On this date eight years ago, Major League Baseball acquired the Montreal Expos from owner Jeffrey Loria for $120MM, who then purchased the Marlins for $158MM. Loria took everything not nailed down in Montreal with him to Florida, including manager Jeff Torborg. MLB ran the Expos for the next four-plus years until ownership was transferred to Ted Lerner in July 2006.
Here's a look at what's being written around the web…
- Capitol Avenue Club analyzes the players the Braves are bringing to Spring Training as non-roster invitees.
- The Bottom Line wonders if Marco Scutaro is going to be the next Julio Lugo.
- Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness thinks the Dodgers jumped the gun when they signed Jamey Carroll.
- Mets Merized looks at the best of what's left on the free agent market.
- Camden Crazies tries to make sense of the Orioles' interest in Jarrod Washburn.
- U.S.S. Mariner breaks down the incentives in Erik Bedard's contract.
- TAUNTR touched on the Tigers' reported offer to Johnny Damon.
- Fantasy Rundown links to every prospect ranking you can think of.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.
you can’t compare Scutaro and Lugo because at least Lugo had more than 1 1/2 years of successful MLB experience when he signed…Scutaro shot his wad into a career year in his mid 30’s.
Thats because Scutaro wasnt a full time player til 08′..hes made some changes in his stance and swing..Put that with playing full time and I think this will turn out to be worth it..Plus hes a better clubhouse guy who works much harder than Lugo ever did..I think your statement of…”Scutaro shot his wad into a career year in his mid 30’s.”, is a bit premature..Its amazing to me that statements like that are made when the guy hasnt played game 1 yet…
Scutaro is a top defender, in my eyes. Lugo?! don’t compare the two….he shouldn’t be allowed to set foot on a diamond. This year’s sox are gonna surprise everyone.
I agree this years Sox are going to suprise everyone. Everyone is going to be surprised when they are 4th in the AL East and 10 games out by the all star break. I’ve bet people on this already. The only reason you say Scutaro is a top defender is because you are a RS fan. Fact RS overpaid for a 38 yo Cameron, nearly double to his real value. Look at all the other players that have signed. Cameron was a 1yr job at 4.5 not 2 for 15. Lackey could go down as one of the sox all time worst signings. He will be injured, just like AJ on the Yanks. Beltre, at $10mm is just absurd. Varitek is not good. You lost Bay and any chance of someone being a homerun leader for the team. Lowell, the other homerun leader is toast. He’ll get maybe 100 – 150 abs this season if not released. Ortiz is a bit of joke. Ellsbury can’t hit more than 5 homers, but yes he can steal. All signs point to Beckett having perhaps his worst season to date. He plagued by injuries (read the papers, everyone has an angle on this) I bet Josh goes 10-9 this season if he is lucky to get that many game under his belt. Same for Lackey, who has never won more than 14 in a season.
People call me crazy for my views on this. I say fine and I’ll see you in the summer when I can say I told you so. You don’t have to be a genius to see the inconsistency in the teams line up.
Of course you fail to mention Pedroia, Youkilis, Ortiz and his big second half, etc.
Ellsbury can actually hit more than 5 HRs considering he hit 8 last year.
Um, Lackey actually won 19 g ames a couple years ago and nice work using wins to evaluate starting pitching. Solid analysis. If you could let us all in on how you “know” guys will get hurt, please do.
What signs do you speak of in terms of Beckett? Is it the 31 starts he’s averaged over the last four years or something else?
Look, there’s nothing wrong with making bold predictions, but at least try and back them up with SOMETHING.
I hope they are only comparing Sutaro with Lugo’s on the field performance and not Lugo’s off the field performance.
The big fallacies with the Lugo/Scutaro comparrison are that Scutaro is signed to a much more economical deal than Lugo was and Scutaro was signed for his above average defense while Lugo was signed for his bat. If Scutaro was signed with the expectation of him maintaining last year’s batting line, I’d be concerned, but he seems to be a steady hand at short and that’s all we really need. If he plays above average defense and hits .260 or better, I’d say he’s worth the contract.
I agree completely. too bad Lugo’s bat must have been made of rubber though. I think Scutaro’s a good age to play too, he’s going to be a great bat this year for us.
The Red Sox have the highest average age of any current MLB team.
highest = oldest
The Carroll signing reminds of the Mota signing from last year..
The Dodgers should look and see if Washburn will sign for 2 million after the O’s come to their senses..
TheCarroll signing was the biggest for dodgers this offseason. They signed a few cheap back up guys and a bunch of sore armed pitchers who will shuttle between the minors and the big club. McCourts divorce has old Frank by the short and curlys, and in retrospect Scott Boras has sold the dodgers a bunch of overhyped Dreak.To Boras credit he is the best dreak salesman around. Andrew (I strike out half the time and laugh about it)Jones and a washed up Manny who tested positve for steroids and of course Jason Schmidt which Coletti did on his own.So big ticket items do not always help. In the Dodgers case it was made worse. Mota made some adjustments and pitched better in the summer. I hope they give Dewitt a chance to prove he is a major leaguer once and for all. If he fails they have A few guys who can take over the position like Belliard or Carroll.