades to bolster the offense. It wasn’t an unamicable parting and, like brianjedi, I think there’s a good chance we’ll see him next year. I honestly think he playes for Houston, even for less money, or he doesn’t play at all. The hometown love he got here was nothing short of phemenonal and he’s at a point in his career where things matter differently.
Agreed mostly:
If I was handicapping, I would guess
50% chance back to Houston
18% chance Texas
14% chance retirement
12% chance Yanks
5% chance Boston
1% chance any other team
I find it interesting that everyone’s questioning the Burnett and Ryan signings in Toronto, but not the Overbay trade.
Okay, Burnett and Ryan were expensive - especially Ryan - but Burnett is high upside and the money was there.
At this point, trading for Overbay is just weird. The team now has three first basemen; Overbay, Hillenbrand, and Hinske. Either Hillenbrand or Hinske can play third but Koskie’s already there. I like Overbay, but he was very, very expensive - David Bush has a lot of promise and Zach Jackson is at least a B+ prospect. The team desperately needs an outfielder who can really hit. Why Overbay?
Unless they’re planning to trade one of Hillenbrand, Hinske, or Koskie - and I can’t see any of them as being especially tradeable, especially Eric “Krispy Kreme” Hinske - the roster now is ridiculously overloaded with infielders, while the outfield’s weak and the catching situation thin.
Rumor now has it that the Jays are looking at signing Nomar Garciaparra - another infielder. Apparently many packages are being offered for Brad Wilkerson, Bobby Abreu, Milton Bradley, Adam Dunn or (Insert outfielder here) but you can’t help but think they blew a lot of the surplus getting Overbay.
I assumed that Hillenbrand will get moved. He can play 1st or 3rd and still has upside.
Lyle is a good offensive and defensive 1b. I’m surprised you don’t like the move. I thought that was the slam dunk.
Well, it’s not so much that I don’t think it’s a great trade, it’s just that it’s more of the same from the Jays. They’ve been making bizarre personnel choices since they signed Koskie. It’s also not going to haunt them in three years like I suspect the Burnett and Ryan signings will.
I have a tangental question. Please forgive me for the hijack. I seem to recall that many, many moons ago, this stuff was referred to as Rotisserie League (named after the restaurant in which the first one was formed (La Rotisserie Francaise). Is it that in recent years, after going up a few notches in popularity, it got dumbed down to “Hot Stove” League (maybe people got tired of trying to spell Rotisserie)? Or have you always known it as Hot Stove? Is it a regional thing, maybe?
Seems to be a uncommon scarsity of outfielders these days. There’s at least 8 or 10 teams with major outfield holes, and at least a few with mutiple openings. However there’s really no good FA OFs.
You’ve got some white elephant guys that you could trade for, but that means giving up pitching which no one will do. Since when was the outfield the tough spot to fill? When did everyone decide they wanted to be a 1b or 3B?
Yes, I am pissed that the Cubs have a 1/3rd of an outfield…and that’s gerenous.
As long as I’ve been watching baseball, “Rotisserie League” has refered exclusively to a style of fantasy baseball. Besides that I have no idea what you’re refering to.
You’re confusing two different things. The offseason has always been known as the Hot Stove league - basically because during the winters, people would gather around a hot stove and discuss the offseason transactions.
The Rotisserie league is the original fantasy baseball league. The guys would get together at the restaurant, draft players for their team, then add up the scores as the season went on.
So, the Hot Stove League = offseason. Rotisserie League = in-season fantasy baseball.
You’re confusing two separate things.
The “Rotisserie League” is a certain style of fantasy baseball that, as you said, was started in La Rotisserie Francaise.
The “Hot Stove League” is all the deals and discussions that happen in real baseball between the Winter Meetings and the start of Spring Training.
I think the Angels would be happy to trade Finley. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Ichiro sure would be a great leadoff hitter and he’s terrific on defense - but Adrian Beltre? Never. He was a complete washout for them, costs a ton, and I don’t know where he’d play. He’s a third baseman, and that position has been filled. You’d also lose Sheffield’s hitting with runners on base, which the Yankees have really needed, and for most of the year he was the most feared hitter on the team.
Thanks! I knew something must be up with that.
As far as the trade things go, I agree with Neurotik that the Sorian trade was kind of silly. It might have been OK if they had just traded Wilkerson for him, straight up. But as it stands, all we got was just another sub-.300 hitter. And we’re hemorraging pitchers, so I’m mighty concerned abput next year and beyond, to say the least. That MLB and that utterly useless fuck Selig are sabotaging our ability to well, be an actual baseball team just smacks of some kind of bait-and-switch deal. Plus I’m guessing that the ever-growing cost overruns will make us a last place team with a billion dollar stadium. Go Nats!
