2005-06 MLB Offseason Thread

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Once again, we start a new thread. Here's a list of the top 20 free agents remaining. Players are ranked in order of their three year average win shares.

 

1. Johnny Damon, OF

2. Roger Clemens, SP

3. Bill Mueller, 3B

4. Juan Encarnacion, OF

5. Jeromy Burnitz, OF

6. Alex Gonzalez, SS

7. Mark Grudzielanek, 2B

8. Reggie Sanders, OF

9. Jeff Conine, OF

10. J.T. Snow, 1B

11. Bret Boone, 2B

12. Kenny Lofton, OF

13. Jacque Jones, OF

14. Bengie Molina, C

15. Joe Randa, 3B

16. Rafael Palmeiro, 1B

17. Kevin Millar, 1B

18. Nomar Garciaparra, 3B

19. D'Angelo Jimenez, 2B

20. Scott Hatteberg, 1B

 

That list is position player heavy, so let's do a pitching top ten.

 

Starters

1. Clemens

2. Jarrod Washburn

3. Kevin Millwood

4. Kevin Brown

5. Jeff Weaver

6. Jason Johnson

7. Brett Tomko

8. Matt Morris

9. Byung-Hyun Kim

10. Al Leiter

 

Relievers

1. Urgeth Urbina

2. Braden Looper

3. Octavio Dotel

4. Julian Tavarez

5. Chris Hammond

6. Shigetosi Hasegawa

7. Paul Quantrill

8. Dan Miceli

9. Felix Rodriguez

10. Matt Mantei

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

11 former Yankees in there.

 

Roger Clemens, SP

J.T. Snow, 1B

Kenny Lofton, OF

D'Angelo Jimenez, 2B

Kevin Brown

Jeff Weaver

Al Leiter

Chris Hammond

Paul Quantrill

Dan Miceli

Felix Rodriguez

[LooseCannon25 0]

I doubt anyone will be signing Urbina anytime soon.

 

 

I say the Mets go after Mark Grudzielanek, Octavio Dotel and call it a day.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I think there's at least a reasonable probability that Ugueth Urbina is innocent. Some team should sign him with the clause that the contract is void if he's imprisoned.

[Vern Gagne 0]

I wish the Twins would make a couple more moves.

[mike546 0]

I think you can count the Yankees out of the Jason Michaels sweepstakes. ESPN insider is reporting the Phils want a starter for Michaels, and unless we'd get asomeone else in return, Pavano for Michaels isn't happening.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Teams really have inflated opinions of their own players. Texas insists on Francisco Liriano in any Hank Blalock trade. No fucking way, the Twins trade one of the best pitching prospects for Hank Blalock.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Or Juan Pierre for Chein-Ming Wang AND Robinson Cano.

[Brett Favre 0]

Robinson Cano > Juan Pierre.

 

I hope we trade Pavano for Brad Wilkerson.

[Guest]

I hope we trade Pavano for Brad Wilkerson.

 

Texas insists on Francisco Liriano in any Hank Blalock trade.

That statement should pretty much say that Pavano for Brad Wilkerson will not happen.

[mike546 0]

I don't like Pavano, but hes still a starter. Our rotation is in shambles with him, I don't wanna imagine it without him. A declining RJ, a hugley declining Moose, Wang (will the pheriperals catch up), Chacon (ditto), Wright and his suck ass self, and Small won't start.

[the pinjockey 0]

I think you can count the Yankees out of the Jason Michaels sweepstakes. ESPN insider is reporting the Phils want a starter for Michaels, and unless we'd get asomeone else in return, Pavano for Michaels isn't happening.

 

Thank god. Pavano would be no better than Lidle or Padilla (who, by the way, they better offer arb. to). No need to trade Michaels for him.

 

Matt Morris looks to be going to SF for 3yrs/$27mil guarantee (one report said it is $25 mil, with a $2 mil buyout of the 4th year).

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

The Orioles are looking at Jeff Weaver to fill their hole in the starting rotation, but I wish they'd look at Millwood.

 

Sure, Weaver = smaller contract and theres an upside that maybe Mazzone can work with him, but I think Millwood would be the better guy to go after even if his contract will be larger.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Given Mazzone's history with Millwood. I will agree.

