The Padres are offering major league players for Ramírez, a package that presumably would have to include one of two pitchers: prime setup man Scott Linebrink or ace Jake Peavy.
Hmm—bullpen dork, or ace starter? Which one do YOU want, Theo?
Yanquis have secured their own Japanese pitcher bid; evaluations differ:
Rumor has it the A’s are going after Piazza and maybe Cliff Floyd. I’m dubious about either rumor though.
Post-Thanksgiving Disgust: Texas A&M 12 Texas 7
Post-Thanksgiving Delight: El Caballo + The Woodrow
God if Beckett could get his shit together so much of this would be easier.
Wait till the dude shits the bed this season before reharshing his buzz!
MR GLAVINE, WHATS UP??
so apparently he’s still a Met?
lol this would be awesome:
Shea at The Stadium?
Dec 1—Shea Hillenbrand’s agent tells the New York Post that the Yankees are interested in Hillenbrand, a right-handed hitter, as a first baseman.
“We are having discussions, and [the Yankees] are one of the teams in the mix,” agent Dan Lozano told the newspaper. “We aren’t as far along as we would like with all the teams but hopefully in the next couple of days we will have something.”
Hillenbrand, according to the newspaper, might be willing to accept a two-year deal.
Hillenbrand, according to the the newspaper, would be willing to play for a sandwich esp. one made with nice bread.
Hillenbrand, according to the newspaper, would be ready an’ willing to reach for the sun, so he can get him some loving before he’s gone.
Sheehan (free articles) previews winter meetings:
http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5735
http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=5738
Down Frank Catalanotto, up Frank Thomas and Royce Clayton. It’s a close call whether the Jays’ lineup or Fox News’ lineup lists more heavily to the right.
If the Padres trade Peavy for anyone other than a young, cheap, star player, I will be pretty upset.
Good point that has been lost in the shuffle of the “Where will Bonds end up?” bits:
This thread title keeps reminding me of Dairy Queen. HOT EATS, COOL TREATS. And promotional cap day at the Metrodome.
Terry Ryan is coming to the realization that Santana-Bonser-pray for roof collapse is not the best strategy so he’s going after FORMER ROOKIE OF THE YEAR! Jason Jennings.
i can’t wait for the JD Drew to Boston announcement so i can drive to fenway and take a steaming shit in right field.
Bingo, you say one thing about Drew being injury-prone, then I’m doing the same thing in your next bowl of cornflakes.
eh, im not concerned really about that...as trot was injured all the time too. im concerned that he can’t take the heat in this city. he’s going to get eaten alive if he dogs it, like people say he does. just not the right fit.
i don’t understand the red sox falling in love with Drew and Lugo. for some reason theo has had a boner about lugo for three years now.
for some reason theo has had a boner about lugo for three years now.
CAN YOU BLAME HIM?!?!??
injury-prone for Drew = mosquito bite on right elbow, out 4–6 weeks.
Maybe the Cubs can convert him into a pitcher.
Hello Mr. Cardinal Fan—the dude BLEW OUT HIS KNEE. That’s a sticky wicket to clean. And if it wasn’t for him getting HIT ON THE WRIST WITH A PITCH (a thing that’s done damage to men much meatier & tougher than brittle ol’ JD), he’d have 140+ games to his credit over the past 3 years.
haha ‘Drew has the numbers but he’s no gamer’ makes Billy Beaners cry. The logic for replacing headcase Manny with glass-jaw J.D. is pretty iffy.
Hello Mr. Cardinal Fan—the dude BLEW OUT HIS KNEE.
I’ve got a macro for that shit set up, BTW. DON’T GO THERE.
RUB ONE DIRT ON IT
OK DUSTY
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ys-mlbwmblog&prov=yhoo&type=lgns#drewboston
That’s a lot of money, but it still seems like a better deal than Sorianos.
Drew to Sox for 5/70. Dang. Still light years better than the Carlos Lee deal.
Is polyphonic around to comment on the Maddux signing?
The Maddux deal is a good deal regardless of how much money they are paying him. Maddux should thrive in Petco.
Plus it is for only $10m?!?! How could Ned Coletti not match that?
dude’s not old enough for the dodgers.
I think the only reason they didnt sign Maddux was because theyre going to throw a shitload of money at Schmidt and didn’t want to risk giving up too much. Im kinda pissed the Dodgers didn’t offer arbitration to get some draft picks out of it but apparently they were thinking Maddux would get $13–14M out of it. I think its a great signing for SD. Im gonna miss watching the guy pitch in person. There were some amazing games at Dodger Stadium in September.
Some interesting Drew projections:
Is polyphonic around to comment on the Maddux signing?
