Wednesday afternoon linkage as the news continues to fly in from the Milwaukee meetings..
- A number of teams remain in play for Grady Sizemore including the Giants, Rockies, Cubs, Red Sox, Rangers, Mariners, and Nationals, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter).
- The Athletics met with Sidney Ponson's agent today, a source tells Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times (via Twitter).
- Braves GM Frank Wren and agent Adam Katz are now meeting in Milwaukee, tweets MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith. Katz is a part of Wasserman Media Group and represents a number of players, including Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. To view WMG's client list, check out MLBTR's Agency Database.
Sid the kid! Judges better watch out.
Lol the A’s met with Sidney Ponson to do what? Have lunch? Drink? Punch a judge? I can’t imagine they met with him to talk about him playing professional baseball.
Or Oakland… not the Angels… guess 6 hours apart isnt THAT great of a difference.
Lol yah was thinking A’s but typed Angels not sure how I did that.
Thanks for making me almost spit out the drink of water I had in my mouth. Now that was funny!
I would talk to him cause its not everyday you can meet a knighted man of a country of little relevance.
Atlanta talkin bout Cespedes…BUT….HOW WILL THEY EVER WOO HIM OUT OF FLORIDA….after all its the gateway for Hispanics…
Jurrjens , Teheran , Prado , Vazquez , Delgado , Bethancourt . There’s ties on both teams . And there are other teams that have the Hispanic ties as well that in the mix . Florida is not a NO DOUBTER .
I forgot Christian Martinez
I believe Tyler was being facetious.
So was I
Gotcha. Internet :/
Supposing Braves get Cespedes, is Bourn 2012 trade bait or is it a Cespedes/JHey platoon until Bourn leaves after the season? Also if Bourn gets traded Prado would surely be retained.
Either way this would be a sweet sign! Though I’m sure about 15 other teams fans are having similar fantasies…
Cespedes won’t be playing in 2012 at the major league so he would not affect Bourn or Heyward.
if the braves sign the cuban(not even gonna try to spell his name) he would play in left field and if he isnt major league read why bother throwing stupid money at him….ieal wish they would go ahead and just give bourn a 3 or 4 year deal…i love they guy give him cf and your set…but then again the braves dont like guys who steal bases…lol…also i think if they can get rollns for 10 mill the sign him,but i wouldnt pay more… just sign gonzo back or give the job to the rookie…having a great hitting ss isnt a must we won for years with pac-man(belliard) and bud-man(blauser)
They don’t just sign him to a 3 or 4 year deal because he’s a Scott Boras client (meaning he’s basically a lock to test free agency after 2012) and will probably get 5-7 years. I’m with you. I’d love to see Bourn leading off and playing Center for a long time. Just a matter of being able to throw more money at him than any other interested team after 2012.
I really liked that combo of Belliard and Blauser . I can still remember the once or twice times Rafael hit a home run and seeing the team so suprised by the little guy hitting out .
I would be leary of paying someone with a career .694 OPS 10 mil a year no matter how much the braves need a leadoff hitter and his CF defense
But why would you use OPS to judge a guy that has basically no power? Bourn gets on base at a .350 clip, steals 50-60 bases, plays a good CF, while putting up respectable numbers in the wOBA and wRC+ categories (in comparison to other CF). I think that guy is definitely worth 10MM per for another 4-5 years.
I agree . He is .
the fact he has no power is why i would be leary of giving him 10 mil a year. If he loses any kind of speed whatsoever over the course of that 4-5 year contract we are stuck with chone figgins
There are several things that a player will struggle with over a span of several years . But speed is not one of them . Speed can turn a single or walk into a double or even a triple . And since 2009 , his OBP has been .341 or better . He has been a GG winner . His WAR the last two years has been 4.9 and 5.0 . Oh yeah , and he has also led the NL in steals the last three years .
I would say that he is worth it .
Bourn turns 29 in December (same birthday as my dad), so a 5 year contract would take up his 29-33 seasons or 30-34 if signed next year, so unless he puts on a bunch of weight in that time he’s unlikely to lose even a full step during the life of the contract.