[2GOLD 0]

Or the Orioles can be wild and crazy and go after both Millwood AND Weaver.

I'd imagine signing two pitchers to go with Cabera, Lopez and Bedard gives the O's plenty of pitching options to at least be competitive.

 

Won't happen but still.

[The Man in Blak 0]

Bernie Miklasz mentioned a quote from Jocketty on his morning radio show today that Walt felt that the market for corner outfielders was too expensive this season and that the Cardinals will have to make a trade to fill their need.

 

In other Cardinal news, Rotoworld reports that St. Louis is expected to announce a two year deal for Ricardo Rincon. Tyler Johnson and Carmen Cali can't be too pleased.

[The Man in Blak 0]

And I don't know if it was mentioned in Part II, but the Cubs have reportedly contacted Miguel Tejada's agent to gauge his interest in playing for Chicago. If I'm Baltimore, I'd hesitate to trade Tejada for anything less than Mark Prior and Ronny Cedeno - not only is Tejada an MVP-caliber player on offense and defense when he's motivated, he's also quite a fairly decent contract (at least when compared to the current inflated market).

 

06:$10M

07:$12M

08:$13M

09:$13M

[The Czech Republic 0]

Tejada for Patterson. It's our turn to screw you over

[The Man in Blak 0]

Tejada for Patterson. It's our turn to screw you over

 

If you're referring to the Sosa trade, didn't you guys get a decent haul from that? I mean, regardless of what Hairston & Fontenot did, you didn't have to watch Sosa bat .221/.295/.376 in Wrigley this year, did you?

[the pinjockey 0]

Texas gets Padilla for PTBNL

 

Unless the PTBNL is something very good (but since there aren't any 40 man or rule V issues where you wait to "hide" someone, like with Gio Gonzalez, I would think this is the pick from a crappy list type PTBNL), then this deal is terrible. It isn't bad in the sense, that all reports indicated that they weren't going to offer arb anyway, so getting something back is better than nothing. But the overall attitude of Padilla's worthlessness is mindboggling.

 

In a market where AJ Burnett gets $11 mil/yr., Padilla has real value. He is relatively cheap and effective when healthy (2002: 3.28 ERA, 3.42 CERA, 2003: 3.62 ERA, 3.68, second half 2005: 3.63 ERA). Why they seemingly went out of their way to drive down his value is insane.

 

BTW, that does it for the Rolen and Schilling deals

Bud Smith - nothing

Mike Timlin - 35 2/3 relief IP; 3.79 ERA

Placido Polanco - 3 solid seasons at 2B, great glove, .300 BA

----Ugueth Urbina - 52 1/3 IP, 4.13 ERA

Nelson Figueroa - 89 IP, 3.94 ERA

Omar Daal - 15-16, 256 2/3 IP, ~4.50 ERA

Travis Lee - 2 1/2 years at 1B

Vicente Padilla - 700 IP, ~4.00 ERA, solid SP when healthy

Edited December 12, 2005 by the pinjockey

[The Czech Republic 0]

Tejada for Patterson. It's our turn to screw you over

 

If you're referring to the Sosa trade, didn't you guys get a decent haul from that? I mean, regardless of what Hairston & Fontenot did, you didn't have to watch Sosa bat .221/.295/.376 in Wrigley this year, did you?

Hairston sat on the bench a lot, and Fontenot was up for like two weeks and now he's struggling to make the 40-man, I think.

[2GOLD 0]

Tejada for Patterson. It's our turn to screw you over

 

If you're referring to the Sosa trade, didn't you guys get a decent haul from that? I mean, regardless of what Hairston & Fontenot did, you didn't have to watch Sosa bat .221/.295/.376 in Wrigley this year, did you?

Hairston sat on the bench a lot, and Fontenot was up for like two weeks and now he's struggling to make the 40-man, I think.

 

I never understood why Jerry was on the bench. He kept getting a lot of extra base hits when Dusty got off his ass and gave him a start. Hell, stick him in left field this season with Pierre in center and figure out who the fuck to put in right field.