I mean, obviously I’m stoked. I don’t think he’s appreciably worst than Padilla or Wolf or Eaton and maybe is better than any of them, AND is only signed for one year. Then, maybe there will be more available pitching on the market when he retires.
The Padres have something like $25 million to spend. A rotation of Peavy, Young, Hensley, Maddux, Carillo could be the best rotation in the history of the franchise (not saying much), and they still apparently are interested in adding another starter.
i’ve got a nice steaming shit all brewed up.
ambiorix burgos to mets for brian bannister.
ambient burgers could be nice in a couple of years.
big HUH from espn.com:
A source at the meetings said that St. Louis and Kansas City are both going hard after free-agent righty Miguel Batista.
Royals = when pigs fly?
Apparently Dodgers just nabbed Jason Schmidt for some unspecified amount money.
Three years/$47m apparently.
I’m simultaneously gutted and elated.
oh shit Mariners, what do you do now?
CHAN HO, 10 YEARS, $90 MILLION.
Poor Tony LaRussa
I have no clue what that’s meant to imply.
That’s meant to imply Tony moonlights as a magical bunny wizard.
Well, aside from the obvious.
and the dead girl is Rick Ankiel’s career
A’s apparently got Piazza for one year $8.5m.
Irrelevant pic plz
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Free agent pitcher Ted Lilly, who earlier in the day ruled out returning to Toronto, agreed Wednesday night to a $40 million, four-year contract with the Chicago Cubs.
Lilly’s agent, Larry O’Brien, made the announcement at baseball’s winter meetings.
Lilly, a left-hander, crossed the Blue Jays off his list Wednesday and had narrowed his possible destinations to the Cubs and New York Yankees, O’Brien told ESPN.com.
O’Brien planned to meet with Yankees general manager Brian Cashman on Wednesday night. It was not clear if that meeting took place.
Toronto continues to pursue free agent Gil Meche as a possible No. 3 starter behind Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett.
Lilly, 30, has a career 59–58 record in eight major-league seasons with Montreal, the Yankees, Oakland and Toronto. He went 15–13 with a 4.31 ERA for the Blue Jays last season.
Apparently he said he wanted to play on a “winner”, so...
TS: paying 11M/yr for Burnett (in 2005) vs paying 10M/yr for TED LILLY??@?! (in 2006)
I’m starting to think that JP was a prophet after all.
Never mind that the single best contract currently in place is the deal that Tejada inked w/ the O’s a couple years ago.
Gleeman’s NBC.com Winter Meetings blog suggests that Schmidt screwed himself out of buxxx by settling for “Meche / Lilly” money w/ that Dodgers contract. Let’s remember the dude was signed for $47M over 3 years. WTF kind of world is it where GIL MECHE gets over $15M?
“TS: paying 11M/yr for Burnett (in 2005) vs paying 10M/yr for TED LILLY??@?! (in 2006)”
I like paying Loaiza 7M/yr the best. No one on the A’s boards think that was dumb deal now.
real ESPN news headline ...
Lilly strikes $40M deal with Cubs | Hendry has angioplasty
any correlation?
hahaha oh man
OH NO THE AGONY OF THAT SLIGHT
wtf are the Royals even doing spending money?
“wtf are the Royals even doing spending money?”
They still get money ya know? What are they supposed to do with it?
Haha I had the full intention of pointing at “Twins trying to re-sign White” as a sign that their free agency efforts are kind of sad and then I scroll down and see THIS:
The Twins have spoken with the agents for righthander Sidney Ponson, a career 80–96 pitcher who was 4–5 with a 6.25 ERA last season in stints with the Yankees and Cardinals, both of whom released him. He was 17–12, 3.75 in 2003 with Baltimore and San Francisco. The Twins likely would sign him to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training.
AAAAGH AAAGH AGH
I don’t get why the Twins didn’t try to get Piazza.
Then again I didn’t understand why they didn’t try for Thomas last year either.
I don’t get why the Twins didn’t try to get Piazza.
We need all that $$$ for quality pitching, which apparently involves helping Dennys Reyes feel better about his weight by signing someone even fatter.
Then again I didn’t understand why they didn’t try for Thomas last year either.
Frank Thomas + turf = problems.
“Frank Thomas + turf = problems.”
Tell JP that *cough*.
I’m starting to think that JP was a prophet after all.
Any GM that signed a player to a bad contract prior to this offseason looks like a genius.
What The Royals Should Do With Their Money (Which They Still Get, So What Else Can They Do):
1) Invest in their farm system.
2) Keep away from the mid-level starting pitcher free agent market.
3) Rent the services of multiple bodyguards for Alex Gordon.
4) Bring Rush Limbaugh back into the fold as the Grand Royal With Cheese.
5) Have Tony Muser killed, then brought back to life as a zombie.
