The 2008 MLB Offseason Thread

[Guest Vitamin X]

I dig it, although it's a lot to give up for the Rockies' best player (even if he's going to be only around for another year). I know nothing about Carlos Gonzalez, can someone tell me if this guy is worth anything?

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I dig it, although it's a lot to give up for the Rockies' best player (even if he's going to be only around for another year). I know nothing about Carlos Gonzalez, can someone tell me if this guy is worth anything?

I'll try to dig up a scouting report later. Basically, he's a five-tooler with tons of raw talent, but zero plate discipline. Good defensive instincts in the outfield and raw power that will play in Coors immediately. The question will be how much he can develop in the next few years. He could be an All-Star type centerfielder, but getting from point A to point B might involve a lot of headaches.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Top ten lists are starting to show up. Check Baseball America regularly for updates on your team. Here are the Yankees' and Red Sox' lists:

 

Yankees

 

1. Austin Jackson, of

2. Jesus Montero, c

3. Andrew Brackman, rhp

4. Austin Romine, c

5. Dellin Betances, rhp

6. Zach McAllister, rhp

7. Alfredo Aceves, rhp

8. Phil Coke, lhp

9. Mark Melancon, rhp

10. Bradley Suttle, 3b

 

Red Sox

 

1. Lars Anderson,1b

2. Michael Bowden, rhp

3. Nick Hagadone, lhp

4. Daniel Bard, rhp

5. Josh Reddick, of

6. Casey Kelly, rhp/ss

7. Ryan Westmoreland, of

8. Michael Almanzar, 3b

9. Yamaico Navarro, inf

10. Stolmy Pimentel, rhp

[Mik 0]

Hey! The Marlins traded Josh Willingham and Scott Olsen within the division to the Nationals for three guys I never heard of...

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3694827

 

Awesome! I was beginning to forget how much I love following the mother fucking Marlins.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Hey! The Marlins traded Josh Willingham and Scott Olsen within the division to the Nationals for three guys I never heard of...

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3694827

 

Awesome! I was beginning to forget how much I love following the mother fucking Marlins.

Whoa, that's a total fleecing. How does Bowden routinely get other teams to give him talented players for nothing?

 

Rumor has it they are going to make a monster offer to Teixeira as well. They might actually field a decent team in the next year or two.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Hey! The Marlins traded Josh Willingham and Scott Olsen within the division to the Nationals for three guys I never heard of...

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3694827

 

Awesome! I was beginning to forget how much I love following the mother fucking Marlins.

Whoa, that's a total fleecing. How does Bowden routinely get other teams to give him talented players for nothing?

 

Rumor has it they are going to make a monster offer to Teixeira as well. They might actually field a decent team in the next year or two.

 

NO x INFINITY^2+1

 

If the Nats are stupid to offer 10/200, Angelos will offer 10/201 for him to be an Oriole just because

[the pinjockey 0]

I guess the moral of the story is don't become arbitration eligible in Florida.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I'm not terribly impressed with the trade myself. Willingham is a nice part, but any team should be able to replace a left fielder who hit 15 home runs. Olsen is a bit of a head case. I don't see this trade hurting the Marlins even in the short term. The interesting impact here may be on the Nats' defense. Willie Harris is one of the best defensive left fielders in baseball. Willingham is a converted catcher. I always surmised that Olsen's struggles were due to absolutely brutal defense on that side of the diamond.

 

The Nats are foolish if they make a push. Willingham, Olsen and even Teixeira will not merit a division winner. And Teixeira will cost a valuable second round pick, and this is a team who couldn't even afford to sign this year's first rounder.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I should add that Larry Beinfest is perhaps the most under appreciated GM in baseball. How he consistently builds contenders with the arse ownership in Miami defies logic.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

On a whim, I'm working on something I'm referring to as the "Homegrown Talent Index." Basically, what percentage of a team's production came from drafted and developed players. The 2008 Phillies got nearly 52% of their win shares from home grown talent. Compared to 25% for the '07 Red Sox, 27% for the '06 Cardinals, and 14% from the 2001 Diamondbacks.

 

Is there a team in recent memory that got as much from organizational players as the Phillies?

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I'm not terribly impressed with the trade myself. Willingham is a nice part, but any team should be able to replace a left fielder who hit 15 home runs. Olsen is a bit of a head case. I don't see this trade hurting the Marlins even in the short term. The interesting impact here may be on the Nats' defense. Willie Harris is one of the best defensive left fielders in baseball. Willingham is a converted catcher. I always surmised that Olsen's struggles were due to absolutely brutal defense on that side of the diamond.

