Early Free Agency News
Three quick tidbits.
First, from MLB.com: the M’s are among several teams expressing interest in Esteban Loaiza. The others are the Royals, Indians, Rangers, Mets and Rockies.
Next, from the NYT‘s “at least the Mariners get an ‘expected to contend’ mention” department:
It seems as if every team in baseball has contacted Darek Braunecker, the agent for starter A. J. Burnett. Burnett lashed out at Marlins management toward the end of the season, and he is not considering a return to South Florida. The Blue Jays, whose pitching coach, Brad Arnsberg, once worked with Burnett with the Marlins, are considered a leader, but the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers are also expected to contend for his services.
Finally, the M’s are one of three teams to inquire about trading for Carlos Delgado. The Orioles and the Mets are the others. The saving grace: “With any scenario, the Marlins likely would be asked to pick up some of that money.”
We’ve discussed the merits and drawbacks of each of these moves before. Whatever happens, it doesn’t look like a do-nothing offseason. Like the Chinese curse says, may you live in interesting times.
Comments
53 Responses to “Early Free Agency News”
JS, I’m not as steeped in predictive statistics as many here but I, too, have looked at Carpenter’s history for clues that might have predicted his emergence, and found none. Sure, like Meche, he had shown potential, although more consistently and for longer than Meche, and without the decline we’ve seen from Gil since his brief peak. But I don’t think anyone else found evidence to predict his performance, either, and that’s why he played for the Cardinals for $300k in 2004, and for $2 mil in 2005. Compare that to Meche at $1.6 and $2.3 mil. In arbitration it would cost the M’s 10 to 12 times as much to place the bet as it did the Cardinals, and I don’t think they should bet that much on a longshot.
I think Gil will get another chance somewhere, and I hope he does well (as long as it’s not in the AL West). It’s just time for the M’s to look for better odds somewhere else.
Well, yeah, Carpenter’s emergence is an example of a false negative error. That happens. On a statistical level, you just swallow it and move on. You do NOT conclude that you have a false negative in Meche…because in the vast majority of times, it ain’t gonna be false.
From John Hickey (Nov 14):
Seattle has contacted the agent for outfielder Jacque Jones, a left-handed hitter with some pop, with the idea of luring Jones to play left field for the Mariners.