Odds and Ends: Saito, Teixeira, LaRoche
More Tuesday links…
- Over at RotoAuthority, David Chase examines more of the optimistic Spring Training reports of ’08. Particularly interesting: did pitchers follow up on their intention to use a new pitch?
- The Marlins’ Scott Proctor signing is official. Also, Chan Ho Park with the Phillies.
- Carl Pohlad’s three sons will take over for their father.
- McCovey Chronicles trade idea: Randy Winn for Xavier Nady.
- Add Randy Choate to the minor league deals for the Rays.
- Economist J.C. Bradbury says "the economic downturn cannot explain the magnitude of Pat Burrell‘s discount." He believes teams are exaggerating the recession effect.
- Keith Law says the risk in giving Milton Bradley a three-year deal "seems excessive" but notes that Bradley is an excellent hitter and above-average defender.
- Patrick Newman learned that Takashi Saito received almost ten offers last month, including proposals from the Cardinals and Red Sox. Newman also has new reports of various minor league-level Japanese players who want to join MLB organizations.
- Tony Massarotti has all kinds of questions about Boston’s failure to sign Mark Teixeira. Craig Calcaterra offers analysis on the team’s Boras relationship. Check out stuff from today’s Yankees press conference here and here.
- Sox Machine on how Jim Thome staying healthy messed up Ken Williams’ plans.
- Dejan Kovacevic says Adam LaRoche would like to stay in Pittsburgh past ’09, but the team is not considering an extension.
Odds and Ends: Burrell, Bradley, Abreu
Links for Tuesday…
- RotoAuthority asks for your #1 fantasy baseball bust for 2009.
- Keith Law calls the Pat Burrell signing a "major bargain," panning the Raul Ibanez contract by comparison. River Ave. Blues says the recent Burrell and Milton Bradley deals prove that Brian Cashman was wise not to offer arbitration to Bobby Abreu.
- Will the Rays have enough money to re-sign Rocco Baldelli now? Buster Olney still thinks he will land with Boston.
- Gordon Edes says Jim Hendry had a stealth dinner with Bradley during the November GM Meetings. Edes adds that the Cubs believe Derek Lowe is too expensive.
- Cool story about a guy trying to get an autograph on each card in the 1983 Fleer baseball card set.
- Baseball America’s Jim Callis has the updated ’09 draft order. Callis also weighs in on the broken free agent compensation system, which is up for discussion after the 2011 season.
Odds and Ends: Andruw, Marquis, Coonelly
Links for Monday…
- In his first post for RotoAuthority, David Chase looks at players who were said to have lost weight or gained muscle during Spring Training ’08. How did they perform in ’08?
- The Red Sox inked infielder Nick Green to a minor league deal.
- Murray Chass explains why the New York Times Company’s purchase of a share of the Red Sox was a conflict of interest.
- Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik: "We’ve got an offer out right now for a piece of the puzzle, and I’d hope to hear in the next few days."
- David Laurila talked to new Mariners exec Tony Blengino. One of many interesting quotes (in reference to the Bill Bavasi regime and the ’07 club): "I thought that it was clear going in that, with all due respect, they overrated their team from the last year."
The Yankees will introduce Mark Teixeira tomorrow. He passed his physical today. - River Ave. Blues and Peter Abraham ask whether the Yankees should consider Andruw Jones. Evan Brunell looks at other possible fits.
- The Dodgers talked to the Cubs about Jason Marquis, according to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick.
- Pirates president Frank Coonelly joins Mark Attanasio (Brewers) and Drayton McLane (Astros) in supporting a salary cap.
- Jeff Moorad might be aggressive in the draft if he takes over the Padres. Tom Krasovic adds that the Padres have already discussed spending up to $6MM on their #3 pick this June.
- Keith Law likes the Angels’ Brian Fuentes signing, and doesn’t think the Indians gave up much for Mark DeRosa.
- If the Indians are to add another significant player, they’ll have to get creative with contracts.
- RAB and In Mo We Trust discuss Kevin Kernan’s recent suggestion that the Yanks sign Oliver Perez over Andy Pettitte.
- A couple of recent Hot Stove Dailies from Jeff Passan: the Braves and A’s.
- Athletics Nation asks whether Brian Sabean is "out-GMing" Billy Beane this winter.
- Sox Machine on why the Gavin Floyd–Brian Roberts rumor makes no sense.
Odds and Ends: Bard, Cubs, Guardado
Links for Friday (feels like a Monday)…
- Boston’s deal for catcher Josh Bard is official. Bard had offers from the Cubs and Nationals as well.
- SI.com’s Jon Heyman ranks the top 20 remaining free agents.
- RotoAuthority asks readers to name their #1 sleeper for 2009.
- The Marlins reportedly have interest in reliever Jesus Colome.
- MLB.com’s Barry Bloom explains that the arbitration filing period begins Monday. He gives a nice primer on the arbitration system for those that need to brush up. Ryan Howard is due for another big raise.
- Buster Olney does not like the Cubs’ recent moves, particularly the Mark DeRosa trade.
- Jeff Wilson says the Rangers remain in contact with free agent reliever Eddie Guardado.
Odds and Ends: Bonds, Boras, Snell
Links for Thursday…
- MLBTR had over 3,500 posts in 2008. Thanks for reading! In ’08 we added a Facebook page, a mobile site, and weekly chats while also redesigning the main site. It was my first year working full-time on MLBTR.
- Barry Bonds had hip surgery with the intent of playing in 2009, according to John Shea.
- The Rays re-signed catcher Michel Hernandez to a minor league deal.
- Darren Rovell interviewed Scott Boras.
