2005-06 MLB Offseason Thread

[KingPK]

Shit, I'd keep Marte and groom him in Pawtucket. Man, with Lester, Hansen, Marte and Pedroia next year, I'm going to have to get my ass to McCoy more often.

[Failed Bridge]

Man, with Lester, Hansen, Marte and Pedroia next year, I'm going to have to get my ass to McCoy more often.

Portland won't be bad either. I expect to see Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie, Clay Bucholz, Edgar Martinez, and possibly Andrew Pinckney all there at one point.

[The Czech Republic]

Why would the Indians give up Crisp for Langerhans? That doesn't sound right at all.

[Fökai]

I don't see the benefit of the trade for the Braves, either. Unless it's Cabrera or a minor league arm, the Braves shouldn't do it, and the Indians probably wouldn't budge with all of the moves they've made with the bullpen already.

[treble]

But late Thursday night, Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi insisted to the Toronto Star that Glaus was not coming to Toronto.

 

"We had interest in him at one time, but nothing's going to happen with that now," Ricciardi told the newspaper. "It's not going to happen with us."

That means Glaus is on his way.

Yeah, that's what he said right before the Ryan signing.

[Failed Bridge]

Indians sign Jason Johnson to a one year deal with a mutual option for 2007. Depending on how much they paid for him its not a bad choice for the #5 starter. I thought they would go for Josh Fogg personally.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

Jason Johnson's a much better pitcher than Josh Fogg. Johnson's decent as a back-end rotation guy. Fogg I wouldn't even put in my rotation.

 

Johnson has to be the most hard-luck pitcher in the majors. He's currently 52-86, 34 games under .500 for his career. His only winning records are his 8-7 mark for the O's in 1999, and a 10-10 mark in 2003. He's not an above-average pitcher, but he's not as bad as his record indicates.

[Failed Bridge]

Josh Fogg is cheaper and younger though. Thought he'd be more of a fit with them.

[Precious Roy]

Millwood to the Rangers for 5 years/60 million. Chan Ho Park says hi.

[Failed Bridge]

I'm starting to think that Jeff Weaver could be a great bargain at this point. Put a good defense behind him and make his contract incentive based(like Millwood's was last year) and you could have a quality pitcher for around only $3mill guarenteed. He still strikes out around 7 batters per 9 innings pitched.

[The Czech Republic]

Josh Fogg is okay, but I prefer his brother, Kirk Fogg, who helped guide us all on Legends Of The Hidden Temple.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

I'm starting to think that Jeff Weaver could be a great bargain at this point. Put a good defense behind him and make his contract incentive based(like Millwood's was last year) and you could have a quality pitcher for around only $3mill guarenteed. He still strikes out around 7 batters per 9 innings pitched.

At that price certainly, but I doubt Weaver is getting anything less than $30 Million guaranteed.

[mike546]

Won't Boras HAVE to lower his asking price for Weaver the closer it gets to opening day, and the longer Weaver isn't signed to a deal?

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

Won't Boras HAVE to lower his asking price for Weaver the closer it gets to opening day, and the longer Weaver isn't signed to a deal?

Not at all. Remember the contract he landed for Ivan Rodriguez. Players are not the only players feeling pinched. Teams start to get nervous about their starting pitching, and there are ALWAYS teams looking for starting pitching. While the Weaver search is not much publicized, there are certainly teams vieing for his services.

 

ESPN.com reports the Millwood deal is four years, $48 Million.

[Bored]

Ex-Expos/Twins Closer Jeff Reardon arrested for armed robbery.

According the article Reardon played only nine years and played on the 1988 World Champions. Awww fact checkers.

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

Ex-Expos/Twins Closer Jeff Reardon arrested for armed robbery.

According the article Reardon played only nine years and played on the 1988 World Champions. Awww fact checkers.

Obviously they looked at his salary figures from baseball-reference.com or elsewhere. Those are only complete for nine years. He made more than $11.5 Million over his career. The 1988 line is probably a typo. They no doubt rushed this article.

[Precious Roy]

I like how after robbing a jewelry store he goes to PF Chang's

[EVIL~! alkeiper]

Getting back to Jason Johnson, here's the ten worst Win/Loss records I could find in the majors. Pitchers are listed in order of their games below .500 (losses minus wins).

 

1. Jason Johnson (52-86)

2. Jamey Wright (61-88)

3. Jose Mesa (77-101)

4. Frank Castillo (82-104)

5. Mike Maroth (40-58)

6. Terry Mulholland (124-142)

7. Nate Cornejo (12-29)

8. Darrell May (26-43)

9. John Thomson (60-77)

10. Steve Trachsel (119-135)

[Bruiser Chong]

It's funny that not too long after finally dumping Park's mistake of a contract, the Rangers take on a similar one. Granted Millwood's bound to turn out better results, but this is the same guy who was looking like a shell of his former self a little over a year ago.

