Ok, since many of us feel its long overdue....and in an effort to not have to traverous to specific team threads...here we go:
HotStove Report: Hot Stove Report 2008/2009 | MLB.com: News Angels in the CC sweepstakes: Angels may join CC sweepstakes | MLB.com: News Tazawa set to select Red Sox: Tazawa set to choose Red Sox | MLB.com: News Cubs say they are exiting the Peavy Trade Sweepstakes: Piniella: Cubs are done seeking Peavy | MLB.com: News Yanks my not make offer to Burnett: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081122&content_id=3688765&vkey=news_nyy&fext=.jsp&c_id=nyy
Full List of MLB Free Agents: Players who have filed for free agency | MLB.com: News Arizona Clark, Tony (1B); Dunn, Adam (OF); Cruz, Juan (RP); Eckstein, David (SS); Hudson, Orlando (2B); Johnson, Randy (SP); Lyon, Brandon (RP) Atlanta Dessens, Elmer (P); Glavine, Tom (SP); Hampton, Mike (SP); Julio, Jorge (RP); Norton, Greg (OF); Ohman, Will (RP); Smoltz, John (SP); Tavarez, Julian (RP) Baltimore Castro, Juan (SS); Cintron, Alex (SS); Millar, Kevin (1B); Payton, Jay (OF) Boston Byrd, Paul (SP); Casey, Sean (1B); Colon, Bartolo (SP); Cora, Alex (SS); Kotsay, Mark (OF); Ross, Dave (C); Schilling, Curt (SP); Timlin, Mike (RP); Varitek, Jason (C) Chicago Cubs Blanco, Henry (C); Dempster, Ryan (SP); Edmonds, Jim (OF); Fox, Chad (RP); Howry, Bob (RP); Lieber, Jon (RP); Ward, Daryle (1B); Wood, Kerry (RP) Chicago White Sox Cabrera, Orlando (SS); Crede, Joe (3B); Griffey Jr., Ken (OF); Hall, Toby (C); Ramirez, Horacio (RP); Uribe, Juan (2B) Cincinnati Affeldt, Jeremy (RP); Bako, Paul (C); Fogg, Josh (SP); Hairston Jr., Jerry (SS); Lincoln, Michael (RP); Mercker, Kent (RP); Patterson, Corey (OF); Valentin, Javier (C); Weathers, Dave (RP) Cleveland * Donnelly, Brendan (RP); Elarton, Scott (SP); Fasano, Sal (C); Rincon, Juan (RP) Colorado Fuentes, Brian (RP); Herges, Matt (RP); Hernandez, Livan (SP); Melhuse, Adam (C); Podsednik, Scott (OF); Rusch, Glendon (RP) Detroit Farnsworth, Kyle (RP); Fossum, Casey (RP); Garcia, Freddy Antonio (SP); Jones, Todd (RP); Renteria, Edgar (SS); Rogers, Kenny (SP); Wilson, Vance (C) Florida Gonzalez, Luis (OF); Hendrickson, Mark (RP); LoDuca, Paul (C); Rhodes, Arthur (RP) Houston Ausmus, Brad (C); Brocail, Doug (RP); Hawkins, LaTroy (RP); Loretta, Mark (2B); Wolf, Randy (SP) Kansas City Grudzielanek, Mark (2B) Los Angeles Angels Anderson, Garret (OF); Garland, Jon (SP); Oliver, Darren (RP); Rivera, Juan (OF); Rodriguez, Francisco (RP); Teixeira, Mark (1B) Los Angeles Dodgers Beimel, Joe (RP); Bennett, Gary (C); Blake, Casey (3B); Furcal, Rafael (SS); Garciaparra, Nomar (1B); Johnson, Jason (RP); Kent, Jeff (2B); Lowe, Derek (SP); Maddux, Greg (SP); Ozuna, Pablo (3B); Park, Chan Ho (RP); Ramirez, Manny (OF); Sweeney, Mark (1B); Penny, Brad (SP) Milwaukee Branyan, Russell (3B); + Counsell, Craig (SS); Durham, Ray (2B); Gagne, Eric (RP); Kapler, Gabe (OF); Lamb, Michael (3B); Mota, Guillermo (RP); Sabathia, CC (SP); Sheets, Ben (SP); Shouse, Brian (RP) Minnesota Everett, Adam (SS); Guardado, Eddie (RP); Punto, Nick (SS); Reyes, Dennys (RP) New York Mets Alou, Moises (OF); Armas Jr., Tony (RP); Ayala, Luis (RP); Easley, Damion (2B); Hernandez, Orlando (SP); Martinez, Pedro (SP); Martinez, Ramon E. (2B); Nixon, Trot (OF); Perez, Oliver (SP); Rincon, Ricardo (RP); Wise, Matt (RP) New York Yankees Abreu, Bob (OF); + Giambi, Jason (1B); + Marte, Damaso (RP); Moeller, Chad (C); Mussina, Mike (SP); + Pavano, Carl (SP); Pettitte, Andy (SP); Ponson, Sidney (SP); Rodriguez, Ivan (C) Oakland Brown, Emil (OF); Embree, Alan (RP); Foulke, Keith (RP); Thomas, Frank (DH) Philadelphia Gordon, Tom (RP); Seanez, Rudy (RP); Burrell, Pat (OF); Moyer, Jamie (SP) Pittsburgh Gomez, Chris (3B); Michaels, Jason (OF); Mientkiewicz, Doug (1B); Rivas, Luis (SS) St. Louis Juan Encarnacion (OF); Isringhausen, Jason (RP); Izturis, Cesar (SS); Looper, Braden L. (SP); Lopez, Felipe (2B); Mulder, Mark (SP); Springer, Russ (RP); Villone, Ron (RP) San Diego Hoffman, Trevor (RP); Prior, Mark (SP) San Francisco Aurilia, Rich (1B); Vizquel, Omar (SS) Seattle Bloomquist, Willie (OF); Cairo, Miguel (1B); Ibanez, Raul (OF) Tampa Bay Baldelli, Rocco (DH); Floyd, Cliff (OF); Hinske, Eric (OF); Miller, Trever (RP) Toronto Burnett, A.J. (SP); Parrish, John (RP); Wilkerson, Brad (OF); Zaun, Gregg (C) Texas + Blalock, Hank (3B); Bradley, Milton (DH); Jennings, Jason (SP); Vazquez, Ramon (3B); Wright, Jamey (RP) Washington Boone, Aaron (1B); Perez, Odalis (SP) * = Potentially eligible due to contract terms. + = Provisional election pending resolution of option provision in Player's UPC.
I'm torn lol. Part of me doesnt want him to go to the Yankees, but if he doesnt then the Yankees will sign Teixeira, who doesnt care where he plays as long as he's getting the most money possible.
I am shocked that people say that by landing Swisher the Yanks are out of the Teixeira sweepstakes. Does anyone else believe this, I know they have 6 outfielders but they all suck. If the Yankees don't sign Tex, I won't be afraid of a lineup with Swisher at 1st, and some combination of Matsui, Damon, Cabrera and Nady at OF and DH. They scored only 789 runs last year, after 968 in 2007.
I agree, the Yanks will get involved in Tex. I'm hoping that if they keep pitching the #1 priority that maybe they wont overpay for him though.
Not for a second. Like I've been saying since the trade first went down. Good move by the Yankees but if it means they won't go after Teixeira or make Swisher their everyday 1st baseman it's a big mistake. And yes I agree the line up isn't scary. Posada is coming off of an injury at age 36, Jeter looks like he's going on the decline, and who knows about Cano. Really the only guy the Yankees can count on/gurantee to putting up better numbers is Arod.
