Tigers Sign Damon - 1 yr, 8 mil; NTC

[knightni]

With the added players that aren't receiving offers, it's almost time to expand again. If not expand teams, at least expand rosters from 25 to 27.

[shakes]

Keep in mind that the reason teams are able to platoon guys at DH recently is because of the diminished market for some of these players. Whereas in the past, it was probably more difficult to afford a platoon such as this, it seems like there are some players on the market with some special skillsets that can be had at an affordable price, allowing such platoons to become more feasible.

 

That is cancelled out by a lot of teams reducing payroll.

 

The biggest reason is guys can't use PED's to stay productive into their late 30's and early 40's. That, and teams are paying attention to speed and defense again. It's just an adjustment to the testing.

[elrockinMT]

I agree, we should bring Frank back out of retirement, dude was a gold glover at the designated hitter position.

 

 

You do not blasphemize Frank Thomas. I may have to ask that you be banned from Soxtalk for the rest of your days

[elrockinMT]

With the added players that aren't receiving offers, it's almost time to expand again. If not expand teams, at least expand rosters from 25 to 27.

 

 

Competitive baseball is the key issue. However, expansion is an interesting idea

[iamshack]

With the added players that aren't receiving offers, it's almost time to expand again. If not expand teams, at least expand rosters from 25 to 27.

I disagree. It isn't that there are more talented veterans all the sudden, it's just that teams are going younger and cheaper, leaving less roster spots for more expensive veterans.

 

The market will correct itself eventually and equal things out again.

[macsandz]

FYI - Damon is crashing in Hawaii right now and he's not gonna decide on either offer until next week.

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

White Sox, Royals, Tigers, A's, Blue Jays, O's, Mariners are all going to use multiple players to DH. The Angels will if Matsui is healthy, and the Red Sox acquired Hermida to do exactly the same if Ortiz slumps. The Rays will do the same if Burrell is bad or can be moved.

 

You don't think that's trending away from the traditional DH?

The A's, O's, Blue Jays, and Royals are all rebuilding. And they all suck.

 

The Tigers are up to their necks in DHs on bad contracts. They don't have much of a choice but to play these guys.

 

The Rays will do the same if Burrell is bad or moved??? Oh, I get it. So because they signed a DH to be a DH but then that DH turned out to be a bad contract it means they're now on Ozzie's rotating DH bandwagon?

 

The Mariners are making a poor choice and are again running Jr. out there. The M's offense is really, really bad. The Mariners are getting too much love, way too much love actually. They are going to suck on the road when they don't have the 2-headed monster out there, and even when they do have their aces on the mound, it's not like the Sox, Red Sox, Yankees, and Tigers especially don't have guys who can take the mound and out-pitch Lee/Felix on any given day. The Mariners are a lot better, but they're not a playoff team IMO.

 

Furthermore I can pretty much guarantee that if/when baseball in the America League gets turned on its head, the franchises leading that charge will *not* be any of the ones you have mentioned.

 

It seems to me that the Sox are just being flat-out stupid. I'll be very happy if Damon decides to take a lowball offer to come play here for a year, but I'm not counting on it.

 

PS the Red Sox acquired Hermida to DH? The Red Sox already pushed Lowell out of the 3B job and ATM are realistically looking at a Lowell/Ortiz platoon with Hermida as a 4th OF. And BTW, putting under-performing veterans into your discussion doesn't help your argument. Lots of teams have s***ty players on s***ty contracts right now and these teams have no choice but to either play these guys or release them and eat their entire contracts. Just because you bring in an insurance option doesn't mean you're moving away from the traditional DH role. If that were the case you could have argued that we moved away from the traditional DH role in 2005 because we had Everett as insurance. And what happened in 2006? We got Thome, a traditional DH. Unless AL teams reduce the active roster maximum to 24, I'll be absolutely shocked if teams by and large decide to exchange extra offense for more versatility.

Edited February 13, 2010 by Kenny Hates Prospects

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

One other thing too: I do agree that baseball is moving more towards pitching + defense in the AL, and I think it will continue to do so in the future. I personally love that. However there is a huge difference between building around pitching + defense and neglecting an offense. If the game does move more towards pitching + defense in the AL, that is even *more* of a reason to keep with a traditional DH and look to maximize offensive production out of that spot. Ozzie however has this idea that pitching + defense means s***ty fast guys and versatility. f*** that.

[RockRaines]

The A's, O's, Blue Jays, and Royals are all rebuilding. And they all suck.

 

Unlesss Thome is going to sit all season, the Twins are also rotating DH's. Do they suck?

[nitetrain8601]

I thought the Blue Jays were going with Adam Lind. A's is going to be a competition between Fox and Cust. Royals and Orioles are the only teams that are going to flat out have rotating DH's.

 

Either way, I don't see the Sox getting Johnny unless he goes really cheap. I think it's more to drive up the Tigers' cost like many think.

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

Unlesss Thome is going to sit all season, the Twins are also rotating DH's. Do they suck?

That's called having depth, and if you're really penciling in Delmon Young as an everyday outfielder in Minnesota then I think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself. I don't think anyone would be shocked if the Twins had Kubel in LF, Span in CF, Cuddyer in RF with Thome as the fulltime DH by the time it all ended.

