2006-07 MLB Offseason Thread

[2GOLD 0]

http://www.withleather.com/post.phtml?pk=1768

 

The Billy Ripken batting bot helps young pitchers work on their stuff while giving them the feel of facing a REAL former major leaguer.

[Guest NYankees]

This is great news. My only hope is that this doesn't turn into an albatross contract like Delgado's did. But, it looks like Rogers is committed to having a payroll around $90-100 million, so that may not be an issue.

 

 

Do you really want one player making 1/5 of the teams total payroll? Max Kellerman was making a point today of how the Blue Jays are going to be like the Cardinals. Being that they are going to have a core of 5 players who make the most money while the rest of the teams is going to be average. The Cardinals are able to get away with it because they play in the NL Central.

[snuffbox 0]

ABBA, AC/DC, what's the difference?

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

This is great news. My only hope is that this doesn't turn into an albatross contract like Delgado's did. But, it looks like Rogers is committed to having a payroll around $90-100 million, so that may not be an issue.

 

 

Do you really want one player making 1/5 of the teams total payroll? Max Kellerman was making a point today of how the Blue Jays are going to be like the Cardinals. Being that they are going to have a core of 5 players who make the most money while the rest of the teams is going to be average. The Cardinals are able to get away with it because they play in the NL Central.

Well first off, the Cardinals have made the playoffs six of the last seven years. Second, has anyone researched to prove that this is a bad way to build a roster?

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

http://www.withleather.com/post.phtml?pk=1768

 

Wow that robot has no patience and doesn't take any pitches, Dusty Baker would love him/her/it.

Ha! 1 of the replies to the video:

He has the power of Juan Pierre, minus the baggy pants. Jim Hendry wants to give him 6 years for $54 million.

[Guest Princess Leena]

This is great news. My only hope is that this doesn't turn into an albatross contract like Delgado's did. But, it looks like Rogers is committed to having a payroll around $90-100 million, so that may not be an issue.

 

 

Do you really want one player making 1/5 of the teams total payroll? Max Kellerman was making a point today of how the Blue Jays are going to be like the Cardinals. Being that they are going to have a core of 5 players who make the most money while the rest of the teams is going to be average. The Cardinals are able to get away with it because they play in the NL Central.

Well first off, the Cardinals have made the playoffs six of the last seven years. Second, has anyone researched to prove that this is a bad way to build a roster?

Odds dictate that going against 2 teams who can buy 10+ high-priced players per year, and another team with probably more money than you who will eventually have to stop sucking, will not yield similar results.

 

The more sound investment would be selling the team to Vancouver.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

This is great news. My only hope is that this doesn't turn into an albatross contract like Delgado's did. But, it looks like Rogers is committed to having a payroll around $90-100 million, so that may not be an issue.

 

 

Do you really want one player making 1/5 of the teams total payroll? Max Kellerman was making a point today of how the Blue Jays are going to be like the Cardinals. Being that they are going to have a core of 5 players who make the most money while the rest of the teams is going to be average. The Cardinals are able to get away with it because they play in the NL Central.

Well first off, the Cardinals have made the playoffs six of the last seven years. Second, has anyone researched to prove that this is a bad way to build a roster?

 

I believe that there has been some work showing that the Cardinals way of doing things is the ideal way to construct a roster, at least with regards to financial resources. Players in the lower tier and upper tier are the most likely to realize the value of their contracts, but it's the middle tier that vastly underperform. Overpaying for superstars is better than redistributing that money over several middling talents.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

The obvious way to build a winning roster is to have a superstar at every position. It's worked well for the Yankees.

[Guest Posada20]

http://www.withleather.com/post.phtml?pk=1768

 

The Billy Ripken batting bot helps young pitchers work on their stuff while giving them the feel of facing a REAL former major leaguer.

 

Every time someone brings up Billy it reminds me of:

 

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Red Sox try to address their bullpen concerns by signing JC Romero and trading for Brendan Donnelly. I'm guessing the plan is to go with quantity over quality at this point. I guess this is year 5 of the "throw shit at the wall and hope something sticks" bullpen approach.

[Guest Princess Leena]

I don't get why Boston gave up Seibel for Donnelly. Other than 2003, Donnelly is nothing special. Especially since he can't put dog shit on his hand now.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I don't get why Boston gave up Seibel for Donnelly. Other than 2003, Donnelly is nothing special. Especially since he can't put dog shit on his hand now.

