Thursday news
DMZ · November 16, 2006 at 8:06 am · Filed Under General baseball
Devil Rays are top Iwamura bidder (mlb)
Frank Thomas may sign with Blue Jays (mlb)
Bonds, Giants spar
Also, because a reader emailed to point out we haven’t mentioned this beyond “the Missions left us”, the M’s had a whole affiliate shuffle.
AA swaps from San Antonio to the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx. The extra ‘X’ is for eXtra.
Their Cal League affiliate for A ball moves from Inland Empire to the High Desert Mavericks.
Then there is this gem from the mlb site Hot Stove Report
Mariners: Sources say the Mariners will not bid for the rights to negotiate with Hanshin Tigers left-hander Kei Igawa, who has yet to be posted. Mariners majority owner Hiroshi Yamauchi, who recently balked at joining the bid process for Matsuzaka, has let it be known that he has no interest in Igawa. Right-hander Adam Eaton told the Everett Herald that the Mariners are one of the teams he would be interested in signing with, and insisted that the finger injury that kept him sidelined for much of last season with the Rangers is completely.
Looks like Schmidt, Eaton and Carlos Lee will be Mariners next season. And I am this close to finding a new team. I heard the Bay Area Athletics of Fremont are suppose to be prety good.
My first reaction was to wonder if posting for Iwamura would have netted the M’s some trade bait? My second reaction is that maybe the Ray’s are on to something if Iwa is as versatile as he is played up.
Thomas out of the West isn’t a horrible thing. How do the A’s replace that production?
I’ll try a link
Meche and Igawa news
re: Thomas, “the rumoured cost of acquiring Thomas … would be in the area of $10 million (U.S.) for three years, or two plus an option”
Looks like Schmidt, Eaton and Carlos Lee will be Mariners next season. And I am this close to finding a new team.
just a reminder, to quote Larry Larue yesterday, “The free agent market has been given over to the sellers this year, especially among pitchers, and that may not favor the Mariners. Two agents representing pitchers acknowledged that their clients wanted to go to “contending teams,†and that Seattle – even with a pitchers’ park like Safeco Field – simply didn’t stack up.”
There isn’t a pitcher on the free agent market that is a difference maker. So hopefully, the M’s get spurned and are forced to do something radical, like trade for Dontelle.
Let the Mets sacrifice their farm team for a Dontrelle trade.
what do they have to trade for him, even if the Marlins were interested in trading a guy who “has 3 years, 143 days of MLB service time, isn’t slated to become a free agent until after the 2009 season. As a result, the financially strapped Marlins can go year-to-year with Willis for three more seasons if they choose. The club also is considering whether to sign Willis to a multiyear contract that would be at least a four-year deal.” which apparently they aren’t (after Loria is reported to be bumping the payroll up this year)
If the Jays are set on trading Vernon Wells, they’ll need to sign someone like Thomas. Wells was easily the best hitter on the team, and played a premium defensive position (and played it well).
That said, hitting wasn’t really their problem. Pitching was their problem. Replace Josh Towers with basically anybody last season and they have a real shot at the wild card.
Thomas out of the West isn’t a horrible thing. How do the A’s replace that production?
I guess if you’re Billy Beane you hope that Swisher becomes a 40 HR hitter and gets a resulting OBP bump. Otherwise… I’m not very high on the A’s in 2007. They need Harden to not be hurt and Haren to start pitching like a front-of-the-rotation guy.
Honestly, if Bavasi could lay off the massive outlay of cash to free agents, sign some cheap hitters and a couple of cheap innings eaters, deal Sexson, and get rid of weird left center field triangle where Beltre homers go to die, this team will be in the hunt all year.
Or, he could blow it all on Carlos Lee and Jason Schmidt and enjoy driving the kids to school himself in September.
you know, I’d take a 2002 article on player mobility more seriously if it didn’t include lines like: “For example, on July 31, 1998, the out-of-contention Seattle Mariners traded Randy Johnson, the league’s premier left-handed pitcher, to the play-off bound Houston Astors for nondescript minor-league player Carlos Guillen.”
This doesn’t really count as today’s news, but [deleted, off-topic]
They need Harden to not be hurt and Haren to start pitching like a front-of-the-rotation guy.
Haren’s xFIP was 10th in the league last year. He’s the least of their worries.
Thomas out of the West isn’t a horrible thing. How do the A’s replace that production?
It’s a horrible thing if the A’s replace him with Bonds (and Bonds is still Bonds). I don’t see that as hugely probable, but it’s possible and it nicely links two of the three stories (I could probably find a way to work Iwamura in, but I need more coffee).
From that MLB article:
No he doesn’t. You can Google Meche and Louisiana Lightning and you get one result where that’s mentioned as his nickname, ever… and it’s by Jim Street, who wrote this article.
Jim’s going to keep flogging that horse until it gets up and runs off.
That’s pitiful.
Derek you should add that Casey resigned with the Tigers. Also cross off one free agent from the list of free agents that the Mariners could sign by O’Neil yesterday.
