On this date back in 1974, Catfish Hunter met with Oakland A's owner Charles Finley and Peter Seitz of the American Arbitration Association in New York after the team failed to make a $50,000 payment into a long-term annuity fund. The right-hander claimed that his contract had been violated, and Seitz eventually ruled in his favor. Hunter became the first big name free agent in baseball history, later signing a five-year, $3.5MM contract with the Yankees that made him the highest-paid player in baseball history.
Here's a helping of links that go well with Thanksgiving leftovers…
- In the spirit of the holiday, Wahoo Blues lists ten things Indians fans have to be thankful for.
- Bucs Dugout lists some Rule 5 Draft possibilities for the Pirates.
- Baseball Time In Arlington examines the Paul Konerko option for the Rangers.
- Phillies Nation looks at Matt Thornton as a potential trade target for Philadelphia.
- We Should Be GMs wonders how much Derek Jeter is worth.
- Pine Tar And Pocket Protectors believes Justin Upton should be traded.
- The Blue Jay Hunter wants to see Toronto sign Chad Qualls to be their closer.
- Examiner tries to figure out what would constitute a fair return for Gavin Floyd.
- Sports of Boston explains why Cliff Lee should sign with the Red Sox.
- Meanwhile, The Ghost of Moonlight Graham tries to figure out who will catch for Boston in 2011.
- Halos Heaven dispels the Adrian Beltre contract year myth.
- A Diehard Cubs Fan Speaks Out and wonders if the Cubs should shift Starlin Castro to second base.
- SPANdemonium lists every player eligible for the upcoming Rule 5 Draft.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.
By the way guys Westmoreland is taking batting practice! He’s on the comeback trail!
Catfish Hunter= only baseball player Bob Dylan ever wrote a song about…
Chad Qualls would be a terrible choice for The Jays. I’d rather re-sign Gregg than have Qualls, and that isn’t saying a lot.
I disagree completely with Sports of Boston. He seems to have just looked at the main stats of ERA, WHIP, Win-Loss, and in some cases walks and Ks to make his cases as to why players are good/bad. Plus he also seems to reason that the Sox should get Lee because Papelbon had a bad season which makes little sense to me at all. Here’s my opinion on what the Sox rotation should be next year and notice how Cliff Lee isn’t in there.
Lester: Self-explanatory
Buchholz: I see regression from him unless he can up his K/9 above 8 (Sports of Boston describes his current K/9 of 6.22 as muscular which is just plainly isn’t). He got lucky on BABIP and LOB% and has an FIP of 3.61 which is what I expect to see from him next year. He isn’t close to being Ace-2 with Lester yet.
Beckett: Opposite of Buchholz, Sports of Boston suggests benching him but Beckett was plagued with bad luck. Beckett had a .349 BABIP (2nd highest in the league had Beckett qualified) with a 65.3 LOB% (3rd lowest among qualified starters). He put up a bad ERA due to his bad luck but his peripherals are almost exactly the same as 2009 when he put up a 5.4 WAR. His BBs and HRs did go up slightly (Which skews his FIP) but I think that is a result of sample size since he logged just 124 innings this year due to injury. I expect a good year from Beckett in 2011 if he can remain healthy.
Lackey: I see Lackey as being similar to Beckett. Lackey was also unlucky with his .323 BABIP and 69.3 LOB%. He did see some regression in Ks but he seemed to figure it out towards the end of the season and put up K/9 above 8 for August and Sept. He had a good FIP (3.85) and logged 215 innings. Nothing more you could really want from your 4 starter.
Dice-K: Once again Sports of Boston can’t look past ERA and WHIP. He then calls him a colossal waste of money and not worth 10mil. I found this funny because according to WAR he was worth exactly 10mil. Dice-k’s performance was affected a bit by his low LOB% of 67.2%. His FIP hovered around 4.05 and I see him putting up a low to mid 4 ERA next season which I will take from my #5 guy.
I don’t see the problem with this rotation at all. You have 4 guys who could put up sub 4 ERAs and potentially 2 (if Buchholz does progress further) who could put up sub-3 ERAs.
I was about to say something about that post but you said it all for me. You’re right on with about everything.
Yeah, that article was foolish. My personal favorite was how he kept mentioning how bad Beltre was because of his errors…
I do like the idea of having 3 aces.I do like the idea of AGonz to 1st, Youk to 3rd.Some of the stuff was wacky though…mist noticeably to me was having Casey Kellu in the bullpen, and possibly spot starting. Unless something drastically changed from last year, Kelly isn’t close to ready.Also the why would they extend Wakefield if they already have capable starters on the roster, including Lee.
Sure who wouldn’t like that, the trouble was his logic and reasoning about literally almost everything.
Using terms like lucky, bad luck and unlucky for 3 of the 4 top starters shows a lack of confidence in them. While I think Lee is not needed, here is an additional look at this rotation, and a need for an arm.
LESTER: I agree with. Only matter of time before he win’s the Cy.
BUCHHOLZ: I agree with you. But with only 170ish innings pitched, he could repeat most stats, with a 3ish ERA
BECKETT: Huge season for him. Needs to break the bad season followed by good season trend. He gets paid ace $$, needs to perform like an ace. Allows his fair share of homers. Might only reach reach 12-14 wins with a mid to high 4 ERA. Could turn into Burnett of 2010 if he’s not careful.
