It’s not a huge surprise, but Tigers president and General Manager Dave Dombrowski said that he would like to make Justin Verlander a Tiger for life, writes Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. The right-hander still has two years remaining on his five-year, $80MM deal and extending him won’t be cheap. However, the Tigers made a similar move when they inked Miguel Cabrera to his eight-year, $152.3MM deal two years before he was set to hit the open market. Here’s more from around baseball as the Giants celebrate their Game 2 victory..
- People familiar with the Brewers’ thinking told Heyman that the club is seriously considering a run at Josh Hamilton this winter. Owner Mark Attanasio declined comment on the possibility, but the team is said to believe that Milwaukee is a viable market for the slugger. The Brewers would obviously have a hard time competing with major market teams for Hamilton, but it helps that the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers likely won’t be in the mix.
- Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels said that he sees some similarities between what his club did in 2007 and the Red Sox’s blockbuster deal this year, writes Alex Speier of WEEI.com. Texas traded star first baseman Mark Teixeira to the Braves in the summer of 2007, netting the club Elvis Andrus and freedom to build the roster. Daniels, who was a guest on WEEI’s Red Sox Hot Stove show, also said that he doesn’t expect to trade Andrus or Kinsler despite having Jurickson Profar close to being major league-ready.
- Despite his struggles in 2012, General Manager Brian Sabean ruled out the possibility of Tim Lincecum moving to the bullpen next season, tweets Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. Lincecum is entering his walk year in the 2013 season and will earn $22MM.
- One person connected to the Giants told Heyman that there’s no way that Lincecum will be traded, in part because of how the fans in San Francisco respond to him.
- Commissioner Bud Selig told reporters before tonight’s game that he has spoken with Blue Jays president Paul Beeston and has yet to hear a complaint from the organization regarding possible tampering with manager John Farrell, tweets Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.
As a Brewer fan, I want no part of Hamilton in Milwaukee. He’s obviously talented, but he’s on the wrong side of 30 and has too many question marks. If his price were to come down to say 4/60 (highly unlikely), I could see it. Also on a less serious note, could you imagine Hamilton in Milwaukee given the culture of the city and the state of Wisconsin in general? We really, really like our beer up here. Not exactly an idea place for someone with his past..
that’s what ive been saying. I would love to see Hamilton roaming the outfield here in Milwaukee… but the fact that we basically built this city on alcohol, I can’t see him coming here. It doesnt make sense
Then again, if he did fall off the bandwagon, he’d fit right in with the general population. If he signs, I’ll be the first one to hand him a bratwurst and a cold Miller product. That’s a Usinger’s bratwurst with Silver Springs mustard, a Pretzilla pretzel bun, and a heaping mound kraut.
Not funny.
Milwaukee. Where Josh Hamilton goes to die.
derek… what’s wrong with you?
Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot to use [sarcasm] [/sarcasm] to convey the obvious SARCASM and a tad bit of local marketing. I was simply reiterating my point that it makes no sense. Not my problem he has self control issues and an obvious mob of righteous followers. For that, I am not sorry.
If you think addiction is “self control issues,” you should stop speaking on the subject. Immediately.
Addiction is ones fault when they CHOOSE to use. Nobody forced Hamilton to use drugs. It was 100% his fault.
he didn’t choose to get addicted to them. lots of people choose to use drugs/alcohol and don’t develop addictions.
addiction is a physical dependency on the substance.
it is unanimously classified by the medical community as a disease that is most successfully treated with the help of professionals.
Did he CHOOSE to take cocaine? Yes.
that’s *crisp* kraut, friend
Thanks, Bob…. LOL!
I’m hungry now.
I’ve watched almost every game Hamilton played in Texas, and honestly I’m glad to see him leave, if that’s what he does. At times when he is hot he is unbelievable, but a 500 foot homer still just counts as 1 homer. All the other times when he is waving at slow curve balls in the dirt, meh – he’s a black hole in the lineup. I imagine that some team is going to really regret the contract that they give him. The religious mumbo-jumbo is pretty tedious, too.
I suppose those 128 RBI’s just materialized out of the air? As did the .930 OPS? And I suppose that nobody else in the lineup got pitched to differently because there is always a threat of Hamilton going deep…
We’ll see just how big Hamilton was to the Rangers lineup next year I guess, if he does end up walking.
Oddly, it wont be much different than when Prince left MIL. He can be replaced….
Except for the fact that Fielder’s production was offset by Casey McGehee’s total lack of success, so overall, Fielder (1B) + McGehee (3B)+ Hart (RF) =/< Ramirez (3B) + Aoki (RF) + Hart (1B).
Not to mention, Braun is an elite hitter, regardless of who is hitting behind him, and Lucroy (C) and Gomez (CF) each improved with the bat drastically from the year before.
Exactly…. They can be replaced. Maybe not with any one person particular person… But you have to get the right group/mix of guys, if does work.
And in some cases it even works to the clubs advantage – Example:
Pujols + Berkman + Craig < Beltran + Craig + Berkman (not to mention they saved 10 million dollars that could of been spent elsewhere).
