caulfield12

QUOTE (SpringfieldFan @ Dec 18, 2008 -> 10:16 PM) I believe Jenks - mostly. I think he made a decision to drop velocity in part for the reasons he stated. However, I don't think he had the ability to just dial it up again at will. If he could, I think he would have. Why did he revist three digits only in that last game against the Twins? It seems if he always had that ultra heater in his arsenal he would have broken it out at least a handful of times to let hitters know he still had it or to get a critical out when his back was against the wall. Wouldn't a 100mph heater have been a nice pitch to slip in against that pesky Gathright when he had a chance to set that record? How about some of those times when he was slumping and blowing saves, yet still wouldn't leave the low 90's? It just doesn't quite add up to me. I agree dropping the heat a little overall is a prudent move for all the reasons he stated, but at least keeping it availavle for a few critical occasions seems like a no-brainer to me. That 98-100 MPH heater would have been very helpful in the blown "Ken Harrelson HEART Carlos Gomez" game up in the Dome...does anyone have a replay of that game available? How hard was he throwing in the 9th inning of that game?

If we go by this 33% paycut theory, Garland would be at $8 million next season, Orlando Cabrera at $6,666.667 and Bobby Abreu at $10.7 million. We'll have to wait and see how close that is. Besides Garland, would anyone take either Cabrera or Abreu at those salaries for 2009?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20081219/wl_time/08599186745800 Article on the possible fate/s of the reporter and consequences for Maliki.

$4.5-5.5 million

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 18, 2008 -> 05:14 PM) It's "paid". Oh, and Coop'll fix 'im. Record is all that matters. Good pitchers find ways to win games. http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/shareit/cjez Basically, adjusting for ballpark over the last four seasons, Garland and Vazquez are pretty identical. So if you can get Garland for significantly less than $23 million for 2 years, then you have to look at it. However, just because you can get Garland for less still doesn't necessarily make it a bargain, it just makes Vazquez's deal look comparably worse.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 18, 2008 -> 05:14 PM) It's "paid". Oh, and Coop'll fix 'im. Record is all that matters. Good pitchers find ways to win games. So Danny Wright was a "good" pitcher when he went 14-12 with a 5.18 ERA??? I think he played on an offensive juggernaut that covered up most of his mistakes by hitting extremely well (for whatever reason) when he started that year. If you went by the first half of James Baldwin's 2000 season, you would think he would now be making $10-15 million per season. The fact is, many of the balls that were hit off of him found their way into fielder's gloves at an uncanny rate...but the "luck" equalled out and he quickly returned to his normal "mehhhhh" pitching ways before succumbing to injury. Baldwin was 14-7 that season, and a "winning" pitcher, but that year was a statistical anomaly as well. The point is, ROTO stats aren't the be-all, end-all (where Javy looks very good), but wins and losses aren't the only thing to take into consideration either when judging which pitcher would be best for your team.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 18, 2008 -> 05:10 PM) Vazquez: 127-129 Garland: 106-89 Wins are all that f***ing matters! You're telling me that you can make this comparison and "control" for the overall performances for the teams those guys pitched for over their entire careers...I'm not going to argue Vazquez is great, but by your theory, we should sign Andy Pettitte for $15 million per season, or Mike Mussina...because their overall W-L records with the Yankees will hold up against any pitcher. Or maybe the Mariners would trade us Felix Hernandez straight up for Garland because of Jon's overall winning record vis a vis King Felix. If you were the GM, would you really make that move?

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 18, 2008 -> 05:00 PM) You'll just stifle the convo with stats we can all pull up with our computers. We get it. It's cool, man. Garland wasn't phenomenal last year, but 14-8 out of your 4th starter isn't exactly going to kill a team, and I'm sure it's better than having 2 of Poreda, Marquez, or Richard in the rotation. Well, the Angels were a darned good team, so of course his wins are up there. Danks' W-L percentage isn't a very good measure of 2008, is it? Look behind the numbers at Garland or E. Santana and you'll see some interesting things. I always thought Santana was better than he actually is. Also, if you just want to point to W-L records, we have a season where Danny Wright won 14 games with a 5.18 ERA, which was 0.2 higher than JG.