Cespedes? Yeah like we’re gonna win those sweepstakes…
actually, we have proven we’ll sign International Free Agents while competing with the big names (Teheran and Salcedo come to mind). I could see him starting in Center in 2013.
Teheran cost less than 1M to sign and Salcedo cost less than 2M to sign. Cespedes is expected to cost around 35M to 40M. But, they can give him a major league contract and spread the cost of the dollars over 6 years.
I’m sure if he wants to come to the Braves , Wren will work it out .
Sidney Ponson? Man, I didn’t think Oakland was that ghetto.
Excuse me its Sir Sidney Ponson ; )
MLB ought to pay half of Sizemore’s salary if he signs with the Nats after the shaft job Omar Minaya put on the Expos under MLB’s direction.
Sidney Ponson?!?!?!!?!?!?! Just how big of smoke signals does Billy Beane have to send Bud before they get official approval to move to San Jose?
Texas abruptly designated Ponson for assignment for what general manager Jon Daniels called “disrespectful and adverse reactions to situations unbecoming of a teammate.
Either Billy Beane has lost his mind or fame has gone to his head from that “Silly” Movie of his. Either way, why are they doing this?
Go get the local kid M’s. Put him in left field.
Sizemore High Risk / High Reward??
no hitter is going to come to AT&T park for a one year contract with the purpose of upping their value…walk away Sabes, the only way that was going to happen is if other clubs weren’t interested in him
I would LOVE to see the Braves do something totally out of character and sign Cespedes. He would be their long-term answer at CF and he would not cost any prospects.
Or he could be a massive flop….
Even if he is, it’s not like the Braves don’t waste about 5M a year on junk anyway (Alex gonzalez, Troy Glaus, Julio Lugo, Jack Wilson, Scott Linebrink, etc.).
They may be junk, but they fill spots at the ML level. Cespedes isn’t a ML player, and probably won’t be for at least a year or two.
If the Braves can afford massive flops like Mike Hampton and Derek Lowe they can afford a much cheaper flop in centerfield.
Gah, you just had to bring up Mike Hampton didn’t you? And here I was just starting to forget about him. I’ll agree, both flopped, but atleast Lowe went out there and “competed” instead of riding the pine with injuries and robbing the organization blind of money like Hampton did (although towards the end of this year I’m sure everyone was wishing he was on the DL).
Hampton is still famous back down where I moved from recently in Crystal River FL . And yes , I was wishing Lowe was on the DL with about 20 games to go .
In fairness to the Braves, they afforded Hampton with a whole lotta help from Colorado and Florida, and State Farm.
The Braves still paid Hampton $43 million to pitch 78 innings between 2006 and 2008.
Sidney Ponson is a year removed from playing pro ball with the Long Island Ducks. That stadium situation is really dire, isn’t it?
so the Indians are done in the hunt for Grady, must be getting someone better
The only thing that worries me about the Braves inking Cespedes is …Kawakami. That’s going to haunt the Braves forever.
That can be chalked up to the terrible scouting report done on him. Whoever it was grossly overestimated his ability to cut it over here in the states.
Looks as though Wren is doing his doing his best to keep the team competitve . But can we really afford Cespedes ? I’ve heard some good things about the kid . Sounds a lot like another former Braves player from out of country . Remember Andruw Jones ?
He also sounds a lot like Josh Hamilton.
Just read some of his stats from 2004 to the 2010-11 season . He sounds like he can do a little of everything .
PONSON!
Ponson the clubhouse cancer? Guess the A’s don’t care who they sign. Maybe they can sign Oil Can Boyd, Milton Bradley and John Rooker while they are on this shopping spree?
Oops…John Rocker even…
Here is the team of cancers:
C: Michael Barrett, AJP
OF: Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, Gary Sheffield
RES OF: Milton Bradley, Nyjer Morgan, Delmon Young
2b: Roberto Alomar
SS Jose Offerman
3b: George Brett
1b: Juan Marichal
DH: Chuck Knoblauch
UTL Lenny Dykstra
SP: Roger Clemens, Rob Dibble, Carlos Zambrano, Kenny Rogers, Julian Tavarez
LRP: Vincente Padilla
MRP: Kyle Farnsworth, Julian Tavarez, Carlos Perez, Shawn Chacon, Frank Francisco SU: John Rocker Closer: Krod,
Co-Managers: Jim Leyland, Earl Weaver
Bench Coach: Lou Pinella,
1b Coach: Lloyd McClendon
3b Coach: Leo Durocher
Team President: Bobby Cox
Director of Player Personnel: Billy Martin
This team would have won multiple championships. It might have been the greatest dynasty in the history of sports.
