2006-07 MLB Offseason Thread

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

He'll be playing 1B with the Os about 90% of the time. He might spell Mora at 3B some and he might play some OF but they don't have a legit 1B besides him. Millar should not be an everyday 1B going at 36 and Huff just did turn 30. Gibbons can't play 1B (and rumor is he'll be traded) and they had no real other options.

[Fökai 0]

Marcus Giles to the Padres in a one-year deal, with club option for 2008.

 

Surely the Braves could've worked out a deal that would've moved him to the Padres anyway and got something in return.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Marcus Giles to the Padres in a one-year deal, with club option for 2008.

 

Surely the Braves could've worked out a deal that would've moved him to the Padres anyway and got something in return.

 

There had been talks of a trade for him involving the Orioles but the Braves wanted Brian Roberts in return and Angelos wouldnt part with him.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Marcus Giles to the Padres in a one-year deal, with club option for 2008.

 

Surely the Braves could've worked out a deal that would've moved him to the Padres anyway and got something in return.

There's been talk about that. Giles would have earned somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 Million via arbitration. Apparently no one is willing to pay that much for Giles.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Aaron Boone signs with Florida for 1 year/$925K + incentives

 

Bobby Murcer recovering from brain tumor surgery

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Being reported that a Joe Blanton for Lastings Milledge swap is "likely." Wow, talk about selling low on a guy. I know that pitching is at a premium, but you should be able to do better than a #3/4 starter for a guy who is a little more than a year removed from being one of the elite prospects in the game.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

Cleveland is about to sign Keith Foulke.

 

Article

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Being reported that a Joe Blanton for Lastings Milledge swap is "likely." Wow, talk about selling low on a guy. I know that pitching is at a premium, but you should be able to do better than a #3/4 starter for a guy who is a little more than a year removed from being one of the elite prospects in the game.

I don't think there is any muscle behind that rumor. It's just another case of a reporter taking separate facts, coming up with a theoretical trade, and reporting it.

[Guest NYankees]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ovement/1.html

 

 

Quote:

The Yankees have turned down Arizona's request to have a window to work out an extension, but that shouldn't prevent the D'backs from doing a deal with Johnson. A one-year extension for $10-12 million shouldn't be that complicated.

 

• If the Yankees get the package they want -- say Ross Ohlendorf, Micah Owings and Luis Vizcaino -- they may be willing to pay a few million toward Johnson's $16 million 2006 salary. But if they get only two of the players on their A-list, they'd want Arizona to pay the full salary.

 

 

Al, can you please give a scouting report on the Diamondbacks players.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ovement/1.html

 

 

Quote:

The Yankees have turned down Arizona's request to have a window to work out an extension, but that shouldn't prevent the D'backs from doing a deal with Johnson. A one-year extension for $10-12 million shouldn't be that complicated.

 

• If the Yankees get the package they want -- say Ross Ohlendorf, Micah Owings and Luis Vizcaino -- they may be willing to pay a few million toward Johnson's $16 million 2006 salary. But if they get only two of the players on their A-list, they'd want Arizona to pay the full salary.

 

 

Al, can you please give a scouting report on the Diamondbacks players.

I would be absolutely stunned if the Yankees got Micah Owings in return for Johnson. Owings compiled a 16-2 record between AA and AAA last season. He surrendered few home runs and produced great results despite pitching in extremely difficult parks. He's a stud. Ross Ohlendorf is an older prospect but still produces decent K:BB ratios. That's a plus in those environments, and I think he could be a fourth starter. Luis Vizcaino is a side-arming righty reliever, classic trade bait. He's been dealt four times in his career, and was a reliever on the White Sox' championship squad. I could see the Yankees grabbing Ohlendorf if they take part of Johnson's salary, but there's no way they get Owings at any price.

[KingPK 0]

Well, the fact that Arizona is actually talking about a trade instead of waiting one year for his contract to run out and giving him that 1 year "Farewell Tour" deal doesn't exactly make me think they are approaching this logically.

 

Johnson will do better in the NL, but is he really worth THREE prospects (one being pretty damn good according to Al)?