[KingPK 0]

Robinson Cano > Juan Pierre.

 

I hope we trade Pavano for Brad Wilkerson.

 

Sure about that? Especially since the only options the Yankees have at CF this year are Bernie and Bubba? Trading for Pierre and signing Mark Grudzielanek for a year or two isn't the worst thing the Yankees could do.

 

Hey, Cano was born the day after I was. Interesting.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Robinson Cano > Juan Pierre.

 

I hope we trade Pavano for Brad Wilkerson.

 

Sure about that? Especially since the only options the Yankees have at CF this year are Bernie and Bubba? Trading for Pierre and signing Mark Grudzielanek for a year or two isn't the worst thing the Yankees could do.

 

Hey, Cano was born the day after I was. Interesting.

Quite frankly, I think it's a pretty bad idea. First off, you're giving up a player of real value in Cano. Second, Pierre's not that good. Third, after a year you still need to sign a center fielder, and on top of that you need to sign a second baseman as well.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

As for Vicente Padilla, I think he's a fairly overrated pitcher. His peripherals were never great, even when he was an All-Star, and he's been battling injuries. The question now is what Gillick does regarding the pitching staff. Right now it's Lieber, Myers, Lidle, Madson, and someone else. I applaud giving Madson a shot. Non-tendering Padilla saves about $3-5 Million, we saved a couple million on the Thome deal, and we saved a bit more by letting Wagner go. Perhaps the club is in the market for a free agent starter.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Tejada for Patterson. It's our turn to screw you over

 

If you're referring to the Sosa trade, didn't you guys get a decent haul from that? I mean, regardless of what Hairston & Fontenot did, you didn't have to watch Sosa bat .221/.295/.376 in Wrigley this year, did you?

Hairston sat on the bench a lot, and Fontenot was up for like two weeks and now he's struggling to make the 40-man, I think.

 

I never understood why Jerry was on the bench. He kept getting a lot of extra base hits when Dusty got off his ass and gave him a start. Hell, stick him in left field this season with Pierre in center and figure out who the fuck to put in right field.

I'd say Murton, but he seems like more of a singles/average hitter. We need a power bat in right

[2GOLD 0]

Tejada for Patterson. It's our turn to screw you over

 

If you're referring to the Sosa trade, didn't you guys get a decent haul from that? I mean, regardless of what Hairston & Fontenot did, you didn't have to watch Sosa bat .221/.295/.376 in Wrigley this year, did you?

Hairston sat on the bench a lot, and Fontenot was up for like two weeks and now he's struggling to make the 40-man, I think.

 

I never understood why Jerry was on the bench. He kept getting a lot of extra base hits when Dusty got off his ass and gave him a start. Hell, stick him in left field this season with Pierre in center and figure out who the fuck to put in right field.

I'd say Murton, but he seems like more of a singles/average hitter. We need a power bat in right

 

If he's cheap, I'd say take a stab at Preston Wilson. Yeah I know it's crazy but if no trade is available then adding Wilson would give the Cubs three outfielders with decent speed and I think Preston would excel in Wrigley.

 

That would give the Cubs an outfield of Murton/Hairston in left, Pierre in center, and Wilson in right

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I don't want Wilson. Guy seems like he'd be trying to hit for the fences every at-bat.

 

The Sosa deal was more about getting Sammy away from the team. In the grand scope of things, it didn't help their record, but it got him out of town.

[KingPK 0]

Robinson Cano > Juan Pierre.

 

I hope we trade Pavano for Brad Wilkerson.

 

Sure about that? Especially since the only options the Yankees have at CF this year are Bernie and Bubba? Trading for Pierre and signing Mark Grudzielanek for a year or two isn't the worst thing the Yankees could do.

 

Hey, Cano was born the day after I was. Interesting.

Quite frankly, I think it's a pretty bad idea.

 

Why do you think I want them to do it? Gotta read between the lines there, Al.

 

So the Red Sox name TWO guys co-GMs for 2006. They've been doing all right with no GM lately, so why break that vibe?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Ah, gotcha. Same reason I want the Mets to go nuts and start giving multi-year contracts to 47 year old players.