#14– well, what else does he have to do in semi-retirement….
the saddest thing about losing the Missions is losing Henry the Puffy Taco and Ballapeno, their mascots.
Santana is the AL Cy Young winner…
I referred to myself as “Splendid Splinter II” all the way through high school.
hmm. the Jaxx have a bear named Ribbee as the mascot, but they doplay in Pringles Park.
mmmm, pringles………
Yes, but now that the Diamond Jaxx are part of the Seattle farm system, they’ll be forced to change the bear’s name to Inning-Ending Strikeout.
21
You mean they turned down the name, “infield pop up with the bases loaded and less than two outs?”
22: Yes, although I hear that they did consider Aggressive Base-Running Blunder the Bear.
At least it’s not Teddy Beardado.
Or Teduardo Bearez
espn article references the mariners as a potential candidate for bonds.
i hope, and simultaneously doubt, that the M’s wouldn’t sign him unless they could get him at a lower fixed cost and move most of the money to incentives.
Is $4M+ per year for Mark DeRosa borderline insanity? The costs of clubhouse leadership seems to be escalating at abnormal rates.
#26– the line “Among other clubs, Baltimore, Seattle, the Angels and San Diego could explore the possibility of signing Bonds” doesn’t really spell a definite link to me…
Ick — we’re stuck in High Desert, too?
This is disappointing.
And in more Thursday baseball news, the O’s gave a situational lefty a 3 year, 12 million dollar contract. A one Jamie Walker from the Tigers (non Hanshin type), Jamie Walker
#28 nor does it to me, which is why i didn’t say there was a definite link or that they were in talks.
Oooh, good news for a fellow Austin Peay State Governor who happens to also be a lefty.
And in more Thursday baseball news, the O’s gave a situational lefty a 3 year, 12 million dollar contract. A one Jamie Walker from the Tigers (non Hanshin type), Jamie Walker.
I guess the O’s need lots and lots and lots of bullpen help, but a 4.20 FIP from a reliever isn’t anything special. Doesn’t anyone notice when, for example, the Twins made NRI Dennys Reyes into one of the best LOOGYs in baseball at basically no cost?
Looking at Sherrill/Walker this year is kind of funny:
2.81 ERA, 4.20 FIP — Walker
4.28 ERA, 2.89 FIP — Sherrill
The phrase “could explore the possibility of” is synonymous with “one move that might make sense,” “it would not be surprising if,” and other sportswriter parlance for “I am one paragraph short for my deadline, so here is some idle speculation column filler.”
Of course, other media outlets then pick up on the article and, missing the subtlety, report it as fact — “A report in [media source] indicates that [team] has interest in [player].”
Of course it works the other way too. A general manager may allow a reporter to quote him as saying “I have not talked to [rival GM] about [player],” when in fact, his assistant general manager has spent the last six hours exchanging counterproposals with the other team.
according to the mlb.com daily GM Meetings Special with Casey Stern and Vinny Micucci, the Ms have no outspoken leaders and they need veteran leaders in the rotation, the bullpen and on the field to support Ichiro, who shouldn’t be looked to lead, but just allowed to be what he is. Casey & Vinny just don’t know what direction the M’s are going in, but you should give them one more year.
This was a lead-in to a brief interview with Bill Bavasi (also available for viewing in the videos list, see lower right hand corner of page)
Bill thinks the Ms have a few needs– a couple starting pitchers and they’d like a bat, a true number three hitter if they can (no mention of whether he’d have to have a specific kind of sock). He also sticks up for Adrian.
The O’s are giving 3/12 to Jamie Walker?
That makes no sense to me. I can think of any number of junkpile LOOGYs they could have picked up for much less than that. Granted that Walker had a good year, but he barely pitched.
I don’t expect that Frank is going to repeat 2006. So if the Jays sign him to a 2 year contract, there’s a good chance they’ll regret it later when he misses half the season.
That’s it – I’m forcing my son learn to throw left-handed. Once I have a son.
good note on Rotoworld:
“Rafael Soriano pitched a scoreless inning Wednesday in his debut for Escogido of the DWL.
The plan is for Soriano to make 10 appearances in the Dominican Republic as he continues his recovery from a concussion suffered when he was hit by a Vladimir Guerrero line drive on Aug. 29.”
Bavasi said in the MLB.com interview teams ask about Beltre and Sexson the most in trade discussions. Is anyone buying this or is this just Bill trying to posture? God, I hope he deals Sexson.
From that Bavasi interview:
“They ask about Adrian, they ask about Richie…”
Not so much the firest one, but can I get a HELL YEAH! on the second?
#40: I buy it….
I think the smartest teams will try to fill holes by avoiding the FA market and trading from strength if possible
I liked Bill’s comment re: Adrian, “we like him … but the telling sign is we’re getting buried here by clubs who want him” He claims they mostly call about Beltre, but also ask about Richie & the young bullpen guys.
Rumors abound that the Red Sox have agreed to a 3yr/45 million dollar deal with Daisuke Matsuzaka.
#44:
Friggin 15 mil a year? Such ridiculousness. Well, I hope he’s worth it.
