2006-07 MLB Offseason Thread

[Guest NYankees]

The captain wins a Silver Slugger award.

 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Boston left fielder Manny Ramirez won his ninth Silver Slugger on Friday, while New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and New York Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran were among 13 first-time winners.

Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano and Mets shortstop Jose Reyes also earned the honor for the first time.

Ramirez, who has won for eight straight seasons, is tied for third with Barry Larkin in career Silver Sluggers, trailing only Barry Bonds (12) and Mike Piazza (10).

Angels right fielder Vladimir Guerrero won for the sixth time and Boston designated David Ortiz earned his third, all in a row.

First-time winners in the AL included Minnesota first baseman Justin Morneau and catcher Joe Mauer, and Chicago White Sox third baseman Joe Crede and right fielder Jermaine Dye.

Washington left fielder Alfonso Soriano won his first NL Silver Slugger after winning three at second base in the AL. Florida's Miguel Cabrera won at third base after earning the honor as a left fielder last year.

NL first-time winners included Philadelphia first baseman Ryan Howard and second baseman Chase Utley, Colorado left fielder Matt Holliday, Atlanta catcher Brian McCann and Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano.

Beltran, Guerrero, Ortiz and Ramirez earned $100,000 bonuses, Zambrano $75,000, Holliday $50,000, and Crede and Dye $15,000 each. In addition, winning the award boosted Dye's 2007 salary by $250,000 to $7 million.

The awards are given annually by Hillerich & Bradsby Co., the maker of Louisville Slugger bats.

[devo 0]

Disregard. Misread above story.

[Guest Felonies!]

I'm waiting with baited breath for Sheffield's reaction.

Did you catch anything?

[Guest Princess Leena]

It's now official that the majority of MLB managers and coaches are JEALOUS of Alexander Rodriguez. What a joke. They should all be ashamed for being such losers that can't get over themselves.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

No Travis Hafner, A-Rod or Grady Sizemore? I thought this award was supposed to go to the best hitters in the league. What the hell are these people looking at when they are voting?

[Guest NYankees]

Isn't the Silver Slugger by Posistion? I can understand Hafner losing out to Ortiz for dh.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

They just three outfielders instead of a center fielder, so it's understandable not to pick Grady Sizemore in that regard. Hafner missed nearly a month, so you can argue Ortiz or Thome over him. Crede is an insult. Even if you buy the argument that he's unclutch, you still have Troy Glaus.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Baseball America released their list of the top 10 Red Sox prospects today. After having a top system the past couple of years, the cupboard is extremely bare. Andy Marte, Jonathon Papelbon, Craig Hansen, Manny Delcarmen, Hanley Ramirez, Cla Meredith, Kelly Shoppach, Anibal Sanchez, Dustin Pedroia and Jon Lester all graduated to the big leagues last year, either with the Sox or somewhere elsewhere in a trade.

 

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, of

2. Clay Buchholz, rhp

3. Michael Bowden, rhp

4. Daniel Bard, rhp

5. Lars Anderson, 1b

6. Dustin Pedroia, ss

7. Bryce Cox, rhp

8. Craig Hansen, rhp

9. Kris Johnson, lhp

10. Jason Place, of

 

The Red Sox did have the no. 1 and no. 2 ranked drafts in 2006 and 2005 respectively, so help is on the way. But for know, they are behind Yankees for supremancy in the AL East.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

They just three outfielders instead of a center fielder, so it's understandable not to pick Grady Sizemore in that regard. Hafner missed nearly a month, so you can argue Ortiz or Thome over him. Crede is an insult. Even if you buy the argument that he's unclutch, you still have Troy Glaus.

 

I love David Ortiz, but even I wouldn't try and argue him over Hafner. Hafner had a superior BA, OBP, SLG and VORP to Ortiz, and even though Hafner missed time, so too did Ortiz. He was the best hitter in all of baseball last year, regardless of position.

 

Not that Guerrero or Dye were bad choices, but Sizemore smokes them as well in most hitting categories. Crede and his .323 OBP and 108 OPS+ shouldn't be anywhere near a hitting award. A-Rod had a bad year, but he still had a VORP over 50 and OPS+ of 140.

 

Howard over Pujols is defendable, but an odd choice as well. Pujols was still a hair better, even with Howard's gaudy HR stats.

[devo 0]

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?sectio...&id=2656988

 

I think the odds of Glavine being a Met next year are pretty slim. With the player option being $7.5 million and the team option being $14 million, a compromise would probably end up in the $10-12 million range. I'm almost positive Minaya and Co. would rather throw that kinda money at Zito or possibly Matsuzaka.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

They might as well pick it up. It's a one-year option, so it's not like we are talking long-term financial commitment. This is a year where Zito might get $17 or $18 million, and yesterday's garbage like Weaver and Suppan could go over $10M. Why not stick with the devil you know?

[devo 0]

I'd be all for picking up the option (especially since Glavine would get a three million dollar buyout otherwise), but everything I've heard suggest that the Mets aren't interested in paying that much.

[Guest Paul]

Bye bye, Sheffield.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Totally jacked from FJM, but look at the numbers comparison between Crede and A-Rod. This is so spectacularly retarded. Yankees fans have convinced the entire world that this guy can't hit anymore.