[Guest Smues]

Teh Link

 

Former Pitcher Reardon Arrested on Robbery Charge

 

 

Dec 27, 1:29 PM (ET)

 

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) - Jeff Reardon, one of the top relief pitchers in history, was charged with robbing a jewelry store, then blamed his arrest on medication he was taking for depression.

The 50-year-old Reardon, retired since 1994 and sixth in career saves, walked into Hamilton Jewelers at the Gardens Mall on Monday and handed an employee a note saying he had a gun and the store was being robbed, police said Tuesday.

 

Reardon, who starred with the Montreal Expos, Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox, fled the store with an undisclosed amount of cash. Police found him at a nearby restaurant, recovered the stolen money and charged him with armed robbery.

 

Lt. David O'Neill said Reardon did not have a gun and offered no resistance when handcuffed.

 

"He said it was the medication that made him do it and that he was sorry," O'Neill said.

 

 

He said Reardon has lived in the city for more than 20 years and has never caused any problems.

 

Reardon briefly appeared in court Tuesday and was to be released on $5,000 bail, said his attorney, Mitchell Beers.

 

He said Reardon had a 20-year-old son who died of a drug overdose in February 2004, which has been "very difficult for him and his family," and has been on medication for depression. Reardon, who is married and has two other children, also underwent a heart angioplasty last week and has been taking medication for that condition.

 

"He asked me to apologize to his fans and friends," Beers said. "This bizarre incident is completely uncharacteristic of Jeff Reardon."

 

He said Reardon, who made more than $11.5 million during his career, according to baseballreference.com, was not having financial problems.

 

Bert Blyleven, Reardon's teammate on Minnesota's 1987 championship team, said he knew Reardon was still deeply affected by his son's death.

 

"It's very uncharacteristic of Jeff Reardon to do what he did," said Blyleven, now a TV analyst for the Twins. "I've been very fortunate, and my wife has, not to lose any of our children. I can't imagine what he's going through in the holidays."

 

"Hopefully, he can get help and move forward on his life," Blyleven added. "Thank God no one was hurt."

 

Reardon had a save in the Twins' World Series victory over St. Louis. But five years later, he gave up a two-run homer to Toronto's Ed Sprague in the ninth inning, allowing the Blue Jays to tie Atlanta at one game apiece. Toronto eventually won the 1992 World Series in six games.

 

The four-time All-Star was 73-77 with 367 saves and a 3.16 ERA in 16 seasons with the New York Mets, Montreal, Minnesota, Boston, the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds and New York Yankees.

 

I got a good laugh out of that. Oh and I liked seeing baseballreference.com being used as a reference.

[CanadianGuitarist]

Can someone tell me about Glaus, and alleviate my worries of giving up Hudson and Batista for him?

[Guest]

I'm not a fan of Glaus. He can hit for power, but is somewhat injury prone.

[Precious Roy]

He hits for power and draws a lot of walks. He also strikes out a lot. His average is usually around .250, but his OBP will be 100 pts higher. He's a pretty good defensive player too. If he stays healthy you've got yourselves a very productive player and protection for Wells. A lineup with Wells-Glaus-Overbay-Hillenbrand, along with the Jays staff, is bad news for the rest of the AL East.

[Bruiser Chong]

I'm not a fan of Glaus. He can hit for power, but is somewhat injury prone.

Good one.

[Guest]

I've gotta make some attempt to sound unbiased, even though I clearly am.

[treble]

I'm not worried too much about that. Aside from 03 and 04, his lowest games played total was 149 (last season). And, he played in more games than Hudson did last year, so it's hard to complain about trading for an injury prone player when the player he was traded for hasn't played more than 135 games in the past 2 seasons. His contract is kind of big, but they've got the money to spend and it only has 3 years left, so it's not likely to hurt them long term if Glaus falls off.

 

I really like this trade.

[mike546]

His games played due to injuries in 03 and 04 are due to the same injury. It's not like hes gotten a ton of different injuries over the last three years.

[Fartsauce]

I would have loved the trade if Hudson wasn't included. They could have put Hinske or Hillenbrand in that. That being said, I loved to see Hillenbrand and Hinske go for a good middle reliever which is the only thing this team lacks.

[mike546]

Ryan, Spier, Frasor, Schoeneweis, Walker, and Chulk. Thats five good pitchers, and one ok one in Chulk. Why exactly do the Jays need bullpen help?!?

[Bruiser Chong]

It's not even so much time missed due to injury. It's that he's played hurt a lot. Obviously everyone is in the same boat after a certain point of the season, but he played a great deal of last season at well under 100 percent.