HOT STOVE, COOL SAND

overweight and zero positional flexibility. not to mention the price tag and years are both things AA said he will avoid (although i'm sure we've all heard that before).

plus the J's are ~ok~ at 1st for now. i'd imagine adding a starter is his priority now that the 2B and closer roles have been settled.

thats all true but if you can get him at the right price (and really, how many teams are there that will make a serious offer?), you kind of have to think, is AA going to settle for a 88-90 win club, or is he going to make a serious playoff run in the toughest division?

the problem is probably more the years than the price

i don't see the J's being a 88-90 win club even with Fielder! i think they're at least 3-4 years away from contention - when AA's draft picks are hitting the majors and maturing. why pay Prince to hang around until then - and then block a player who might be better suited for 1st than anywhere else (like they did with Lind).

Jon_Heyman
People ask, is albert pujols worth $254 million? And I say, is he 3 times better than aj burnett? Or twice as good as vernon wells? #bargain

This dude is dumb as rocks.

overweight and zero positional flexibility. not to mention the price tag and years are both things AA said he will avoid (although i'm sure we've all heard that before).

Nobody expects positional flexibility from their first baseman. As for his weight, health is a skill. Fielder has never been injured and plays 160 games every year. He looks like an exception to the rule, like Sabathia.

The Jays could do worse than signing Fielder, as long as they don't sign him for 20M per and then cap the team payroll at some ridiculously low number like they did when they extended Delgado.

"Nobody expects positional flexibility from their first baseman."

You do expect them to be able to play first base though, which Fielder is not great at and will only get worse.

the rays just signed matt moore to a 5 yr, 14m contract o________________________________________O

i didn't know he was a two-sport athlete!

wow. how do the Rays keep getting away with this

no idea

cubs traded tyler colvin and dj lamahieu to the rockies for ian stewart and casey weathers

p good trade for the cubs -- both those guys are bad, stewart kinda sucks too but he could prob platoon vs righties

colvin was decent his rookie year but yeah sucked pretty hard last year, sounds like he and stewart are both question marks

Was reading this morning how that might open up a Martin Prado for Seth Smith(+) trade, but it's pure guesswork at this point.

5yr/$14m is less than the average mlb salary!

i also heard reported they have (multiple?) club options after the 5 yrs

the a's are trading trevor cahill, for some reason

to the d-backs

what's the median salary these days?

it apparently was $1m three years ago, dunno about now

still in shock about this Pujols deal and than the Lakers stole the thunder for about a half an hour

i currently live in Anaheim

i need a new team, the Giants did nothing to improve the offence and won't sign Beltran (and now looks like he could be had fairly cheaply)

Beltran for Wheeler, why? will be Brian Sabean's worst trade

Reigning NL MVP Ryan Braun has tested positive for a performance-enchancing drug: http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/7338271/ryan-braun-milwaukee-brewers-tests-positive-performance-enhancing-drug

Braun busted for PEDs!

knew, even though i dislike the Dodgers, that Matt Kemp was the real winner of the NL MVP last year

Awful. Regardless of how seriously you take the issue--just bad for the game.

bee did you always live in anaheim?

nope, i lived in San Francisco when i first heard about ilx

We're 100% certain that Ryan Braun cheated and Matt Kemp did not, huh?

keithlaw keithlaw
Ryan Braun's ISO in 2011 was .018 above his ISO over the prior four years, when he would have tested negative for PEDs at least six times.

i don't think any of that changes that he's still a total idiot for taking them, or taking whatever he was taking that elevated his testosterone

Positive tests for sanctimony upcoming

Interesting point, improbably, from Olney:

Braun is the 2011 NL MVP and there is no precedent for that to be altered, even if he's suspended. The Baseball Writers Association of America has never stripped a winner of an award, including Alex Rodriguez, who has acknowledged using performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, when he won the AL MVP.

But that's a stance completely at odds with the writers' collective stance in the Hall of Fame balloting, in which voters have treated the history of Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, et al, as if it doesn't exist; they've stripped those players of the accomplishments of their entire careers -- and sometimes based on mere suspicion, as in the case of Jeff Bagwell.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Ken Rosenthal
Source: Braun tested positive for a prohibited substance, not a performance-enhancing drug. More coming on FOXSports.com.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

STONER

http://larrybrownsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ryan-braun.jpg

totes

go listen to your workingman's dead someone where else, ryan braun - this is a family friendly town and we want nothing to do with your likes

I hope that's the extent of it.

Olney is conflating a vote that's already happened, MVP, with one that hasn't, HOF. No HOF player has ever been removed from the Hall, and if a prospective MVP tested positive in late August or September, I think it's safe to say he would not go on to win the award. I don't see a parallel there. (And, as I've always said, I think caution in HOF voting--where there is ample time to revisit a player's candidacy--is sensible.)

But my source -- and again, this is from Braun's end and not MLB -- familiar with the test's findings says the "prohibited substance" was not a performance-enhancing drug or steroid of any kind. And the source says there has "never" been a result like this in the history of the MLB testing program.

The source said MLB "knows that Ryan is telling the truth) and firmly believes the postive test will be overturned. Pretty amazing stuff, huh?

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/135405518.html

"never"

damn, i was hoping JS was, like, "jewish sentinel" or something

elevated levels of gefilte fish

trace amts of blood in his LSD stream

i thought there was no way i could like braun more (of course, that affection nosedived when i heard he was using PEDs) but if it turns out he's a stoner... <3

y'all it's not gonna be a recreational drug

what's it going to be?

"the test's findings says the "prohibited substance" was not a performance-enhancing drug or steroid of any kind"