 

It's not a bad trade for the Marlins, but I still think they could have gotten a little more for those guys. Bonifacio is a homeless man's Luis Castillo and the two prospects are so young and far away that they are just lottery tickets. I don't think it's outrageous to suggest that they could have gotten a pre-arb starting position player from some team willing to take a chance on Willingham and Olsen.

 

I also don't know that you can pin Olson's brutal performance on the defense. Bad defense doesn't make you surrender 30 HRs in a pitcher's park. Also doesn't make you lose 5 MPH off your fastball.

 

The Nats are foolish if they make a push. Willingham, Olsen and even Teixeira will not merit a division winner. And Teixeira will cost a valuable second round pick, and this is a team who couldn't even afford to sign this year's first rounder.

The problem is that the Nats have an expensive new stadium, but are totally irrelevant to the local populace. Ownership is willing to spend, but free agents aren't interested in joining a 70-win franchise with no farm system or national appeal. It makes some sense to go after a couple decent players, even if they are paying inefficiently. That team needs to do something to make themselves relevant.

 

EDIT: The Nats now have a huge logjam in the corners and 1st base. Willingham doesn't fit in the outfield with Dukes, Milledge, Pena and Kearns. A move to first is possible, but they already have Nick Johnson and Dmitri Young. Someone's getting traded.

[Psycho Penguin 0]

Hey! The Marlins traded Josh Willingham and Scott Olsen within the division to the Nationals for three guys I never heard of...

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3694827

 

Awesome! I was beginning to forget how much I love following the mother fucking Marlins.

 

****.

 

Oh well, at least my AL team is the Orioles.

 

brb, noose

 

EDIT - Just saw on ESPN that the Padres won't be resigning Treffor Hoffman.

[jimmy no nose 0]

Going back to the Holliday deal, any chance Oakland may be banking on the hope that Holliday will be more valuable at the deadline than he was in the offseason? I don't see them resigning him, my only thought is that they're looking to flip him for something at least slightly better than the expendable players they gave up.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

also don't know that you can pin Olson's brutal performance on the defense. Bad defense doesn't make you surrender 30 HRs in a pitcher's park. Also doesn't make you lose 5 MPH off your fastball.

 

Fair point on the home runs. I only trust scouting reports so far, too often I hear them used to prop up analysis that turns out to be false (i.e. Carlos Delgado, Jim Edmonds). Funny enough though, Olsen really had a fine season for a 24 year old pitcher. 201 innings, league average ERA.

 

Sad note today. Longtime Indians' announcer and former pitcher Herb Score passed away at the age of 75. Score is most famous for having his career altered by Gil McDougald's line drive. Score's 245 strikeouts in his debut season stood as a rookie record until Dwight Gooden in 1984. Score led the league in strikeouts his first two seasons, and led the league in K's per nine all three of his eligible seasons.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

So it looks like the Holliday deal involves Greg Smith, Carlos Gonzalez and Huston Street to Oakland. Greg Smith had poor peripherals, nearly as many walks as strikeouts pitching in the spacious confines of the Oakland Coliseum. I can't see him surviving in Colorado.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

So it looks like the Holliday deal involves Greg Smith, Carlos Gonzalez and Huston Street to Oakland. Greg Smith had poor peripherals, nearly as many walks as strikeouts pitching in the spacious confines of the Oakland Coliseum. I can't see him surviving in Colorado.

Rumor has it that they are only keeping Smith and will look to move both Street and Gonzalez. Street doesn't interest them much with Corpas in the wings. A swap to St. Louis for Ludwick makes some sense, as does a potential deal with Cleveland.

 

There are some sketchy reports indicating that they don't like Gonzalez as much as Dexter Fowler, and might look to package him in a deal for help elsewhere. I'd rather keep both and let them fight it out in spring training, but that's just me.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Sounds like a Peavy-to-Atlanta deal is near complete. I guess it's time to brace myself for the inevitable four-year Ryan Dempster contract.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I don't understand why the Braves are so gung-ho on acquiring Jake Peavy. If the trade goes through, they will then need a good shortstop to replace Yunel Escobar. Their right fielder sucks, their center field options are not ready, and they only have four acceptable starters under contract. This is the first time I have ever felt comfortable in saying the Braves have no realistic chance of contending next season.

