Rosenthal's Latest: Yankees, Teixeira, Bradley, Furcal

What does OPS stand for?

Astros 3B = Miguel Tejada. SS =?

Keep being a moron, Ned.

Although for the fans of the other teams that could really use Furcal and have been tied to him (A's/Royals), this is entertaining.

Furcal needs to come to kansas city...

OPS below 600.... that's a big "ouch".

Any guesses what the 4 teams in on Wiggy are? I'm going to guess Phillies, Angels, Twins, and Giants. Though I wish the Braves were.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/ny-spyanks145964777dec14,0,5000365.story

Yankees talking Mike Cameron for Melky Cabrera and Igawa.

Red Sox offer for Teix rumored to be $160 million over 8 years.

Thank you BigRedOne,
of those 4 teams, in the current state they are in right now, I would have to say the A's and Blue Jays are the most likely to compete. Both teams actually have what looks like a starting rotation, and what does LA's look like? They're maintaining 2/5ths of theirs...

Why are the dodgers spending all of sudden like a small market team?

Milton Bradley would be better to stay in the AL for DH purposes!

So here's my question to the anonymous GM who thinks there is a lot of bluffing going on to drive up the Red Sox's offer to Teixeira: exactly what that has been reported is bluffing? Have the Nationals and Angels not made 8 year offers?

Cincy make sense for Pierre? It would allow Bruce to settle into RF.

the Giants need to be in on Wiggington. He plays a decent third, would be relatively cheap(as in versus losing prospects &/or draft picks) and has better career and 2008 offensive numbers than every proven hitter on the Giants roster (sad isn't it that a non-tendered player could potentially be the Giants cleanup hitter). This would also allow Sandoval to play first where he would be better defensively and platton with Ishikawa, Molina, and Wiggy. Check out www.Nuschlersnews@blogspot.com for a breakdown in all the realistic 3B options for the Giants.

Why isn't there more talk of Furcal to the Cubs? I know we'll probably have to settle for Milton Bradley, but what if?

Look, I completely agree with you that Kershaw has TREMENDOUS upside. But he did not pitch like a #3 last year. His stats were fantastic for someone his age, but it'll be a couple more years before he is established (as should be a for a 20 year old). But his BB rate was miserable, and he won't be anything more than a 4 or 5 next year at best. And the Dodgers are nervous about Billingsley, there's no way to know what kind of effect the injury will have on him come spring. And who knows if losing Maddux will have some effect on those guys near the end of the season. It's well known that the last couple of year he's been like a 2nd pitching coach to whichever team he's been on.
All I'm saying is, if you look at the current state of each of the teams that supposedly has interest in Furcal, the Dodgers are not the best looking as a contender next year.
However, I'm sure they'll be more active in signing some guys pretty soon, at which point that will change...

Chris Johnson's stats last year were this in the minors....
He was really good last year.

2008 Season
Team League AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG OPS
COR TEX .324 84 330 43 107 24 0 12 58 167 20 61 5 0 .364 .506 .870
ROU PCL .218 30 101 10 22 2 1 1 9 29 5 25 0 0 .252 .287 .539

"Why isn't there more talk of Furcal to the Cubs? I know we'll probably have to settle for Milton Bradley, but what if?"

The Cubs need a middle of the order LH bat to help balance the lineup. I agree that Furcal would be a great addition, but right now a LH RFer who can bat 3rd through 5th is the priority. With payroll being an obstacle, don't expect them to able to afford both.

If Drayton McLane wasn't such a penny-pincher, it would almost make sense to dump Wigginton to make room for Furcal to play short and move Tejada to third. This would make even more sense considering that the Astros really don't have a good leadoff hitter.

But then again, it'll never happen because it requires MONEY to sign Furcal!

Bradley, be smart, if you play DH, you will get more games played

Before anyone comments, these first 2 guys will not drop in the lineup, they refuse to.

2B Akinori Iwamura
LF Carl Crawford
CF B.J Upton
3B Evan Longoria
1B Carlos Pena
DH Milton Bradley
RF Matt Joyce
C Dioner Navarro
SS Reid Brignac

great hitting, great defense, not too much money spent.

i meant SS Jason Bartlett

I just don't see the Rays trading him.

"As for Milton Bradley, I'm just curious, but have any of his incidents directly involved a manager? I know about the Kent incident in LA, the ump incident SD, and the situation involving the Royals announcer, but I can't recall one where Bradley had a run-in with his manager."

Nope. Never had a run-in with a manager.

