Congratulations to Brewers GM Doug Melvin for his induction into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Joining Melvin in the 2012 CBHOF class are former Major Leaguers Rheal Cormier and Rusty Staub, plus Canada's gold-medal winning baseball team from the 2011 Pan Am Games. The official induction ceremony takes place on June 23 in St. Marys, Ontario.
Some news from around the NL Central….
- Yadier Molina's contract negotiations shouldn't impact either his or the Cardinals' performance in 2012, manager Mike Matheny tells Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Matheny said that Albert Pujols' departure won't influence Molina's own contract situation, though Molina is understandably disappointed that his good friend left St. Louis to sign with the Angels.
- Also from Strauss, he runs through 11 outstanding questions facing the Cardinals heading into the season.
- Ryan Dempster expressed an interest in remaining with the Cubs for the rest of career during an interview on MLB Network Radio's First Pitch on Thursday (interview highlights courtesy of CSN Chicago's Patrick Mooney). Dempster exercised a $14MM player option to stay with the Cubs in 2012 but it's uncertain if the rebuilding Cubs would try to bring him back in free agency.
- The Reds' current TV contract is believed to run through 2016 and pays the team around $10MM per year, reports John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Fay thinks the Reds will need a major upgrade in their next cable contract to compete with teams like the Angels and Padres, who have completed, or are close to competing, much more lucractive TV deals.
- MLB.com's Tom Singer thinks Edwin Jackson (and agent Scott Boras) made a mistake in turning down one-year and three-year offers from the Pirates to sign a one-year, $11MM deal with the Nationals. Singer feels Jackson would've re-established his value better pitching in the NL Central on the one-year contract, and the three-year deal would've given Jackson some security against either a drop in form or getting "swallowed up by a market that might include the likes of Matt Cain, Zack Greinke and Cole Hamels."
Dempster is one of the truly “great guys” in baseball. Like Kerry Wood, he needs to stay with the organization and transition into the front office when he is done playing. His salary will definitely have to come down to a 4 or 5 starters number, or possibly even move him back to the bullpen.
I would rather see him in the booth. His combination of comedic timing and knowledge of the game are unsurpassed.
I can see it now, Ryan Dempster & Kevin Millah (Millar in New English) calling games
Wouldn’t surprise me if he takes that route. I think Brenley wants to manage again.
Well said
Well said
usually any contract with a player option worth more than the player is is a bad one.
Maybe Edwin just wanted to have a chance at winning a little bit. Which the Nats can offer and the Pirates cant.
Yes. The Washington Nationals have a long history of winning.
I know they had a better record last year than the Pirates and a way better team than the Pirates this year.
I bet that’s what he told his agent. Put me on a below .500 team that was slightly better the Pirates last year. I want to win!
Either that, or he just went for the deal that offered an extra million bucks. Sadly, we’ll never know the answer to this great mystery.
If the Nats played 162, they would have been a .500 team.
if he wanted to win, he wouldn’t have signed with EITHER team. this logic is ridiculous. and Jackson isn’t necessarily a world-beater. and you consider a team with 8 more wins that season than the Pirates as “way better”? what did i miss?
First off all I said they won more games than the Pirates last year and if you look at the two teams on paper the Nats look way better and are setup to win more games this year. If I’m a Free Agent the Nats offer a better chance at winning at this point period. That logic has nothing to do with last year or the 8 more games they won. Second of all no one is confusing the Nats as the best team in the NL or Jackson as a dominating CY Young pitcher. To say they don’t have a chance to be a winning team this year and an up and coming team overall is not only ridiculous but a bull headed stuck in the past mindset. People need to realize this team has moved in the right direction and is in a much different place than when they first moved to DC.
idk i looked on paper and i kind of like the pirates here
Well the good thing is the season will be starting soon and all of the speculating will be over. We will see how all the offseason moves for all the teams worked out. It should be an interesting season or at least I hope so.
What year did you look at? Cuz it couldnt have been this year.
Thank you for that, well said.
Not as long as the Pirates history of losing.
Oh right. I forgot about all those Championships they won back in Montreal.
Nobody’s forgotten about how the Pirates have been under .500 for two decades. Absolutely atrocious
Oh! Now I understand why the Nationals are considered winners. Thanks for clearing that up!