I clearly think NYY are in the Tex running. Has anyone officially offered him a baseline yet? Did LAAoA? Agree, with our outfield situation - lots of oxygen breathers - not much else in contribution whether via glove or bat. Yes, our run production was down but we crushed in 2007 so alot harder to sustain or surpass that level (Injuries killed us in 2008), and personally, if we can add Tex as our 1st base glove, and add DeJesus from KC to roam Center (would suspect an OF traded in return Melky or Matsui even - Damon back to KC would be a Godsend)...our D will be greatly improved with Nady, the likes of Swisher as DH/OF/1B (unless he gets re-traded?), then we can thin out our outfield issues.
According to Espn's bottom line the Joe Torre has spoken repeatedly to Andy Petitte about pitching in LA. Interesting scenario that would be.
Angels havent offered him anything yet. They're supposedly working on a package modeled after what Miguel Cabrera signed, 8/150ish I think. Everyone seems to be holding off because they know whatever they offer it'll just be a spring board for Boras to shop for a bigger deal.
The LoHud Yankees Blog The Red Sox, based on some reports, are close to signing Junichi Tazawa of Japan. He’s a 22-year-old Japanese amateur player who has a chance to be pretty good depending on the scout you ask. Others think he doesn’t throw hard enough. But whether Tazawa is any good or not isn’t the point. The point is that he is an amateur player and by signing him, the Red Sox would break a decades-old informal agreement between the Major Leagues and the Japanese leagues not to pilfer amateur players from each other’s country. For the Japanese, this is a huge potential problem. If they can’t keep their best players in the Pacific and Central Leagues for at least a few years, the quality of their baseball will quickly diminish. ..think what you want about this, but it can't be good for baseball in any way.
For Japanese baseball no, but the MLB yes. Personally I don't have a problem with it (no matter which team did it not because it was my favorite team). I feel that players should be able to play in any league they want to.
hmmm cant understand why the rocks turned this down: The Rockies turned down the Mets' proposal of Aaron Heilman for Huston Street, the New York Post reports. A trade apparently is still a possibility, but the Rockies would want Pedro Feliciano along with Heilman. The Mets think that's too high of a price to pay for a guy in Street who might not even be their closer by the time the season starts. Source: New York Post Good god, ill throw in Feliciano, Schoenweis, Dirty Sanchez, and Slapstillo; the 5 douchekateers.
You can already tell that any Sabathia move is going to be a terrible deal for the team that signs him. Seriously, it might not be Barry Zito bad, but its going to be AWFUL nonetheless. The guy sucks in the postseason (last season notwithstanding because he was clearly overworked down the stretch) and I can count on one finger (David Wells) the amount of guys that have exceled in their 30s with weight problems. All that said, I really hope he goes to the Yankees.
I believe in the talent and depth of Yanks Farm System, and have faith in Cashman. So if no Petitte and no CC in 2009 for Yankees, you wont hear me complain.
I think the Yankees will be fine. They have a very nice young core in that rotation with Wang, Chamberlain and Hughes. I just believe that whomever signs CC is really going to regret it. Sabathia just has a boatload of red flags, whether its his postseason struggles (22 ERs in 25 IP, which totals to a nice inflated ERA of around 8.00) or his weight problems (see: Colon, Bartolo). Nothing about the guy makes me believe he should be making anywhere near the money that the Mets paid Santana last offseason.
For sure, and long term deals for Arms hardly ever work out effectively in the latter years. Unlike a bat were production is more consistent traditionally over the length of the contract, an Arm can be erratic as all get out as age and innings pile up.
I think the Yankees would be better served by using that money and going hard after Teixeira. He's another guy that I don't think will be as productive as his contract dictates (let's all be frank, he's a good player but he's not $200M good), but like you mentioned, bats are a less risky bet. Also, an infield of Arod, Jeter, Cano (I think he's gonna have a huge bounceback year, the guy has all the tools to be an excellent hitter) and Teixeira will certainly be enough offense, especially with the guys they have in the rotation, to make a run at the Red Sox and Rays for the AL East title. I have no doubt the Yankees will be right there as always. That organization has too much pride to not bounce back swinging this year.