 

And I think you're missing the point anyway. The idea of the traditional DH isn't so much about one player starting 150 games in that spot as it is about putting highly-productive offensive players into a spot where their lack of defensive skills cannot hurt the team. There will always be platoon situations, especially in the cases of players like Thome, Vlad, Dye, etc. who are at the ends of the careers. Ozzie however is planning on turning the DH role into a spot geared toward versatility instead of trying to maximize offensive and defensive value. Huge difference. The Twins are rolling with the traditional DH while the Sox aren't planning on doing that.

[Kenny Hates Prospects]

I thought the Blue Jays were going with Adam Lind. A's is going to be a competition between Fox and Cust. Royals and Orioles are the only teams that are going to flat out have rotating DH's.

 

Either way, I don't see the Sox getting Johnny unless he goes really cheap. I think it's more to drive up the Tigers' cost like many think.

The Jays also have Brett Wallace in the picture too.

[MattZakrowski]

With the added players that aren't receiving offers, it's almost time to expand again. If not expand teams, at least expand rosters from 25 to 27.

 

The NL nutting up and adding the DH would take care of a lot of the issues.

Edited February 13, 2010 by MattZakrowski

[SoxAce]

I don't think anyone would be shocked if the Twins had Kubel in LF, Span in CF, Cuddyer in RF with Thome as the fulltime DH by the time it all ended.

 

I hope they do for our case.. That would be a brutal OF defensively. Rock and shakes are right in this instance.

[MattZakrowski]

Kubel really isn't much worse in the field than Young.

[joeynach]

That's called having depth, and if you're really penciling in Delmon Young as an everyday outfielder in Minnesota then I think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself. I don't think anyone would be shocked if the Twins had Kubel in LF, Span in CF, Cuddyer in RF with Thome as the fulltime DH by the time it all ended.

 

And I think you're missing the point anyway. The idea of the traditional DH isn't so much about one player starting 150 games in that spot as it is about putting highly-productive offensive players into a spot where their lack of defensive skills cannot hurt the team. There will always be platoon situations, especially in the cases of players like Thome, Vlad, Dye, etc. who are at the ends of the careers. Ozzie however is planning on turning the DH role into a spot geared toward versatility instead of trying to maximize offensive and defensive value. Huge difference. The Twins are rolling with the traditional DH while the Sox aren't planning on doing that.

 

Well if this is the case then the twins made a big mistake in tendering Young a contract, albeit for $3M+ too. Thats not something the twins are in the business of doing, eating $$.

[Quin]

With the added players that aren't receiving offers, it's almost time to expand again. If not expand teams, at least expand rosters from 25 to 27.

 

A friend and I were talking about this the other day, you could add 2 teams to the AL, and have four team divisions in both leagues. Portland, Memphis, New Orleans, San Juan, Las Vegas could all have a team.

 

The diluting the talent pool excuse for not expanding is stupid too, since the talent pool has exploded into the whole world.

[caulfield12]

Well if this is the case then the twins made a big mistake in tendering Young a contract, albeit for $3M+ too. Thats not something the twins are in the business of doing, eating $$.

 

Sidney Ponson

Ruben Sierra

Juan Castro

Ramon Ortiz

Tony Batista

Adam Everett

Mike Lamb

Craig Monroe

RonDL White

Livan Hernandez

Phil Nevin

 

All say hello...just joking, but actually, the Twins have made LOTS of stupid financial decisions on veterans in completing their rosters over the last decade. It's just that the five ALCD championships hide some of that unless you give their rosters a closer examination.

 

And they've made a lot of good moves too. I've always argued their unearthing Kenny Rogers on the cheap (the White Sox passed) for the fifth starter's spot was the single biggest difference between those 2 teams in 2003. The margin of error was that thin with the White Sox pitching, despite the seasons of Loaiza and Colon.

 

 

[Princess Dye]

Interesting

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/02/john...saturday-1.html

[Quin]

Interesting

 

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/02/john...saturday-1.html

 

That would indeed point to the Sox being Damon's team.

[chetkincaid]

That would indeed point to the Sox being Damon's team.

 

 

I think he's coming. I think he would rather play here than Detroit. KW is probably just unwilling to play games with Boras and is patiently waiting on Damon to fall in his lap.

[Dick Allen]

That would indeed point to the Sox being Damon's team.

Or Atlanta. Six weeks of being able to stay home has to be attractive. Boras had his puppet Heyman say the Sox and Tigers were bidding far more than Atlanta, but that could have been and probably was BS too. One thing it does make clear, Johnny doesn't seem too enthusiastic about Detroit. I would think in a perfect world, to end the silliness, the Tigers would pull their offer off the table, who knows, maybe they have, but they need Johnny more than he needs them so Boras can play his game.

 

I think Johnny is probably certain if he had a decent year this year, the Yankees would welcome him back in 2011.

Edited February 13, 2010 by Dick Allen

[lostfan]

Unlesss Thome is going to sit all season, the Twins are also rotating DH's. Do they suck?

If Thome is part of your DH rotation along with someone who kills LHP I doubt you have a lot of people complaining about that. That's different.

[Dick Allen]

If Thome is part of your DH rotation along with someone who kills LHP I doubt you have a lot of people complaining about that. That's different.

I agree. There is nothing wrong with the concept of rotating DHs. What's wrong is having second-rate hitters rotating in that role.

[lostfan]

I agree. There is nothing wrong with the concept of rotating DHs. What's wrong is having second-rate hitters rotating in that role.

Granted, your DH might not be able to play defense, but does it kill you that much to have one guy who can hit and not play the field?