In the case with Hamilton…. Some possible FA signing + Possible Trade + Beltre/Cruz/Young/Murphy/Kinsler/ Andrus/Moreland/Olt/Profar/etc…. There is no telling at this point who or what that combonation might be. Heck we dont know if he is even leaving for sure. But a guy (superstar) can be replaced if done correctly with the right player(s).
You realize Arlington is a pretty good drinking city. Heck all of Texas is a major beer: alcohol state. There are bars everywhere. I would think that the brewers would have someone to watch him or be a “life line” much like the rangers did. I just think the rangers are done worrying about him thus letting him test free agency.
That being said an outfield of akoi-Hamilton-Braun is really good and a 3-4-5of Braun-Hamilton-aramis is scary
Make that a Weeks, Braun, Hamilton, Ramirez, Hart, 2 through 6. Not happening though.
I, for one, am completely caught off guard by the Giants’ unwillingness to relegate a two time Cy Young winner making $22 million next year to the bullpen…. What is Sabean thinking?
…
Ohh man I would love to see the new brain child of Rick Hahn and Kenny Williams sign him to a 4 year 100 mill contract. Trade deaza away and let Hamilton roam in center at the cell. 2-3-4-5 of rios-Hamilton-konerko-Dunn. That’s scary!! Let peavy and aj walk that’s where the 25mill per comes to pay for him.
zero pitching. sale and who? floyd is a free agent. danks coming off of injury.
Floyd isn’t a free agent. He has an option that will probably be picked up. Quintana showed this year he can hang with the big boys. Yes peavy is walking which is fine. Danks will at worst be a #4 and should be fine. Also with Santiago being stretched out he looked really good as a starter. Whitesox starting rotation in 2013. Sale-danks-Floyd-Quintana-Santiago. Not great but far from bad.
Being a sox fan, I actually want to see verlander a tiger for life. He is a generational talent. But that being said I think he is looking at 200+ million cy young, MVP, great record, great career era,whip, with a ton of ks and great mechanics. Easily should top cc as the richest contract for a pitcher. Could justify the richest contract in history(as justifiable it is to give someone close to 300 million who only plays once every 5 games)
I would not be surprised to see him take a cut to stay in Detroit. But my honest guess is 10 yrs 240 million. If he is smart he will front load it. To help his team.
I don’t see Milwaukee going big on Hamilton. They have by a big margin the smallest metro area in baseball. I don’t think they should be going in on him because he will prohibit them from making the moves they need to make. Elite fa like him are a luxury, that is much more suited to bigger markets. They could bid on him sure, but I don’t see them winning it unless Hamilton really likes Milwaukee and takes a cut to go there. Dodgers shouldnt be in the mix, but I don’t see how you can rule the Yankees out. They have a hole in RF now, he is a lefty, and they will be dropping some payroll this year. Debatable whether it is a good move, but I wouldn’t rule them out.
Personally, I think the “Brewer way of thinking” is that these kind of top FA hitters don’t ever come down to their price range, so they better due their due diligence and make an effort to sign him. I’d see them going up to the 4-5 year, 100 million mark that they offered Sabathia, Fielder, and Greinke, but probably not much further.
As for the Yankees, it appears they legitimately want to get under the luxury tax threshold and signing Hamilton wouldn’t exactly help that effort too much. Of course, it is the Yankees, so you can never rule out them cleaning up in free agency…
Who knows, Steinbrenners still make some brash decisions. Not sure what their plans would be on RF. I really don’t want them to trade for upton.
Yankees have a better chance trading for Upton than they do signing Hamilton. Plus Hamilton doesn’t solve the problem the Yankees face now, the age factor. Sure Hamilton isn’t old (30 or 31) but he is aging and is injury prone.
The Brewers need a top of the rotation starter and 3 solid bullpen guys much more than they need Hamilton.
Signing him would be a total luxury, as they already have the number one offense in the league. Led the league in runs scored, home runs, and steals.
They need relievers that can step in and be a Plan B, and Plan C if Axford should struggle again.
Mel had the right idea with Krod as a Plan B, but he showed that you also need at least a Plan C, if not Plan D.
If they were close to the league average in blown saves, they would have had the best record in baseball.
They have more than a rotation worth of young SPs that could fall in behind Gallardo, and pitched well enough last year, but they really need a top of the rotation guy to be a definite contender. I would like to see them make a run at Shields or Price. They can deal Hunter Morris, Maldonado, and some of their young SP talent.
Another Blue Jays story about something that has >not< happened.. can we keep the reporting down to things that actually have happened, or when speculating, to things that likely will happen?
According to some people here, having a beer doesn’t interfere with Hamilton’s other addictions. They just don’t get it and never will.
what does this have to do with anything.
there’s beer in texas, there is beer and temptation anywhere he goes. Saying that he is more susceptible to a relapse because he signs with Milwaukee its ridiculous on so many levels
If Adam LaRoche reaches FA I think he’s gone, this means Morse moves to 1B and the Nats will need to make a big move to replace that bat, but with the possiblity of making a huge impovement in the outfield Defense too. Morse butchered LF this year (and wasn’t anywhere near “good” at 1B the year before, but whatever) so Hamilton in LF would be a dramatic improvement. IMO far more than the dropoff from LaRoche to Morse at 1B.