Links for Sunday, as Grady Sizemore homers versus the Orioles in his return to the Indians' lineup….
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports explains why Adrian Gonzalez's contract extension makes sense for the Red Sox.
- Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker takes a look back at his favorite offseason trades.
- The Padres have hired former Major League outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds as a professional scout, writes MLB.com's Corey Brock. Hammonds was the #4 overall pick in the 1992 draft by the Orioles and represented the Rockies in the 2000 All-Star Game in his best season.
- The Rays may add a bat to replace Manny Ramirez, but it likely won't happen anytime soon, reports Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. Not only will the trade market develop as the season progresses, but the Rays should also have a better idea in a couple months whether they'll be buyers or sellers.
- The Brewers have signed Luis Figueroa to a minor league deal, tweets SI.com's Jon Heyman. The infielder has only seen 16 big league plate appearances, most recently in 2007, but hit .319/.354/.429 in nearly 500 Triple-A PAs last season.
- ESPN.com's Buster Olney (Insider link) wonders if Jack Zduriencik and Felix Hernandez will be a part of the Mariners' next winning team.
- Adrian Gonzalez's extension with the Red Sox is another example of baseball's stars gravitating to a handful of high-payroll teams, writes Tim Sullivan of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
- Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer fields questions about Sizemore, Nick Johnson, and potential contract extensions in an Indians mailbag.
- The Rangers' rotation is holding its own without Cliff Lee so far, says Tyler Kepner of the New York Times.
Well at least A-Gon knows he’ll be in a park and lineup that gives him the ability to succeed, the way he battled in San Diego was admirable though.
Playing in Petco surely cost him some milestone numbers, luckly given the advancements of sabermetrics his performince gets recognition unlike Chase Headly’s home/road splits.
Chase Headley would quite possibly be a star if he played his home games in almost any other ball park.
A Gon did adjust better to Petco than most do.
Carlos Lee to the Rays?
Not likely, He’s owed, what 30, 40 million? Unless the Astros pitch in a big chunk, not gonna happen.
Unless the Rays give some goodies from their farm system. Maybe then Houston pays most of the freight. Houston really needs just about any high quality prospect they can get their hands on.
I’d think Ed Wade would love to pay his contract and get prospects then paying his contract and watching him fail in Houston. The question is can he reject a trade with his limited no-trade clause.
How’s about Mark DeRosa to the Rays, with some monetary movement from the Giants?
That would be a very good trade if the Giants kick in about half the salary, which I’m sure would work since they have no use for him anyways. He’d fit the Rays profile of guys who can play at many positions and I’m sure Joe Maddon would be very excited to move him around everywhere on the field.
DeRosa would probably be a good fit for the Rays, but the only real place they could put him regularly is at 1st, and I’m not sure if how good he is there. Putting him anywhere else would take playing time from guys like Rodriguez, Joyce, and Brignac. However, like I said, its still entirely possible. Another interesting idea, if the Twins fall out of contention, is Justin Morneau. The Rays have the prospect to make that possible, and he really fills a need, 1st base, long term.
DeRosa is the super utility player for the Giants and it gives the Giants depth. There is no reason for the Giants to give him away.
In 2010 the Red Sox were 4th in the Al in attendence, in the league’s smallest park, and have sold out more the 400 consecutive home games. In order to maintain that kind of support, the team has to provide high caliber team play, a winning record, and numerous “star” quality players. This puts the onus on club management, to seek out the MLB’s best players to fill vacant positions, almost every year, regardless of cost, at least to a point. Additionally, the cost of tickets to attend games is astronomical, with most seats going to season ticket holders (including secondary sellers) which are then often sold for twice face value, or more… on line. I don’t believe this is the experience of teams like the Padres which drew 65% of the Red Sox attendance at their park, despite its much larger seating capacity, in 2010, when they in the NL west pennant race all season long.
“and have sold out more the 400 consecutive home games”
Cough Cough 640 cough
My bad, Kevin. I should have done my homework….
I just wanted to emphasize your point.
How about a Rays-Astros trade for Carlos Lee!?
(I wish…)
Its possible though highly unlikely. IF we have a new owner by the time of the deadline and a new gm they could try to move him and eat all his contract but he’d have to accept a trade and he really wants to stay in Houston.
Whew….I hadnt seen a Felix related article in more than a day…. I was sure the apocalypse was upon us!
Seriously though…. I dont think the Mariners can be competitive again until Chuck Armstrong and Howard Lincoln are removed from decision making positions within the organization. AS is. I think Jack Z is trying to rebuild the system with both arms tied behind his back.
