Eight years ago today, the Cardinals signed Chris Carpenter to a one-year contract worth $500K for the second straight offseason. The right-hander had missed the entire 2003 season due to shoulder surgery, but St. Louis bet another half-a-million bucks on his recovery. Carpenter rewarded them with a 3.46 ERA in 28 starts in 2004, and has since helped the club to three NL pennants and two World Series titles.
Here is this week's batch of pre-winter meetings links…
- Amazin' Avenue provides a transcript of Mets GM Sandy Alderson's recent conference call with bloggers.
- The Todd Can Poppel Rookie Card Retirement Plan discusses a recent interview with Athletics assistant GM David Forst.
- Giants Nirvana isn't terribly excited about Giants GM Brian Sabean's recent contract extension.
- Bleacher Nation makes a case for and against the Cubs signing Prince Fielder.
- District on Deck thinks Josh Willingham makes more sense for the Nationals than Fielder.
- Baseball Reality Tour doesn't think the Royals improved by adding Jonathan Broxton.
- Motor City Bengals wonders if Mark Buehrle is a good fit for the Tigers.
- The Hardball Times looks at how David DeJesus might impact Alfonso Soriano.
- Pirates Prospects tries to figure out where the Pirates could add an impact player.
- Rum Bunter thinks Matt Adams could have helped the Pirates at first base.
- Bay City Ball says going cheap might be a good thing for the Giants.
- Shutdown Inning comes up with starting pitcher comparables for Neftali Feliz.
- BoSox Injection wonders if the Red Sox should make a push for Matt Garza.
- Splice Today believes Gio Gonzalez is getting overrated on the trade market.
- South Side Sox closes the book on the trade that sent Nick Swisher to the Yankees.
- South Side Showdown thinks the White Sox should be open to trading Matt Thornton.
- Brotherly Glove says the Nationals have a chance to become very good, very fast.
- Warehouse Worthy wonders what the Orioles will do with Luke Scott.
- Call to the Pen analyzed the John Jaso–Josh Lueke trade.
- Wahoo's on First suggests a trade between baseball's two Ohio teams.
- Ol' Ball Game looked at some ways to improve the Indians.
- I-70 Baseball wonders if Jose Oquendo could be the next manager of the Astros.
- Rant Sports Yankees believes the Yankees should explore trading Ivan Nova.
- Rational Sports Fan thinks the new collective bargaining agreement hurts young pitchers.
- Fantasy Rundown compiles all your favorite prospect lists in one place.
- MLB Reports likes the idea of expanded interleague play.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here. Only one email per week, please.
Where would we be with out Chris Carpenter…? I guarantee not at 11 world championships.
that must be 2 or 3 of these in a row that Capitol Avenue Club hasn’t been featured. Maybe the MLBTR writers have finally learned to not bother with them anymore.
red sox will end up with Buehrle and Garza….Cherington is my cousin.
I’m his dad.
I thought the Yankees were the Red Sox daddy? That must make the Rays cool uncle.
I’ve seen a few Red Sox people suggest that the BoSox use the Epstein compensation as leverage in the talks for Garza. My question is why would the Cubs take less than fair price for him? Hey aren’t obligated to trade Garza so they are going to need a decent haul to part with him.
Because they ARE obligated by the Epstein acquisition to send the Red Sox something. Giving the Red Sox a slight discount on Garza would allow Epstein to both acquire prospects he’s familiar with and take care of that situation. Considering they need to rebuild, the Cubs are potentially better off sending the Sox Garza for a slightly worse package than the best suitor than sending the Sox a prospect for Epstein.
The way things are going it seems like Willingham is gonna get paid boffo money for just above average power and a mediocre average. Like if he was looking at 2 years/$16MM to 3 years/$25MM before I think he could fetch as much as 3 years/$36MM. If you don’t believe me, just check out Jose Guillen.
Why the hell would the Yankees trade a possible number two pitcher? You know, like what they need anyway? If Nova repeats his last season that would be pretty stupid to have traded him away right?
If you read the article, they actually give several valid reasons to trade him (as well as a few not too).
yeah but this is ‘MERICA and we shouldnt have to read some article for more info…make it simple for us old folks.
I did read the article, and it was pure garbage. This is probably why I’ve never heard of it being a diehard yankee fan. It looked like some random fans blog. Even the people who look to normally read it left comments saying it was stupid.
It didn’t take into account that after Nova was sent down for a month last season he came back to the ML with a new slider. He now has an out pitch, and his Ks rose substantially after that point in time. You don’t trade a guy who could have the upside they’re looking for.
his k/9 before being sent down was 5.0. afrer coming back from the minors it was 5.7. his 6.6 swinging strike % was one of the lowest in the league
there are reasons to like the kid, but that’s not one of them
I have to agree and see no logical reason to consider trading Nova. He showed too much in 2011 and was a different pitcher when recalled from the minors-as you point out. He won 20 games this year when you combine the minors, regular and post season totals. Show me another pitcher his age, and who pitched more innings than anytime in his career, who has done that in the last 20 years.