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

The Red Sox are close to signing Joel Piniero to a one-year, $4 million deal. It would appear at first glance that a move to the bullpen (and perhaps the closer role) could be in his future. I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, he was really, really bad last year and has been trending that way for several years. On the other, he still has decent to good stuff (although velocity is down) and has extraordinary numbers in his first inning and first 30 pitches splits.

 

That bullpen is stacked with reclamation projects though. Piniero, Timlin, Donnelly, Romero, Okajima, Hernandez... perhaps something will stick. Theo and co. don't exactly have a good track record with this stuff.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

Mike Timlin didn't retire? I could've sworn he did.

[KingPK 0]

They picked up his '07 option, but that's probably going to be it for him.

 

Hopefully this won't be another attempt at "Closer By Committee". I guess one of The Kids (Hansen or Delcarmen) will get a shot as well.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

DIRECTV Swinging for MLB Exclusivity

The pay-TV industry has long envied DIRECTV for its exclusive carriage agreement with the National Football League for its NFL Sunday Ticket. Now, according to reports, the satcaster is eyeing Major League Baseball's Extra Innings to be the next professional sports programming package only available on DIRECTV.

 

A recent story in Sports Business Journal said DIRECTV is in advanced negotiations with MLB executives about acquiring exclusive carriage rights to the league's out-of-market Extra Innings package - a move that authors John Ourand and Eric Fisher said would be "a huge blow to the cable industry" and cause a stir on Capitol Hill. According to the story, unnamed sources from the league and DIRECTV confirmed that the two sides are negotiating a deal that admittedly still has a number of hurdles.

 

The league has been shopping the exclusive programming bundle to both cable and satellite providers during the past several weeks. Last year, most providers were offering the entire season for about $179.

 

The article said MLB and cable execs have been frustrated with Extra Innings' slow growth peaking at roughly 750,000 subs last season and teams were picking up individual payouts of about $2 million each. By comparison, SBJ said, the NFL's Sunday Ticket had nearly 2 million subs with DIRECTV paying the league close to $700 million per year through 2010.

 

With Congress offering a sympathetic ear to cable's recent (and long-term) complaints about DIRECTV's stronghold on professional football, some industry insiders with close ties to the negotiations for baseball expressed surprise that MLB would try to secure an exclusive deal, the article said.

 

Hmm...EI doesnt bother me because Most O's games will be on MASN and the ones that aren't I couldnt get anyway. Directv's also doing this thing with NASCAR although its really stupid at this point..

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

That would be a disaster. People would be forced to use DirectTV as their satellite provider if they wanted Extra Innings (obviously). They would then find out that their local games are blacked out, and those channels unavailable on DirectTV's programming. So in essence, you could only subscribe to Extra Innings if you DIDN'T want to watch your local team.

[Fuzzy Dunlop 0]

And with that news, I might have to actually have to go outside and meet people and make friends this summer.

[Guest Smues]

I'm going to be quite mad if that happens. Long story short, I have to use the cable company I have now if I want the internet package I want. So I don't really have a choice to use DirectTV (plus service contracts can eat me.)

[Fuzzy Dunlop 0]

I'm pretty much in the same situation you are, Smues, plus I doubt my family would want to get rid of Comcast OnDemand just so I can watch baseball.

[Guest Smues]

With TBS phasing out the Braves this would be really bad timing for me if DirectTV gets that deal. Here's hoping it's just more off-season rumors that aren't based on facts. Yeah that's it!

 

Smues: Not even sure GCI offers MLB packages.

[vivalaultra 0]

Slow news day...

 

Fingers owes Wisconsin more than $1.4 million in income taxes

 

 

Associated Press

 

 

MILWAUKEE — Hall of Fame pitcher Rollie Fingers owes Wisconsin more than $1.4 million in income taxes and is the seventh-biggest tax delinquent in the state.

 

The state Department of Revenue lists Roland G. Fingers as owing $1,433,609. Fingers' listed address is in Las Vegas, and the birth date in public records there matches the baseball player.

 

The debt was first reported by WKOW-TV in Madison on Tuesday night.