Right about the time Jack gets the farm system back to respectability, the powers that be will replace him with another Bavasi who will trade off all the young talent (Choo, Cabrera, Soriano) for craptastic one year wonders…then sign overpriced/overvalued free agents (Silva, etc) while sacrificing our system…..its a vicious cycle that I dont see ending.
However, I do fault Jack for signing guys like Cust and trading for Snell/Wilson….if we’re going to suck, might as well suck with the kids playing everyday.
I like your comment for not putting the whole blame on Jack Z. All though you can’t blame him for Cust. Cust is simply underperforming right now. If he put up the numbers hes capable of, he would have pretty decent slugging right now, which is frankly all we need from a guy serving as a filler for the season.
Very little of whats wrong is Jacks fault….he took over with nothing to work with. He’s put together a few incredible trades and built a solid foundation with the system as a whole. Its almost beyond comprehension what Bavasi did to the Mariner organization in a relatively short period of time.
I have either loved or hated his moves, but he is proactive and even his bad moves dont seem t paint the team into corners. Snell was a washout…but I thin Wilson can be moved. The Morrow/League deal was about his only real head scratcher IMO (Although the previous regime really screwed up with Morrow).
I’ve never been a Cust fan…he adds pop and OBP, but if the A’s didnt want him back (and its not like they had a lot better), then something is wrong. I personally think Cust is done….he has no bat speed at all.
your guess is as good as mine about whether or not cust is done, but he’s been one of the most underrated hitters in baseball for quite awhile. oakland dropped in favor of matsui, an equivalent (closer to inferior) hitter with a better reputation
how underrated is jack cust? here is his wOBA, adjusted for park, since 2007:
2007: .401
2008: .378
2009: .350
2010: .383
to give you an idea of what you’re talking about there:
– justin smoak barely produced those numbers in AAA
– the highest wOBA of any player on the 2010 mariners was mike sweeney’s .354, thirty points lower
– in 2009, the mariners highest wOBA was ichiro’s .378
– in 2008, the mariners highest wOBA was ibanez’s .367
2007, ichiro’s .370
2006, ibanez’s .359
2005, finally a challenger appears! richie sexon’s .387 was slightly better than jack cust’s second best season in 2010
in other words, jack cust is the best hitter the mariners have had since 2005
It’s fun to see that a hitter I’ve always liked has stats (albeit non-mainstream ones for those of us who aren’t completely caught up to the times) to show that he is in fact pretty damn good.
Hell might have to freeze over before those 2 incompetent A-Holes are shown the door. I’d rather have Mark Cuban as an owner. Somebody, anybody but those 2. Balmer, Cuban I don’t care. Somebody get a group together & make an offer that will BLOW those 2 out of the water. No $$$$ spent + no fanbase = No Team, Period.
Tim Sullivan= sour grapes.
Buster needs to shut it about Felix being gone. All we need is him to start the usual overhyping of Yankee prospects to Seattle. Not one Yankee trade has helped the other team involved. The Yankees haven’t had good prospects since Jeter, Posada, and Rivera. Everyone else gets traded for an all star and the prospects turn to garbage. Please Seattle, don’t fall victim to NY media hype like everyone else. Seattle needs to go full rebuild and don’t waste anymore money on crappy guys like Jack Cust, Jack Wilson, Adam Kennedy, Chris Ray, Jamie Wright, etc. Their is a reason no one else signed these guys. Let the kids come up like the Marlins always do and lets see who can swim or who will sink.
so true phillip..
I mean Tigers are super pissed about that Austin Jackson kid, The pirates are furious over Jose Tabata… Phil Coke and Ian Kennedy.. both bums
Those guys are a drop in the bucket of players over the years. Ian Kennedy, ERA just under 5 for career and 6.88 through 3 starts this year, he’s awesome. Phil Coke not too bad so far. Austin Jackson, 187k’s last year, off to a .170 BA this year. I guess thats a pretty good start. Jose Tabata, not a bad player. Not every player they trade is bad. Yankees got Bobby Abreu and Corey Lidle for four minor leaguers which non made it to the pros. There is a whole spreadsheet on MLBTR for Cashman’s trade history. He has gotten countless players to help with a playoff run and hardly any worked out for the other teams. Many of which were over hyped from the beginning. You cant have a good farm system when you sign everyone else’s good players in the offseason then lose your 1st, 2nd, 3rd round picks every year. The only way to make it is to use the media to say your prospects are the next best thing then dupe a team into a trade.
mlbtraderumors.com/files/new_york_yankees_brian_ca…
you’re argument keeps getting worse and worse.