LACKEY: Home and road ERA’s are pretty much the same, but 11 wins at home and only 3 on the road. Hey, a Fenway advantage. While it might be a stretch to say he is starting to regress, the climbing ERA for 4 straight season in a hitter friendly park is not a good sign. A repeat of 14 wins could be a reach. If he slips up, that contract will be a head scratcher.
DICE-K: Cut ties with this 10 mill guy. Injury prone, brutal control I’m pretty sure Theo can find someone for that price that can put in 170 innings +. Plus you don’t want to rely on Wakefield anymore….do you
While Lee is probably not the wise money move, getting another HEALTHY arm would be a good call. Need to almost find someone (like Miller) that still has some upside and not reached there potential
I think Brad Emaus or Wynn Pelzer would be really good guys for the Pirates to pick up.
I agree. I project both to go in the top 10. I’m in the process of making my mock draft, and here are some of the guys I think would make sense for the Pirates…Brad Emaus, Wynn Pelzer, Mark Hamburger, Justin Horst, Pat Egan, Bobby Carson, Adam Carr, Jason Rice, George Kontos, Ryan Adams, and Eddie Kunz. Just some ideas. There are a lot of good players and this is arguably the best Rule 5 class in recent history.
I really hope no one picks Michael Dubee from the Pirates, he’s been absolutely dominant these past two seasons.
Couldn’t believe they didn’t protect him
i notice you didn’t bold Casey Mulligan’s name in the cardinals section. is he not rule V eligible?
he is eligible, and thanks for the heads up I’m going to add him to the list.
On S.Castro moving to 2nd base:
I can see him there, his arm would be great for a second baseman but the only was he is going to be there is if H.Lee comes up and proves he is a better SS then Castro. If the Cubs keep both of them then Lee and Castro will be fighting for the SS position.
Now if Lee is still a year away or two away. I couls see the cubs getting O.Cabrera for SS and to be the lead off man. BUT theres a big problem with that. You would have B.DeWitt, J.Baker, D.Barny on the bench. So Its better if the Cubs leave castro there untill Lee comes up then they get to fight for the SS position.
Lee is already a better short stop than Castro.
No way you move Castro to second right now. Every 20 year old shortstop is gonna make a good bit of errors. As he continues to mature the next couple years the errors will go down, and he should be at least above average at shortstop, if not one of the game’s elite defenders. Not to mention his offensive numbers are much more valuable at short.
Now if Hak Ju Lee comes up in a couple years and his defense is as good as advertised, then maybe Castro moves to second. But I certaintly wouldn’t move him to second in 2011 to make room for Rafael Furcal.
the White Sox aren’t going trade Thorton what nonsense
I had to laugh when I read that article. Its almost as if this guy thinks that they just need to make a call and Kenny will ship Thornton to the Phils. I understand its not Pujols we’re talking about..its Matt Thornton.. but I think hes got more value than that article suggests.
Span, I think you mean Wes Roemer, not Ed Roemer in your article.
oops my bad. Yeah I did mean Wes. By the way, he should definetly get picked in the first round. As long as Casey Kelly and Martin Perez are still top prospects, Roemer still is as well. He’s definetly someone to keep an eye on and may have a breakout year next year if he remains in the D-Backs organization.
I wouldn’t say he’s a top prospect. He got rocked in AAA, his walk rate went up, and his stuff isn’t exactly overpowering.
he had a bad cup of coffee in AAA, his AA stats are better than Kelly’s and Perez’s.
Roemer is 24, while Kelly is 21 and Perez is 19. And both Kelly and Perez throw hard with good stuff, while Roemer has about average velocity and not so great stuff. Big difference.
he had a bad cup of coffee in AAA, his AA stats are better than Kelly’s and Perez’s.
its a good article, but i dont see lee signing with boston.
Hendry already announced his list of to do’s in the offseason…1B, SP & RP. They should not worry about switching Castro in 2011, but work with him on fielding and throws. Lee is more athletic and has better range than Castro, but he is still raw and a year or two away. Both are good hitters. Worry about that when the time comes, not next year.
Hendry already announced his list of to do’s in the offseason…1B, SP & RP. They should not worry about switching Castro in 2011, but work with him on fielding and throws. Lee is more athletic and has better range than Castro, but he is still raw and a year or two away. Both are good hitters. Worry about that when the time comes, not next year.
I don’t understand why the Cliff Lee to Boston article was even referenced on this page. Surely the people running MLBTR read the article before posting it. Did they miss the part where the columnist is completely insane?
Oh the days when Floyd has his flat curveball going in Denver. Lot of football scores.
Oh the days when Floyd has his flat curveball going in Denver. Lot of football scores.
OMG MLBTR should be ASHAMED they posted the Cliff Lee to Boston article. Beltre sucks because of errors. Trade Papelbon and Okajima for Joey Votto?!!? are you f’ing kidding me? Sign Cliff Lee to a monster contract when you have all that money in that rotation? Bring up Casey Kelly to be a middle reliever? There are more stats than W-L, ERA, WHIP and errors. Put Beckett in the bullpen? Yeah, injuries equal quitting. As a Yankee fan, I would do almost anything for this dumbass to be the Boston GM. And i’d pay money to hear the convo between him and Walt Jocketty when he offered two overprice under producing bullpen pieces for the NL MVP. Wow MLBTR…wow.
When is the Rule 5 Draft?
The last major activity at the winter meetings is the Rule 5 draft.