2006-07 MLB Offseason Thread

[Guest NYankees]

Francona managed rings around Torre in 2004? Whaaattttttttt. Torre was an idiot for pitching Gordon in game 3 but you cant blame Torre for Gordon and Rivera blowing games 4 and 5, or Vassuck and Kevin Brown sucking in game 7 or the offense barely showing up the past 4 games. Everything clicked perfectly for the Red Sox in their last 8 games of 2004 due to their talent.

[KingPK 0]

It is just the same as the Yankees. Compared to 5-6 years ago the overall talent is lower

 

No it isn't. Our farm system is in the best shape it's been in 10 years.

 

I know, so is the Red Sox farm system. Cartman and randomguy have no idea what they are talking about.

 

Eh, only Papelbon has shown anything. Hansen was overhyped and Delcarmen is nothing special. There's a bunch of potential and possibility, but that's it. The only move that Theo's made post-2004 that can't be scrutinized is not signing Pedro. They have absolutely no concrete plans for the future and are just throwing money around and becoming the Evil Empire II.

 

They'd better hope Matsuzaka and Beckett become aces quickly, because that offense is not going to be able to bail them out if there's no Manny, Varitek continues to decline and WMP doesn't become the power machine everyone is waiting for him to become.

Edited December 1, 2006 by KingPK

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Wily Mo is a power machine. It's the rest of his game that causes concern.

[Chuck Woolery 0]

After Schilling the pitching moves have been atrocious. Let Wells go, got Clement and Beckett, bullpen is a mess, let go good minor league arms.

 

clement looked like an amazing pickup until he got blasted in the face halfway through his first year with the sox, and he's never really recovered from that. i can blame theo for fucking up a lot of things but the clement signing isn't one of them at all. and if you're faulting him for letting go of an aging out-of-shape pitcher who can pull one quality start out of his ass every five or six games to let some youth crack the rotation when the team is pretty much out of the wild card race... well. you do the math.

[Precious Roy 0]

Wily Mo is a power machine. It's the rest of his game that causes concern.

 

To vaguely expand on this point a bit....

 

I'm on the fence about the Ramirez trade. I absolutely think it's the right move for Boston longterm, if they can get a package of top prospects for a 35 yr old it makes sense, but shorterm I'm not so sure. Manny Ramirez is one of the best hitters the game has ever seen, so up front it weakens the lineup, but I can see the logic behind it. Yes, Ortiz will be pitched around, but worst case scenario he's still getting on base like crazy. And he probably gets moved the 4 spot, so with Drew and Youk ahead of him the Sox are getting a lot of guys on base. Willy Mo becomes the clean up guy, and honestly I think it's a decent bet to take that he can knock those guys home enough for them to win games.

 

I don't think a trade makes Boston better in the next year or two unless Willy Mo blows up, but it's not as bad a risk as some people are making it out to be, and really, the Sox will win or lose with their pitching. If Schilling, Beckett, Pabelbon and Matsuzaka pitch as well as they are capable of, and they put together a reliable 7-9 pen, that's a scary team...

[Craig Th 0]

The Bard/Meredith for Mirabelli trade was awful as well as Mirabelli was complete garbage while Bard and Meredith would have been perfect fits for the Bosox in their weak areas. Getting rid of Wakefield would have been the better option honestly. It's not worth keeping a pitcher on board if he needs a specific shitty catcher to be any good at all.

Every team has one catcher who catches atleast once a week to give the starter a rest.

 

Injuries hurt the Sox last year but if you take away their beatdown of the National League they were a strictly average team from day 1.

An average team? So having the top defense in the league is average?

 

Basically his good moves were getting Schilling and getting lucky with Ortiz. His overall trend is very negative as the overall talent level at both the major league and minor league level declines while spending increases.

That Nomar trade was pretty good.

 

Don't be fooled by all the shenanigans the Sox front ofice and Theo pulled this past offseason with him "Leaving the team" and all. There's plenty of speculation around that says Theo was always in contact with the team during the contract dispute and was very involved in all the decisions that were being made.

Theo had nothing to do with Damon leaving or trading for Beckett.

 

Eh, only Papelbon has shown anything. Hansen was overhyped and Delcarmen is nothing special. There's a bunch of potential and possibility, but that's it. The only move that Theo's made post-2004 that can't be scrutinized is not signing Pedro. They have absolutely no concrete plans for the future and are just throwing money around and becoming the Evil Empire II.

Lester was a pretty good pitcher until he got that cancer thing.

[Craig Th 0]

From ESPN, so maybe just a rumor.

