HOT STOVE, COOL SAND

but anthopolous knows his shit

clarkspencer clarkspencer
#Marlins make no comment after meeting with pujpls agent for 75 minutes

here's the full law

Blue Jays get value in Sergio Santos
December, 6, 2011
Dec 6
1:25
PM ET

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With the deal that sends Chicago White Sox reliever Sergio Santos to Toronto for Blue Jays prospect Nestor Molina, the Jays trade maybe their sixth-best pitching prospect for a very effective short reliever (whom they had previously when he was still a position player). This should take Toronto out of the market for free-agent closers, most of whom end up overpaid thanks to the winner's curse and the short peaks of most relievers' careers. The White Sox, on the other hand, get an extreme control right-hander without much of a breaking ball who could be a dominant two-pitch reliever, but is probably a year away from seriously contributing in the majors.

Santos was a shortstop (and not a good one) as recently as 2008, but converted to the mound in 2009 and raced to the majors even though he was mostly just an arm-strength guy at the time he switched roles. He's much more than that now, getting ahead with a mid-90s fastball but putting hitters away with a hard, extremely late-breaking slider that looks like it drops off a cliff at the last second. Santos threw 174 sliders in two-strike counts this year, according to Bloomberg Sports, and 57 percent of them resulted in strikeouts. The White Sox didn't use him much in number of games or within the games he pitched, with 80 percent of his outings comprised of one inning or less, so between that and his time as a position player, he's about as lightly used a reliever as you'll find in the big leagues. As long as Santos is healthy, he'll provide excellent value to the Blue Jays either on the field or in a trade a year or so from now, when he's a more "proven" closer.

Molina, also a converted infielder, has outstanding control, walking 16 batters in 130 innings in 2011 across two levels, most of it in high Class A. He has a solid-average fastball at 90-92 with a plus splitter, a pitch that made him more effective against left-handed batters than right-handed by more than 100 points of OPS this year. His breaking ball is a work in progress, to say the least, and he doesn't offer much projection, so there's still an open question of whether he can remain a starter with a midrotation ceiling or a late-game reliever. He should have a significant role in the 'pen even if he ends up exclusively a fastball/splitter guy. Molina is a good prospect, probably the best now in a fallow White Sox system, but the return seems a little light for a major league reliever signed to a very affordable three-year deal.

I can see Miami drawing pretty well now that there will be percent chance of zero for rainouts. If I'd lived in S. Fla. the past few years I'd still never have gone to a Marlins game -- the thought of getting into a dunk tank doesn't appeal to me.

It breaks my heart that Albert Pujols, Heath Bell, and Jose Reyes will have to wear those uniforms.

lol someone is squatting on jon heyman's old si account, or something

SI_JonHeyman:
hearing #Marlins boosted offer to pujols to 13 years.... they are obvs pushing hard... long and hard... [via Twitter]

mlb network baseball winter meetings™ coverage makes me want to puncture my eardrums

wheeeeeeee

RT @truebluela If Harang deal backloaded. Dodgers will pay Lilly/Harang/Capuano/Uribe/Ellis/Hairston/Guerrier ~$47.75m in 2013

JimBowdenESPNxmJIM BOWDEN

Mariners are now front=runners on Fielder with Milw,Cubs & Tor all wanting shorter term deals....stay tuned

SI_JonHeyman:
hearing #Marlins boosted offer to pujols to 13 years.... they are obvs pushing hard... long and hard... [via Twitter]

what the hell!!

that's a fake

heyman's new account is Jon_Heyman

i saw it in the yahoo tracker and freaked out slightly until i clicked on over

ok, whew -- I mean, I would love for that to be true, because I have my NL East hunt already, but

fielder to mariners has seemed like a foregone conclusion for like 2 years now

?

they have money to play with and their GM drafted prince while in MIL and lallygagged covets him

ah! thx.

RT @truebluela If Harang deal backloaded. Dodgers will pay Lilly/Harang/Capuano/Uribe/Ellis/Hairston/Guerrier ~$47.75m in 2013

ned and frank dont give a fuck. the new ownership should fire ned's stupid ass for fucking them before they even get a chance to start.

yeah its just they've got money and at this point could really use a guy like him to remind fans what a home run is or what a major league hitter is like

plus their gm is the brewers former scouting director etc etc

cards are apparently furiously trying to unload lohse or westbrook. wonder what that could be about...

tryna free payroll for poo-holes or burly

feel like the solution would've been not giving jake westbrook 40m in the first place but \(o_O)/

the sox are apparently in on some japanese shortstop and are playing hardball with david ortiz--gave him a low 2-year offer that seems to be designed to get him to accept arbitration.

Exec: white sox asking for 'ubaldo Jimenez package' for John Danks.

Uh

they might be able to get a package from ubaldo jiminez

joecapMARLINS joe capozzi

Growing buzz in lobby that #Marlins will emerge as winner Albert Pujols derby. Nothing final yet but fish r favorites, accd 2 lobby walkers

"the ubaldo jimenez package" sounds like some black market plastic surgery you can get or something

GordonEdes Gordon Edes
Red sox confirm they did not post on Japanese ss Nakajima

*wipes brow*

JeffPassan Jeff Passan
Cardinals owner. Whoa. RT @jonmorosi: More DeWitt on Pujols: "We're realistic about the fact that it may not happen."

It seems damn peculiar that the Marlins are going to sign free agents at two positions they really already have pretty decent players.

Obviously they hope Hanley pouts but moves to third or perhaps the outfield, but where do they put Gaby Sanchez if for some reason this pyramid scheme actually does bring in Pujols?

hanley ramirez is not a good shortstop

he's a good hitter who plays shortstop, but those are two different things

gaby's gonna get traded for pitching

Mets are apparently rebuilding the J's 2011 bullpen. godspeed.

Torres for Pagan, how thrilling. Still, prepare ye SF:

Pagan's low baseball IQ, including consistently missing cutoff men and throwing to the wrong base, often agitated Mets officials.

Tim McCarver, who has been a national analyst on television networks for three decades and simultaneously shined as part of broadcast teams with four big league clubs, was named on Wednesday the 2012 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award.

*WHAM with a sock of shit*

Huston Street to SD

lol

Reyes’ contract

2012: 10
2013: 10
2014: 16
2015: 22
2016: 22
2017: 22
2018: 22/4 buyout

are players allowed to play shortstop in a wheelchair

now imagine what Pujols will look like.

the pirates have signed erik bedard!?

are players allowed to play shortstop in a wheelchair

Jeter (TM)

Ken_Rosenthal Ken Rosenthal
Buerhle to #Marlins: 4 yrs, $58M. #MLB

lawl

up until two months ago i thought Buerhle was overrated!

so do the fish have no choice but to trade HanRam now?

are they going to be selling crack at the new park to pay for this?

lawl again

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/818185/Pool1.gif.opt.gif

wtf is that?!

is that Chevy Chase?

marlins still looking in on wilson & prince

Miami out of Pujols hunt... Angels and Cubs still in?