Rosenthal's Latest: Teixeira, Markakis, Johnson

tex will sign somewhere before the weekend is over, he said he wanted on board a team before christmas. i think he an boras have taken this as far as it can go, its getting stupid now

Ugh no more Braves updates. Nothing has worked out. Please let us know when Wren actually does something worth noting.

The Royals have a few different outfielders I'd let ATL choose from in order to land KJ. Send Guillen to ATL and then sign Burrell.

The Yankees really need to do what ever they can to keep Tex out of a Boston uniform.

At the very least they need to drive his price up crazy high and make the Sox pay like $200-220 MM to sign him.

Mets should strongly attempt to get Lowe. I hop Tex signs with the sox so we have a better chance to acquire him. I'd rather have him than Oliver Perez becuase he steady but Ollie is fine as well. Both would be great but in financial terms, its not a possibility. Wouldnt want to YANK the whole market now, just kidding for all you yanks fans. The mets and redsox spend just as much as the yankees, at least in their will to acquire top flight people.

hey man no insult taken puremetsfan...
aside from Yankee-Red Sox, i've grown quite fond of watching Mets-Phillies, i thnk it is a much better rivalry than ATL-NYM

ya i think the rivalry of the Mets/phillies is getting almost like the Yanks/Sox..not quite there yet but it will soon

just need to see a couple more fights and NLCS meetings where they usually always go to game 7 like the yankees and Sox do the last times they faced each other in the playoffs =]

thay guy in St. Louis will be coveted by basically ALL! Imagine if he was available soon... if yanks don;t get Tex they would be ALLLL over Pujols.. oops name came out!! =]

"The Braves have been shopping Kelly Johnson for an outfielder. Attempts to acquire Ryan Ludwick or Corey Hart did not work out."

Frank Wren couldn't make a deal on the biggest dealing day of the year if he had an electrified dealing machine.

Maybe that's going a bit too far. But Frank Wren has some serious work to do to gain the faith of Braves fans like me.

haha Cheese i like...

as much as i dont like the Mets, id like to see them make the playoffs and stick it to the Phillies!!!

Can you say 2000 WS repeat??

yanks wont get manny, the angels will.

naa celtics464...

Schiocha, however u spell that crap!! doesnt really like him,

where in NY Girardi has no choice but to asuume a smiling position because Hank and Hal like him

Tex is waiting for the right offer? He's waiting for an offer from the Yankees cause he knows they are going to win a lot more championships then any other team and he wants to be part of that!!! Tex, ARod, Wang, Joba and, CC would have 5 great years together! Tell me a better nucleus then that!!!!

yea rite, 2000 world series. New stadiums, new names, it would be like a glorified boxing match that would send ticket prices to like 500 bucks for the upper deck,lol. Mets have a long way and the yanks have even a longer road then that.

"Tell me a better nucleus than that!!!!" Look at the phillies, aint no nucleus there. Just being in the right place at the right time and being hot.

Puremetsfan,

As a favorite commentator of mine always says...

"THAT'S WHY YOU PLAY THE GAMES"

even boras hasnt said anything about the yankees, im sorry guys its not showing up in the cards, besides, the yankees should sign manny and pray alot, like every other team out there

will see...

Im just saying the with all the new Yankees from our farm or free agents, it will be awesome to see them play. Whether they win or lose it will be great 162 games a year!!!!!!!

I just want bradley to sign with the rays,angels, anywhere but the cubs. I would feel so great if Dunn signs with the cubs.
I would love the lineup of!

Soriano
Theriot
Lee
Dunn
Ramirez
Soto
Derosa
Fukudome
P

Dunn would be that mix in the middle that gives us the bomber L we need. Please sign bomber hendry.

Wieters spent the majority of last year at AA and should be either starting the year or getting an early call up to BAL this year. Heyward is only 19 and finished the year at Class A Advanced.

It will scare them? Its not like it would be any worse than Soriano,edmonds,fukudome! But we would score more runs having dunn in our lineup. There wouldnt be a weak part of our lineup.

Soriano
Theriot
Lee
Dunn
Ramirez
Soto
Derosa
Fukudome
P!!

