2005-06 MLB Offseason Thread

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

MIB...

So, this would make the outfield Stairs, David DeJesus, and Emil Brown? Yeeesh. DeJesus can certainly cover some ground, but heaven help the Royals if he gets injured again.

Too bad the Royals had to DFI one of their best hitters (Matt Diaz) to make these signings.

No faith left in Greinke, eh? Not that it's really an envious title, considering that the rotation is in tatters.

I just considered their staff ERAs from last season. Four starters over 5, and two over 6. And the only starter who posted a sub-4.00 ERA in more than 10 starts (DJ Carrasco) is off to Japan. Mike Wood pitched decent in ten starts, but his peripherals are ugly.

 

As for Cano vs. Soriano. Cano certainly hasn't earned the second base for DR gig, particularly with plate discipline nearly as abhorant as Soriano's. Luis Castillo is the best performer at second, but he's not confirmed. Placido Polanco has outperformed Soriano the last two seasons. I'd make him the starter.

[mike546 0]

Cano doesn't even come close to the amount of times Soriano strikes out. Cano is a contact machine.

[Brett Favre 0]

Cano has a higher OPS than Polanco and Castillo, and while he doesn't walk much, he doesn't strike out much either. He's not a bad 2nd basemen, and was also a very good prospect coming up. I think you can make a case for him.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Cano has a higher OPS than Polanco and Castillo, and while he doesn't walk much, he doesn't strike out much either. He's not a bad 2nd basemen, and was also a very good prospect coming up. I think you can make a case for him.

Polanco's OPS was higher (.830 to Cano's .778). Besides that, Polanco is regarded as very good defensively, whereas Cano and Soriano are suspect.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Watch Nomar sign with the Astros and rekindle his glory days.

[Guest NYChris]

Cano has a higher OPS than Polanco and Castillo, and while he doesn't walk much, he doesn't strike out much either. He's not a bad 2nd basemen, and was also a very good prospect coming up. I think you can make a case for him.

Polanco's OPS was higher (.830 to Cano's .778). Besides that, Polanco is regarded as very good defensively, whereas Cano and Soriano are suspect.

 

 

You do understand that Cano was a rookie? Nobody thought that he would come up and make the team last year. Nobody thought that Cano would have the kind of impact that he did last year. He was a very nice suprise last year and hopefully only improves.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Cano has a higher OPS than Polanco and Castillo, and while he doesn't walk much, he doesn't strike out much either. He's not a bad 2nd basemen, and was also a very good prospect coming up. I think you can make a case for him.

Polanco's OPS was higher (.830 to Cano's .778). Besides that, Polanco is regarded as very good defensively, whereas Cano and Soriano are suspect.

 

 

You do understand that Cano was a rookie? Nobody thought that he would come up and make the team last year. Nobody thought that Cano would have the kind of impact that he did last year. He was a very nice suprise last year and hopefully only improves.

The issue is not who will be the best second baseman in the future. The issue is which second baseman is best qualified to start for the D.R. in March. It is about who is better NOW. No matter how much potential Cano has, he's simply not better than a player who just hit .331. Cano's defense was regarded as problematic in the minors, and he's had some issues there in the majors. Polanco could easily win a gold glove if given a full year at one position. Now if they pull off this same tournament in four years, I might have a different answer.

[mike546 0]

After watching him for a full year, range wasn't a problem for Cano, and neither were the tough plays. It was the easy ones he had trouble with. But I can already tell he's going to be a lot better D wise than Soriano.

[Bored 0]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/stor...yson&id=2261063

 

Seriously, these people really exist...

I think I got it. How 'bout this? How 'bout this? We trade Jim Leyritz and Bernie Williams, for Barry Bonds, huh? Whadda ya think? That way you have Griffey and Bonds, in the same outfield! Now you got a team!

[the max 0]

The person who suggested that Cardinals/Yanks trade has to be joking.

 

Yankees send Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright, Jorge Posada, third-base prospect Eric Duncan and dollar bills to Cardinals for Chris Carpenter, Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds, Yadier Molina and Jason Isringhausen.

 

Seriously, is there any redeeming value for the Cardinals?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I didn't like Stark's column, because it was awfully condesending. Worse, he wrote the same column three years ago...

 

And here's one from Chuck in Tampa Bay! Mets send top pitching prospect Scott Kazmir to the Devil Rays in exchange for Victor Zambrano and a middle reliever. Yeah, Steve Phillips is going to jump and make THAT trade.

 

Yeah, that's a joke. Just be thankful the GMs behind such masterpieces don't become studio analysts and columnists for ESPN.

Edited December 18, 2005 by alkeiper

[Failed Bridge 0]

Nomar apparently chooses the Dodgers and gets a one year deal for $6mill. He'll be playing first base.

[The Man in Blak 0]

Nomar's going to be an interesting fantasy player next year, qualifying at 3B, SS, and eventually 1B. Truth be told, I'm a little surprised that the Dodgers haven't entertained putting him in LF, which would give them Nomar/Lofton/Drew (if Lofton signs as speculated) in the outfield, and Mueller/Furcal/Kent/Choi-Saenz in the infield.

Edited December 18, 2005 by The Man in Blak

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Well thank goodness the Dodgers' canned DePodesta. Wasn't him signing injury prone players one of the justifications/excuses for his firing?

[Failed Bridge 0]

Choi might be traded or non-tendered. I think his days with the Dodgers are over.

