A grab-bag of links on the first Sunday of what should be a fun offseason….
- Don't expect the White Sox to pick up any big-ticket players on the free agent market, writes MLB.com's Scott Merkin. The club is unlikely to bring Juan Pierre back in 2012 and if they look to replace him with a traditional leadoff type, Merkin expects the team to do so via trade.
- It would be a surprise if the Indians re-signed Chad Durbin as the club has several promising young relievers who could take his spot, writes Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer.
- The Yankees will make a contract offer to C.C. Sabathia this weekend, tweets SI.com's Jon Heyman. However, most people expect the lefty to opt out of his current deal and "look around."
- Newsday's Ken Davidoff predicts destinations and contract details for his top 30 free agents, in slideshow form.
- The Rangers, Nationals, and Brewers top Buster Olney's list of potential landing spots for Grady Sizemore (ESPN insider link).
- Hisashi Iwakuma confirmed that he will attempt to sign with an MLB team again this winter, according to NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman (via Sponichi). Iwakuma was unable to work out a deal with the Athletics last offseason.
- New Angels GM Jerry Dipoto will have complete decision-making power, says Angels owner Arte Moreno. Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times has details and quotes.
- The Padres will hire Phil Plantier as their new hitting coach, tweets FOX's Ken Rosenthal.
If anyone hasnt read Davidoffs predictions in Newsday, spare yourself the time because they are awful. Both with teams and contract numbers.
Seemed like at least 75% of the “predictions” were that people would stay on their current teams.
I also liked how K-Rod is apparently the best available closer this winter.
Who in their right mind would rank Alex Gonzalez and Mark Ellis as better options than Aramis Ramirez?
And the Marlins are going to sign Reyes to a 6yr $108mil deal?
Maybe…. new ballpark, increasing payroll. Who knows.
It’s a bit of a stretch but Ramirez is not a good player. His laziness and defense are incredibly detrimental.
no
Yes, he’s incredibly slow getting the ball out. It puts Barney in a lot of trouble and foils a lot of double play opportunities. He wasn’t that bad originally, but he’s fallen off the face of the Earth.
He hasn’t gotten a big RBI since that epic Milwaukee game a couple years back.
He’s also a log jam on the bases.
Brenly put it best, he’s just a numbers gatherer.
I can’t argue against his defensive short comings..
besides last year, he’s always close to a .900 OPS
his bat far exceeds his defensive woes and base running skills ( or lack thereof )
given the sorry heap of 3B in the league, ramirez will be a very attractive option for teams to upgrade their hot corner
He doesn’t get hits when it matters. 2-23 in two division series appearances and in 2011 he hit 2 home runs in the first half when they actually could have done something and had an awesome 2nd half when they were completely out of it.
Kind of counter productive if you’re trying to win the World Series.
Instead of writing a 3 paragraph rebuttal to your comment, I’m just going to recommend that you read The Book.
Brutal.
Papelbon and Bell are both better options than K-Rod. And that’s only taking in to account what happens ON the field.
I guess he’s trying to get more people to check it out because it’s *ahem* a slideshow.
Oooooooh. Aaaaaaaah.
*cough*
Cover your mouth
Haha witty. +1
pat burrell who played for 1mil last year and finished the year injured, 6mil in baltimore? hahaaaa
I didnt even catch that one. That is just dreadful
And I find it hard believe that Ramon Hernandez will make $6MM next year.
Especially for a team that has Grandal, Mesoraco, and Hanigan already.
Burrell even said he would only play for the giants.
it’s in a slideshow. What did you expect?
just want an opinion. Jays for sabathia?
It would be nice, but if I had to choose between Sabathia and Fielder, I’d take Fielder since the rotation isn’t as much of a black hole as 1B is (offensively), and the Jays have a ton of young arms blazing through the farm, see: Hutchison, Molina and McGuire.
I think CC will stay in NY, but I think the Jays have a chance at Fielder along with the Nats, Rangers, and the Cubs.
