On a day when Jonathan Papelbon switched teams and the Miami Marlins were officially born, the biggest and best news was unquestionably Wilson Ramos' rescue from kidnappers in his native Venezuela. Here are a few other items as we head into the weekend…
- The Astros' potential sale to Jim Crane is on the agenda at next week's owners meetings, reports The Associated Press. Two sources say Crane, Drayton McLane and Major League Baseball have "reached an understanding" on how the Astros could move to the American League in 2013.
- Crane could be getting as much as an $80MM discount off his original price for the team by agreeing to move the Astros to the AL, tweets Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman.
- Grady Sizemore is looking for a one-year contract so he can re-establish his value for a longer-term deal next winter, reports Jon Heyman (Twitter link). Heyman makes the comparison to the one-year deal Adrian Beltre signed with the Red Sox before the 2010 season, which saw Beltre have a big season and earn a multiyear deal with the Rangers last winter. Sizemore won't match the $10MM Beltre got from Boston, but a $6-7MM deal with incentives seems reasonable.
- Heyman says the Athletics are interested in Sizemore but are worried about his health and his asking price.
- With the Phillies reportedly interested in both Sizemore and Jason Kubel, Fangraphs' Eric Seidman argues that Sizemore is the better choice for the Phils.
- The Phillies want to sign Michael Cuddyer and re-sign Jimmy Rollins but the club finds both players' asking prices to be too high, tweets Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com.
- Major League Baseball and the Players' Association are expected to "continue to negotiate amicably" about the new collective bargaining agreement over the weekend, reports Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.
- Also from Rosenthal, he thinks teams take a major risk by hiring managers with little or no Major League managing or coaching experience.
- The Pirates' offseason moves will be influenced by the number of players on the roster who are out of options, writes MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch.
Why would the Astros want to move to the AL? Do they benefit from anything other than getting a DH position?
The owner gets approved for the sale, and apparently as much as an $80 million discount on the price…
Believe me, the Astros do NOT WANT to move to the AL. Current owner Drayton McLane and owner-to-be Jim Crane have both said previously that they would not move. The vast majority of fans absolutely abhor the idea of switching to the AL after more than 50 years in the NL.
But Bud Selig wants to add 2 more Wild Card teams to the playoffs. And the Players Association want an equal number of teams in each league to compete for the Wild Cards, instead of 14 AL teams and 16 NL teams. Not surprisingly, no other NL team “volunteered” to move. With ownership in limbo, and coming off a dreadful 106-loss season, the Astros had no leverage. Selig conveniently held up approval of the sale, strong-arming Crane into agreeing to move the Astros to the AL as a condition of approval.
What seems to get lost in all of this is, that once the leagues are realigned to 15 teams each, there most assuredly will be some form of inter-league play continually throughout the year. For every team. Every day. From April through September. Get it?
Is that really where most fans want to end up? I don’t. But then, I never liked inter-league play to begin with.
There making them move, not because of anything you said, but because there in the only 6 team division n the al west only has 4 teams
They stated all the correct reasons… No need to correct someone and not have all the proper info yourself.
IMO then the Brewers should move “BACK” to the AL.. period
If the brewers moved back it would completely screw up alignment they would have to move the central and then kc would probably have to move to the al west
If the brewers moved back it would completely screw up alignment they would have to move the central and then kc would probably have to move to the al west
That alignment sounds good to me, werent they there before?… however for 80mm being a new owner i would take the money
Holly is absolutely right other than one other key point. The players union wants all teams in both leagues to have a DH (bigger salaries = more union dues). As part of the new CBA, the union gets one more AL team that *must* use a DH. In addition, with year-round interleague play, even some NL may choose to carry a DH-like player on the roster because interleague play will come up randomly in the season, not just for a few weeks.
Reports are that the new scheduling will increase the number of interleague games each team plays from 15-18 per year to 30 per year (10 three-game series). That’s roughly 1/5th of the season now played against the “other league”. Once that starts, watch the demand amp up to “make everything fair” by making the DH rule permanent for both leagues.