 

And here's another, courtesy of colleague Peter Gammons: Trot Nixon of the Red Sox. If Nixon accepts the arbitration, the Red Sox would have only a one-year obligation at about $7 million, and Nixon could be the fourth outfielder, perhaps splitting time with Wily Mo Pena in left field (if Manny Ramirez is traded), filling in on those days when J.D. Drew is not available, or playing right field on the days when Coco Crisp is out and Drew plays center field.

[Cartman 0]

The Bard/Meredith for Mirabelli trade was awful as well as Mirabelli was complete garbage while Bard and Meredith would have been perfect fits for the Bosox in their weak areas. Getting rid of Wakefield would have been the better option honestly. It's not worth keeping a pitcher on board if he needs a specific shitty catcher to be any good at all.

Every team has one catcher who catches atleast once a week to give the starter a rest.

 

um...ok? What does that comment have to do with anything? Bard is a far superior catcher than Mirabelli with exception that he cant catch Knuckleballs and he never got the chance to learn to do so.

 

And yes pleeeease bring THAT stiff back(trot).

[Craig Th 0]

The Bard/Meredith for Mirabelli trade was awful as well as Mirabelli was complete garbage while Bard and Meredith would have been perfect fits for the Bosox in their weak areas. Getting rid of Wakefield would have been the better option honestly. It's not worth keeping a pitcher on board if he needs a specific shitty catcher to be any good at all.

Every team has one catcher who catches atleast once a week to give the starter a rest.

 

um...ok? What does that comment have to do with anything? Bard is a far superior catcher than Mirabelli with exception that he cant catch Knuckleballs and he never got the chance to learn to do so.

 

And yes pleeeease bring THAT stiff back(trot).

Well the BoSox need a back up catcher and they also need someone to catch for Wakefield. Well Bard couldn't do it, so they got Doug, whlo can. They didn't just need a backup but also one who could catch the knuckleball. And when the guy has 10 passed balls, in 7 games, so it didn't look like he was going to get any better. Mirabelli has 11 past balls, in 57 games.

 

Yes, Bard was/is a better player than Doug. However, the BoSox needed a knuckball specialist, which Bard wasn't.

[Cartman 0]

Or just send Wakefield to SD and improve the team

[Mik 0]

Some of these contracts are just insanity. Especially when you consider that a team with a $25 million payroll has a legitimate chance of making the playoffs.

 

These teams are all going to be crippled in about 5 years.

[Guest Felonies!]

Y'know, I hate the Marlins, naturally, but I really hoped their 2006 season, along with Oakland and Minnesota's, for that matter, would usher in a movement toward fiscal responsibility. Ugh. Never mind.

[The Man in Blak 0]

Some of these contracts are just insanity. Especially when you consider that a team with a $25 million payroll has a legitimate chance of making the playoffs.

 

These teams are all going to be crippled in about 5 years.

 

I don't think it's as bad as you think. Remember, with revenue sharing and increased attendance, there's more money out there for teams to burn. Business is good right now for MLB and we're going to start seeing that in the salaries for players as well. A couple of years ago, we thought that the Kris Benson deal was absolute insanity for a glorified innings eater but, now, it's basically the baseline for most of the contracts today.

 

The Marlins did do an exceptional job with their rookies and they made some savvy trades to achieve that success on a smaller budget. But one thing you should remember is that young players typically have issues with consistency early on in their career - notice how Dontrelle Willis has been oscillating between dominating ace and No. 3 guy in the rotation. Same with other young pitchers, like John Lackey, Ben Sheets, etc. That's not to say that they won't be fantastic players but, for owners that are looking to win each year, that's an awful lot of risk for one season.

 

That being said, the Marlins are in terrific shape and if they were to, you know, actually spend some money to fill some of their holes, they'd probably be in position to be the best team in the NL.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Yes, Bard was/is a better player than Doug. However, the BoSox needed a knuckball specialist, which Bard wasn't.

 

Except for the fact that Josh Bard was an awful player before the trade to SD, both in Boston and Clevleland. The sample size is small, but the guy couldn't even sniff an OPS of .700, which is basically the baseline for a major leaguer. He had an okay defensive reputation, but he couldn't catch knuckleballs. The Sox ask one thing of their backup and that is to catch knuckleballs. Doug Mirabelli was among the best backup catchers in the game before last year. He fell off a cliff in 2006, and that's what happens when you have a catcher that age, but I don't think anyone thought Bard was or was going to be a better player. That's why Boston had to add Meredith and kick in cash.

[Brett Favre 0]

Meredith is a lot to add in for a guy whos basically = to the guy you are trading for (although Bard does have more upside).

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Meredith is a lot to add in for a guy whos basically = to the guy you are trading for (although Bard does have more upside).

