Links for Friday…
- ESPN.com's Jayson Stark says Roy Oswalt is not going to sign with the Rangers or Phillies. The right-hander could end up in Boston, where he doesn't seem to want to play, or with the Cardinals, who are interested if Oswalt agrees to their terms.
- Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com suggests the Brewers, Cubs and Astros are all fits for Edgar Renteria, who intends to play in 2012 (Twitter link).
- Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review discusses the difficulty of luring free agents to Pittsburgh and points out that the Pirates have never signed a free agent for more than $10.5MM, which is what Clint Barmes obtained earlier in the offseason.
- The Indians don't have any guaranteed contracts on the books beyond 2012, MLB.com's Jordan Bastian points out (on Twitter).
- Keith Law lists sleeper prospects for all 30 teams at ESPN.com.
- Matt Eddy of Baseball America has the complete minor league transactions for February 2nd-7th.
ok before i write this ill have to say that maybe im just being stupid…. how can the indians not have any guaranteed contracts after 2012?…they loosing their entire team after 2012… you mean big money contracts…?
they have players under team control, just not under contract
Time is ticking Oswalt. Have you not noticed that you are a injury prone pitcher? Stop being picky or just retire!
no idea why this bothers so many people. why do you care how long he takes or how picky he is about it? he isn’t holding anything up and there’s absolutely nothing else going on until spring training
It doesn’t interest me how long he takes, but to think holding out this long is going to get you the best deal, then he is in for a big surprise.
he knowingly passed up the best deal more than a month ago. that’s clearly not what it’s about
So then what is it about? Obviously it was announced that he does not want to play for 3 of the 4 remaining teams wanting his service. So that only leaves one team. what’s the hold up?
you know this isn’t roy right?
i mean i have no idea what exactly his thought process is. it’s not very interesting or important to me. he’s clearly not all about the money, but he’s not going to take the league minimum to play in STL
and again, what’s the hurry? the teams he’s considering are ready to start without him and he doesn’t have to pick one for a couple of weeks at least. if you’re ambivalent about your current options, why not wait to see if somebody steps it up?
hey roy, why havent you signed yet. please tell us.
The Cardinals offered Oswalt way more than league minimum. Please get your facts right.
woosh
eh
Astros 2012 WS Champs baby! Renteria is the missing link
He does bring a lil bit o’ luck with him.
Reds 2010 – 91-71
Reds 2011 – 79-83
Not saying it’s all his fault, but he brings no luck with him. At all.
If Roy pitches like he did at the end of last season I have no doubt he will be effective in the AL East. Sign with the Sox already!
Wouldn’t mind Renteria back w/ the Cardinals. I’d take him over Alex Cora who we signed.
I agree with this, and he would be a good right-handed option at second if Green falters.
who was the a’s sleeper prospect?
i say dan straily
I still think the Tigers should sign Oswalt on a one year deal. It would give them some pitching depth and Comerica Park could help Oswalt on fly balls. And I can see the Tigers winning the division for the next five years.
I also heard they improved their offense.
The Tigers would agree with you. They offered him a deal. He said no.
Tigers already offered Oswalt $10mil apparently. But he declined the offer because he doesn’t want to play there. Probably the same reason he doesn’t want to go to Boston: location.
I cant believe the Pirates have NEVER signed a free agent for over $10.5 million. I know they dont spend any money, but NEVER? wow
If the Burnett trade succeeds, will that count?
Really? What is it about “free agent” that applies to Burnett?
Calm down, guy! It was a joke about Burnett rumored getting traded to Pittsburgh and they would have to pay over $10 mil of his remaining $33 mil salary.
Its pretty pathetic. Sitting back taking all the other teams free money then keeping it and not spending it on their own team. Then pretending their ownership is poor or that its the media markets fault. They are in a sports town with the Penguins, and Steelers. They have no excuse. If they make the playoffs or fielded a consistently competitive team they would fill the stadium up most days. The Pirates were a championship franchise for gods sake. Instead the past 15 plus years they have used that team as an ATM, not as a baseball team. Its a shame the Pirates have an awesome history. Selig should have made owners like that sell, or at least take away their profit sharing money if they were just going to keep it year after year.
There are other ways to spend money besides free agents though.
Pirates have spent big time on the draft lately. Heck, look at what they gave their 1st round pick (Cole) and their 2nd (Bell) this year alone!
They def have spent on development lately. I give them that, but they drained the life blood of that franchise for like 15 years. If they had started doing what they are doing now say 5 years ago they probably would have made a playoff appearance by now.
the key words are “free agent”… the Pirates have spent a lot of money on the draft as a whole the last four years, and on contract extensions in general.
for example, Andy Van Slyke was never a free agent, but he was one of the first to receive big money from the Pirates (almost $13M over his last 3 years in Pittsburgh), and the Pirates also extended Jason Kendall (6 years/$60M) after 2000. more recently, the Pirates extended Nate McLouth for something like 3 years/$13M, but fortunately were able to trade him and that extension before he turned into a pumpkin.
finally, in 2007 Dave Littlefield, who was GM of the Pirates at the time, traded for Matt Morris and all of his remaining contract. Littlefield was fired shortly afterwards, but the Pirates were still on the hook for more than $10M in 2008, for which the Pirates received -1.7 bWAR in 5 awful starts.
sign him already mo!
The thing of it is, Oswalt didn’t seem happy in Philadelphia. If signs with Boston and he’s not happy from the beginning. I really don’t see this as a good thing.
If he signs with the Cardinals for a low ball figure, he’s not going to be happy. Or at least I don’t think he will be. For the life of me, I have no idea why the Royals don’t become aggresive here. He would be a good leader and pitcher especially in that division and the Royals would have an outside shot at a wild card with him in the rotation. I would mention the Orioles, but Duquette seems to be very content signing “Scrap Heap Willies”. While I appreciate that he’s really gone all out for sign depth. The starter that’s the leading the way really isn’t all that much better than the depth behind him and that is a problem.
Wasn’t happy in Philly? Never saw that. In fact, he was always laughing and he and Cliff were very close. He loved the fans there and we appreciated him very much for everything he did. I would never say he wasnt happy in Philly.
Please don’t include links to “pay for” sites (Keith Law)
This is a post that I can get behind.
I can’t see Oswalt signing with any other team but that Cardinals. What’s wrong with accepting a 1yr deal worth 6-8 million? Maybe he puts up great numbers and earns himself 3-4 yr contract the following year. It’s obvious he is wanting to pitch for the Cardinals more than anyone else. Get the deal done Mo!