 

Revenue Department spokeswoman Meredith Helgerson said she couldn't confirm if the Fingers on the list is the former baseball player. She said the list started in January 2006 and Fingers was added on July 2006. She didn't know how far back the debts could go.

 

"I can't tell you how old his account is," she said.

 

A phone number was not listed for Fingers' Las Vegas address.

 

In his 17-year major league career, mostly as a reliever, Fingers helped the Oakland A's win three consecutive World Series from 1972-74. He was a closer for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1981-1982 and in 1984-1985. He was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.

 

He is eighth in career saves with 341.

 

Poor, poor Rollie...Not literally, though....Tax cheats are usually rich out the wazoo.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Heard Tomo Ohka is now being courted by the Mets and Nationals...I like Ohka, but it kind of shows you how desperate teams are for decent pitching. Guess Washington would be safe for Tomo, now that Robinson isn't the manager anymore.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

The Houston Astros signed Mark Loretta to a one year deal worth about $2.5 million. Incentives could bring it up to $3.5 million. The plan is to use him as sort of a supersub, playing all the infield positions.

[Guest NYankees]

The NY post is reporting that Randy Johnson has agreed in principle to a contract extension with the Diamondbacks and that a trade should be completed within the next couple of days. They also reported that Doug Mientkiewicz has a signed a one year deal with the Yankees.

[The Man in Blak 0]

The Houston Astros signed Mark Loretta to a one year deal worth about $2.5 million. Incentives could bring it up to $3.5 million. The plan is to use him as sort of a supersub, playing all the infield positions.

 

Great deal, value-wise, for Loretta, but they already resigned Bruntlett to play the same role, so it's not as useful of an addition as you'd think.

 

Don't get me wrong - I'd much rather have Loretta - but they'd probably have been better served spending that money on an outfielder to spell Chris Burke in center field (or, by proxy, spell Biggio by moving Burke to second). I didn't watch Luis Matos last year, so I can't attest to how well he looked in the field, but he seems like he could be a decent fifth/sixth outfielder for a comparable (if not cheaper) price tag.

[Guest "Go, Mordecai!"]

I know we make fun of how the Mets have a lot of Dominicans, but it seems like the Astros have a lot of white guys. Really white guys, too, with names like "Morgan Ensberg," "Brad Ausmus," "Jeff Bagwell," and "Lance Berkman." Sounds like a team of stock brokers. (And their clam.)

[vivalaultra 0]

I imagine another move is going to follow this one. I read a story last nite that that said Loretta told the Rangers he wouldn't be going to Arlington, because he was going to another team that would "offer him more playing time." And the Rangers offered him $1 million more than Houston. I could see Ensberg being dealt for a starting pitcher and Loretta sliding over to 3rd with Eric Bruntlett retaining the superutility role. Or else Loretta's just going to take over for Biggio after he gets his 3,000th hit.

[sfaJack 0]

Biggio is going to have to die before the Astros remove him from the starting 2B job.

 

I know we make fun of how the Mets have a lot of Dominicans, but it seems like the Astros have a lot of white guys. Really white guys, too, with names like "Morgan Ensberg," "Brad Ausmus," "Jeff Bagwell," and "Lance Berkman." Sounds like a team of stock brokers. (And their clam.)

You should have heard the outrage around town when they DFA'ed Preston Wilson last year. He was the only black player they've had in a while, and people were seriously saying the Astros are a racist organization who intentionally set up Wilson to fail so they could release him and play Luke Scott.

 

Of course, these are the same people who got on them for trading the "other black guy" (Willy Tavares) last month despite Willy actually being Dominican, so consider the source. But the racist accusations actually happened.

[Precious Roy 0]

Apparently the Randy Johnson deal is for Luis Vizcaino, Ross Ohlendorf, Steven Jackson and Alberto Gonzalez. Not crazy about this deal.

 

I like the Mientkeiwitzcz signing though. All he needs to do is put up a low-mid .700 OPS and play his defense and he'll be a nice fit. A year like he had for the Mets in 05 would be fine. His glove is the important thing. And maybe I'll finally learn how to spell his name.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

And their next big prospect? Hunter Pence.