We would have power, average
somewhat power plus average, mad power plus OPS, power and average, power plus average, average plus some power,OBP that would go up in the 8 hole, then good hitting pitchers. I would give dunn in our outfield missing edmonds any day. We will give up less than we will get!

Wieters is a monster and should hit his way to BAL if he doesn't win the gig in ST. I bet they keep him in AAA for a month or so for an extra year of team control though. Heyward has the best combination of raw physical ability, hitting eye, and work ethic of any position player prospect(outside of Wieters maybe)

Neither of course are sure things, but they are about as close as you get for prospects. How did last year's hot prospect Price fair? You should know that pretty well as a BoSox fan.

ptk420biatch

thats a good lineup but cubs fans will go nuts when the outfield defense costs you games

"being a phils fan that 7 yr 85mil contract is looking pretty damn good i must say.this year he would get double."

Hell yeah it looks good..
That deal is almost as good as Big Albert Pujols deal

@04Forever

Just tring to point out how Top 5 prospects can make an impact in '09-'10. As a prospects and Braves fan, I am very jealous of Lars Anderson. We have a very good 1B in Freeman but he won't get his shot untill '11-'12. As much as I dislike the BoSox, Lars should be fun to watch.

"10/350".

If any player is worth that it is most def Pujols

"tex is a great player but that contract is nuts, is he that much better than chase utley? i really dont think so."

Completely different circumstances. When Utley signed his contract (similar to the Pedroia contract) he was still under control for AT LEAST 2 more arbitration years during which he would have made SIGNIFICANTLY less than what he signed for. Deals like the ones signed by Utley, Pedroia, Braun, Longoria, H. Ramirez, etc. have been signed at a much lower rate than they would get on the F/A market because they ensure the player does not have to suffer through the last few years of his minor league contract. Basically, its sacrificing lots of money at the end of the signed contracts for LOTS more $$ at the beginning.

If the Yankees pass of Teixera this off season, I think that it will only be because they want to lock up Matt Holliday next off-season.

Just consider, what would look worse than three players signed to more than $400 MM? 4 Players signed to more than $550 MM. At this point though, I just don't see why the Yankees would get all protective of spending when Teixeira was the least risky investment out there.

omg! the brewers should have pulled the trigger on that trade. trade hart, do something with weeks and re-sign kapler to play right field. have mat gamel try and go to play right field and when he is ready, if he is ready, throw him in right field! brewers need a lefty bat, and rickie weeks has proved year after year that he can't do it at the major league level. just look at the difference in their averages from last year:

Johnson:.287
Weeks:.234

Johnson played about 70 more games too. And they scored about the same amount of runs.

Sure we would lose Weeks speed, but this guys 39 doubles last year. He hits himself into scoring position. I'm just saying.. we're nothing but right handers when it comes to batting, and this guys would be a huge upgrade at second(at the plate at least.) Although, he made one less error than Weeks, and he did have 97 more chances than Weeks.

Yeah, 'cause Gabe Kapler won a world series as a bench player he's totally more valuable than Hart.

"Don't you mean, it WOULD be awesome to see them play? The average ticket price in the new stadium is something like $500. How can anyone who doesn't work on Wall Street afford that? Sorry, I forgot - All the Wall Street guys lost their jobs."

Midtown...please stop making up numbers, the average price is no where near $500.
I love how people who probably have never bought a ticket claim to know what it costs.

THIS is from the package pricing plan on Yankees.com. I cannot find the individual game prices, but they are no more than $5 more per seat.

15, 12 & 11 game package price
MAIN $70
MAIN $50
TERRACE $45
GRANDSTAND $25
GRANDSTAND $20
BLEACHERS $12

41 & 20 game plan
FIELD $85
41-Game, 20-Game Price
MAIN $70
MAIN $50
TERRACE $75
TERRACE $65
TERRACE $45
GRANDSTAND $25
GRANDSTAND $20
BLEACHERS $12

Oh and as to one of the points in the story i don't know that Markakis' closest comparable is Utley. Utley is clearly the best 2nd baseman in the game and while Markakis is very good if not great, above average RF's are much more common. Maybe Andre Ethier, but Markakis is better than Ethier. These comparisons are always tough to do, but very good for debate.

has anybody on here read "freakonomics"

??

