Nine years ago today, the Marlins, Rockies, and Braves swung a three-team, eight-player trade. Colorado send Mike Hampton and Juan Pierre to Florida in exchange for Charles Johnson, Preston Wilson, Vic Darensbourg, and Pablo Ozuna. The Marlins then flipped Hampton to Atlanta for Tim Spooneybarger and Ryan Baker. The $103.5MM left on Hampton's contract was spread out between the three clubs, with the Rockies paying $30MM, the Marlins paying $38MM, and the Braves paying $35.5MM. Colorado saved $26.3MM with the deal, and Florida saved $9.2MM.
We've got a large collection of links this week following the GM meetings. Here's the latest from around the web…
- Rising Apple explained two ways the Mets could keep Jose Reyes: a contract with lots of incentives, or a back-loaded deal.
- Marlins Maniac tells us why signing Reyes makes sense for the Marlins.
- Monkey With A Halo says things are complicated between the Angels and C.J. Wilson.
- Harness The Halo thinks the Angels signing Wilson would close the gap in the AL West.
- Call To The Pen says Matt Kemp's extension gives the Dodgers hope going forward.
- MLB Reports explains why the Phillies chose Jonathan Papelbon over Ryan Madson.
- Brotherly Glove mused about Ruben Amaro Jr.'s patience, or lack thereof.
- Infield Chatter calls free agency an "expensive way to hurt your team."
- Bay City Ball says the market for middle infielders has gotten insane.
- BoSox Injection wonders if the Red Sox have an image problem.
- Red Sox Post lists some DH options for the Red Sox in case David Ortiz leaves.
- Kings of Kauffman says the Royals should sign both Roy Oswalt and Mark Buehrle.
- Nolan Writin' doesn't see a fit between the Rangers and Grady Sizemore.
- South Side Showdown thinks Jason Kubel might be a good fit for the White Sox.
- DRays Bay imagines a Rays lineup with Joey Votto.
- Baltimore Sports & Life asked six writers if the O's should trade or extend Adam Jones.
- Lookout Landing wrote about Chone Figgins' awkward situation.
- Pro Ball NW thinks it may be time for the Mariners to trade Brandon League.
- Through The Fence Baseball says the Padres should trade for Carlos Quentin.
- Motor City Bengals believes the Tigers need a long-term answer at second base.
- The Eye In The Skydome doesn't like the Aaron Hill deal for the Diamondbacks.
- Puckett's Pond wrote about Jamey Carroll's meaningless RBI total.
- MLB Dirt says the Mark Kotsay signing makes zero sense for the Padres.
- Raise The Jolly Roger is okay with the Pirates signing Rod Barajas.
- Giants Nirvana thinks the Giants should part ways with Jeff Keppinger.
- Warehouse Worthy tries to figure out what happened to Brian Matusz.
- Blog Red Machine mused about baseball's upcoming realignment.
- Yanks Go Yard provides some thoughts on baseball's expanded playoffs.
- The Hottest Stove says the league changes are cheapening the regular season.
- Sports of Boston wrote about baseball's ever-changing uniforms.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here. Only one email per week, please.
Interesting article on Oswalt going to KC..Then why would Roy want to finish his career in last place? Wasn’t this guy the one who was thinking retirement?
The author finished his article, after all of his pro’s of why Roy would go to KC with this:
“, the odds of the Royals signing either pitcher are slim”
Nice.. So in other words, they know already Buehrle and oswalt have no inclination of going to a perennial loser, just wasted several thousand words of type space to get KC fans hopes up…
not to mention the writer just admitted to wasting everybody’s time.
the ding dong “eye in the skydome” complaining about the hill signing is clearly just some sour grapes jays fan…he lost all credibility when he stated that hill is now facing inferior pitching. HA! Not in the NL West, bub!
Yeah, there’s no butthurt when my least favorite player gets traded. And AL pitching>NL pitching soooo…..
Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson as opposed to Rickey Romero, Jon Lester, CC Sabathia, David Price, and Jeremy Hellickson. I have to say that it has very similar pitching.
I’m all for the Mariners trading Figgins. It’s not just his poor play and contract…it’s the bad attitude he displayed a few seasons ago. He doesn’t come across as a team player.
Re: Playoffs, even if it “cheapens” the regular season a bit for a 5th-place team (in the league) to make the playoffs, it increases the importance of both winning the division and winning the top overall seed in the league. Wild Cards go from a 12.5% theoretical chance to win the WS to 6.3%, so you’d really want to win your division. Then, with the top overall seed getting to face a team that has just burned its ace pitcher, you’d have extra incentive to push for your league’s best record. I think these benefits outweigh the cost of adding one additional (worse) team to the playoffs.
Having said that, I prefer the realignment and playoff plan I outlined here:
link to jfwiii.net
my thoughts on the 2 wild cards…why not make it an extra incentive for winning the “1st” wild card by making the wild card series a best of 3, the “1st” wild card team gets home field meaning all 3 games (if necessary) are played in their home park. Game 1 on Friday, Game 2 Sat, and Game 3 Sun hell even go a day-night doubleheader for games 2 and 3.
Then we waste even more time waiting for the playoffs to begin, especially if the “1st” and “2nd” wild card teams end up with an identical record. Are we going to have a one-game playoff to determine which wild card team gets home field advantage in the three-game series? It’ll be almost a week until the Division Series would begin.
The Twins would be foolish to lose Jason Kubel to the White Sox. I hope the Twins let Cuddyer and Capps go, resign Jason Kubel and Joe Nathan, and sign some other free agent players as well. Josh Willingham, Ryan Doumit, Edwin Jackson, and any reliever with an ERA under 4.00 are all on my wish list this offseason. Move Deunsing to the bullpen and show Kevin Slowey the door.
They tried trading Slowey this year, and nobody wanted him; if anything, he’ll be non-tendered. As for Nishioka, being that any other team could have signed him last year and didn’t, I doubt the Twins will find any of those teams MORE interested in him now that he had a horrible season.