You cannot compare him to Hughes because Hughes was great before the AS break and bad after that. The numbers are extreme on this where Nova was consistent all year and got better during the stretch. What other young Yankee pitchers have done this as a starter? Guidry and Pettite come to mind and holding onto them worked out well. Even Wang was injured running the bases which was the last injury anyone expected so he performed similarly and the ending means nothing.
Nova has far too much upside and the intangible of showing he can handle New York. As a rookie he was retaliating on his own and that is Paul O’Neil type fire.
You dont explore trading Nova and the idea is ridiculous because the Yankees will never get an adequate return because his mental makeup is an asset to the Yankees where no other team will pay for that. All you ever read is speculation about if a player can handle New York- you dont consider trading a guy who has shown this, will very likely continue to get better and is under 25 with minor league options.
In the end the arguments are moot- the Yankees will not consider it because they learned from the mistake of trading Ted Lily. The Yankees will not gain anything if they traded Nova that they could not get by simply signing Mark Buhrle. The combo of Burhle and Nova would give you more than any other two pitchers aside from King Felix- who if acquired would mean they would not sign Burhle.
The whole idea is stupid.
His k/9 in August after he was called back up was 6.55. I was at one of the games. Before he was sent down it was rare for him to get 6+ strike outs. After he found that slider he had a swing and miss pitch. I saw him in action using it, and he made batters look silly with it.
I believe the whole topic comes from those Yankee fans who want to trade everyone because they think the Yankees can and should have a starting staff of CC, King Felix, Justin Verlander, Jared Weaver and Tim Lincecum with Clayton Kershaw as the long man and David Price setting up for Mariano.
Nova is exactly the guy you dont trade because no team will pay what he is worth because they believe there must be something wrong with him if you are considering trading him, as the whole idea makes no sense..
Exactly. It’s the same reason I was happy they re-signed Freddy Garcia. You know you are going to get ~5 era of 200 innings out of him. Is that great? No, but it gives us a chance to get a win, and will most likely get us to the playoffs. If there are no trades worth doing lets wait till the AS break, or next winter for all I care. Not to mention there is a quantity of pitchers in FA next winter. This means a trade could be a lot cheaper, or we could just use $$$ to get one.
Garza, Marshall and Soriano (plus cash) to the Red Sox
Youkilis, Epstein and Reddick to the Cubbies
Boston signs Cuddyer to play RF
I disagree with the analysis regarding Gio Gonzalez 100%. It has become crystal clear that teams need two strong starters to win. Gonzalez pitches in the AL West and faces the Angels and Rangers- two of the best lineups in baseball- a disproportionate amount of times. In the AL East pitchers have a tougher task facing the Yankees and Redsox but also face two of baseballs weaker lineups in the Orioles and BlueJays and the Rays lineup is not exactly strong. Gonzalez does not get a day off when facing the Mariners and faces the AL East more often than Central starters because of the four teams in the West.
Gonzalez does not strictly pitch in Oakland. I do not see how you can say his home ballpark inflates him when he pitches on the road half the time and there is not a big discrepancy in home vs. away numbers and he is about the league average as far as having better stats at home vs the road as most players are somewhat better in their home ballparks. The comfort of not being in a hotel has alot to do with this.
Its extremely hard to find an ace and everyone agrees on this. Is is that much easier to find a top notch number 2 starter? You have a very young pitcher who has put up outstanding numbers in the American League, who is cheap salary wise and who can be the acquiring teams number 2 starter for the next 6-8 years at a minimum- provided he is resigned. 200 innings and 15 wins a year for 6-8 years will not come cheap and any team will have to pay for him.
Would anyone take C.J. Wilson over Gonzalez? I think this says alot as well. You will have a pitcher regarded as being less talented who will be paid a great deal this off season. How is Gonzalez not worth the farm when a lesser pitcher will soon likely be the third highest paid pitcher in the game.
On what planet do the Jays have a weak lineup? They’re not stacked top-to-bottom, but every player has power potential, from Escobar to Lawrie to Joey Bats.
So how does your description of the Jays lineup not show they are weak. On what planet does power potential matter- each player you mentioned is mediocre at best aside from Batista who despite leading the league in homeruns only drove in 103 runs. They hit 240 as a team 20th out of 30 teams and the team. They were 18th in OBP and 18th in hits.
Aside from Batista neither player you mentioned played a full season with Lawrie only playing in 43 games. They play 162 and that is 119 where he did not play hence he added nothing and his replacement was far less than the league average. The Jays may have the potential for a good lineup but they have not been anywhere near strong the last few years and pitchers can pitch around the guys they do have-if they play.