If you could solve the whole time travel thing…..
CEO: steve jobs
too soon?
I also heard that Jose Canseco is available is a coach/player ;)
Exactly. I would be willing to gamble $25-$30 million spread out over five or six years on a high reward player like Cespedes.
Sizemore with the Mariners is great fit. He can split time in LF and center with Gutierrez and Wells. Hopefully keep him somewhat healthy. Then Carp and Smoak can rotate at 1B/DH.
Forget Fielder. Most focus should be on a deal for a legit 3B.(Wright or maybe Headley). A Fielder sign would pull the plug on Smoak and it’s way too soon for that.
I’d guess Sizemore would avoid Seattle like the plague, since he’s going to sign a one-year deal to restore his value with a good offensive year. I’d guess he’s going to a very hitter-friendly ballpark.
-C
I don’t like the deal from Seattle’s perspective either. Sizemore is very likely to be washed up given the kinds of injuries he’s had (microfractures in the knee). And given his former talent level he’ll be pricier than the risk should dictate.
Please pass on this one, Jack.
i posted these stats on another sizemore rumor, but he’s a career .320 hitter here at safeco (obp: 493, slg: 560, ops: 1.053. he’s a native, he’s a piece seattle is looking for, he wants to prove himself, and he’d probably sign cheap so we could pick up a decent 3B, SP/RP.
I think Sizemore would be a good fit for Seattle, but Sizemore would be a great fit anywhere as a fourth outfielder. Unfortunately Seattle is not a good fit for Sizemore. He is looking to reestablish his value as a starting center fielder, so he will be looking for a starting center field job, preferably in a lineup and ballpark that can help inflate his stats a bit. Definitely not Seattle.
I think you all missed the “joke” on the Ponson thing. Ponson’s agent is Barry Praver, who represents Carlos Zambrano. Wittenmyer said a similar thing last night, about the Cubs meeting with Ponson’s agent.
so are you saying they meet with the agent but not about ponson if thats the case thats a funny joke
Why wouldn’t they just say they met with Zambrano’s agent then?
Cause he’s trying to be cute. I think it’s safe to say that neither team was actually discussing Sidney Ponson in their meetings with Praver ;)
How else are they going to drop Ponson’s name???
Is this the same Sidney Pond Scum who was 45 lbs overweight when last seen 2 1/2 years ago in KC? The same Fat Sid with a 5-plus career mlb ERA? The guy who posted a 5.64 ERA in Indy ball in 2010? The 35 year old guy who didn’t pitch in organized baseball in 2011? OK, just making sure.
Much more likely Wren is talking to Katz about Peter Moylan who may be non tendered.
Are there any other Braves that Katz represents ?
If Ponson’s agent is still Barry Praver, Praver also represents Carlos Zambrano, Livan Hernandez, Juan Uribe.
Exactly.
so are they talking about livan becuse he is the only one out of them thats a free agent
Would be pretty cool if the mariners made a run at Sizemore. Homegrown, fairly cheap, and has pretty good ability shown few years ago! I feel like a minority in saying that Prince Fielder would
a.) Not happen in Seattle and
b.) Not be a good thing for Seattle.
I will you spare you the many reasons why.
OK, now I get the inside joke, but is anyone else as surprised as me that Sidney Ponson still has an agent? Do teams have to go through his parole officer first to set up a meeting?
Finally some news around Cespedes and the Braves. I think he is MLB ready right now. Just food for thought, but if the Braves felt as though they needed to move J.J, would the Yankees do a Nunez+ deal?!
Imagine 2012 lineup of:
1-Bourn
2-Cespedes
3-Prado
4-McCann
5-Uggla
6-Freeman
7-J-Hey
8-Nunez