The thing is, we had a more talented version of Jon Garland, and his name was Javy Vazquez. Granted, someone will point to post-season 2005 (over three seasons ago now) as the differentiating factor, Javy's post-season meltdowns, but I doubt Garland would have fetched the same package as Javy did from the Braves. It's very simple....if Marquez, Poreda/Richard, Broadway, Egbert, etc., can't get it done...then KW has to scoop up one of those bargain basement FA pitchers (like Livan Hernandez last year) and hit gold like he did with Loaiza. Someone like a Daniel Cabrera (but probably not him) is lurking and the White Sox know exactly who they'd want and at what price. Signing Garland just doesn't make much sense when they fought hard to get a return on Vazquez, who would have a pretty similar contract. We're all saying we can get Garland for $20 milllion over 2 years. Kyle Lohse just got over $40 million for four years. Not to mention the fact that of the second-tier options Garland has the best track record in terms of health and durability. Someone who loses out on Lowe will go after him, and for more money than we think at this point. When we see starting pitchers' contracts start to go down, I'll believe the dire economic predictions. So far, it's only seeming to affect closers, LF/1B/DH types (although the Ibanez deal was a shocker!) and Orlando Cabrera. Cabrera's not worth $10 million in this economy, Vazquez is not worth $11.5 million and Garland is probably not worth $10-12 million per season either.

Haven't seen many Atlanta people out there second-guessing giving up Flowers yet...they all CLAIM that he has no position with the Braves and was/is expendable. Second, MANY MANY posters here seemed to fall in love with Furcal over the last month, yet there are a ton of reasons (as listed in the article) why KW didn't come close to pulling the trigger, even though the popular belief was that we were the "mystery team" lurking in the shadows waiting to swoop in our prey and announce a shock to the AL Central race.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove08/c...ce=MLBHeadlines Good article on the perceived "value" of Abreu around the league. As far as TEX goes, teams like the Red Sox and Angels are making everyone wait...say he signs with the Angels, then it makes it impossible (in all likelihood) for Rivera or Garrett Anderson to stay there, due to payroll limitations. It also further dries up the market for Konerko, if there is one. Burrell, Abreu, G. Anderson, Rivera, Griffey, Bradley and Dunn (like Cabrera) are seeing their options decrease, but no team is willing to take on those salaries YET if they're still in the running for TEX or Lowe, for example. They're being told to wait. The Cubs need to move salary first before they are able to sign Milton Bradley, which probably means trading Marquis and eating part of his contract, which is also a waiting game, because every GM is now waiting for prices to continue falling, with the first sign being the closer's market with K-Rod's deal. There's pressure of the bottom tier/second tier free agents especially as they're watching a limited number of opportunities dry up.

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-bl...y_be_happy.html Good article in AJC about why the Braves were fortunate NOT to end up with Furcal. Also a pointed shot at Wren for trading Vazquez for Flowers.

One day after news broke of Brian Giles being sued for more than $10 million by a former girlfriend, who also alleged he battered her, the Padres issued a statement from CEO Sandy Alderson: “The Padres have recently learned of a lawsuit filed against Brian Giles by his former girlfriend alleging, among other things, abusive behavior by Brian. While we will not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit, abusive behavior in any form, by any member of the Padres organization, against anyone, violates the basic values of the Padres organization and is not condoned. “The Padres, and its employee assistance program, are committed to the elimination of all forms of abuse, including abuse against women. We will continue to monitor the lawsuit as it proceeds.” mlbtraderumors.com Padres outfielder Brian Giles was sued by his ex-girlfriend for more than $10 million, as she alleges that he hit, slapped, shook and kicked her while she was pregnant, leading to a miscarriage, according to Padres.com. He can join in the proud tradition of Sox standouts Wil Cordero and Albert Belle.

If I had a pulled rib cage muscle/oblique, nagging hand injury as well as a knee sprain/strain in one year, I'm sure my body language wouldn't be the best either. Konerko fought through all those things and really came through in the second half when he was close to 100%, after many Sox fans had written him off (there were many "warning track" power posts) as they have 2-3 times in the past. He's basically our captain, the most popular player on our team (to many Sox fans, along with Mark) and he's always been a steadying influence, great with the media and fans, etc. I've never considered him to be one of our biggest problems or issues. Logan, Swisher and Cabrera were definitely on their way out at season's end, and Crede wore out his welcome by taking his orders from Boras and refusing to try to play through pain when the team really needed him in August and September. I know he had an epidural or two...and that back injuries are impossible to totally recover 100% from, but just some of Ozzie's barbs/comments about the Crede situation, both during the season and also after it, led me to believe that they were tired of the drama/uncertainty with him and ready to move on. Joe was always a clutch hitter (before the last 2-3 seasons) and a superb defender. Not quite Ventura's equal, but not far behind him either.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,4326573.story