 

Last thing I'm really going to say on this because, like I said before, I do believe this was a bad trade. It was reactionary and it went against their normal approach to roster moves. But, at the time, Josh Bard and Cla Meredith were nothing special at all, and it was very hard to see any upside in either of them (Al did, that bastard. Always one step ahead of me). Meredith was destroyed in Boston, and he really seemed like a busted prospect.

 

I would sort of liken it to Fausto Carmona with the Indians last year. Remember when he got promoted to closer and went out and got slaughtered in like five straight appearances. Imagine if he got sent back to the minors and kept doing the same thing for the next six months. You'd probably think he'd lost his confidence and that he wouldn't recover. That's sort of what happened to Meredith.

 

I'm happy that Cla is successful. He has said in interviews since the trade that he didn't like pitching in Boston and that the coaches continually messed with his approach. I don't think he ever would have been successful here. If you want to point out to the weak spot in Theo's crew, it's been the pitching and hitting coaches, as well as his player evaluation guys. I'm glad that he's taken steps to overhaul this aspect of the organization.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

whats up with the markets disinterest in mark mulder? understanding that he's had surgery recently, ywo years ago he was considered a top 10 pitcher in the league. i can't believe there isn't someone willing to take a risk with him. like even .500 pitchers like randy wolf have been getting more pub than this guy. whats up? i have not heard one team linked to him in negotiations.

 

You asked for it.

 

http://sportsline.com/mlb/story/9839403

[Guest Felonies!]

Man, if it's my team that wants Mulder, I don't know what I'm gonna do.

 

 

EDIT: Thank heavens, it's those idiots in Phoenix.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Don't know think I saw this mentioned anywhere, but Bud Selig says that he is stepping down in 2009 when his contract ends. I'm totally indifferent to Selig as commissioner, because for as many things that he's done that I've hated, he's done several others that have been positives.

[vivalaultra 0]

I saw that Selig's stepping down, and I heard one person...possibly joking, possibly not...suggest that George W. Bush might be interested in the baseball commisionership in 2009. Would Baseball comissioner be a step up or step down after the Presidency?

[snuffbox 0]

With the amount of money being spent by teams this offseason, GWB would make a perfect choice for commisioner to preside over the shopping spree.

[strummer 0]

According to ESPN News, through Gammons, the Mets and Tom Glavine have agreed to a one-year contract worth $11 million with an option for the following season.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

That's a great deal for the Mets. Reasonable money, short term and an option if things work out. I may have to change my opinions about Omar Minaya one of these days. I still think they need to sign Barry Zito. That's one of the only places for him to go that makes sense for both sides, as far as I can see.

[Annabelle 0]

Man, if it's my team that wants Mulder, I don't know what I'm gonna do.

 

 

EDIT: Thank heavens, it's those idiots in Phoenix.

 

i still don't get it. i understand the messing with mechanics. but i'd at least give him an incentive-laden deal. of course, he may be demanding more money than anyone is willing to pay.

[Guest Felonies!]

Hmm.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I think those designs are excellent. Traditional, yet streamlined.

[vivalaultra 0]

Hey, nice jerseys.

 

...The Astros, today, did not offer arbitration to any of their four free agents: Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Aubrey Huff, or Russ Springer. They'd obviously love to resign both Clemens and Pettitte, presuming they want to play. Roger and Andy's mutual agent said that Andy will decide "by Christmas" but added "who knows about Roger?". The Astros are only "mildly" interested in both Huff and Big Springs and probably won't sign either one of em. Huff, I guess...might go...to the Phillies? maybe...and if the Astros don't resign Springer, he'll probably retire again. And the Astros' #1 priority at the Winter Meetings is a top o' the line #2 starter that they'll try to acquire through trades, which means that some combination of Willy Taveras, Chris Burke, Brad Lidge, Morgan Ensberg, Chad Qualls, Jason Hirsh, Taylor Buchholz will be gone.

[Guest]

Because I haven't seen it in this thread, the Mets signed Glavine to a 1 Yr, 10.5 Million Dollar deal.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

According to ESPN News, through Gammons, the Mets and Tom Glavine have agreed to a one-year contract worth $11 million with an option for the following season.

 

Sorry King, someone beat you to it...

 

On another note, what is wrong with the Padres? Why do they keep dangling Jake freakin' Peavy in every trade rumor? I know Manny Ramirez is a top notch hitter, but he's getting up there in the years. Jake's entering his prime. Would be a completely bad trade IMO from San Diego's side.

[Guest]

Sorry, the Red Sox talk is dominating the thread, so it's hard to find the news.