6) Have Undead Tony Muser kill Allard Baird.
7) Turn Mike Sweeney into sharkbait.
8) Post Angel Berroa’s ROY trophy on eBay.
9) Buy Bob Hamelin & Ken Harvey a Monte Cristo each.
jp was the basketball coach at my first high school. real douchebag.
i can’t stand him. what a miserable gm.
And now it looks like he might be trading Wells :(
at least he’s still better than GORD Ash
Why would you want to attempt to sign a more-than-solid defensive / offensive OF from yr own system to a multi-year contract when you can overpay for gimpy 3Bers or slow-as-death DHes?
Well, Rumor Central says that he’s expecting 20mil per season, and probably for at least six seasons. Plus, the assumption is that he doesn’t want to re-sign there anyway.
Wells for Penny, Kemp and let’s say Billingsley? I mean, you’d pretty much have to take that deal if you’re JP.
at least he’s still better than GORD Ash
?!
wanna compare ash’s draft history to jp’s?
I don’t think Wells is old enough for Colletti.
Ha—I think y’all did compare Ash v. JP draft-wise once upon a time.
ILX COME BACK WE MISS YOU (and I have rocks in my ass).
We did? Was it really that bad???
Maybe the convo boiled down to “lol @ Russ Adams,” but I’m pretty sure something happened.
Wrong thread, but I’m not going to start a new on the the Sandbox:
While with the Cubs, Alfonseca was thrown out of a game on September 2, 2003, for hitting an umpire with his stomach.
WAHT.
I think thids is the “WAHT” part:
His nickname is “El Pulpo” or “The Octopus”. He has six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, a condition known as polydactyly; his extra small fingers next to his pinky have no influence on his pitching, as they don’t touch the ball.
“Six Finger” Alfonseca is relatively common knowledge. I’m wondering if he bopped an ump with his stomach.
In other news, surprising no one, Bonds re-signs with Giants.
gord ash drafted: halladay, hudson, wells, michael young, rios, reed johnson, dustin mcgowan, brandon league, craig wilson, billy koch, casey blake, jay gibbons and vinnie chulk.
jp’s highlights so far: russ adams, david bush, aaron hill and adam lind.
admittedly it’s not exactly fair to compare 95–01 guys to those from 02–05, but that’s still a pretty damning dropoff.
okay mariners are dumb pt 124 rafael soriano for Horacio Ramirez
GAHAHAH WTF @ SEATTLE
11 MIL A YEAR FOR MECHE, WTF
Thanks for reading the thread, Morbs!
gord ash drafted: halladay, hudson, wells, michael young, rios, reed johnson, dustin mcgowan, brandon league, craig wilson, billy koch, casey blake, jay gibbons and vinnie chulk.
jp’s highlights so far: russ adams, david bush, aaron hill and adam lind.
OK, this is silly. Young didn’t come up in the J’s org, and the last nine names are unproven/fouth OF/burnouts (koch), with the possible exception of Blake. The Jays were a shittier team when Ash ran the club, and therefore they could draft earlier and get more can’t-miss prospects. It didn’t take a genius to pick Vernon Wells fifth overall. Meanwhile, we won’t know how JP’s picks (which included a lot of impressive Sept 2006 callups) turn out for a few years yet.
Gord Ash banked on rejects from last-place Pittsburgh (Carlos Garcia, Orlando Merced, yeah WHO DEY) to push the team over the edge from mediocrity, and signed 190-year old Ruben Sierra because he didn’t think Shawn Green was ready for the big leagues (even though it was his third full season with the club). His best trade was Plesac-Tony Batista, which looked like an absolute steal at the time but then again, only a couple of years later, Batista was gone and Plesac was resigned.
The biggest transaction that occured during Ash’s tenure was the free-agent signing of Clemens, and he had nothing to do with it (club president Paul Beeston did all the work).
The player that best represents Ash’s tenure with the J’s for me:
ihttp://2000magazine.com/websightsthree/yankeesmagazine/NEWPAGES2/thumbs/th_raul%20mondesi.jpg
Damn temporary nuilx!
okay mariners are dumb pt 124 rafael soriano for Horacio Ramirez
Well, they replaced Meche for a lot less than $11 million, and I’m not sure he’s any worse!
But they traded their 2nd-best (if not best) bullpen arm for rotational filler! That’s just duhbumbum.
OTM. That Mariners trade was terrible, regardless of the Meche outcome.
Rotational filler costs 10mil per year, haven’t you guys been paying attention.
I hate numbers.
Pettite to Yankees for $16M.
YES!
Clemens next? Then Jesse Orosco.
THANK GOD they signed someone that knows how to win in the postseason.
Bring back Irabu!