"because one team buying up ALL the top free agents is good for baseball."

Ive been hearing this argument since the late 70's..and guess what? Baseball hasnt folded, in fact its gotten MORE popular.
Let's be logical here..there are 29 teams and 40 players on the rosters of those 29 teams. If what the Yank do were truly going to ruin baseball as so many have claimed, don't you think MLB AND the union would do something to avoid that? After all, its their livelyhood, right?
It may be unfair, but its far from bad for baseball.
There is a reason teams like the Yanks and Sox draw so well on the road. Yes, they have fans everywhere, but people also know that more likely than not they are going to see a competitive team out there and even those that hate what the Yanks do, still go if for no other reason than to root against them.
Fans of other teams can think what they want, but for baseball as a business..which is what it is, the Yanks are GOOD for it.

"The phillies should be happy we gave them the postseason becuase if we saved just 2 more games, things wouldnt be so sunny in phillie town."

I think this is a terrible way to look at a failure. Baseball is full of ups and downs. Your bullpen blows 30-something games one year, fix your bullpen in the offseason, then next season your starting pitching sucks and you go through the same schpeil next offseason with the starting rotation. You can't honestly believe that you can fix future success by looking at past games and saying "man if this guy was healthy for another 2 games we would have won." Man, what silly excuses. Baseball is a team sport and the Phillies won because they were the hotter TEAM.

I still think Teixeira signs with Boston and Manny goes to the Angels. The Mets have to get either Perez or Lowe. I would prefer both!

Russell,

well put, but honestly, I would replace "hotter" team with "better" team. Over the course of a 162 game season irregularities work themselves out. The Mets many can argue may have more or better talent, but that doesn't mean they're the "better" team. I personally am glad that they chose not to break up the "core" of their team. This way the NY media come Sept 1st will be harkening back to the last 2 years as long as we're within striking distance.

Theo Epstein, and the Angels made their offer, they are not going to budge anymore for Teixeira.
These 2 teams have another plan in store if Teixeira is signed somewhere else.
I am personally hoping Red Sox move on a quality 4th starter. Again, call it wishful thinking, but I really hope they open negotiations for Jake Peavy. Maybe someone else, but the direction the Sox should take I feel is 4th quality starter.

I agree with just about every Braves fan on here. The Braves have done NOTHING but mess up their chances to acquire a stud SP (Peavy) and SS. There is no reason to deal KJ now especially since Dunn is available.

Markakis is the best RF in the game. Bar none.

Posted by: wickedwitch | December 18, 2008 at 08:07 AM

My point wasn't to argue that fact, but just that there is less of an argument on if Utley as the best 2B in the league than if Markakis is the best RF in the league. Tigers fans (not me) might argue that Magglio, while older is better and has better "stats".

And as far as comparables go its tough and i don't agree with comparing different players at different positions because they carry different values defensively as well.

The team that surprises me about Teixeira is the Orioles, go to a lot of AA games, so already know about our Sox, but believe me they have some stud young pitchers coming up. Maybe not this year, but next for sure. If I was there GM I would pull out all the stops and get him.

Not to beat a dead horse but that Furcal dealing was not good. By Furcal.

Nats and Braves should hook up with a trade....KJ for one of our many outfielders

DCSportsGuy,

No offense, but I'm pretty sure KJ could fetch more than one of the Nationals outfielders. The Braves shouldn't be trading him in the first place, though.

"I personally am glad that they chose not to break up the "core" of their team. This way the NY media come Sept 1st will be harkening back to the last 2 years as long as we're within striking distance."

Well phils, it looks like the Mets will have to clinch the NL East BY September. Oooooooh no he dittent! Yeah I went there.

lol don't mind me, I need coffee.

Milledge just isn't the type of outfielder we need right now. Not saying he isn't good, I actually like the kid quite a bit. He's got power potential, but if we were going to trade Kelly it would need to be for someone with a proven track record, IMO. I personally think KJ is more valuable, although Milledge is signed for an extra year at league minimum before he hits arbitration...which Kelly enters this year.

I live in Northern VA, so I visit Nationals Park every time the Braves come into town. Very nice stadium.

Holiday is there...