Schilling Starts Blogging
Kind of cool to see Curt Schilling blogging.
Click here to see an up-to-date list of baseball players with blogs. Additionally, On the DL tracked down a host of ballplayers with MySpace pages last summer. A few of those might be bogus or private now of course.
Fallout From Vazquez Extension
From Jermaine Dye‘s point of view, it may have been odd to see the White Sox negotiate a contract extension with Javier Vazquez on Tuesday. After talking to the club earlier, Dye’s agent told the outfielder that the Sox would not talk contract extension with any player before the end of the season. The Daily Herald says he might accept less than Carlos Lee‘s 6/100 package. I think the Sox might consider 4/60 but he’s a long shot to re-sign.
And then there’s Mark Buehrle, whose situation is more directly related to Vazquez since both are starters. It’s pretty clear that Buehrle wants at least four years, and the Sox have their unofficial policy to limit pitcher contracts to three. Both sides are saying their doors are open. It’s kind of like being on a job interview when the company asks your salary expectations. Neither side wants to blink first.
I know there is going to be some level of outrage/disappointment in Chicago when Buehrle hops over to the Cardinals or some other club after the season, especially if he bounces back to post an ERA around 4. He was a huge part of the World Series team. But sentiment should not get in the way of reality. I think the team’s three-year policy is excellent. I’m sure they’d bend on it if the right pitcher came along at the right price, but Buehrle isn’t it.
The Sox have Buehrle’s best seasons in the bank, and the price was reasonable. Locking him up for his age 29-32 seasons as a reward for that isn’t good business. It’s nothing personal. Kenny Williams’s limit was probably the 3/30 offer he made last summer. He was right to draw the line there.
You can question whether the Garcia/McCarthy deals made sense – the Sox are trying to have their cake and eat it too by winning and rebuilding simultaneously. You have to admire them for trying and for Williams’s foresight. Re-signing Buehrle or Dye at anything near the market rate just doesn’t make sense.
Vizquel Extension Up For Discussion
40 year-old shortstop Omar Vizquel would like to play in 2008 and 2009, so the Giants will meet with his agent today to talk extension. I wanted to get an idea of just how rare this type of thing is, so I finally checked out the Play Index tool over at Baseball-Reference. It is awesome.
How many guys in modern Major League history have played even 50 games in a season at shortstop at age 40 or older? The answer is four: Barry Larkin, Luke Appling, Ozzie Smith, and Honus Wagner. Appling and Wagner each had three such seasons. The latter three are already in the Hall of Fame, and Larkin stands a good chance. Of those eight seasons, only one involved an OPS below .720. Makes sense – you don’t last that long if you’re Mike Caruso. Although Mike’s 1998 season had us all fooled.
Then, since I was bored, I decided to find the best single-season qualifying ERA by a pitcher who weighed 250 or more pounds. Turned out to be Jeff D’Amico‘s 2000 season at 2.66. See, you learn something every day.
Blogs Are The Worst
This spring has already brought about two weird, out of touch anti-blog columns from old guys.
First there was this Patrick Reusse piece, beautifully torn apart at Fire Joe Morgan. Reusse accentuates how easy it is to start a blog by concocting a hilarious scenario where a homeless man blogs the Twins.
Then today Steve Kelley really took bloggers to task. This column strikes me as especially strange because the most popular Mariners blogs – U.S.S. Mariner and Lookout Landing – operate on a higher plane than any newspaper. Kelley envisions his bloggers (or is it a chat room?) as "passionate, well-intentioned, if not quite well-informed."
What blogs are these guys reading? When I want the news, I pick up the newspaper. Well, yesterday’s news at least. But when I want intelligent analysis, I check out blogs and some select online columnists.
Recommended: BP 2007
It feels like Christmas morning, opening the Amazon.com box when the latest Baseball Prospectus Annual arrives. I’ve been poring over this massive tome of baseball knowledge since Sunday and I’m still only on the Red Sox. There is a stat for every occasion, and more player profiles than is healthy. I can’t even imagine the amount of work that went into this.
At just $12, I highly recommend buying Baseball Prospectus 2007, even if you are not stat-obsessed. I just spent $12 on a buffalo chicken sandwich and curly fries.