History has nothing to do with it. Jackson chose a team that has a chance to win more games than lose next year.
History has nothing to do with it, yet all you’re talking about is the past two decades. Tsk, tsk. Should have stuck with the “I know you are, but what am I?” defense.
The Nationals won 8 more games than the Pirates last year. Call me crazy, but I think he signed with the Nationals because he likes $11 million more than $10 million.
Hes going to be a FA again at the end of the season. What team would help build his value up? The dreadful Pirates or the decent Nationals? The Nats are going to surpass the Pirates buy more than 8 games this year. Good rotation, good bullpen, average offense. As opposed to?
As opposed to good rotation, good bullpen, average offense.
My, you do make a solid argument.
Then again, the Pirates were in first place as late as July 25th last year. The last time the Nationals were in first place was opening day of 2008. So at least he won’t have to worry about being bogged down by the pressures of a playoff race while “rebuilding his value”. Maybe this was his plan all along.
They were in first place o July 25th and still finished below .500. Who is to blame for that? Jerry Meals?
Wake up and realize the Nationals are poised to have a decent season and at least be in the conversation in September.
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Please breakdown the rosters and explain to me why you think the Pirates are better than the Nats. Based on examining the two teams starting rotations and bullpens alone the Nats clearly look like the better team. The problem is you have one organization (Pirates) stuck in neutral and another organization (Nats) on the rise. Funny part to me is the Nats have managed to turn things around quickly despite MLB having dismantled all the good things about the Expos before sending them to DC. While the Pirates have done nothing but continue to look like and act like a joke of an organization.
WOW!
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All you have to do is open up Todd’s profile and see he has 70 or so comments on a pirates website. No reason to argue with a ridiculous homer who thinks his team is good.
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Look I’m not going to say the Pirates don’t have a storied history or have done well in the past. The problem is the last time they were relevant I believe the two BBs (Bonilla and Bonds) played for them. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed watching those teams.
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I suppose that is a fair statement although they’ve been around a whopping six years at least as the Nats. Either way I look forward to seeing how the two teams do this year and in particular head to head. I hope to see you on here during those series so we can discuss.
Um? Have you not heard the hype around the Nats this year? The are a legitimate playoff contender now. What does the Nats losing history have anything to do with this year. The Nats were bad from 2005 – 2010. Thats not right now. I guess Edwin should have looked back at previous Nats teams and decided if he wants to play with those teams. Oh wait! Those teams are in the past so they dont matter do they?
What are the chances Yadi hits free agency? When was the last time a catcher of his caliber hit the market?
Piazza?
Yeah, if I were the Reds, I would fear the Padres more so than the Angels. Only because the Padres are in the National League and Angels in the American. The one good thing that the Reds can take from this is the Angels won’t be competing for Joey Votto in 2013.
PS I just don’t understand the Padres TV deal, it’s not like they sell out every game. I can hear the conversation now, honey we have to leave the Beach, Sea World or Lego World early. I am sorry if you and the kids are inconvienced, but I really need to go home and watch the impending drama unfolding at Petco Field and I want Fox Sports to stay in business. They need all the help they cn get for giving such a foolish contract for a bad team! :p
Their contract will give the Reds a big boost in payroll in 2016. Cincinnati should be able to at least get something similar to the Pads, if not slightly more. Knowing this could put some ease on ownership when it comes to attempting to sign Votto long term.
Votto will be hitting free agency, Reds won’t be able to extend him
Notice I said “attempting”… If the Reds don’t sign Brandon Phillips, then the chances of Votto being signed goes way up. It’s all speculation right now, and knowing a big TV deal is coming could ease the pain of paying 20M+ to one player on a small market team. Do people know how to read anymore…
EJax wanted two things: a place to rebuild his value and somewhere he could contend. Nationals Park isn’t cavernous, but it’s slightly pitcher-friendly and the offenses in the division aren’t exactly stacked (none of the teams placed in the upper third of runs scored). And the NL Central had the Cards at #5, the Reds at #7, the Brewers at #11, all higher than any NL East team. So I dunno what the reasoning for that assertion is. The Nationals have a decent shot at competing for the wild card this year, with their rotation what it is.
the Nats weren’t that much better than the Pirates though, so i think money could have played more of a role in him signing there instead of Pittsburgh.