I have two issues with your post.
1) If you look at it objectively, I think the opposite is true.
Was a broken Nady worth giving up Jose Tabata? Kid is absolutely raking right now, and will be a cornerstone of that franchise to build around for the future.
We got Granderson, and he’s good, but gave up A-Jax, who is the starting CF for Detroit, Coke, who has only allowed 2 runs as a starter this season, and Kennedy, who is also a starter for the snakes, and was pitching good until the Cards’ bats woke up this year.
Melancon for half a year of Berkman? I wouldn’t call the Yanks “winners” in that one either. Melancon is pitching lights out, 8 appearances, 9 strikeouts, no runs allowed.
So to say that “not one Yankee trade has helped the other team involved” is just plain wrong. Like, totally, unjustifiably, no other way to put it wrong! But it brings me to my second point.
2) Teams have their own scouting departments which they pay handsomely for. No team is believing Buster freaking Olney over their own scouts. So this notion that since Buster is hyping the Yankees prospects, some team will be foolish enough to engage in a trade is ludicrous! They don’t listen to Buster, they listen to their employed scouts! The only people who listen to Buster are us, the fans, because we cannot afford to employ our own scouting departments. If a team makes a poor trade, do not EVER blame a reporter or the media for it. ALWAYS blame the team for having poor scouting.
ecb gettin’ fierce with the facts
Oh yeah, one more thing…
3) If it was JUST Buster Olney reporting something, I’d be skeptical. But when the general consensus from a multitude of sources who specialize in this field is that the Yankees have a top 10 farm system, or in some cases, a top 5 farm system, it’s time to take notice and not just brush it off as “hype” or east coast bias, pun intended!
Exactly what I said earlier, since when has a Yankee prospect been traded & actually panned out. Oh thats right, NEVER!!! Perfect Fit. HA! Their about as perfect a fit as Snooki is at being President.
Did Tim Sullivan think that the Red Sox were going to send half their farm system to San Diego and then NOT sign Gonzalez to an extension?
You and the point are not even in the same room.
The “point” is so obvious and so tired and so whined to death that it’s not even worth discussing.
I was pretty bummed when Jack Zduriencik left Milwaukee, he did a great job scouting / drafting for them. I always figured that was exactly why Seattle hired him as their GM, as his strengths matched up with their need to basically draft themselves back into a legitimate team. I don’t think anyone can expect that process to take less than 5 or 6 years (to go from where they are now to “contender”). Zduriencik should be around for a winning season if all goes according to plan (not a certainty by any means, obviously) but trading Felix may end up being a part of what gives Seattle a winning team. Too soon to speculate where / when / if he gets traded with any accuracy.
Sullivan’s piece is excellent. A must read.
He had way too many holes in his ramblyings.. Some of it was well spoken…
but he mocks that Gonzalez doesn’t need a no trade because no one will take on his contract but fails to acknowlegde that salaries may go up as well as inflation. and he lists the yanks, angels an TWINS, who are a mid-small budget team as the only other teams to have 22+ million dollar players.
What? No Phillies or Mets? (Howard, Lee, and Santana all make more than 22mil AAV)
Forest for the trees, my friend. Sullivan perfectly describes the two-class system in baseball that makes the majority of the teams permanent non-contenders for top-rated talent. The occasional exception does not disprove the rule.
The Twins have a payroll over $113 000 000 That is not a mid-small market team.
sighh….
In 2011 they are 9th in payroll with 113 mil
In 2010 11th in payroll with 97 mil
in 2009 they were 24th with a 65 mil payroll
Historically they have operated closer to the bottom of league average than the top. You are going to have to produce more than 1 year of data to refute my claim.
This is not baseball statistics. This is something easily quantifiable and concrete. They spent over $200 000 000 in payroll the last 2 years, they are a large market team. They are no longer mid/small. They were in the top 1/3 the last two years and trending upwards.
He didn’t say anything that hasn’t been said 100 times before. Pirates, Royals….Yankees, Red Sox. Blah blah Selig.
Maybe 100 times isn’t enough. Maybe it has to be said thousands of times, millions of times, by fans of the game, that the current setup stinks and is bad for the future of baseball.
Its alright but not great. I mean I could write an article about how small market teams can become big market teams and increase their payroll. Look at the twins, they were almost contracted but then they developed talent and turned themselves into a strong team with a decent amount of money to throw around. Its all about the fans, if you attract the fans you can increase your payroll. Its really that simple. If you think the city you are in sucks and cant support it, then move the team.
