Balta1701

Aaron Boone signs a 1 year, $925,000 deal with the Marlins.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 04:18 PM) To be honest with you, I am starting to like this Carlos Gomez kid even more so than Milledge. I'd love a package of Pelfrey/Gomez. The stolen base numbers on Goimez are gaudy compared to Milledge, but Milledge has a much higher OBP throughout the minor leagues, and a much better K/BB ratio (both strikes out less and walks more). We're talking about OPS's in the mid 800's compared to OPS's in the md 700's. Not to mention Milledge being more MLB ready right now.

QUOTE(fathom @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 04:04 PM) No offense, but we don't have anyone that could get that package. We've seen what we've gotten for our pitchers this offseason, and that package isn't even on the same planet as what we've gotten. Hypothetically, if we're willing to sacrifice making this team worse by another step next year, shouldn't the price other teams have to pay increase more with each step?

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 01:38 PM) The Indians? Get a bullpen. It's not going to be the best in baseball, but with their offense it doesn't need to be the best, it just needs to be better than the disaster of last season, and they've done that. Keith Foulke, Roberto Hernandez, Joe Borowski, Aaron Fultz have all been added to that pen. It's not going to be like Minnesota's bullpen last year, where it h its the 7th inning and the game is over, but it should be good enough to keep them from losing every game that goes to the bullpen. Which, with the lineup Cleveland is sporting, might just be good enough.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 12:59 PM) So I'm saying in the future ... if Jerry doesn't want to keep spending and have us in the top echelon of payroll, sell the team. But as of now ... I give Jerry credit for having a big enough payroll. That's why I won't ever refer to him as Reinsdor(xxx) again. I will always be grateful for he, KW and Oz giving us a title. Here's the one problem with your logic...being in the upper echelon in payroll by no means guarantees you even a good chance at a winning season. Take a look at the Cubs or Red Sox last year if you want your prime examples...they spent a lot of money on specific positions, but wound up making some silly deals as well that tied up cash, cost them players, and left them unable to make it through the season when adversity hit. If Kenny is willing to sell off some, or a lot of his players, but also brings in the next generation of youth at the same time, he puts himself in an ideal place to avoid getting stuck like the Cubs and Red Sox, having to spend $300 million in an offseason just to get back in contention. It's much, much, much easier to plug a 5th starter hole or find a single position player than it is to totally rebuild a lineup or a pitching staff.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 02:15 PM) na, he must have known. he's been running a large corporation for some time now and is fairly business savy. TIFWIW, but Apple's internal investigation says nothing bad happened. Big shocker there.

ESPN.

QUOTE(Brian @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 12:43 PM) These are the Marlins, the same team that traded Derek Lee straight up for Choi. We should not have to overpay for Baldelli. I would trade BA and a prospect that is not that promising for him. Um, Baldelli plays for Tampa. The Marlins would have to be a 3rd team involved (and Hell, the Marlins would probably love to get Baldelli themselves, considering they are in real nead of a leadoff hitter).

You know, that's a really interesting point Abe...the Union could really have set themselves up for the fall here. Yes, they did everything they could to try to cover for their steroid-abusing members in 2003. They tried to set the system up so that the system itself would fail...they gave people plenty of warning, everyone knew that the tests would be happening during spring training of 03, everyone knew there would be exactly 1 test and then you'd be done, so everyone in baseball with 1/88 of a brain should have been able to figure out that they should stop using them in December or January, let the body flush out, and then start again after the test was administered. But the Union also made sure that the results of that first test were supposed to be secret. No penalties, no suspensions, no one knows the results. In other words, they removed the best incentive for people to actually get off of the stuff...the penalty. Even with the warning, because the people being tested thought they were safe, a large chunk continued using them all the way through the tests. And that's entirely because the Union did such a good job of protecting the people involved from penalties. I wonder if there's any chance that George Mitchell's failing whitewash investigation might be able to get their hands on this data now that the Feds have it.

There are now reports, unconfirmed by the U.S. but apparently making it to Iranian television and several international news agencies, that the Iranians Held in Iraq by the U.S. have now been freed. The U.S. never released any firm details about who the people were or why they were being held, so I don't think we should put much stock into the lack of confirmation from the U.S. It seems pretty likely that they have in fact been released, although I wouldn't call it 100% yet just based on the quality of sources we have.

This one should rocket right up to the top of the list of stupidest things we've heard in the past 6 years. link. It burns...it burns....

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 11:59 AM) I should add, I wouldn't be shocked if the deal turned out to be something like: Pelfrey, Perez, Milledge. Kenny gets another very good arm that hasn't had success lately in the majors (Perez) and than two very toolsy highly touted guys. Given the wasteland that is the Mets starting rotation, I can't imagine them giving up a guy like Perez as well, simply because they have no one to take his spot. They'd need to get 2 starters back for that to make sense for them. Going into next season with Glavine, Buehrle/Javy, El Duque, Maine, and Humber as their top 5 is almost as bad as what they have now.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 11:58 AM) Some time in the New Year I'm going to put together a little essay for everyone on 'Player Value' just so I don't have to read such things anymore. The sad thing is, if Tampa Bay were to make that exact deal, Baldelli for Broadway and Haeger, I bet it would actually help them be a much better team in 2007 and 2008 than sitting there holding onto Baldelli and waiting for someone to meet their price will.