 

2006 Silver Slugger Award-Winner Joe Crede:

 

.283/.323/.506

28 BB

30 HR

.278 EqA

 

ARod, Who Can't Hit in the Clutch and Is a Head-Case:

 

.290/.392/.523

90 BB

35 HR

.317 EqA

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Aramis Ramirez wants a six-year deal. He's great offensively, although his inability to be there when the team really needed him made him look more like a great complimentary player. But he sucks defensively and has injury problems.

[Guest Felonies!]

Aramis Ramirez has been suffering from the same groin problem for like four years.

[milliondollarchamp 0]

Matsuzaka may be going to Boston

 

The Boston Red Sox may have posted the top bid for the right to negotiate with Japanese right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka, according to Major League Baseball sources.

 

There has been no official announcement, and the Seibu Lions, Matsuzaka's team in Japan, have until Tuesday to accept or reject the high bid.

 

But, according to officials monitoring the bidding, the Red Sox bid may be between $38 million and $45 million.

 

According to a source, Texas bid about $22 million for Matsuzaka, with the intention of offering a contract of five years and $50 million if the Rangers had the top bid.

 

Matsuzaka, who pitched for Japan's World Baseball Classic champions, is considered among the top prospects available this offseason.

 

If the Lions accept the top bid, the winning bidder has 30 days to reach an agreement with Matsuzaka. If a deal cannot be reached, he would return to the Lions for the 2007 Japanese baseball season.

 

By 5 p.m. Wednesday, major league teams interested in bidding on the rights to deal with Matsuzaka had to post a sealed bid. Major League Baseball then took the highest bid and forwarded only the dollar figure -- not the identity of the team -- to the Seibu Lions.

 

According to a source within Major League Baseball, as of Friday afternoon, Seibu had not informed MLB officially whether it had accepted the bid.

 

There are three reasons the deal would make sense for the Red Sox:

 

• Talent evaluators who have seen Matsuzaka say he's a top of the rotation-quality pitcher who would improve the Red Sox staff.

 

• If Boston signs him it would effectively plant a Red Sox flag in the growing Far East market.

 

• By merely winning the bidding the Red Sox would block the Yankees from acquiring Matsuzaka. By signing him, they would gain the same kind of advantage the Yankees gained when they signed Johnny Damon away from Boston.

 

Buster Olney is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine.

[Precious Roy 0]

I'm pretty happy with the Sheff trade. Humberto Sanchez is a top notch prospect, and as an added bonus he's from the Bronx. Cashman is saying he'll get a shot at making the rotation next year. I'd never heard of Whelan or Claggett before, but reading up on them they sound like solid relief prospects. What I found interesting is that both converted from being positional players to relievers in college, and both have had great success at it so far.

 

You always hate to see a player like Sheff leave, especially to the team that just eliminated you from the playoffs, but at his age and with the depth we have in the outfield to get these prospects for him is outstanding. I think Sheff will have a great year for the Tigers, and I'm glad he's happy with the move and got his extension out of the deal.

[Brett Favre 0]

Kevin Whelan seems cool.

 

[Brett Favre 0]

EDIT: Double post, but just incase you missed the picture the first time..

 

[vivalaultra 0]

Nice facepaint, Road Warrior Hawk...

[Vern Gagne 0]

He looks like that one actor.

[Guest NYankees]

He looks like a young David Keith.

[Annabelle 0]

humberto sanchez has arms troubles. he sat out the end of the year. he's supposed to have zumaya-like gas. but again, with his injury problems, the tigers became more willing to part with him. i'll admit to not being sold on the deal, but sheffield will offer a solid & dependable bat to an already potent offense. i think bringing in shef allows the tigers to resign sean casey. which i fully endorse. unless they can get a big name first baseman or shortstop. they should be switch hitters or left handed bats, though.

[Vern Gagne 0]

He looks like a young David Keith.

 

That's it.

[Guest Smues]

Apparantly Johnny Sain died on Tuesday. I didn't hear about it anywhere until I just happened to see it on Atlantabraves.com. He was 89 years old, but I was still really saddened to learn of his passing. He wasn't a hall of fame pitcher by any means but he had a nice career as a player and as a coach. He also mentored Leo Mazzone and helped turn him into who he was. It should say on his tombstone "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain." RIP.

[Guest NYankees]

It looks like the Yankees are going to trade Wright to the Orioles for Chris Britton and 4 million dollars. Britton is 24 and pitched in 52 games last year as a reliever and had an era of 3.5. Great move by Cashman since Wright flat out sucked and never pitched past the 5th inning.

[2GOLD 0]

It looks like the Yankees are going to trade Wright to the Orioles for Chris Britton and 4 million dollars. Britton is 24 and pitched in 52 games last year as a reliever and had an era of 3.5. Great move by Cashman since Wright flat out sucked and never pitched past the 5th inning.

 

Glad to see the Orioles are making those wise decisions they need to make to improve. I hate this team sometimes, they literally are about three years behind in logic. Probably calling Sammy Sosa right now and asking if he wants to come back for 20 million a year.

 

Pretending to make moves and actually making moves are something the O's just haven't mastered yet.

[naiwf 0]

WTF? The Orioles are giving up a prospect AND money for Jaret "4 Innings Feels" Wright? Does Brian Cashman have naked photos of all of the other GMs in baseball or something?

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

The Yanks are sending Wright and the cash.