Oakland would not be a good place for Sizemore at all. Weak line-up, too much foul territory,
dank conditions for night games. Not conducive conditions to building value for a contract. Philly would be the place to go.
I agree. If you want to increase your value, playing in the Oakland Coliseum is a terrible place to do it, if you have any other option. (Assuming that the A’s are still playing there next season…)
Not the best place for Sizemore but Philly is a bad place too since they have to many outfielders. Oakland would give Sizemore lots of playing time which would be good. Josh Willingham helped his contract chances in Oakland by proving his power is good. The best CF for Oakland is Akoi who will bring the A’s extra fan revenue.
-Spend $50M on a relief pitcher.
-Complain about other players’ asking prices being too high.
Profit?
So the Philles got Papelbon and Thome, they want Sizemore, Cuddyear, Kubel, Rollins, Oswalt, Hamels, did they just wad up the budget and throw it out the window? They must really feel that window of opportunity closing fast.
I don’t blame them considering how Howard and Utley have regressed.
Sizemore would be a perfect fit in Oakland. Just hope his asking price isn’t too ridiculous. His ability to hit the ball into the gaps would be perfect and add a presence in the lineup with Willingham gone as well as Matsui.
i see him going to a bigger market team because they would be more willing to take the risk, and with better hitters in the lineup around him he will see a lot more pitches that he can hit which will help him get his numbers up and hopefully get him his big contract next year
If he’s looking to rebuild his value, I’d see him wanting to play in a hitter friendly park, not a pitcher’s park.
Well said Mark about Ramos.
MLB/LAD will sign off on the deal with Sizemore’s agent because it’s a fit for everyone involved. LA absolutely must provide itself with another player to hit in front of or behind Kemp, who put up Batting Title, Triple Crown production while being the only hitter in the lineup. Sizemore would likely hit #3 in front of Kemp, ensuring that Kemp wont IBB as often because Sizemore will be on the basepaths more often than any player on the current LA team other than Kemp.
I wouldn’t move Kemp out of the three-hole. Not only would he lose at-bats over the course of the season, but he also had pretty good success in that slot in 2011. I woudln’t mess with that. I’d probably hit Sizemore second in front of Kemp.
SS Gordon
LF Sizemore
CF Kemp
RF Ethier
3B Sands (love to see him slide into this slot)
1B Loney
2B Uribe
C Ellis/FedEx
the marlins uniforms look pretty cool. I like the colors especially the orange. Not yet sold on the hats tho, i would of just used the marlin and some other type of spectacle to interest people to buy rather than a huge M. But still good way to start the offseason, lets see how the rest pans out
Why don’t the Phillies give Domonic Brown a shot??? Kid could post big numbers next season, he just needs a shot.
Because he’s overrated.
Sizemore on a 1 year deal would be perfect for the Phillies – its a win/win situation. Low salary, mostly incentive laden, and if he is healthy, he’d be playing for a big payday next year, and we won’t need him next year… And if he does get hurt, that’s the reason we have Dom Brown.. he’s the star-in-waiting. He’ll start the year in AAA unless he has a monster Pre-Season.. but…. we will see a lot of Brown in 2012. Unless he’s traded, which i hope not.. he’s not over-rated, he WILL be a star one day soon. What he needs is to play everyday, get the AB’s and experience playing LF – that’s why they start him in AAA. And that should be the reason we also take a chance on a low cost ~ high reward flier on Grady Sizemore.
Can someone please explain to me how Sizemore rates a “one-year deal worth $6-7 MM with incentives” based on the past two seasons?
sizemore to detroit on a one year deal would be a perfect fit, a lot of former indians have revamped their careers with the tigers, i see it happening and he can hit leadoff for the tigers
Would love to see Sizemore on a one year deal. The Phillies would be in a great position to take a chance on him with their outfield depth potentially behind him (Mayberry, Brown, potentially Fransisco).