[Richard 0]

Apparently, Eric Bischoff works for the Padres now.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

On the subject of the Holliday trade, I would add that Carlos Gonzalez is really not an impressive prospect. Three years ago he lit up the Midwest League. He posted superficially great numbers in 2006, but that was an extreme hitters' environment. Two hitters on that team had higher slugging percentages (one was Mark Reynolds*), and Emilio Bonafacio was actually a better hitter on the club. Since then Gonzalez has posted merely decent numbers at AA and AAA. He'll play in the majors, but stardom?

 

I also doubt he can play center in Coors. In that ballpark, you want to be absolutely sure the guy can handle the position defensively. I see him playing a corner slot.

 

*When looking at Mark Reynolds, I got a look at his comps. Number one is Mike Schmidt, an impressive comparison. That one is really not valid though. Schmidt played in a much tougher era and was a gold glover. The OPS+ bears that out. Number two is Cory Snyder, and THAT is an apt comparison for Reynolds.

[Guest Israeli Mixed Wrestling]

It says "Baltimore" and the cool Maryland flag is on the sleeve! Hooray! Not perfect, since it says "Orioles Baseball" instead of "Baltimore Orioles" (clearly so you don't think this is the lacrosse division of the vast Oriole Athletic Club), and the dimensions of the Baltimore script look a little weird to me, and "Orioles" is on the other sleeve where it doesn't need to be, but it's a big leap forward to put the city name back on the greys. No excuses now, St. Louis and Milwaukee.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

Why St. Louis? The Cardinals have sported the same road uniform design more or less since the 1920s. It works.

 

I took a look at the Phillies. There were brief times when they put PHILA on their uniforms. The Athletics never put anything more than an "A" or the elephant logo on their's. Unless a team did it in the 19th century, no MLB team has actually put "Philadelphia" on their uniforms.

[Guest Israeli Mixed Wrestling]

Why St. Louis? Because they play in St. Louis. That's where they're from. I'm a stickler for every team wearing its location name on the road uniforms, because that's the place you're representing when you're away from home. Don't give me this horse hockey about Arkansas and downstate Illinois being alienated. They're the St. Louis Cardinals.

 

Somewhere if you look around, there's a prototype of the Phillies uniforms from whenever they switched to what they have now. It has Philadelphia on the greys in the same style as "Phillies" on the whites. It's long, but it looks pretty cool. So that was the original plan (I think the original plan also called for the star in the hole of the P on the hat, or some other little hat quirk), but that was overridden (as was the hat thing, for the better).

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

On behalf of Manny Ramirez, we will, for the first time, begin accepting serious financial offers on Friday.

 

Oh man, what a douche. I defend the guy a lot for being a great agent, but that's just a ridiculously stupid thing to say. I can't wait until he gets out on the market and realizes that no one will give Manny $25 million a year for four years. That's just insane.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Why St. Louis? Because they play in St. Louis. That's where they're from. I'm a stickler for every team wearing its location name on the road uniforms, because that's the place you're representing when you're away from home. Don't give me this horse hockey about Arkansas and downstate Illinois being alienated. They're the St. Louis Cardinals.

I can get behind the cause for road teams wearing the city name across the uni, but let's not get crazy here. The Cardinals have the best uniforms in baseball. Don't go messing with something so perfect just to keep consistency.

[Guest Israeli Mixed Wrestling]

The whites are almost perfect; I'd just take the numbers off the front. The greys have mismatching hats for no good reason. There's no reason why they can't put "St. Louis" beneath the birds-on-bat:

 

The Rangers are supposed to have new uniforms soon, too. It's pretty ridiculous that the Texas Rangers are named as such, given that

1) It's ridiculous to claim an entire state as your own

2) said state is really honking big

3) said state had another team before you got there

4) said team is more popular than you

5) a Big Four team already had "Rangers" before you

6) they're probably more popular too

 

but oh well.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Marlins traded Kevin Gregg to the Cubs for minor leaguer Jose Ceda

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3700730

[Brett Favre 0]

Nick Swisher got traded to the Yankee for Jeff Marquez.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Who? Gio Gonzalez becomes Jeff Marquez? Terrific!

[Guest Israeli Mixed Wrestling]

So Gregg to middle relief, Marmol to close, Wood out. Lousy-ass trade. I was looking forward to seeing Ceda's heat. Oh well, another Cubs pitching prospect dealt to the Marlins for counterfeit goods.

 

Haha, Swisher was so obviously out the door by September. What a textbook pudwhack. Unjustifiably obnoxious, even by White Sox standards. Have fun watching his numbers drop lower and lower as the rest of the juice leaves his system, Yanks fans.