We saw one trade completed today and, as our list of players to clear waivers shows, there are more potential deals on the horizon. Here are the latest links from around MLB…
- Rangers GM Jon Daniels told Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he doesn't expect to make a trade this month, though he's considering waiver trade candidates every day.
- Angels ace Jered Weaver had a refreshing take on his team friendly five-year, $85MM extension, as Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times writes. “If $85 million is not enough to take care of my family and other generations of my family, then you’re stupid," he said. "I play baseball for the love of the game, for the competitive part of it.”
- A's GM Billy Beane told Tyler Kepner of the New York Times that the gap between baseball's haves and have-nots has widened. "The window for small-market clubs is shorter and shorter,” Beane said.
- Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports breaks down some possible trade scenarios between the Rockies and Astros involving the recently-claimed Wandy Rodriguez.
- Rodriguez drew interest at the trade deadline, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post (on Twitter). The Yankees were prepared to give up a player for the left-hander, who they valued at $21MM.
- White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen says he'd love to bring Jim Thome back to Chicago, according to MLB.com's Scott Merkin. Thome hit waivers yesterday.
the cubs have a good-size payroll, billy
and that weaver quote really is awesome
I lost any respect I had for Weaver after the incident where he acted like a 4 year old and threw at Avila’s head. But I have to admit that’s the single most practical comment I’ve heard justifying a signing in a long time.
Nah he gained respect for throwing at Avila’s head. After getting shown up like that by Guillen. What else did you expect to happen. I lost all respect I had for Guillen for that, not only did he put his teammates at risk but it was also the worst display of sportsmanship I’ve seen since Bryce Harper decided he wanted to be cupid and blow kisses to opposing pitchers
I agree about Guillen, not about Harper. In the bigs, these guys have the command to really do some damage; and Guillen really put his team at harm by enticing a very good, very emotional, hard throwing pitcher. As far as Harper, sportsmanship is all fun and great to a point. I don’t want saps playing this game, I want the best. I want guys who are a little crazy and emotional. If all we care about is sportsmanship, then MLB will turn in to what little fun and excitement the NFL is becoming… sadly.
Shut up and stop being ignorant. Guillen showed Weaver up cause Weaver was yelling at Ordonez after his hr and Cabrera when he was walking off the field earlier in the game. Im sick of people who probly didnt even see the whole game saying that s**t.
Wow, I guess you didn’t read the whole story, that pitcher Bryce Harper blew a kiss to was heckling him and throughout at him inside in the previous at bat.
All Harper was doing was retaliating and I don’t see how he did anything really stupid, it isn’t like he went to the mound and started punching the guy’s head in. No instead he just blew a simple kiss to the pitcher to say thanks for the home run. If that was any other player in the minors it wouldn’t have gotten even a third of the publicity, but because it was super prospect Bryce Harper the whole country has to know about it.
As for Weaver his actions were stupid too, with the pitches he was throwing he could have ended a guy’s career. Retaliating is one thing, but trying to injure someone that is stupid.
Weaver is good enough pitcher that he could of planked him anyplace on his body and that would off huet but no he just sent a warning way high and not too close to his head. He should of waited and hit Guillen right between the numbers next at bat. If I was Guillen I would be injuried the next time Weaver is starting against White Sox or you might become injuried.
He got rattled because he thought Ordonez was showing him up which Ordonez clearly wasn’t. The Guillen gave him the equivalent of the middle finger and Weaver went berserk.
The point is Weaver threw at Avila’s head over what was basically a pissing contest that he started. The only reason to intentionally throw at a guy’s head is if one of your players was injured due to the actions of the other team. If Weaver thought Guillen was being a poor sport then Weaver should have thrown at Avila’s leg or hip, a warning. But the facts remain… Weaver got rattled, Guillen basically told him “bite me”, then Weaver threw at a guy’s head akin to the way a child throws a temper tantrum. No respect should be given to Weaver for that incident.
The correct answer would have been Weaver whipping one at Guillens anywhere but the head. I would have settled for the knee cap, incredibly painful but not deadly. He lives on the DL anyway, and if your confident enough to go off the handle with a stikeout king you get what you get.
You’re aware that the pitcher said something pretty awful to Harper to merit the blown kiss, right?
Just curious, was it released what he said?
I can’t say it on here, but apparently, it involved one of the words on Samuel L. Jackson’s wallet.
Yeah, of course that whole part was glossed over while jealous sports writers everywhere jumped on him and tried to paint him as this horrible kid.
You respect Weaver for throwing at someones head? Sorry but that is plain stupid. I am not against throwing at a player but you do it so you are not risking that players career. What if Avila had got plunked in the head and ended up like Conigliaro (spelling)?
Guillen will get his deserved payback. Great comment by Weaver and if only others player realize how lucky they are to be PLAYING a game and making a great living at it. It’s not only enough to live comfortable on but the other players that have to be the highest paid are just greedy. But then again the owners are stupid enough to pay it.
But you’re cool with Verlander losing his temper because of Aybar’s bunt the next inning and threatening him from the mound and the dugout, right? And if he beans him during the next Angels-Tigers game, it’s okay, right?
Everyone needs to get over this incident already. It was two elite pitchers on two contending teams going at it in a close game. Some players were d*cks to other players after they felt they or their teammates had been disrespected. This stuff happens in baseball and makes the game fun to watch. Get over it.