How in the world have there been more than 5 posts on Jeff Weaver and why he will never pitch for the Chicago White Sox without having anyone note that his agent is some dude named Scott Boras?

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 11:50 AM) I'd love to get a look at KW's "board" of targeted prospects. I'd bet that Pelfrey is right up there. I hope so, but mainly because I've been sitting here this whole offseason thinking that if the Mets don't sign Zito, there's no team out there that matches up better as a trading partner. The Mets have a starting rotation that is a disaster area, but have a lot of young talent, including in the rotation, and have money to spend on a veteran starter. The White Sox have now 4 veteran starters, with some young talent in their minors but plenty of room for more, but probably don't have the money to spend to keep the veterans in their rotation. Right now, the Mets rotation on opening day pencils in as Glavine, El Duque, John Maine, Oliver Perez, and probably Pelfrey. El Duque, the guy who lost the 5th starter spot for the White Sox in 05, is currently sitting as their #2 guy. No one in their right mind can tell me that rotation will win a world series even if they get Pedro back, let alone get to the playoffs, given that the Braves, Phillies, and Marlins will all be better this year.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 11:25 AM) Of course you got to judge that based on this off-season, which in general I'd call one of the worse off-seasons in the history of baseball (from a generic baseball perspective). Teams have been regretting those 99-00 deals for 5 years, and trying to move them ever since. The same thing will happen with a lot of these deals, especially the long-term FA deals.

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 08:21 AM) Now we're apparently going back to Jerry-Ball, where we're supposed to marvel at how much money we're unloading by trading away the higher priced guys for IOUs in the form of prospects? Billy Beane trades away Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder for prospects, builds a team that contends or wins that division every year, and gets books written about how he's a genius for playing Beane Ball.. Kenny Williams trades away a couple of guys for prospects before they hit free agency 2 years after winning the world series, wins 90 games 2 years in a row, and gets insulted for playing "Jerry Ball (wasn't he an offensive lineman somewhere?) QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 11:26 AM) Also, Balta: Uribe is a decent shortstop. Though, I think I know what you meant: Rafael Furcal, or Miguel Tejada! You get the idea. If we cut our starting rotations' salary by 80%, then presumably, the amount of money spent at other positions would be able to increase. And our bullpen just happens to be ungodly cheap until about 2011 as well thanks to KW's trades this offseason and the stuff we've done in our minor leagues. So we should be able to spend the money to fill in whatever Podsednik or Uribe type gaps do appear in our order.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 11:19 AM) So if you make that trade, our rotation moving forward is anchored by Danks, Pelrey, Gio all making minimum amounts of money? And Floyd, and Haeger, and Broadway, and probably McCullough soon after that, with Liotta, Phillipps, and anyone else we manage to develop or pick up thrown in with it. In other words, yeah, we'd have like 8-9 potential MLB minimum salary, front-of-the rotation guys in there. We'd go from spending $50 million on our starting 5 to spending $10 million on our starting 7. If we couldn't find the money for a decent Shortstop in that setup, then Jerry deserves to be egged.

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 10:09 AM) What is the difference between Kevin Brown/Mike Hampton and Jason Schmidt/Barry Zito? Jason Schmidt's contract only lasts 3 years.

According to the New York post, the appeals court opinion which gave the Feds access to these test results includes the interesting note that of the 10 players that the investigators were specifically seeking information on regarding the BALCO case, 8 tested positive in the 2003 round of testing. We don't know which 8, and honestly I don't know more than 3 of the 10 names they were going after, but that sure means that someone out of Bonds, Sheffield, and Giambi must have failed the test if that report is true.

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Dec 28, 2006 -> 04:55 PM) hmm, career stats say... no It's disturbingly close. Nearly identical WHIP, Buehrle with a slightly higher ERA (.3), Buehrle WL at 97/66 and Zito at 102/63. A better 2nd half from Buehrle last year and his career numbers would be better than Zito's.

Link.

While we're at it, i'll throw in another very sad story about the little town of Bethlehem.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Dec 28, 2006 -> 01:29 PM) 96 names / 1200 players on 40-man rosters = 8% And remember, that's after each player being tested was given a warning about the upcoming test, including the timing.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Dec 28, 2006 -> 02:07 PM) Right now KW should be on the phone to Omar Minaya, probably about Javier Vazquez I imagine. Pelfrey and Milledge should be the asking price, or Pelfrey, Humber and a fringe prospect. And yes I know if we make this trade it'll weaken our chances of winning the division in 2007. But who's to say if Pelfrey wasn't acquired, he wouldn't pitch well in our rotation? A guy like Jon Lester did pretty well for the Red Sox for example. Plus imagine a future rotation containing 3 of the top 10 LHP prospects in baseball today with Pelfrey, Danks and Gio. We'd control them for 6 seasons, and we would contend in this division for a long time. You're missing 1 little point there. Yes, Pelfrey/Humber would almost certainly be a downgrade from Buehrle next year. But then at the same time, think about what happens to the outfield when it goes from Podsednik/Anderson/Dye to Milledge/Anderson/Dye with Podsednik as the backup? Suddenly that OF hole that everyone is worried about is filled, along with more speed in the lineup and on the bench.