 

Seibel is a 28-year-old pitcher who has thrown like 3 innings in the majors. Scouts and FO aren't very high on him. He has no future in Boston whatsoever, and will probably be relegated to a AAAA life. Donnelly isn't much, but he's an established bullpen arm. This was an Angels salary dump.

[the max 0]

I have to give them credit though since they have to replace Timlin, who should be in some kid's glue bottle right now, and Embree, who were a couple of retread veteran pitchers when they came aboard. Sure, they're trying to catch lightning in a bottle again, but what else is out there? Hansen disappointed last season, Delcarmen might close (just my guess and probably best candidate for it, off the top of my head)....who's left?

 

Donnelly is a good pickup for a 28 year old pitcher who has value solely for throwing left-handed. They wanted Romero badly two years ago and finally got him. Great.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Article

 

Cal Ripken was talking to Peter Angelos about buying the team (as the leader of an ownership group similar to what Angelos has going now) but nothings going to happen any time soon.

 

 

EVIL MAN!

[Bruiser Chong 0]

My god, is that what he really looks like? He'd better have a successor already lined up.

[CanadianChris 0]

The Vernon Wells extension is done:

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2698288

 

It's a really back-loaded contract. Aside from a $25.5 million signing bonus paid in installments starting in 2008, he'll get only $500,000 in '08 and $1.5 million in '09 before the big money kicks in -- $12.5 million in 2010, $23 million in 2011 and $21 million the last three years. He also has an option to become a free agent after 2011.

[cbacon 0]

They better not trade Rios

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

It was a good decision for Vernon to take that deal. You really can't turn that kind of money down, and I don't think that he would get that much on the open market next offseason. I'm sure he would command a ton of coin, but $126 mil would have been a lot to leave on the table. If he were to get hurt this year after turning down that money he would never live it down.

[Annabelle 0]

i'd think that wells was replaceable. i'd rather invest that cash into some pitching. but what do i know.

[CanadianChris 0]

There's no pitching to be had, except for Zito, and he's not about to come to Toronto. I would re-sign Wells before going after any of this year's free agents.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

They better not trade Rios

Why not? If Adam Lind reaches his potential, it might be advantageous.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

i'd think that wells was replaceable. i'd rather invest that cash into some pitching. but what do i know.

 

Roy Halladay and AJ Burnett are a pretty damn good 1-2. Most teams don't even have that.

[Lightning Flik 0]

I think blame's talking about the 3-5 which isn't that stellar and rotated through a couple of different arms trying to find something that worked.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

The problem is that there is no pitching in this market, and I would much rather have Wells than overpaying for a mediocre player like Gil Meche. Wells was their best and most marketable player. They couldn't afford to lose him.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Oh, I know that, I'm just saying what blame was probably talking about. I totally agree with signing Wells back.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

From the Yankees rumor mill for the day:

 

Melky Cabrera to Atlanta, Mike Gonzalez to New York, Adam LaRoche to Pittsburgh. Apparently Scott Proctor has been mentioned in this deal as well.

 

Heard it on 1050 ESPN, here's the link from Yahoo/Rotowire

 

Aquiring a dependable lefty for the pen is obviously a necessity, but I don't like giving up their two best bargaining chips (Since they are not dealing Wang, Cano, Hughes, etc) in one deal to get it.

 

Proctor filled the role last year that Farnsworth couldn't, and Melky is a very good fourth outfielder, especially with the age/injury concerns in the starting three, I don't want to part with him. Ideally, Matsui would DH and Melky could play LF, but Giambi is too much of a butcher at first for that to be possible.

[CanadianChris 0]

Wrong thread.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

My god, is that what he really looks like? He'd better have a successor already lined up.

 

Angelos is like 77 years old..the only bright spot is he wont be around much longer regardless.

[naiwf 0]

My god, is that what he really looks like? He'd better have a successor already lined up.

 

Angelos is like 77 years old..the only bright spot is he wont be around much longer regardless.

 

True evil never dies.

[vivalaultra 0]

Since Al is currently reading the thread...here's a trivia question. Does anybody know, off the top of the head, all of the pitchers in MLB history who have struck out the side on 9 pitches? I know Brandon Backe did it once and Pedro Martinez did it twice. And, also, does anybody have a list of the pitchers who have struck out 4 batters in one inning?