And while I have you, check out my website AllCubs.com if you haven’t lately. We’ve ramped up with quality content and more authors and I think it’s excellent.
Just to get all of my plugs out of the way in one post, check out my 2007 RotoAuthority Fantasy Guide. 600 player projections with comments, weekly updates, and cool draft tools for only $9.99.
Orioles Close On Roberts Extension
According to the Washington Post, the Orioles will soon complete a two-year extension for second baseman Brian Roberts that extend him through 2009.
As Peter Schmuck writes, the team has semi-intentionally left itself a three-year window to win. 40% of the team’s likely 25-man roster will reach free agency after the ’09 season. Orioles VP Jim Duquette describes it as partially design (built around the Tejada contract) and partially coincidence.
So in the winter of 2009-10, the Orioles will have the perfect opportunity to do something different. I hope they act with some conviction at that point instead of what they’ve been doing lately.
Jorge Arangure Jr. names the core for the 2010 season: Billy Rowell, Brandon Erbe, Pedro Beato, Daniel Cabrera, Nick Markakis, Chris Ray, Adam Loewen, and Hayden Penn. Do they Orioles start a complete youth movement at that point?
Or do they dive headfirst into the free agent market and bring in a name to rival Tejada? The free agent class after the 2009 season includes Jason Bay, Miguel Cabrera, Matt Holliday, Victor Martinez, Brandon Webb, and Dontrelle Willis. The Orioles could bring in some major star power with all the free cash.
Twins Notes: Morneau, Ponson
Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press has a few Twins tidbits for us this morning:
- He says the Twins want a fifth option year on Justin Morneau‘s multiyear pact in the range of $14MM. Three days ago, Morneau said the two sides were "pretty close." At that time, Morneau confirmed that he was never offered the 4/33 deal that Joe Mauer received.
- Walters also writes: "It will be a shock if pitcher Sidney Ponson isn’t released by the Twins." Back in late February, Ron Gardenhire said he viewed Ponson as being one of the team’s starters. If his neck is OK, it would be nice to see Matt Garza win the job instead.
Teixeira Possibilities
Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News weighs the possibilities for first baseman Mark Teixeira, a Scott Boras client set to hit free agency after the 2008 season.
When he hits arbitration after the 2007 season, it will be the first time Teixeira can request a salary commensurate to his peers. Carlos Delgado would be a good match; I would expect Boras to ask for $14-15MM at that time. PECOTA sees Teixeira as a $20MM player annually through 2011, so it will be money well spent.
Whether Texas will commit the $100+ million contract Teixeira will require after that remains to be seen. Jon Daniels seems to be on decent terms with Boras, with recent signings of Eric Gagne and Kevin Millwood.
White Sox Extend Javier Vazquez
In a surprise move, the White Sox signed 30 year-old right-handed starter Javier Vazquez to a three-year, $34.5MM extension today. The deal starts in 2008, as Vazquez is due $12.5MM this year.
I love the move. If the Sox had to choose one of their guys to extend, Vazquez was the right one. Plus, they get him at a slight discount after a 4.84 ERA that did not represent his skills. How many American League pitchers strike out 8 batters per nine and walk fewer than 2.5? Not many. Vazquez’s command, as measured by K/BB, is among the best in the AL. Only Schilling, Santana, Haren, and Halladay pitched 200 innings with better command. And Vazquez is a virtual lock for 32+ starts.
PECOTA says the White Sox overpaid by $7MM, but given the current market, I think it’s more than fair. If Ted Lilly requires 4/40 and Gil Meche 5/55, Vazquez’s deal is a steal. One of these years, maybe 2007, Don Cooper is going to solve the enigma of his disproportionately high ERAs.
Last Year’s Oswalt Trade Details Surface
Mark Hale of the New York Post was able to dig up some new details on the machinations that almost left Roy Oswalt a Met. He’d certainly look good with this group.
The Mets were dying to get him last July, but didn’t have the goods to make a direct swap with Houston. The Astros wanted a hitter, perhaps Hank Blalock from the Rangers or Miguel Tejada from the Orioles. Morgan Ensberg, Brad Lidge, John Danks, Thomas Diamond, Mike Pelfrey, Aaron Heilman, and Brian Bannister were all names that surfaced in connection to a possible trade.