[The Man in Blak 0]

Well thank goodness the Dodgers' canned DePodesta. Wasn't him signing injury prone players one of the justifications/excuses for his firing?

 

People will forget all about that when Nomar makes his bid for Comeback Player of the Year this season. I can already imagine the mad ramblings of the Plaschke.

[mike546 0]

Is Plaschke to the Dodgers what George King is to the Yanks, or what Shaugessey is to the Sox?

[The Czech Republic 0]

Well thank goodness the Dodgers' canned DePodesta. Wasn't him signing injury prone players one of the justifications/excuses for his firing?

 

People will forget all about that when Nomar makes his bid for Comeback Player of the Year this season. I can already imagine the mad ramblings of the Plaschke.

Nah, he'll get hurt and miss a month or two. Now if we were talking about Nomar to the Cardinals, then he would make a comeback the likes of which the world has never seen, since apparently nobody can suck for St. Louis.

[Guest]

Nomar apparently chooses the Dodgers and gets a one year deal for $6mill. He'll be playing first base.

They're still one pitcher short of being a legit playoff contender, but they can win the division now if they get some contribution from Nomar.

[Failed Bridge 0]

Red Sox sign reliever Rudy Seanez to a $1.9mill one year deal (pending a physical) with a club option for 2007.

 

looking more and more like Delcarmen and Craig Hansen will start the year at Pawtucket.

[Cartman 0]

I think Hansen SHOULD start in Pawtucket(cause I wanna see him). He didnt look ML ready yet. Delcarmen should be MLB roster material no doubt though.

[The Man in Blak 0]

The Cardinals may sign Kirk Rueter to compete with Anthony Reyes for the vacancy in their rotation, according to FOXSports.com's Ken Rosenthal.

 

...

[Bruiser Chong 0]

That'd be hiliarous if Rueter is the reason why Grudz is no longer with the team.

[The Man in Blak 0]

Well, given the gap in time between St. Louis declining Grudz arbitration and Rosenthal's rumor, I highly doubt that Rueter would be the cause of it. In fact, Rueter would (should) probably come on as an MLC. I've been as loud a critic of Jocketty's work this offseason as you'll ever find, but there's no way in hell that Walt would be insane enough to offer him guaranteed money.

 

It's just the fact that they even feel the need to dabble. Nevermind the connection to the 2002 Giants - the burnt toast picture that was used to describe Roberto Alomar at BTF's Transaction Oracle earlier this year doesn't even do "Woody" justice. Rueter's peripherals reached comical levels of inadequacy last year, so much so that the pitching-starved Giants were even willing to part ways with him. He doesn't even belong in the same building as Anthony Reyes, let alone "duking it out" over a rotation spot. If this is some kind of ploy to make Reyes "earn" his role in the rotation, it's as transparent as it is moronic. Let's not even consider the all-too-plausible outcome where Duncan and LaRussa think Rueter can scrap together a season above replacement level in the bullpen.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

As I recall, the Giants only cut ties with him because he refused to take a demotion to the pen.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I wouldn't put much stock into these kind of signings. Teams will sign a slew of washed up players and hand them NRIs for Spring Training. Just today the Indians signed Danny Graves and Steve Karsay to minor league contracts. Reyes is somewhat of an injury risk and the Cardinals will need depth in their system. Rueter is not going to get a rotation job unless he shows he has something left.

[Failed Bridge 0]

White Sox give AJ Pierzynski a 3 year $15mill contract extension.

 

Kenny Lofton is headed to the Dodgers

 

Tony Graffanino is apparently going to accept the Red Sox arbitration offer. I'm surprised the Cardinals didn't show interest in him as he would have fit their team very well.

[the pinjockey 0]

Phillies complete the Padilla deal getting Ricardo Rodriguez.

Career line: 206 2/3 IP, 33 HRs, 75 BBs, 104 Ks.

 

Maybe if it hadn't been a forgone conclusion that they were going to non-tender him, they could have upgraded and gotten a bag of balls instead.

 

I still don't understand it. The Thome situation was handled beautifully. All of the comments about being happy to have the Thome/Howard problem, the "best shape of his life" leaks, and getting a great deal when there was only one legit trading partner. Then to do a complete 180 with how they handle Padilla was just nuts.

[Failed Bridge 0]

Perhaps they know something about Padilla that we(the fans) don't. He has started to have arm problems as of late and continuously pitches all year round (although I don't know if he's skipping Winter Ball this year).

[the pinjockey 0]

He was injured in 2004 and pretty much everyone seemed to agree that he was rushed back this year. After the AS break he pitched 86 innings with a 3.63 ERA, with better peripherals than the first half. That would seem to confirm the idea his injury was getting better.

 

He is certainly not a world beater, but in a league where Jarrod Washburn and Matt Morris are bringing in $9 mil/yr. and Kris Benson is rumored to be a tradeable commodity, I don't see a pitcher of Padilla's level being a bad value at $4mil/yr. If they wanted to trade him that is one thing. But to drive down his value and sell low was just poor management (especially, like I said earlier, considering how well they did with the Thome situation they showed they have the ability to create positive value).

 

Of course I should know better. Chris Wheeler took shots at Padilla all year long and he is the mouthpiece of the org. in the announcing booth. If Wheeler doesn't like something, the higher ups (who Gillick is gathering info from) most likely did not like it.

Edited December 19, 2005 by the pinjockey