Well, I think taking Beltre is the only way the M’s would ever go for it. What would we do with him? Probably move him along with cash to another team or use him as a LF moving Matsui to CF.
Ichiro in RF lessens the burden on the CF a lot. Beltre has a great arm at least and enough speed to handle LF.
We lose RBI production, but you get the lead off hitter. Sheff is in his last year anyway. I wouldn’t re-sign him and we should have enough offense with
Ichiro(RF), Jeter, Arod, Giambi, Matsui(CF), Posada, Beltre(LF), Williams (DH),Cano.
Well, its not likely to happen anyway, just a thought.
Jim
Sounds like the Yankees would be absorbing a lot of money there. I really think they need to stop doing that. I don’t know what was wrong with Matsui last year, but is he really a centerfielder? Center in Yankee Stadium is big. Overall, if you improve in right, move a leftfielder to center and put a third baseman in the outfield, I think the defense takes a step back. I’d be happier with Sheffield, Matsui and Crosby.
That’s plenty of offense, but you need defense. That’s my thought on it, anyway. (And I don’t see Bernie as a DH. People keep talking about this. He’s a backup outfielder at this point - he doesn’t hit well enough to DH every day. A first baseman who can play defense would help, too. Is anybody available?)
Marley23 Good Arguments on all. I think I will concede this trade soesn’t work for the Yanks.
I don’t see the M’s going for just Pavano, Henn and Duncan for Ichiro straight up.
Oh Well, pipe dream shot down well.
Something that was pointed out about Burnett: he’s almost 30, a career 49-50 pitcher, has made 30 starts in a year only once and quit on his coaches and team at the end of last year. When, exactly, do we stop talking about potential and look for actual performance?
Toronto severely overpaid for Burnett AND Ryan. They spent more than $100 million for a #3 starter and a closer with all of one season of experience.
Weird St. Louis rumors:
Marquis, Suppan and Wainwright to Arizona for Javier Vazquez and Quentin Griffin.
Marquis, Reyes and Wainwright to Seattle for ICHIRO?!
The first one broke down over money (i.e. DeWitt wanted the money from the Yankees and for Arizona to pay part of the salary) and the second is based, apparently, on somebody crack smoking and/or So Taguchi being a major selling point for Ichiro.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I like Lyle Overbay. He’s a huge, huge, huge upgrade on Eric Stinkske. He can hit, he can catch, he isn’t too expensive.
It’s just that the trade makes no sense without another trade. It WAS very expensive; Overbay is good, but giving away that much to fill maybe your third or fourth more pressing need is just weird. You can’t simultaneously play six guys in the infield. Someone has to go.
I am concerned about the Ryan signing, but I don’t understand the skepticism over Burnett; he was much desired by many teams. Burnett’s 49-50 record simply isn’t an accurate depiction of his skill level; last year he was 12-12 despite having an ERA more than half a run below the league average. The year before he went 7-6, but again was almost half a run below average. In 2003 he was hurt almost the whole year but in 2001-2002 he again had good ERAs and was rewarded with a 23-21 record. For his entire career his ERA+ is 110; that’s substnaitally better than Jack Morris and some people wanna put him in the Hall of Fame. You can’t blame Burnett for not getting hitting support. His K-W ratio was outstanding last year. He’s as good a risk as anyone.
Now the press is reporting Blue Jay interest in… Miguel Tejada. Another infielder. I’d love to have him but he’ll have to play left field.
An improvement of 12 games in the W/L record, fourth best in the league, and in the toughest division in baseball. I’ll take another 12 games better.
Nothing’s a sure thing. But Floyd was injured the first two years and Glavine had problems with run support. That latter ain’t going to happen.
No, Delgado is supposed to pick up for Piazza, and that’s a definite upgrade. Lo Duca is a big improvement over Mientkiewicz.
Sure. And that’s a possibility with any team. Maybe Andruw Jones gets hit by a truck. Maybe Paul Konetko gets dysentery and dies and Jim Thome goes on the DL after a freak roller skagin accident. Bad things always can happen, and pointing that out is not analysis.
That’s certainly part of it. But if the Mets hadn’t made these moves, they certainly wouldn’t have had a chance.
Hey, remember when Carl Pavano was the big thing last year? Right.
Simple. Take him away from Pro Player and his ERA jumps up by a full run. Outside of Pro Player he’s been slightly above league average, sometimes worse (his road ERA last year was 5.09). He’s also had trouble staying healthy.
Basically, they took a guy who, outside of Pro Player, isn’t substantially better than Esteban Loaiza (plus, he has more health issues!) and gave him a contract that will pay him $11M each year for the next five years. It’s a crazy deal.
Yeah, but Jack Morris also said, “The only time I want to talk to a woman when I’m naked is when I’m on top of her or when she’s on top of me” in response to the prospect of women writers in the locker room. So that gives him a big edge.