The Mets can spin it however they want, but it sure seems like a sign that the ownership is facing some “wealth difficulties.”
Letting Reyes go was the right move for the Mets and the Marlins are taking a fairly large risk considering Reyes’ health issues.
In two more seasons, Alderson gets to shuck the last of the bad Minaya Contracts. In the meantime the Mets will economize and straighten out their farm system and then they should be ready to step back up. Also by the end of next season this Madoff crap will probably be settled. So yes, 2012 is not going to be a great year for the Mets but isn’t it better to have 1 more crap year and be ready to start going in the right direction again?
So the Marlins are finally spending all the money they’ve been making from revenue sharing and paying their players doodly-squat. Not bad. It seems obvious in hindsight that they wanted to come out with a bang for their season at the new stadium.
They got Bell and Reyes. They’re in talks to get Pujols too, although I really doubt they will. But if they’re willing to put up Pujols-like cash for one player, they’re going to make at least one more significant deal during the off-season. Pujols would put some butts in seats, but the team would get more wins by getting one good starting pitcher and rolling the dice on some new middle relievers.
Colletti is trolling Dodger fans right? He is looking to sign Aaron Harang to a thee year deal too? Is he looking to put together a team made up entirely of people in their mid to late 30s? Oh, I know, he wants to have the first team staffed entierly by 40 year olds by 2015. I see that now. The team is down to Kemp, Kershaw, and James Fucking Loney as the only people who are not bullpen pieces under the age of 30 and they are just looking to add more. THE HELL? Oh oh oh. And the big bat that he promised was going to be his first priority? Yeah…well none of these SEVEN players can generate any offense, and the pitchers he has signed sure as hell are going to need some run support.
This team is looking to be even older, slower, more expensive and with a lower collective OBP than last year’s team, but at least they can play defense?
Seriously, he has to be trying to get fired right? Right?
I am just waiting to hear that Kershaw has been traded for a couple of class C prospects, 2 middle relievers in their 40s, and Emilio Bonifacio.
I’m pretty sure that I heard him quoted somewhere that he was going to make sure Eugenio Velez gets 600 plate appearances this year to help bolster the offense…
Marlins have apparently offered Albert Pujols a 10-year deal worth somewhere north of $200 million, and a no-trade clause is apparently under discussion.
I’ll be very depressed if Pujols ends up in Miami. Fuck the Marlins and their new fuck-the-taxpayers stadium.
Amen, mhendo. Fleecing the taxpayers (with a mayor who has now been recalled) just to give that money to Albert Pujols. God bless America, eh?
Oh well, time to move on and prepare for the next Cardinals World Series behind Holliday, Freese, Craig, Shelby Miller, Kolten Wong, and Oscar Tavares.
The consensus seems to be that the Cardinals and Pujols are close to a deal. St. Louis recently raised its offer to $220 million over 10 years and the sides are supposed to be not far apart now. Miami and the Angels offered something over $200 million, and the Cubs never seem to have been in it- I think they made an offer as a sop to their fans.
The Marlins may or may not be trying to trade Hanley Ramirez, who doesn’t want to move to third base to make room for Jose Reyes. They’ve reportedly made an offer to C. J. Wilson and may be talking to Mark Buehrle, and if they can’t keep Ramirez, they may go for Prince Fielder. Regardless they seem to know they’re not getting Pujols. Meanwhile, Colorado traded Houston Street to San Diego.
All of that’s picked up from ESPN and SI.
Yeah, if the offers are both for the same amount of time, and the money is in the ballpark, i really couldn’t see Pujols leaving St. Louis over a few million bucks.
I don’t care too much about the Cards one way or the other, and i wouldn’t have minded if Pujols had ended up somewhere else, but i’ll be happy if he doesn’t end up at one of the really big-spending clubs, and if he also avoids going to the Fucking Marlins (that’s what i’m calling them now, i think).
I think Ramirez is, at some stage, probably going to have to deal with the fact that he’s not going to spend his whole career at shortstop. Although Jeter managed to stay there despite having far worse years at the position than Ramirez’s recent efforts.
The Street deal seems like quite a lot of money for the Padres to spend, at least in terms of the organization’s general tight-fistedness. If they’re going to spend upwards of 6 million in a year when they’re unlikely to have a shot at the playoffs, i think there might be better places to do it.
Yahoo is reporting that Buehrle is a Marlin. “Miami agreed to terms with the left-handed starter on a four-year, $58 million deal.”
Toronto gets Sergio Santos from the White Sox for prospect Nestor Molina.
I’m not super enthused. Molina is a sensational pitching prospect. Santos is a known commodity and affordable, but while he had a spectacular strikeout rate last year his major league career consists of 63 games, and as he is 28, he’s not young.
Another case, I believe, of overrating the value of a closer.
And maybe he will one day. But he may have objected to the idea of moving over now for a guy who was coming in as a free agent. Are the Marlins going to be better off here if they are swapping Ramirez for Reyes and some other pieces? If they lose Ramirez but get Reyes and Fielder I guess they are gaining more than they are giving up, but they seemed to want Ramirez and Reyes together.
So what if he did?
When Reyes arrives, Ramirez will be, in terms of fielding, the second-best shortstop on the team, by quite a long way. Actually, he’d probably be worse than that, because most of the Marlins’ second basemen could probably play short better than Ramirez.
What does it matter that Reyes is a free agent? If he’s the best shortstop on the team, and management wants him at short, then that’s where he should play. Had Ramirez kicked up a fuss about something like this at the end of 2007 or 2008 or 2009, at least he could have pointed to his value at the plate as an argument for why he should get his way, but after his 2011 performance he probably should STFU and work on his hitting.
I’m not saying he’s correct, I’m just talking about his potential reasons for objecting. It sounds like Florida didn’t handle this very well- like they tried to push Ramirez into accepting a switch at the last minute and then tried to force his hand. They had the whole offseason to discuss this with him and it sounds like they made a dash for Reyes and tried to work out the rest of it on the fly. To make the obvious comparison, the Yankees made sure Alex Rodriguez was willing to play third before they brought him over. And while people argue they put the wrong guy at the wrong position, they did get him and Jeter in the same infield and got a better infield than they would have had with just Jeter or with just A-Rod if Jeter had demanded a trade. If that was what the Marlins wanted his Ramirez and Reyes, it sounds like it’s failing.
I’ll comment.
Booooooo!
McCarver is unworthy as he sucks.
He could have owned St. Louis. I hope Lebron Pujols enjoys California. Money grubbing bastard.
This is a bad comparison for all kinds of reasons. LeBron didn’t leave Cleveland for money, he left to give himself the best chance to win championships and lighten the load on himself. I seem to remember Pujols winning the series with the Cardinals twice. I’m surprised he’s leaving because I thought he did want to have that attachment to St. Louis, but it should also be noted that he made plenty of money for the Cardinals ownership over the years and his previous contracts were an undisputed bargain in baseball terms.
I doubt I’d move for the difference between $200 million $260 million, but it is a big difference and I don’t live in the professional sports world. The bottom line is that it sounds like the Angels’ offer absolutely blew the others out of the water. It’s reported to be $250 million to $260 million over 10 years with a full no-trade clause. The Cardinals didn’t want to go over $200 million, give or take, over nine years. The Marlins didn’t want to give him a full no-trade clause. There were reports about a $220 million/10 year offer from St. Louis but even that was pretty far short of what the Angels offered. The Angels just seem to have more money and you can see it here.
Big deal. It’s St. Louis. 
Welcome to SoCal, Albert. You might actually make the Angels worth watching while I’m waiting for the Dodgers to self-destruct even further.