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Archives for February 2008

2008 MLB Free Agents

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Here’s a look at what’s left of the 2008 free agent class.

I’ve categorized them by position; the player’s 2008 age is in parentheses.  This post will be updated throughout the offseason and available as a permanent sidebar link.

Updated 3-13-08

Catchers
No starters available.

First basemen
No starters available.

Second basemen
No starters available.

Shortstops
No starters available.

Third basemen
Corey Koskie (35)

Left fielders
Barry Bonds (43) – Type A
Reggie Sanders (40)

Center fielders
Kenny Lofton (41) – Type B

Right fielders
Reggie Sanders (40)

DHs
Barry Bonds (43) – Type A
Mike Piazza (39) – Type B
Sammy Sosa (39)

Starting pitchers
Roger Clemens (45)
Freddy Garcia (32) – Type B
Rodrigo Lopez (32)
Eric Milton (32)
Russ Ortiz (34)
John Thomson (34)
Jeff Weaver (31)
David Wells (45)

Closers
Bob Wickman (39)

Middle relievers
Antonio Alfonseca (36)
Jose Mesa (42)
Akinori Otsuka (36)
Aaron Sele (38)

Brewers Talk Extension With Braun

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According to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy,  Ryan Braun’s agent had preliminary contract extension talks with Brewers assistant GM Gord Ash recently.  Troy Tulowitzki’s recent deal may serve as a framework.

Tulo received $31MM over six years with a seventh year option.  For their cases to be comparable in terms of service time, Braun will have to qualify as a Super Two player.  I spoke to ESPN’s Keith Law on the topic.  He said:

Right now, given his service time and where the cutoff for super-twos has been for the last ~ten years, I don’t believe he’ll have enough service time after 2009 to qualify as a super-two. That has to be a $5 million savings for Milwaukee, easily, if Braun does anything like what he did last year.

Commenting Policy

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I'm not a huge fan of policing the comments, but I know it comes with the territory.  I try to browse as many comments as I can.  When I see something that violates any of the below items,  I typically delete every comment the person ever made and ban them from commenting.  This is so I don't have to waste additional time bothering with the same person.  Our moderators operate in a similar fashion.

Comments of this nature are not allowed:

  • Attacks/insults towards other commenters, the post author, journalists, teams, or players
  • Inappropriate language
  • Juvenile comments or extensive use of text message-type spelling
  • Spam-type links or self-promotion (try Baseball Blogs Weigh In if you have a website)
  • Comments about how you're sick of this topic or it's not newsworthy
  • Writing comments in all or mostly caps
  • Anything else I deem bad for business

That pretty much covers it.  Don't do that stuff, and you're good.  Just be respectful to everyone and act like an adult.  If you see comments that fit the above criteria, please contact us.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Gross, Weaver, Encarnacion

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Ken Rosenthal is on the scene with some new rumors.

  • Astros president Tal Smith arguing other teams’ arbitration cases.   Rosenthal finds it a bit awkward, while Keith Law finds it to be a hilarious conflict of interest.
  • Possible trades of Matt Murton to the Padres or Rangers seem to have fizzled.  The Padres may turn to the Brewers’ Gabe Gross, a player who previously caught the eye of the A’s, Indians, and Braves.  Our good friend PECOTA sees a .267/.366/.467 line from Gross this year.  With Gross and various veteran starters, the Brewers have some surpluses to work with.
  • Rosenthal believes the Cardinals’ interest in Jeff Weaver to be not especially serious.  They’ve got in-house candidates to start, and Matt Clement needing some time is not a revelation.
  • We’ve read about extension possibilities for Matt Capps and Alex Rios.  To that mix, Rosenthal adds Edwin Encarnacion.  The Reds might want to do it now; he seems primed for a big year.

Brewers Talk Extension With Braun

By | at

According to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy,  Ryan Braun’s agent had preliminary contract extension talks with Brewers assistant GM Gord Ash recently.  Troy Tulowitzki’s recent deal may serve as a framework.