RaysFan,

You would know better than me, but taking a quick look at Fernando Perez's minor league stats, is he really platoon-caliber at a corner OF spot? It looks like he has some nice speed, but a .393 slugging percentage at AAA (even if he hits lefties better, which he appears to do) would make playing Bradley in the OF against lefties pretty tempting, especially with Aybar available to to DH. Are the Rays saying that they would never play him in the field?

My bigger point is that Bradley may not have a history of issues with his manager and that Piniella may, in fact, not be a bad match. Why knows? What has set Bradley off in the past has been fairly random, but: 1.) Jeff Kent is known as an ornery guy; 2.) MLB suspended the umpire in the Bradley incident for the remainder of that season; and 3.) from what I've read, the Royals announcer was pretty harsh on Bradley.

I'm less convinced that Bradley can't handle temperamental challenges than physical ones.

I'm not really disputing your points as much as I'm questioning the thesis of this rumor.

elguapo-

Bradley does not have managerial issues, and his anger issues are way, WAY overblown. Manager friction won't be the reason he doesn't sign with Chicago, if he indeed doesn't sign with the Cubs.

I think the Bradley-in-RF thing is more of asset management than productivity. You want to manage and preserve your assets, and sometimes that means not utilizing them for the greatest immediate reward (letting Bradley roam the field against lefties). But, the Rays will probably end up giving Bradley some bats in RF, so your point is very strong. Both the Cubs and Rays are very viable suitors for Bradley, but Milton would be better suited going to the place where he could at least see an opportunity to DH once in a while, and not see the field for the majority of the games.

They'll probably either resign Rocco Baldelli, or sign someone else cheap (Emil Brown, maybe?) to platoon if a platoon is necessary. You're right about Perez, he's a bench player/pinch runner at best.

Everyone needs to stop being so nearsighted in thinking that managers and fields nd fan bases have anything to do with Bradley's decision. It's all about who's going to pony up the most money - period.

That said, it would be foolish for Bradley to sign with the Cubs. The Cubs need a LH power bat in the middle of their lineup and there's just no way Bradley can physically play 120-130+ games in RF.

Also, trade Pierre and eat 2/3 of his remaining contract. Trade him to the Reds for a 3B prospect, and a reliever.

Oakland needs Furcal more than LAD or KC does, do the right thing Rafael....

If Oaklands 4 year deal was for $36M, the 3 year one will absolutely be $30-33M, theres no way LAD will about bid them. Also, do they have no faith in giving Hu a shot? He the second coming of Omar Vizquel, he needs a shot on a team that can afford to carry his kind of weak bat.

SUPER insulting calling the A's a "lesser team", they are about to reel off numerous 90+ Win seasons with their best prospects nearing readyness....

Billingsley is a question mark with his leg and Kershaw hasnt proven anything, so I would say 2/5 is about right...

Posted by: oaklandathleticsince88 | December 14, 2008 at 02:29 PM

and you would be dead wrong.

What about Oakland, in the last 6 months you have traded 3/5 of your rotation, and have people like Greg Smith that you are relying on.

Also, Billingsley will be fine by before ST, Kershaw pitched as good as the league average last year, and is only improving (working on his 3rd pitch), and the Dodgers still have a bunch of guys that could start games for them next year without signing any free agents:

Kuroda
Billingsley
Kershaw
Mcdonald
Stults
Elbert
Kuo

All of those guys had starts for the Dodgers last year (except Mcdonald, but he did well in relief) and all proved to be league average or better. It would have been nice to have resigned Park, who can be long relief or a spot starter, but he, apparently, was too expensive.

Its funny you say that about our rotation when you know nothing of it, probly just as I know nothing of yours and am wrong about who you have starting.

So before you go saying stuff, you should make sure you know a little about it.

"not gonna argue with you cubs4ever, for a 20 year old those are fine stats in the bigs. but, they aren't #3 stats in the slightest. He pulled those stats off with a relatively average BABIP, with some bad luck they could balloon..."

Kershaw had a 100 ERA+ last season. Exactly league average. He had just under 1 K per inning pitched. Those aren't fine stats for a 20 year old. Those are PHENOMENAL stats for a 20 year old.
As for "bad luck" raising his BABIP, the same argument can be made that "good luck" will lower his BABIP. Or, we can just assume he'll have a league average BABIP and not worry about luck.

I also believe that a year or two ago Baseball Prospectus did an article on the average ERA+ for each pitching slot - average ERA+ for #1's, average ERA+ for #2's, etc. If I remember correctly, I believe the #4 slot was a 100 ERA+. The #5 was below 100 ERA+ and I think the #3 was slightly above 100. Kershaw was 100 last season. There's no reason to think he won't pitch like a #3 this year and post a 105-110 ERA+.

