Odds & Ends: Lansford, Rangers, Jaramillo

Seems like the first bullet could very well affect the third. Rudy to the Giants sounds like a fine fit to me.

"highly touted hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo has been represented by agent Scott Boras in the past and is likely to use him again this winter."

I can already tell I am going to cringe every single time I see that name. And I mean Jaramillo, not Boras. He and Duncan will likely be bounced around this and other websites as the "savor" by any homer-fan giving a rundown of what his team "should" do this offseason.

Or Drew.
:)

Mets need jaramillo

Just for future reference its "Tim" Cowlishaw from the Dallas Morning News.

Let Bobby V manage somewhere else thank you. People remember him managing a team to World Series but he managed and equally talented team into last place too.

I'd like to see Detroit pick up Jaramillo.

I could definitely see the Giants making a play at Jaramillo. A touted hitting coach seems up their alley.

Unfortunately, if the mets fans are right, they're going to get all the best coaches in the world and all the best players because they will willingly be traded there because annoying mets fans say so.

"FIRE LANSFORD HIRE JARAMILLO he is done alot to help hitters and could help the Giants improve on th AVG. just look at Omar Vizquel"

Vizquel 2008 BA: .222
Vizquel 2009 BA: .266
Difference: -.44

Vizquel 2008 BABIP: .249
Vizquel 2009 BABIP: .309
Difference: +.50

So basically, Vizquel went from being very unlucky to being a little lucky, and that was essentially the sole change in his statistical performance, he's basically the exact same hitter that he was with the Giants.

Jaramillo is a good hitting coach, but I have to imagine that the biggest way to improve an offense is to improve the overall talent level of the lineup, and the hitting coach can only make a legitimate difference with one or two, maybe three, players, but certainly not enough to totally change the dynamic of an offense.

Mets aren't getting Jaramillo, they already told Lennon they aren't interested.

You obviously knew that the Dodgers were having some sort of money issues when they made the Blake and Ramirez trades, and even at this trade deadline they spent little money to add Thome, Garland, Sherrill, Padilla and Belliard.

The Dodgers have a big payroll, as they should, but there have been signs of financial issues in LA for a while, and this divorce could end up being a major issue.

Ok,

Here is an idea that was thrown at me yesterday. Someone from the Cubs organization needs to have a Sit-down with Rich Harden. His arm is tired. He throws too many innings. He's had surgeries. He has elite stuff. Sound familiar with another former Cubs pitcher a.k.a. Kerry Wood. What did Wood do after he realized his arm couldn't do what it used to? He became a closer. Cubs should sit with Harden and convince him to come back and be Cubs closer. He pitches maybe 70 innings in a year instead of 180. He gets a year to prove himself and if he does the job he needs to we'll bring him back on an extended contract at bigger money. The only other option we have is Marmol, and all of us have a heart attack every time he goes out there. What do you think? Also, we need to get Jaramillo to get Bradley back on track and instead of trading Bradley, we should be trying to trade Soriano, possibly to the Nats, who would be the only team stupid enough to take his contract on. Adam Dunn only has 1 year left on his contract as well. He would be a great piece to get back from the Nats. Thoughts?

The McCourts did buy the Dodgers solely on Bank Loans. The reason the deal went through in the first place was that Fox/News Corp wanted the deal to be done, because they found a chump to buy a one of the crown jewels of MLB without securing the broadcasting rights. News Corp also was negotiating with MLB over a multi year TV package worth much more than the Dodgers sale.

The Dodgers do get lots of revenue, because they have a huge fanbase and are in the second largest media market in the US. However, how much of the revenue is to pay just for overhead, and what is left to pay off all the massive loans that the McCourts are burden with, is very opaque.

Forbes has mentioned in the past that the Dodgers do make money, but McCourts have always tried to keep team payroll below $100 million since 2004, and it seems that $100 million is the limit.

Both the Angels and Dodgers don't own their broadcasting rights, which means they don't have a lucrative revenue stream compare to the Yankees and YES, the Mets and SNY, and the Red Sox and NESN. (which they owned jointly or rather 80-20 with the Boston Bruins)

The McCourts were always on a financial tightrope from the beginning, and I wouldn't be surprise that they are divorcing because of it. No matter if the Dodgers are still making money, all baseball teams were hit by the world credit crisis and economic downturn, which makes a team like the Dodgers especially vulnerable to trying to find money to pay the bills and monthly/annual interest and loan payments.

"Also, we need to get Jaramillo to get Bradley back on track and instead of trading Bradley, we should be trying to trade Soriano"

Bradley's production is not the reason Bradley is being run out of town. He needs to go because of his mental instability and detrimental attitude. Everyone knows he "could" hit, but "could hit" isnt always worth it when everything else is taken into consideration - which is why next to no teams have expressed interest in him now.

Or lets put it this way. If we were to keep Bradley we wouldnt need a better hitting coach, we would need Sigmund Freud.

Here's my point though about Bradley. Sure he's a headcase. Sure he's not a good clubhouse guy. All of that is true. But when have you heard about that when he is producing? During his entire last year in Texas, he led the league in several offensive categories and you didn't hear any negative media about the guy. He might not be the best clubhouse guy, but if you HAVE to keep him, you don't want to continute to have him be a distraction and a negative influence. The best way to do that is to get him to produce. Hence hiring Jaramillo.

Hiring Rudy is not enough for Bradley. Remember, some strong things were said by Bradley toward teammates and the organization and by Cub players back at Bradley. I'm not sure why the team could not live with him for two more weeks, but I am not a player to know these things. With all the back and forth between Bradley and the Cub players after the suspension, this leaves practically no chance a team will trade for him unless the Cubs take on 100% of what is owed...MAYBE. It might be an outright release.

yipeeeeeeeeeeeee

Gbizle.
I acutally think you're on to something. Bradleys obviously comfortable with Jaramillo, so that's a plus. Bradley's trade value is zero right now, so it makes no sense to get screwed in a trade or to release him and eat his contract. I think his issues with teammates can be resolved, because as we all know winning cures everything. Of course all of this is contingent on where Bradley's head is. I still think he should get some help, because he has the tools to help the cubs.