But you’re cool with Verlander losing his temper because of Aybar’s bunt the next inning and threatening him from the mound and the dugout, right? And if he beans him during the next Angels-Tigers game, it’s okay, right?
Everyone needs to get over this incident already. It was two elite pitchers on two contending teams going at it in a close game. Some players were d*cks to other players after they felt they or their teammates had been disrespected. This stuff happens in baseball and makes the game fun to watch. Get over it.
Perhaps Billy Beane should think of a way to exploit the other teams’ aggressiveness and find a new under-utilized approach to analyze players. Oh wait…
billy beane…..mr. overrated. how many playoff apperances have your teams had?
his legacy will be that in many ways he opened the sport to a whole new and more precise way of looking at players and performance..
I don’t see how his own teams success should be necessarily tied to that. Successful teams have adopted many of those ideas and are currently using them to help construct their play off teams.
of the people who criticize beane/moneyball, probably no more than 20% are able to identify what moneyball was actually about. not knowing anything about it, they just have some vague idea in their head gleaned from second-hand commentary and the OBP revolution and resent him for his popularity
beane is a very good baseball mind and a very good GM
wait, wait, wait so you’re saying it’s not a book about drafting fat players?
no you twit. fat players that get on base
false.
boo to disqus
this should have accompanied the post
I guess both of your arguments are relevant. Yes other teams have implemented those principles arguably better than Beane. Ultimately playoff appearances do play a role though because no system is too incredibly effective if it only creates middle of the division teams year after year. Ill say this though the A’s are one of the best at taking garbage and turning it into gold, especially pitching wise.
hed put together a nearly great A’s team. only problem: he failed to analyze Jeremy Giambi’s inability to slide
His teams have had a bunch of playoff appearances. With low payrolls. Are you new to baseball?
What on earth does Guillen want Thome for? I understand he’s a great guy, and still has some pop, which would be an improvement over what Dunn has accomplished to this point in the season; but honestly, he’s not what this club needs to make the post-season. And right now, the chance of the White Sox overtaking the Tigers is incredibly slim.
umm because he is a left handed DH that can actually hit the baseball unlike Dunn. And the whitesox are only 6 games back with 6 games left against the tigers this season
C’mon man, I want the White Sox to win the division, too, but it’s not looking good. We’ve been a .500 team all season, and the Tigers have been hitting a stride. I seriously doubt Thome would come in and help.
but the team leading the division is only 12 games over .500
soooooo, there’s that
again now the sox are 7 games back with 6 to play against the tigers plus like 8 to play against the indians. I’m not saying it will happen, im simply saying it might, weirder things have happened in baseball
Im sure its just a comment that any former manager of Thome would have made on the hells of 600. He is by all accounts a great guy according to sports center haha.
Oh, NOW you want Thome back? Jesus, Ozzie.
He needs someone to go out and have beers with after games. The rest of the team hates him at this point.
Great comment from Weaver. Granted that’s an easy thing to say when you’re going to end up making 100 million dollars by the end of your career, it’s still nice to hear.
I’ve said it before a lot on these boards, but let’s say there’s $170 million on the table. The first half is the important half. Weaver is absolutely right to lock that $85 million up. If he blows out his arm tomorrow, gets in a car wreck, whatever, he’s set. The second half is not nearly as important. He can’t spend the first half in his lifetime, let alone the second half, so why bother putting it all on the line to get it? Not worth the risk. Ask former NBA player Derrick Coleman about turning down a $69 million contract.
It’s a concept called the utility value of money, and it’s important. If you were penniless and someone gave you a million bucks, then offered you a coin flip to risk your million to win $5 million more, a 50-50 shot with a 5-1 payoff, you’d be a fool to risk it even if the payoff justified it because the first chunk of change is what matters. Lock it up.
hate the angels more and more but like Jered Weaver more and more (even besides the head throw). his is the “duh” comment of the year (in a good way)
here are the facts:
Weaver definitely overreacted when it came to the Ordonez HRGuillen definitely slapped Weaver in the face when he hit his HRWeaver did what pitchers do next…they throw at the guy. If youre gonna get mad at Weaver, get mad at every pitcher that’s ever intentionally hit a guy.Weaver shouldnt have thrown it high. that stuff is risky business.Just like when Schilling said “Josh (Beckett) threw it exactly where he wanted to”…I think Weaver threw it exactly where he wanted to. The whole thing is VERY uncharacteristic of Weaver, but I think a good chunk of pitchers wouldve done the same thing?Is it ok to throw something 90 mph above someone’s head? No. Is it ok to throw something 90 mph at someone at all? No. but they both happen anyway.All that being said…EVERY sports athlete can learn from Weaver. dude takes reduced salary and maybe reduced years to stay and pitch in anaheim. Sabathia is opting out of a contract thats more total money at fewer years cuz he wants more. Sabathia is on top of the list of guys that can learn from Weaver.
As an Angel Fan, Weaver was over reacting and I’m sure someone had a talk with him after that. You never throw at a guys head. He should have waited and beamed Guillen in the Hip next time he faced him. I think he learned a lesson. If Tori Hunter would have done the same thing Guillen did. I would have expected Tori get beamed too.
Tori should get hit in the face just for violently flipping his bat like he hit a hr ever time he makes contact…
dunder heads.