Six years ago today, the Rockies signed righty Jhoulys Chacin as an amateur free agent out of Venezuela. This year as a rookie, Chacin has a 3.26 ERA in 132.3 innings. Links for Monday…
- Pirates GM Neal Huntington indicated a preference to sign a free agent pitcher to a multiyear deal, in comments made to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
- The Marlins are considering a slight payroll bump for 2011 to the $48-50MM range, reports MLB.com's Joe Frisaro.
- The Rangers signed a 20-year extension with Fox Sports Southwest worth $3 billion, according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale.
- The Brewers' trade return on a one-year rental of Prince Fielder may be disappointing, suggests Dave Cameron of FanGraphs. In a U.S.S. Mariner post, Cameron explains why he doesn't find Fielder a good fit in Seattle.
Wow. That is definitely good news for Texas. $150 million from a t.v. deal alone? Cliff Lee could be a Ranger yet…
The present & the future is very bright for the Rangers. A lucrative TV deal, enough financial resources to not only keep Lee, but bring in Beltre, Berkman, Crawford, etc. and a great farm system to boot. The Pirates should rue the day they native Pittsburgher Chuck Greenberg go to Texas!
It’s comical that Boras is using, essentially, Texiera as a comp for Fielder.I hope every GM out there is looking, instead, at Ortiz. $50M/4yrs is all Prince deserves. And even that might be high, considering Ortiz was coming off 3-consecutive Top-5 MVP voting seasons…
*Edit: Ortiz signed for $50M/4Y in 2006, at age 30. I consider the minor age difference a wash, considering Prince has 40-pounds on Oritz.
Take away the goofy Yankee stadium HR numbers, Texeira really isn’t all that inspiring. Prince is a much better hitter.
What’s Boras supposed to say….”My man, Prince, is a likely a DH waiting to happen. He’s also likely seen his best days.”
The Rangers have a very good chance to resign Lee in the offseason now, along with signing a couple more big names name like Beltre, Crawford, or Berkman.
The $100 million/5 year offer Fielder turned down was made in April when he was coming off a 46 HR, 141 RBI year. This year his numbers have tailed off considerably to 32 HR, 80 RBI. Another year like this one and Boras will beg for that kind of deal.Many knowledgeable Brewer fans think Melvin missed the best offer he could have gotten when he passed up Daniel Hudson for Fielder. Nevertheless, the Brewers don’t have to trade Fielder. They certainly can afford him next year. Because Doug Melvin’s track record with FA pitchers leaves a lot to be desired, the prevailing thought is that a trade of Fielder is the best option to improve the pitching. But if they’re not offered enough, I think they’ll hang on to him and look to improve the pitching with a buy low type with a good upside. It would not shock me if Brewers kicked the tires on Brandon Webb for instance.The recent improvement in the pitching (staff ERA in Sept. is 2.85), and promising debuts of Mark Rogers, Jeremy Jeffress, and Mike McClendon along with rookie bullpen arms like Axford and Braddock that have performed well since late May, make the outlook not quite as bleak as some would have thought also.
Yeah, I think Fielder may really regret turning down that offer in the long run. I think too much is made of his weight, but in 4-5 years he may not be the same player he is now. His defense seems to have gone downhill since last season as well, which is a concern.
How long before the infatuation with Dave Cameron ends? His baseball analysis is about as good as his wedding photography and I bet he rates them both on how much revenue they generate. I wonder if he’s seen more than a couple games of baseball in which Fielder played. The idea that he brings no defensive value is silly and comparing him as a hitter to Matt Holliday as a hitter as well as giving Holliday credit for his defensive value is unbelievably ignorant. Of course he’s a guy who thought Bob Howry would make a nice closer – that’s his idea of spending money wisely.
Fielder’s URZ for 2010 is -9.2 and his wRAA is 37.2 making him 22.7 runs above replacement level.Holliday’s URZ is 7.7, and his wRAA is 40.9, making him 21.7 runs above replacement level for his position.In 2010 Holliday was a better fielder and a better hitter, their overal value (based on position) was pretty much even.
Dave Cameron > Sam_Lee