You are asking to be scolded beyond belief, belittled and even threatened on this site with an opinion like that. I however, will respectfully disagree
It makes sense for AA to target a front of the rotation starter..
but I seriously doubt that anyone will outbid the yanks for sabathia’s services.. therefore if he leaves, it will be for family/location. Looking more at the west coast probably
what do you think he’ll get?
I think the deal Cliff Lee got last off season is a starting point.
The predictions from Davidoff are atrocious. He has the Miami Marlins signing Reyes despite the fact they already have Hanley.
Hanley and Jose are good friends. He said he could switch positions to accommodate Reyes. But the contract numbers are more shocking.
Perhaps you haven’t noticed all the rumblings of a possible position change for HanRam. Its been all over the news.
No I haven’t, my college doesn’t have MLBNetwork
I have heard that Hanley will move to third, and with the new retractable dome I could see the Fish signing Reyes. If Johnson comes back strong with a few moves the Marlins could be contenders.
I love Ken Davidoff’s predictions
Roy Oswalt
Coming off a down, injury-prone year, he’ll have to build his worth back up. Prediction: Detroit, one year, $9 million. One year @ 9 millions, boy if the O’s don’t offer 1 yr @ 10 million, plus an option year, there should be an investigation! Oh wait they are the Orioles, us fans should get used to the fact we are waiting for Justin Duchscherer or a Brandon Webb type pitcher to help lol
Ryan Madson 3 yrs totaling 27 millions for the Twins LOL Ha nah
Pappelbon with the Sillies… never the O’s should get involved, but you know they won’t!
Ah yes, Pat the Bat Burrell 1 yr deal @ 6 million, I would rather sign Raul Ibanez which is to say I would want neither, but if I did I would want the I – Man!
Kenny D where did you come up with this stuff?
No offense, but do you honestly think that oswalt would goto baltimore on a 1 year deal?
He probably wants to go to a playoff bound team
Well the Orioles better do something because the Current Rotation simply isn’t getting the job done. Oswalt would be a start. If the Orioles do nothing or just keep on doing the same patch job, they will be lucky to get 70 wins in 2012.
having a new GM, who has a strong background in drafting and development will help
it will take time, but it will help…
the good news is that the O’s have a lot of good mlb talent that can be moved to acquire younger pieces.
the good news is that the O’s have a lot of good mlb talent that can be moved to acquire younger pieces. you really feel that way? Who would you trade?
To be honest, I would grab some veteran pieces ( late 20’s or early 30’s). That’s just me though. As for time, Peter Angelos has wasted the fans time when he picked Andy MacPhail as GM! Grow the Arms and Buy the Bats. While good in theory, it was terrible in application.
The Orioles current roster is way too weak to compete, even if they add expensive FAs and veterans. They should be working on their farm system and try to build around Bundy and Machado. Keep Matusz, Britton, Wieters and maybe Jones. Trade everyone else.
The Orioles can offer that, doesn’t mean Roy Oswalt would take it, especially if a playoff team would be offering 1 year at $9 million.
… and trust me, Burrell is better than Ibanez at this point. Ibanez has no batspeed left, so he swings at everything to compensate.
Well they lost out Victor Matinez to the Tigers under similar circumstances last year.
Andy Mac was whining or sniffed depending on how you feel the man, Martinez didn’t even comeback to the O’s for a counter proposal. O’s said 48 Tigers said 50.
I have watched Burrell too many times, he’s a slug.. because he moves slow.
He had a great year in 2008, but I think he’s done. Plus he seems happy on the west coast.
Yeah it was a bad prediction anyway on his part. Burrell said he isn’t going to play for anybody besides the Giants.
Wow. Hes a idiot. The Tigers would never sign Oswald. If they do sign a SP it will be a lefty. That is a fact…
Boras will get someone to pay $25MM per over seven years for Fielder. Probably the O’s or Nationals.