1) We have absolutely no insurance right now if one of our BIG 3 starters goes down to injury or non-performance. Other teams have more viable options...for instance, the Indians have Laffey, Sowers and Zach Jackson for one spot, the Tigers have Miner, Robertson and Willis, the Twins have Bonser, etc. 2) We don't have a legitimate lead-off hitter, at least one with a proven record of MLB success. 3) Unproven players at 3B, SS (in terms of fielding and repeating rookie success), 2B and CF. 4) Dye, Thome, Konerko and AJ are all getting up there in age...we don't really have a player internally ready to step in for some of these guys at the big league level yet (Flowers and Viciedo, not to mention Cole Armstrong, are probably one year away) if one of them misses large stretches of the season. 5) Linebrink is a huge question mark to me at this point, if he can repeat his success of first half 2008 6) Marquez Mark and the CR/AP Crew

See Crede, Joe. The wise strategy with that player. I guess you could make an argument we could have extended Rowand a year or two past arbitration, but at the time, it looked like either Anderson or Young would be much cheaper/better options down the line.

Mlb.com's Scott Merkin talked to White Sox closer Bobby Jenks, who is arbitration-eligible for the first time. Jenks told Merkin there's been no talk of an extension to date. He sounds willing though: "For me, if the White Sox offer a fair, long-term deal, we would take it [over] arbitration. If it's not considered fair, then even as a worst-case scenario, I'm excited to go into arbitration with what I've been told is a strong case." Jenks figures to top the first-year arb figure Huston Street received a few years ago, $3.3MM. Jonathan Papelbon is also eligible for arbitration for the first time. www.chisox.com

Daniel Cabrera Tuesday night (12/16) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The game is still in progress as I type this, but Daniel Cabrera's season debut in the Dominican League is already complete. Working on a pitch count, he faced only 14 hitters and allowed eight of them to reach base. The only run charged to him came in the top of the first when Victor Diaz ripped a two-out double to score Melky Cabrera, who'd walked. Overall, Daniel's line on a 'shake the rust off' type night looked like this: 2 1/3 IP 6H 1R 2BB 2K from orioleshangout.com

According to John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus, the Pirates top the list of suitors for Daniel Cabrera. He says the Brewers, Padres, Rangers, Blue Jays, and Nationals are also interested. We learned yesterday that the Blue Jays are interested but haven't made an offer yet. Cabrera's agent has heard from about half the teams in baseball, and one even offered a multiyear deal. mlbtraderumors.com

By not signing with the Dodgers...we're likely to get a second round or sandwich pick, because all the teams interested are between 1-15 in first round, and they can't give up such high draft picks for signing Type A's.

So now it's back down to: A's Royals Braves Blue Jays Indians Twins Orioles (cross off list, just signed Cesar I.) You also have Uribe, Eckstein, Jack Wilson trade possibility...I can't imagine BB would want to give up the draft picks. That was the whole beauty of Furcal for him, Type B compensation. Royals don't appear to have the money unless they move DeJesus or Guillen. Braves could use Escobar there. Blue Jays are in budget-consious mode. Both the Indians (A. Cabrera) and Twins (Punto/Casilla) have much cheaper options available for that position. I'm really intrigued where he will end up going, finally...as dick allen said over and over again, we got pretty lucky.

Young has one of the worst contracts in the game today going forward after 2009...why would the White Sox possibly take on that kind of commitment when they already have Ramirez, unless the Rangers ate at least 60% of it?

Assuming Rafael Furcal’s back is sound and he passes the Atlanta Braves’ physical, the next free agent shortstop to go should be Orlando Cabrera, who is sturdier and plays more often than Furcal, but is three years older and isn’t the same caliber of leadoff hitter Furcal. Nevertheless, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics, losers on Furcal, are likely to shift their attention to Cabrera, an edgy player who quickly wore out his welcome with the Chicago White Sox. The Toronto Blue Jays, who withdrew their interest in Furcal before he agreed to terms with the Braves on Tuesday, probably will be peripheral players on Cabrera. They liked Furcal in large part because of his leadoff skills. The Kansas City Royals also are looking for a shortstop and could make a play for Cabrera, although he might be out of their price range. The Dodgers, however, are most in need of a shortstop, and of Cabrera. Omar Vizquel, still a marvel of conditioning and flexibility at age 41, can field but not hit, making him a one-year stopgap for a team that can’t land – or doesn’t want to land – Cabrera. The only other free-agent shortstop with a decent resume available is David Eckstein, who is more apt to find a job as a second baseman. yahoosports.com

I hope you're talking about Manny Ramirez in LF and not Alexei!!! The last position on the field I would want Alexei to play is either LF or 1B.