Baseball revenues are more about TV contracts than selling tickets. Some of you may think that Sullivan is simply stating the obvious, that many teams are permanent have-nots. But if it’s so obvious, then why hasn’t it changed? As baseball fans, are we really okay with the proposition that only cities with large media markets deserve to have teams? Or isn’t it better for baseball for all of the teams to at least have the chance to be competitive? And no, not just once every thirty years. The simple fact is, the way media money is (not) shared, and the way free agency and even arbitration is structured, a few wealthy franchises are heavily favored and the rest are at a permanent disadvantage. I’m trying to think of a reason, any reason, why this is good for baseball. I can’t come up with a single one.
Sorry I wasnt aware Minnesota had a large media market…
I don’t know how big it is, but first you have to ask yourself how long they can sustain salary spending which is after all only a little above MLB average. You might also also ask yourself which of the bottom third of the MLB in team salaries will ever be able to spend even as much as the MLB average, and which teams in the top third will ever be forced to spend that little. Anyway, it seems I raised a question that nobody wants to answer.
Well the twins WERE one of the smallest salaries and grew, that was kinda my point. And as for top teams forced to spend less, mets/dodgers. Oh snap…..dang….did I just…yea I think I did…
Actually, no. The Dodgers have gone from a bit above the median several years ago to slightly above the median today, and I suppose we know this is a special case if for no other reason than the McCourts do not own the Dodgers’ media rights. Or maybe we don’t all know that. Yet they are still spending more this year than last. And the Mets? Even after ownership got nicked big time in the Madoff scam they are still in the top ten, probably because living in the big NY media market keeps the cash rolling in. No, it must be because they keep their fans so satisfied with the team’s performance. Right. Dang, those pesky media rights, they just keep seeming to be important. Now we’re down to the Twins. They moved way up from tenth to ninth. So, your point was…?
lol dude I meant over the course of the decade they were almost contracted and had a payroll of 40 million! Now they have almost tripled it and built a new stadium and sellout and have one of the biggest contracts.
People still show up to mets games, and dodger games. Media rights to play a part, but you dont need to be in a media capital to have your team grow. Case above. And I dont care if the mets/dodgers are a special case, they used to be top 5 in payroll and now are free falling and the mets are looking to cut even more and you said “when will the high teams be forced to go down to the lower teams” well when their owners screw up! How many rays fans would show up to games if they had to pay red sox/yankees ticket prices? 2? maybe 3?
LOL dude yourself. Read what I wrote, especially about the Dodgers. They haven’t been in the top five in nearly ten years — since the McCourts bought the team without the media rights. What a coincidence. Mets ticket sales aren’t even in the top ten anymore, yet their payroll is still the seventh highest in baseball. And (again!) I am not talking about “growing.” Don’t misquote me just so you can avoid the point. The points I made about the Twins, I’m not going to repeat them again since I was totally clear the first two times.
And yet the mets are cutting payroll now that their attendance is down….
no its cool, its impossible for teams to build up anything without being in a media capital what you are saying si 100% true.
Since I never said any of that I guess you are happy to argue with yourself.
“You might also also ask yourself which of the bottom third of the MLB in team salaries will ever be able to spend even as much as the MLB average, and which teams in the top third will ever be forced to spend that little.”
I gave you a bottom third team that did, and gave you a top third team that will be forced to spend little. Fo realz.
Jeffrey Hammonds was also the highest paid player in Brewers’ history for some time.
$21 million for 700 ab’s of .250/.320/.400 hitting. Ouch.
In respons to the article about Adrian Gonzalez by Tim O’Sullivan: It’s not like the Padres got nothing for Gonzo, they got a future star in Casey Kelly and two prospects with very high celings in Anthony Rizzo and Reymond Fuentes. Rizzo has unbelievable power and Fuentes has been compared to Grady Sizemore. The Padres could’ve said no to the deal and kept Adrian Gonzalez, he just went where they sent him, and the Red Sox understandably, after all the young talent they gave up for him, wanted to lock up their new star.
I don’t think he was trying to say that teams dealing talent get nothing to compensate. In fact I’m sure he wasn’t, since that would be nonsense. What he said is that impoverished teams have to deal talented players the moment they get expensive, and are not able to compete for top free agents. The Padres were forced to deal Gonzales because they’d have gotten nothing but a draft pick if they’d held onto him any longer. The wealthy teams are never faced with this dilemma.
I love
I loved watching Jeffrey Hammonds play for the Brewers, good luck to him.