- Ian Snell agrees with Jack Wilson – the Pirates need more players.
- A discussion of power/speed players over at RotoAuthority.
- The River Avenue Blues writers break down the Johnny Damon contract in a post on Peter Abraham’s blog. They argue that he’s been worth 13MM per year so far.
- Mike Berardino expects the Marlins to remain quiet for now, but predicts that they’ll find a bargain or two before Spring Training.
- The Toronto Star looks ahead towards a potentially tough year for Toronto sports fans, no thanks to the Blue Jays.
- The recent merger of Aaron Miles and the Cubs isn’t well-received at FanGraphs.
Odds and Ends: Nelson, Quentin, Penny
Links for Tuesday…
- Baseball America has the recent minor league transactions. A few I hadn’t seen before – Reggie Abercrombie back to the Astros, Jesse Foppert re-signed with the Giants, the Rangers signed Casey Daigle.
- Nothing is imminent in the Rays’ discussions with free agent hitters, but they did finalize their deal with reliever Joe Nelson.
- Carlos Quentin in the third round of a fantasy draft: good idea?
- Fred Claire talks about the 2009-10 free agent class, and we got a mention.
- Keith Law likes Boston’s Brad Penny signing, but wonders why they weren’t able to get a 2010 option.
- Richard Justice discusses Drayton McLane’s salary cap recommendation.
- Peter Abraham says the Yankees are still a bit short in the rotation.
Odds and Ends: Teixeira, Pujols, McLane
Links for Monday…
- Daniel Cabrera passed his physical for the Nationals.
- Tony Massarotti writes that the Red Sox had a shot at Mark Teixeira. The Scott Boras camp was proposing $176MM guaranteed for eight years with vesting options that could’ve brought the total to $220MM over ten years. Ultimately the Yankees beat Boston’s offer by $10MM, with no options and a full no-trade clause.
- Viva El Birdos looks at what the Teixeira contract means for Albert Pujols. Will Albert seek the largest contract in baseball history? The Cardinals have him through the 2011 season.
- RotoAuthority looks at the power/speed shortstop options for fantasy baseball leagues.
- Astros owner Drayton McLane is the second owner to publicly admit he wants a salary cap (Brewers owner Mark Attanasio said it right after the Teixeira signing). Interesting take on the salary cap by Dan Symborski at Baseball Think Factory.
- The best of Big League Stew’s Answer Man series.
Odds and Ends: Teixeira, Dickey, Takahashi
Links for Friday…
- In the aftermath of the Yankees’ spending, Joe Posnanski reminds us that two thirds of MLB teams have won the World Series in the last 30 years.
- UmpBump doesn’t like the idea of a salary cap.
- FanGraphs now shows a hitter’s wins over replacement level, as well as the player’s dollar value. You don’t need to be a stathead to enjoy this. For example, here’s the Carlos Pena page. Scroll to the bottom. Value Wins shows he was worth 6.0 wins over replacement level in 2007. That made him worth $24.6MM, but he earned just $800K.
- If you are a stathead, you’ll like this 1981 SI article on Bill James.
- A look at the only five players who should be considered within the first five picks of a fantasy baseball draft next year.
- Mark Teixeira leftovers…Murray Chass says Tex and his wife didn’t want to live in Boston, while Kat O’Brien details the hard stance the Yankees took with Scott Boras. The Nationals did everything they could to sign Teixeira, but he wanted to win now.
- ESPN’s Keith Law explains why the draft pick compensation system is broken. Brewers GM Doug Melvin had interesting comments on this in a recent Buster Olney blog.
- The New York Times Company is trying to sell its stake in the Red Sox.
- La Velle E. Neal III tries to figure out the Twins’ signing of knuckleballer R.A. Dickey.
- Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker takes a closer look at lefty reliever Ken Takahashi.
Odds and Ends: Napoli, Schilling, Bradley
Links for Monday, to be updated as more come in.
- RotoAuthority suggests Mike Napoli could be a top five catcher in fantasy baseball next year with enough playing time.
- Curt Schilling gives his thoughts on agents.
- Geoff Baker thinks Milton Bradley would be a good fit for the Mariners.
- River Ave. Blues likes Gabe Kapler for the Yankees.
- Nationals pitcher Collin Balester calls it – World Series sweep if they sign Mark Teixeira. Balester keeps a blog here, check it out.
Odds and Ends: Redding, Turnbow, Looper
Links for Saturday…
- RotoAuthority looks at projections for Chris Davis. 35 home runs next year?
- Bill Madden suggests Paul Kinzer screwed up in both the Rafael Furcal and Francisco Rodriguez negotiations.
- More details on Dan Johnson – the Rays are selling him to a Japanese team for $100,000-500,000.
- Tim Redding‘s agent says "the Mets are very much in the mix" for the righty.
- Juan C. Rodriguez confirms the Marlins’ interest in Derrick Turnbow, but says they aren’t going after Ray King.
- The Rockies could pursue Braden Looper.
- The Orioles have expressed interest in Phillies catcher Chris Coste.
- New National Josh Willingham likes the Marlins’ young talent.
- New Phillie Raul Ibanez likes the chances that the Mariners will have a better offense in 2009.
- The AP has details on the perks in the C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett deals.
- Ken Davidoff looks at the impact Mark Teixeira‘s decision will have on six teams. Amazing how one deal will shape so many teams’ plans.
- Buster Olney writes that many players are going to make much less than expected in 2009, including Manny Ramirez. In that same blog post, Olney notes that his colleague Jerry Crasnick says the Angels’ signing of Juan Rivera takes them out of the market for Manny.
- The D’Backs’ discussions for Tony Clark are progressing.