PS – My responses to the more ridiculous predictions in that article:
Kelly Johnson gets $16MM guaranteed after positing a .222/.304/.413 line? Yeah, right…
$14MM per for Jimmy Rollins through his age 36 season? I haven’t been a fan of much of what the Phillies have done post-Gillick, but they’re not that dumb.
Same with Beltran. No one is going to be stupid enough to sign a 35-year-old for three years and that much money.
Ditto Furcal. A 34-year-old shortstop who has played more than 100 games once in his previous four seasons? No thanks.
Willingham’s number sounds about right, but he’ll end up with an AL team.
Why would DeJesus get a raise? Seriously? He’ll get a few million with a bunch of incentives.
Two years, $10MM for Barmes? Has Davidoff ever watched baseball? Why would Barmes get a raise AND two guaranteed years? He “peaked” with the Astros? His .698 OPS was almost 100 points lower than his best year in Colorado.
K-Rod? I guess Davidoff has never heard of Heath Bell. Oh, wait. Bell’s up there a few slides later. What is this guy’s problem?
I think 2/16 for Kelly Johnson is low.
Sincerely,
N. Colletti
Me too… I’ll stick with Ryan Raburn.
-Jim Leyland.
I can see CC, Fielder, and Albert getting the big money but I see a drop off after that. Reyes, Rollins, and Wilson in the next teir. I could see Bell, Papelbon, and Madson getting 3 year contracts. I can’t wait to see the list by MLB Rumors tomarrow.
I wouldn’t mind Sizemore on a one-year, incentive laden contract
Give him a deal with incentives, but how low can you go on the base salary for the 29 year old who’s $8.5m option was turned down? I’d think $3.5m tops.
Sizemore is interesting. If he isn’t completely mangled and broken from all the injuries and can finally put up a decent season, he’d be a good player to take a flyer on. I’d be interested to see if a team tries to have him play CF.
Iwakuma can sign with any team, right? (No posting)
Yeah, he’s an international free agent
Thanks Ken, I needed a good laugh.
I don’t see why the Rangers would want Sizemore. I’d say their rotation and 1B are bigger priorities for them. Nationals make sense, as do the Brewers. I also think the Mets make a ton of sense given that their OF is more than a little thin.
I’ve actually been calling Prince to the Jays for the past two years, so I’d love to see that prediction be correct.
I don’t think he’ll be playing in the outfield, personally.
Yea, I think they will put Sizemore and his knees at SS…
There’s this thing called a DH. Oh and one called 1B.
I think that Prince is going to the rangers..
They’ll let CJ walk and add another bat to their offense.
The Rangers will not be in on Sizemore. We have Leonys Martin coming up to play CF next year.
Why would the Brewers be in on Sizemore? We have Nyjer Morgan and Carlos Gomez, both of which are pretty cheap.
The Angels could sign Joe Nathan this off-season? Then get a 3B. After get rid off Callaspo, Mathis, Brayan, Rodney, Penerio, and trade Abreu and Wells. Easier said than done. My spelling could be off don’t judge me.
I would like Jerry Dipoto to sign Mark Buehrle for the right price but if not Armando Galarraga as the #4 SP. Then getting a 3B is a must so if we can’t trade for David Wright then trade for Chase Headley or sign Wilson Betemit. A mike napoli like catcher (power hitter, so-so on defense) is a need so a guy like Ryan Doumit would be a nice addition. In reality, Buehrle will be too expensive so Galarraga is a good fit. Projected trade: Angels trade Bobby Abreu to the Marlins for Javier Vasquez then the Angels trade Vernon Wells, Javier Vasquez, and Alberto Callaspo to the Mets for David Wright. So the lineup and rotation would be:
1. Bourjos- CF
2. Kendrick- 2B
3. Morales- DH
4. Wright- 3B
5. Trumbo- 1B
6. Hunter- RF
7. Doumit- C
8. Aybar- SS
9. Trout- LF
1. Weaver
2. Haren
3. Santana
4. Galarraga
5. Williams
Then again this is a dream-like team so it probably won’t happen.