Stark's Latest: Burnett, Nady, Greinke, Burrell

Tim could you give us your projected standings at the end of the year?

$23MM for Tex? Even the Yankees wouldn't pay that. Boras must think it's the winter of 2000 again.

To all those that throw Cain's name around in rumors remember this in recards to Cain:

"...we can't find a team that has gotten anywhere in its attempts to even get the Giants to discuss him. "I don't know who got that rumor rolling," said an official of one club. "But they told us, emphatically, no."

glover28 werent you the same person that said cubs wont trade for harden? Thanks for your input, but your 0-1 in trying to tell the future!

OK, yeah, you traded for the walking talking DL, how is he not going to get hurt.

Teixeira won't make more than 16MM a year during the offseason unless he's playing in a very undesireable location, like Kansas City. There will be no bidding war for Teixeira though, because everyone has wised up to Boras' ploys and aside from the two LA teams desperately throwing stupid money at Hunter and Jones, there was nobody that didn't become a Yankee, who got more than 14MM a season this last year... Also for length go with about 5 seasons with a team option for two to three years... Something like a pick now and either buy the last three or opt out all together sort of like the Burnett contract, but reversed in that the team would hold the option... It's very common with the contracts being given to younger players like Baldelli had something like this... The day of the 100MM player is all but extint, every time a player has made that mark, except Manny and Alex, the team has had definite regret over the decision, just like Detroit is swallowing hard over Cabrera's pedestrian totals while making 168MM over 8 years or something like that...

Even for what Teixeira COULD POSSIBLY bring to the table, he still isn't an elite player, just a potential All-Star and even Jeter wouldn't get 20MM a season again if it wasn't for the first Alex contract back in the day... To get to 20MM, you have to be an absolute sure thing and Teixeira isn't... There are few players that warrant 18MM which seems to be the break off point for an exceptionally talented All-Star. I see Teixeira in the same category as Berkman, Carlos Lee, Soriano, Vlad Guerrero, Carlos Beltran, Konerko, Dye, these guys all made between 13-18MM a season in their most recent deals and none over 15MM since the Lee/Soriano deals of 2006/2007 off season. I think everyone is giving Boras too much credit... It's like Santana, sure he's a great pitcher, but he doesn't deviate from what he does and so he gets hit harder and harder each season... I'd bet that in three to four years, his velocity will be all but gone and his ERA will float around the 3.80-4.20 mark... I just don't see Santana as being worth more than 15MM a season especially considering both of his Cy Young seasons really weren't all that special...

milehigh, they don't want to trade Sherrill because he has no value... He's got a 4.12 ERA as a closer and 4.72 when facing anyone but Seattle... Hmmm, sure is funny how pitchers play better against their old teams when they get to hear all the problems that the hitters have with hitting certain pitches...

Also a thing about closers that is lost on most people... A closer's ERA is lower than if he was a middle reliever because he's the last to pitch in the game... When a pitcher comes out of the game and the next pitcher takes over, everyone on here should know that the runners inhereted are the responsibility of the exiting pitcher meaning that if Sherrill comes in to close out a game with runners on first and second with 2 outs in the 9th with a one run lead... If he gives up a double then his ERA is uneffected and the last pitcher gets two runs... The only thing the closer gets is the loss. Also if he comes in to start the ninth inning of a tie game and loads the bases and gives up a double in the gap, it counts as a single, the one run goes against him and he gets the loss, but if that was any other inning, he'd have to eat TWO more earned runs to his ERA than just that runner at third base... So if your closer has a 4.12 ERA like Sherrill does, it's more like a 5.50-6.00 ERA for a middle reliever, good luck shopping that to teams in the hunt for a pennant!

Once again, Guru, you demonstrate your limited understanding of the game and of players' values. It's pathetic to witness a fan's allegiance to his favorite team override logic or any sense of reality. In my post above, I raised the possibility that Sherrill had not yet been traded due to diminished value as a result of recent struggles (which the pitcher ascribed to a mechanical issue he believes he has corrected, demonstrated by his big K of Youklis in the O's one win over the Red Sox this week). While it may not please me, I accept this fact and can only hope for a reversal of fortune.

That being said, to describe him as having "no value," is simply false and another example of your blind unwillingness to admit even the slightest fault or failure on behalf of your precious Mariners.

A lefty closer who will be pitching in the All Star game this weekend, Sherrill is a commodity that would (will?) draw the interest of a number of teams, were McPhail so inclined. While I'll freely admit that Fuentes is, at present, the more desirable of the two, the number of teams seeking a southpaw reliever far outnumber the number of quality pitchers fitting that mold. Were you not so desperate to paint the Bedard deal as anything but the complete and utter failure of Bavasi and Co., you might open your eyes and realize this.

Get over it! We've all been the victims of a heist. The O's, for instance- in a deal that still haunts me to this day- once dealt promising young pitchers Curt Schilling and Pete Harnisch, AND a light hitting fella named Steve Finley, to the Astros for supreme bust Glenn Davis.

Since the Bedard deal, you've only made yourself look stupid by railing against Sherrill and Adam Jones, even as the former has become an All-Star and the AL's #2 in saves, and the latter has rebounded from a slow start, now hitting over .280 on the year while impressing virtually every coach, teammate, scout, and opponent with his professionalism, talent, and play. Furthermore, Chris Tillman has been dominant in Double A despite being the youngest pitcher at that level. If you're so desperate for positive spin, how 'bout this: Jones and Tillman are a testament to the Mariners' scouting and player development departments. There...happy?! To denigrate their efforts and achievements or those of Sherrill is just petty.

Even if you think Sherrill undeserving of his All Star position, it's ridiculous to claim he's been anything but a revelation in his first half-season as a closer. While the rules state that every team must have a representative on the All Star team, he still had to beat out notable candidates from his own squad: Brian Roberts, Nick Markakis, and Aubrey Huff, for instance, all have numbers that warrant consideration. Has Sherrill's stock- and ERA, as you noted- taken a hit? Sure. With the exception of maybe Mariano Rivera, every reliever goes through a rough patch now and again. Nevertheless, he has considerable value on the trade market which, if McPhail so deems it, will be demonstrated by the trade deadline. There's a reason his name comes up on this site so often, after all.