Tulo received $31MM over six years with a seventh year option.  For their cases to be comparable in terms of service time, Braun will have to qualify as a Super Two player.  I spoke to ESPN’s Keith Law on the topic.  He said:

Right now, given his service time and where the cutoff for super-twos has been for the last ~ten years, I don’t believe he’ll have enough service time after 2009 to qualify as a super-two. That has to be a $5 million savings for Milwaukee, easily, if Braun does anything like what he did last year.

Commenting Policy

By | at

I’m not a huge fan of policing the comments, but I know it comes with the territory.  I try to browse as many comments as I can.  When I see something that violates any of the below items,  I typically delete every comment the person ever made and ban them from commenting.  This is so I don’t have to waste additional time bothering with the same person.  Comments of this nature are not allowed:

  • Personal attacks/insults
  • Inappropriate language
  • Extraordinarily juvenile comments (pet peeve: extensive use of text message-type spelling)
  • Anything else I deem bad for my business

That pretty much covers it.  Don’t do that stuff, and you’re good.  Just be respectful to everyone and act like an adult.  If you see comments that fit the above criteria, please email me at dierkes@gmail.com.

Rumor Royalty: Todd Zolecki (Phillies)

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Todd Zolecki is our Rumor Royalty recipient for the Phillies.  Todd covers the team for the Philadelphia Inquirer and also keeps a blog, the soon-to-be-renamed Zo Zone.  Todd has kindly agreed to answer a handful of reader questions for the series.

————————————————————————————————————————
MLBTR: Does signing Ryan Howard to a long term contract make sense for the Phils?

Zolecki: It depends what price we’re talking about. Before and after winning $10 million in arbitration, Howard is seeking major money. Maybe in the $200 million range. The Phillies are not the Yankees or Red Sox, so if they commit that type of money to one player, it almost certainly would cost them elsewhere. That could mean Cole Hamels going elsewhere. Or Brett Myers. Or others. I’m not sure the Phillies want to do that, and get stuck in a contract they hate like the Rangers and A-Rod.

————————————————————————————————————————
MLBTR: For many years, the Phillies’ farm system has been lackluster with respect to pitching.  Why is this the case, and do you think the farm system is improving in this respect?

Zolecki: There’s no question it’s been a source of frustration. The Phillies haven’t had a homegrown 20-game winner since Chris Short in 1966. That’s remarkable. There are millions of theories out there, but lately it seems like they’ve had better success. Hamels. Myers. Kendrick. They like Carlos Carrasco, Joe Savery, Josh Outman and Kyle Drabek (who’s recovering from Tommy John) in the minors. Will these guys pan out? We’ll see. But it seems like they are turning some things around. Of course, things would be easier if they spent a little more money to sign players in the draft.

————————————————————————————————————————
MLBTR: Do the Phillies have the goods to acquire Joe Blanton without hurting the ’08 team?

Zolecki: I don’t think so. The Phillies are very hesitant to give up some of their top talent because they don’t have much at the moment.

————————————————————————————————————————
MLBTR: What was your opinion of the Brad Lidge trade?  Do you think he can handle Philly?

Zolecki: I like it. They got him relatively cheaply — Geoff Geary, Michael Bourn and Mike Costanzo. If Lidge pitches like they think they can, the Phillies improved their bullpen and rotation with one move. That’s tough do. Fortunately for them, Myers is versatile and should transition back into the rotation.

Manny Switches To Boras

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This should be interesting.  Just in time for his contract year, Manny Ramirez has ditched agents Scott Parker and Greg Genske in favor of Scott Boras.  As Jon Heyman notes, this is not necessarily a bad thing for Boston since they’re on fine terms with Boras.  Manny recently spoke to the press about his $20MM option after the season, but didn’t really add new information.

There will be a lot of Boston media chatter about Manny’s situation this year, and now plenty of Boras Hall of Fame type rhetoric as well.   But really, it’s a very simple situation.  The Red Sox don’t have to make a decision until after the season, and they don’t owe it to Ramirez to do so.  If his new workout regime helps him stay healthy for 140+ games, the Sox will probably exercise the option.  They’ll certainly have other options, but Adam Dunn, Pat Burrell, and Bobby Abreu won’t sign for one year.

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