Yeah, I want Tex for his glove and D, even more than his bat....what I do love is he is switch hitter; never can have enough of those for match up purposes. So, what's the latest internals regarding Varitek (he has been the one guy year after year I said I would take on the Yankees). Lots of solid young Catchers out there. I think Laird would be a nice fit for Boston....even Hernandez from O's since they will have a young stud coming up no later than mid year. I know some have a woody for Salty, but for what he does, I think Laird is the better fit in Boston.
I know Street wasnt 1/3rd of the worst bullpen in the history of baseball. Also Street was among the best closers in the league before injuries derailed him.
Sure, but doesnt Heilman project as a Starter that just doesnt have a spot??? Are Mets going after K-Rod??
I personally would love to have Saltalamacchia, but he's going to cost us Bowden and he's a young, potential top of the rotation guy. Also, I could see why the front office would be concerned with Saltalamacchia's apparent defensive shortcomings. He wouldn't be playing a position where you can afford many defensive lapses. We'll see how it plays out, but I don't see how they don't bring Varitek back for another 2 years if that's an option. Bad news for us Sox fans, because it means two more summers of us watching him get overmatched at the plate.
Rule 5 Draft (Dec 11) Rule 5 draft - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Great options exist for 2009 Rule 5 Draft The Baseball Analysts: The 2008 Rule 5 Draft: Previewing the Pitchers All 6 year Minor League Free Agents http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/minorleagues/free_agents.jsp
Like who? So far almost everyone outside of Joba has been a disappointment or a bust. I'm not giving up on Hughes because I still think he'll be an above average MLB starter (but probably not the ace he was being made out to be) but everyone else hasn't shown much of being helpful to the Yankees. Also I know a lot of Yankee fans were pimping Alan Horne, JB Cox and Kevin Whelan last year but they weren't even put on the Yankees' 40 man roster thus being exposed and could be taken in the rule 5 draft. It is possible that the farm system has been a bit overhyped. The Yankees need to sign at least one but probably 2 pitchers out of CC/Burnett/Lowe for next year. Right now as it stands a rotation of Wang (coming off an injury), Joba (who it is very possible he can't handle throwing 200 innings a year), Hughes, Kennedy and ? doesn't look good heading into the season.
I am not giving up on Kennedy yet. Same with Hughes as you stated. Joba has to decide (or have it decided for him) if he is rotation or bullpen, but dont dismiss Aceves, Brackman or Sanchez as each have solid upside. Now at the end of the day, I cant say we have a true ACE #1 (including Wang), but we have plenty of arms that tell me not to throw money into the CC hype.
Some Yanks officials think the Angels are bluffing at offering CC anything close to 140 mill in an attempt to get Tex to lower his asking price. I hope that's the case, but we'll see. We've been talking about CC since before the season ended, so I'm not so sure we arent serious about pursuing him.
Personally I never understood why Kennedy was so highly regarded. He throws strikes but hardily ever hits over 93 mph and I don't see a lot of movement or depth in his secondary pitches (unlike a Joba and Hughes). With that being said I think he'd be a pretty good NL pitcher, especially in a big ball park like Petco but pitching in the AL East, I'm not sure. But again you're right, he's still young and pitching is unpredictable so who knows. Brackman is coming off of TJ surgery last year so he's at best 2 years away from making any impact. Word is he's got good stuff, I've never seen him but I trust some of the scouts who say that he's the real deal. I've heard Sanchez hasn't been the same pitcher since his surgery and had someone tell me he really had no business being up with the Yankees last Sept and that none of his pitches had any movement behind it, I didn't see him pitch in September so I'm only going by what I was told. Also I don't buy Aceves, he screams Darrell Rasner Jr. to me.
Heilman was an excellent starter in college but in roughly 30 pro starts his pen/starter era/whip other peripherals offer little difference or encouragement. Secondly, you need more then 2 pitches to be a starter. Lastly, the guy cant keep the ball in the park for 1 inning, do you really want him pitching 6 or 7? Last year he set a MLB record for the highest percentage of homers allowed with runners on base. 9 of the 10 homers he allowed had at least 1 runner on. Given the propensity and frequency with which he does this if someone else wants him, please, hes all theirs. Just get him, Blowenweis and Slapstillo off my team.
