Odds And Ends: Tazawa, Hoffman, Halladay

I thought the Braves made a competitive move offering Takawa a contract, but what it comes down to is the fact that BoSox are more enticing b/c of Dice-K, Kobayashi and have already established a winning team whereas the Braves are developing a team. I would have liked to see him in a Braves uni. He looks really exciting.

Ben, why do you have a hyphenated last name? I always wonder how that happens with guys...

There is no way the Blue Jays get by the Rays, Red Sox and Yankees next year. I would sell Halladay, and take a kings ransom for him. This makes even more sense to me if they are having economic problems.

rememberthecoop- It might be the result of a divorce/decision to keep both his mother's maiden name and his father's. I know my cousin did that...

"The Braves were not going to have to surrender any of their five-best prospects, but have hesitated over Single-A level pitching." Thats the quote from Gammons, and the only two pitchers that were mentioned that are in Single A are Locke and Rohrobough.

Kramerica Industries - If the Jays get rid of Halladay, then paying money to go to their games will be a much harder sell to the fans (even if they do get a King's ransom that will only help them down the road.) They probably figure to stay as competitive as possible in the near future to avoid major money problems while dealing wit the minor ones.

Kobayashi is on the Indians, not the Bo-Sox. Unless their is another Kobayashi I dont know about... You thinking of Okajima?

nrmax,

The Jays have some decent young positional talent (Lind/Snider), but I agree they could use more.

If guys like Vernon Wells and Rios could step up their game then I would be more on board with dealing Halladay, but even going every 5th game, Halladay is still the big draw for that club and he is still their team leader.

If the Jays want to boost attendance through an exciting positional player, they would be better served coughing up the money for a free agent then dealing away their leader in hopes they acquire someone who will grow into that role

There is no nhl team in charlotte. They will not let us get a mlb team because of the way the population is spread around and they are probably right.

Anyone else dissapointed Neyer totally dodged the amount of pitches CC threw the last two by defering to the overemphasized fact of him not working too much early in his career. Seems like the amount of pitches you threw early in your career should be one of those things that either hurts you or is neutral. I fail to see how it gives you a significant advantage becuase it is essentially the norm nowdays.

i don't know if the starting pitching market is hot. there are so many options via free agency. also general managers are reluctant to pay peavy's price. though I'd rather trafe for halladay than peavy.

i'd mark phil hughes at the top of that list. a guy with a 100mph fastball is a pretty sure thing (unless your farnsworth). Especially someone with the slider that Joba possesses. That thing is nasty.

But i'm going to go ahead and change this list around a bit. i'm only going to give top 5. Its kind of close, but a bit differently ordered.

1. Phil Hughes - If the Yankees are going to have a successful rotation this year, this is the guy that has to step up. He has shown much promise and even added 2-3mph onto his fastball LAST offseason. Jorge said it had alot more "pop" to it. Even Jorge believes Joba will end up back in the bullpen as the dominant force that he should be coming late into games.

2. Alex Rodriguez - I mean come on 30 mil a year, this guys a huge investment. You need your investments to pay off! For 30 mil a year Cashman expects A-Rod to be coming up with the big hits, which at times he has fallen more than short of doing. His numbers will look pretty at the end of every year, although I think Cashman still believes he can get alot more out of A-Rod.

3. Jorge Posada - he needs to be the commander. All the pitchers have been working with him for years and he's such an important part of the lineup when he's healthy. Pretty much he and Joe Mauer are two of a kind at this stage offensively. His arm is expected to be back to 100% going into next season.

4. Hal Steinbrenner - Has done a great job quietly of taking over this organization. While Hank is busy putting his face on the news (usually not for good reasons) Hal is busy learning how to be "The Boss". Hal will be important to this team as Abraham's list stated for the next 30-40 years if he decides not to sell. Hank will continue to screw things up. At least thats my prediction.

5. Derek Jeter - We saw what happened to the Yankees lineup this year when Jeter went through slumps. They lost. Jeter is still the leader of this ballclub and holds the respect of everyone in the clubhouse (and pretty much any other clubhouse). This guy needs to get back to hitting .310-.330 as he is capable of. His age may be starting to catch up with him as his defensive skills are beginning to falter.

To me, those 5 need to do what they are capable of if the Yankees want a shot at 2nd place let alone the division next year. Some other mentions (but i call sure things) are:

Joba
Wang
Nady

All 3 will perform as long as they are healthy. its not really any question mark. The 5 up top... not so sure.

and yes i was right

Grounded into Double Plays
Guerrero-LAA 27
Ordonez-DET 27
Peralta-CLE 26
Jeter-NYY 24
Overbay-TOR 24