The Reds will not puruse Pierre, unless the Dodgers pick up all of his contract which they will not do. There are more affordable options out there such as Willy Taveras. Expect the Reds to go HARD after Wigginton.

Bradley had a run in with Charlie Manual in Clevland which led to his trade to the Dodgers!

In 2010 the Dodgers could have one of the best 1-2 punches in baseball. Could have Kershaw and Billingsley at the top of the rotation could be the nastiest thing ever.

Nationals are interested in Bradley?? Why? Unless they move him to 1B or trade off 8 other OF's they don't have a spot for him. Back up plan for Tex?

Bradley would be a great pick-up for the Cubs. I would rather use him in center field though. Keep Kosuke in right where he's comfortable, and use Johnson to rest Bradley often. During off days, Lou could use him as a big bat off the bench late in games.

I think Rosenthal needs either better sources or a better calculator because his math for the Yankees payroll seems to be off. Last year the Yankees opening day payroll was $209 million dollars and while it was bumped up some because of the Nady and Marte trade they probably only added about $4-6 million more. There is no way that the Yankees can add the players that Rosenthal is talking about and stay under $215 million. Here is a list of Yankee payroll commitments for 2009 from Cots.

Arod- $32
Sabathia-$23
Jeter-$20
Burnett-$16.5
Rivera-$15
Posada-$13.1
Damon-$13
Matsui-$13
Swisher-$5.3
Marte-$4.35 ($3.75 contract, $600K buyout)
Cano-$6
Molina-$1

For just those 12 players the Yankees have $162.25 million committed. Add to that the Yankees have two intesting arbitration cases in Wang and Nady. Both made about $4 million last year (Nady with bonuses included) and should expect probably at least a $2 million dollar boost for each of them. Lets just give a moderate estimate and say each player gets $6.5 for a total of $13 million between them. Add another $1.5 million for Brian Bruney and about $4 million for salaries for their 0-3 players and the Yankees are over $180 million.

So at only $180 million it seems like the Yankees are almost 30 million under budget to spen on Lowe, Tex, Manny or whomever. The problem with that is the Yankees are looking at $11 million for players who won't be on the team next year. Igawa is making $4 million and the Giambi and Pavano buyouts totalled $7 million. So in reality the Yankees are over the $190 million mark before getting their 5th starter, CF, any bench players or a 1b/corner outfield type to replace the loss of Giambi/Abreu. So even if the Yankees only make the moves Rosenthal suggests, trade for Cameron, and resign Pettite and Abreu for discounted rates. And lets say that they don't even have to pay a dime of Igawa's contract meaning they add Cameron for only $6 million and they can get Pettite and Abreu at $ 10 million per player they will be $9 million dollars above last years payroll. Now there is a chance that the Yankees won't do any or all of these moves but either way the Yankees will have over $190 million in payroll next year and that will prob be $40-50 million more than the next closest team.

YanksFanSince78: Not sure where you are getting your numbers but you seem to be forgetting a lot. You forgot Marte's, Giambi's and Pavano's buyouts which totalled about $7.6 million. Rodriguez (i assume you mean Pudge) was not part of the payroll last year. He was traded mid season for Farnsworth and according to Baseball america the Yankees only ended up adding $2.5 million in payroll so its not Pudge's $12.4 mil but really $8 million (Farnsworth's $5.5 plus $2.5) that should be accounted against the rasies. Speaking off which while the $12 million you listed under rasies probably does take care of Cano, and Nady, Wang and Bruney arbitration numbers it won't take account for Arod recieving $5 million more this season. Remember also that the Yankees only paid less than half of Marte's salary last year lets just say $1 million to make it easy, with the buyout they are now paying over $4 million dollars. The same with Nady the Yankees may have paid $1.5-2 million for him last year now he could cost as much as $6-7 million. As for Giambi I don't know where you or Rosenthal are getting your numbers last year he made $21 million not $23.5 and when you figure he got a $5 million dollar buy out Sabathia is costing the Yankees $7 million more than the savings from Giambi. If you figure that the Yankees probably ended last year with a $215 million dollar payroll (after acquiring Ponson, Marte, Nady and Pudge), then they have less than $25 million to spend. They are already over $191 million after figuring in their signings and modest arbitration rasies. Now i'm not saying they don't have money to spend b/c for $25 million they could sign another pitcher and a solid bat, but they won't be "cutting payroll" like we've been told.