#41:
Hell yeah
The M’s cutting ties with Inland Empire will really give added poignance to this upcoming film by David Lynch which, one can only assume, is about minor league baseball.
#45, well, thats (51 million posting fee + 45 million contract)/2, which works out to 32 million per year. I’m not hatin’, but Boston could’ve signed Zito and Schmidt for that…
that should’ve been (51 million fee+45 million contract)/3
But accounting probably doesn’t say the 51 million dollar posting fee counts for Payroll, so they can still go get somebody else. Depending on how things are stated and ran.
The 51.1 is more of a “needs investment”.
and you figure that would be covered by just one years radio/tv profits for the SOx.
That 51 million posting bid for Matsuzaka is the “official” amount. But the actual amount may be significantly less.
I was reading the Sons of Sam Horn message board, and somebody on there quoted Peter Gammons’ private e-mail to him saying that the entire posting process is about as “shady as NCAA recruiting.” And the Red Sox possibly had some under-the-table deal with Seibu to kick back some of the posting fee. Gammons also hinted that this is how the Mariners got Ichiro.
As they say, that’s just bidness.
As they say, that’s just bidness.
That’s cute.
I would be inclined to say that that ISN’T “bidness” and that it violates some sort of anti-trust rule (or something, I’m not a lawyer). Regardless, that posting process is highly bizarre (not to mention flawed) and needs to be addressed before the predicted influx of Japanese and East Asian players.
“That’s just bidness.” Cracked me up. : )
Minor point: baseball is exempt from antitrust laws.
Let the Mets sacrifice their farm team for a Dontrelle trade.
I’m sort of glad I’m not the only person who thinks it’s a red flag that Willis’ pinpoint control went hoo-ha last year. After the severe overuse he’s had in previous years, for him to shoot up to a 3+ BB/9, 19 hit by pitches (previous high 8), and 6 wild pitches (previous high 2), should be concerning.
But, then again, one year’s worth of data may not be showing a trend, merely a blip on the radar.
Well… that should have said “previous high 8″, but love those smiley’s.
well, thats (51 million posting fee + 45 million contract)/2, which works out to 32 million per year. I’m not hatin’, but Boston could’ve signed Zito and Schmidt for that…
Can Zito and Schmidt pitch at the same time and figure out a way to occupy only one roster spot?
All of the evidence I’ve run across (and I’ve tried to find a lot of it) indicates that Matsuzaka will be a lot better than Schmidt or Zito. The Sox are making a calculated risk here, but like they say, no risk, no reward. Having a ginormous payroll to cushion the blow if he turns out to be a bust doesn’t hurt, either.
More Thursday news.
Cards sign Spiezio to a 2 year, 4.5 million extension with a club option for 2009. Friggin Spiezio
gosh, can we hope he reverts to the contract-holding Speez we all remember?
re: #52.
Sadly, that is how “bidness” really operates these days. See Enron et al. for examples. It would be suprising if Major League Baseball is immune, especially given its history of sordid scandals like the Steroid/HGH Era.
Minor point: baseball is exempt from antitrust laws.
Not to mention, this is an international transaction, so who exactly would pass that law? I don’t think the US and Japan have any treaties regarding ballplayers (though I believe they do have a tax treaty, and some aspect of this might fall under a clause of that, but IANAL and I certainly have never looked at that treaty).
I have a hard time equating this with Enron. Who is the harmed party? It’s not even clear there was an uneven playing field: Seibu might have been quite willing to return the same percentage (or even absolute dollar portion) of the posting fee no matter who won the process or how much the fee was — assuming they returned anything, which is hearsay at this point. Now, depending on how the Sox and the Lions account for the transaction they could get themselves into a heap of trouble with their respective taxing authorities, and if the “stated” posting fee has an effect on the Red Sox’ luxury tax the other owners might have a beef.
posting fee has no effect on luxury tax.
my problem with this conspiracy theory is what is in it for Seibu? A kickback on marketing rights?
61 – good points, but:
1) I believe it has been stated here before that posting fee’s do not affect luxury tax.
2) Offering the same percentage to every team doesn’t make much sense – it would be of no benefit to them, because the bidding field would be the exact same as it was prior to the offer. Offering it to teams with the budget to actually sign Matsuzaka benefits them; offering it to teams they know Matsuzaka has an interest in playing for benefits them; offering to everyone does not.
Sandfrog was quoted as follows in regard to his resigning with the Cardinals today:
“It’s a blessing to be a part of this organization with the tradition and the fans after two horrible years in Seattle when baseball just wasn’t fun.”
Well Sandfrog….it wasn’t much fun watching you occupy space for the two years you were in Seattle!
“It’s a blessing to be a part of an organization where I can dye my chin landing strip red, and not blue or green or something.”
What? Spiezio only got 4.5 / 2? I thought that awesome red rat tail under his lip was worth $3 million a year alone!
The Awesome Red Rat Tail has its own agent (Boras) and is negotiating a separate merchandising contract… (word is it’s looking for a deal similar to the one Ohno’s chin strip got in the wake of the ’02 Olympics)
complained about the J-Wash signing……….(or sign a no better Millwood)