Baseball Calendar - MLB - Yahoo! Sports 2008 Dec. 1—Last day for teams to offer salary arbitration to their former players who became free agents. Dec. 2-5—Major League Baseball Players Association executive board meeting, Orlando, Fla. Dec. 7—Last day for free agents offered salary arbitration to accept the offers. Dec. 8-11—Winter meetings, Las Vegas. Dec. 8—Hall of Fame Veterans Committee vote announced, Las Vegas. Dec. 12—Last day for teams to offer 2009 contracts to unsigned players. 2009 Jan 5-15—Salary arbitration filing. Jan. 12—Hall of Fame BBWAA voting announced. Jan. 13-15—Owners meeting, Phoenix. Jan. 20—Exchange of salary arbitration figures. Feb. 1-21—Salary arbitration hearings, Phoenix. Feb. 14—Mandatory reporting date for players on World Baseball Classic rosters of China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan unless they have reported directly to their national teams; mandatory reporting date for pitchers and catchers on provisional rosters of other WBC teams; voluntary reporting date for non-WBC pitchers, catchers and injured players. Feb. 17—Mandatory reporting date for remaining position players on WBC rosters; voluntary reporting date for non-WBC position players. Feb. 22—Mandatory reporting date for non-WBC players. March 2-11—Teams may renew contracts of unsigned players. March 5-23—World Baseball Classic. March 18— Last day to place a player on unconditional release waivers and pay 30 days termination pay instead of 45 days. April 1—Last day to request unconditional release waivers on a player without having to pay his full 2008 salary. April 5—Opening day, active rosters reduced to 25 players.
Mets making Putz their priority (Yes! Definitely would rather have him then overpay for Krod or Feuntes): FOX Sports on MSN - MLB - Do the numbers still add up for Hall? Would love for the Mets to make a move for Napoli: The Boston Herald reports that "the Angels are open to dealing either Jeff Mathis or Mike Napoli." Yankees looking at Orlando Hudosn for CF?!?!: f they don't ink two of the three, the Yankees will turn their focus to bolstering a lineup that disappointed last season and is likely to lose Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi. That will mean a look at Teixeira, Orlando Hudson to play center field and possibly Manny Ramirez. ANGELS MAY UP SABATHIA STAKES - New York Post The newspaper speculates that one of the Angels' catchers could be on the Red Sox's radar if they're unable to re-sign Jason Varitek, noting that "the acquisition price for the blue-chip names has been too high" for Boston's liking. Source: Boston Herald
Yuck, O Dog as Centerfielder??? No thanks, but if the rumors are true and we grab DeJesus from KC, I would be fine with that. Actually, this is exactly why I wanted Torii Hunter last year.....that was a bad mistake allowing him to head to LAAoA last off season.
The Red Sox won't have Napoli for anything cheap at all. He's one of the best hitting catchers in the game by far. Nobody had an OPS like him this year not even Twin Joe.
At 5years and 75 mil would you really want him? I mean aside form the fact hes at best the 5th best closer in the league after Lidge, Rivera, Nathan and Papelbon his velocity showed serious decline, hes got a ton of innings on his arm for someone his age, and in the case of at least 1 team interested in him, the mets, they just gave a 4 commitment to a closer and got only 2.5 years out of that deal. Plus hes priced 3/4ths of the league out of his range. So the question is why would you want him? I mean for the right price hes worth it, but the right price is along the line of maybe 3/33 (since rivera got 3/45 and hes the best), and maybe a 4th year option for 12 mil. Thats much different the 5/75.
What are the chances he resigns with LAA? I remember hearing they were just going to move forward without him. But to me he and Vlad have been the face of that franchise. 5th best? I think i would rather have him then Ligde...even with him having a perfect season. Maybe its because I'm just waiting for him to break down again. Who is his agent?