Nick Johnson To Sign With Yankees
Multiple reports have the Yankees on the verge of signing Nick Johnson to a one year contract for $5 to $6 million. This is, essentially, Rich Harden 2.0 – a player the M’s could have used signing a good value contract with another AL club. On the surface, it’s disappointing.
But, you know what, the M’s have earned the benefit of the doubt. If they didn’t bid up Nick Johnson, they are probably pretty confident in the alternatives. I think we all are enjoying the guy we got instead of Harden, after all.
So, yeah, I would have liked to have Nick Johnson, but this doesn’t change my expectation that the team will find a quality first baseman this winter.
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I’m with you on this, but the thing that gets me is the Yankees are signing him. He is only going to play if he is DHing, so I guess Nick is fine not playing the field. Not sure what other teams were in on him, but interesting the Yanks chose him to be their full time DH, and interesting that Nick chose the Yanks over a place he could play the field every day.
Someone brought up Joey Votto the other day, he would be someone I’d definitely prefer over Nick, Can he play left at all? I know he has, but I haven’t check his UZR at both positions, but I’d assume there’s a reason the Reds want him at 1B and they are trying to move either him or the kid in AAA (don’t know his name off the top of my head).
You had Nick Johnson at one year, $9 million in your 2010 plan so this would seem to be a good deal.
Survey says Branyan will come back.
“If they didn’t bid up Nick Johnson, they are probably pretty confident in the alternatives.”
Yeah, given what’s happened so far it really gets you wondering….
“There’s a weeping Russell Branyan on line one who wants to discuss a one year contract with an incentive-laden option year…”
Agreed. Either Branyan comes back or Jack trades 4 minor prospects for Pujols.
The latter wouldn’t even surprise me these days. All praise be to Z!
The same can be said of Matt Joyce too.
Yeah, stay tuned for the big Pujols signing. heh
I find myself no longer able to muster any disappointment in this team.
The big question is going to be, how did Zduriencik manage to get St. Louis to not only take Carlos Silva straight up, but also kick in half of Pujols’ 2010 salary?
The sad thing is that it sounds like Lee doesn’t want to be here at all according to Komo 1000! Hopefully, he’ll change his mind after awhile.
Cliff Lee wants Sabathia-money at end of 2010 season. The only way he gets close to that is to have an awesome season in Seattle that proves his worth. Safeco is the perfect place and the defensive-minded Mariners are the perfect team. Both he and Felix are going to have every chance to be ultra-successful in 2010. Pay no attention to whether Lee likes leaving Philly right now. He’s going to get rich from his year in Seattle and we can all see what makes sense when the time comes to re-sign or leave via free agency. In the meantime, he could be in the World Series with the Mariners next October.
I believe I read his agent said he was on a fishing trip. If true, um…….. Maybe he’ll enjoy it here?
I believe I read his agent said he was on a hunting trip. If true, um…….. Maybe he’ll enjoy it here?
Just because WE want to give someone a contract doesn’t mean HE wants to take it. Ideally, yeah, we could grab every player we wanted for the same contract he winds up with anyway (or slightly more) but there are people who, when money’s near equal, just really would rather not play in Seattle.
Yeah, it sucks we missed out, but there are lots of reasons why. Still plenty of options, and it takes two to tango…
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Maybe we’ll trade for a great 1B and then pick up Vlad Guerrero on the cheap to DH.
So, last time we went to plan B we came up with Lee….. Nothing short of Pujols will make me happy now!
Let’s be honest here. If you were on a team that had just made the world series and that same team is favored to make it back to the world series once again, would you want to be traded to a team that, by all media accounts (not local media) is in a rebuilding mode?
And I believe that while Lee was with Cleveland, they really put a beating on the M’s. I can empathize with Lee, but maybe he’ll be pleasantly surprised by his new team this coming season.
All that said, he’ll get over it.
I will happily admit to being a bumbleheaded moron when I suggested that we would look back on the Harden non-signing by the M’s as a mistake. So if Jack Zduriencik wants to pass up Nick Johnson who we seemingly could’ve had for a solid price, well, he’s earned us not freaking out about it. In fact, he’s earned us being excited by all the possibilities.
Jack Zduriencik, you rock my face off, pal.
Now that Nick Johnson is gone….
I want Adam Dunn.
The End.
So what? Nick Johnson’s on the DL all the time anyway…..Z should look into Adam LaRoche. He is comparable and will probably demand about the same kind of money!
I heard sombody mention Votto earlier as well, but I think that would take about the same kind of trade scenario as it would to get Gonzo. Too much right now.
Getting Votto though would be oh so sweet!
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I heard earlier today rumblings that Loney and Morrow might be involved in a deal. Not sure how I feel about that. On the surface of it, it looks like Loney’s best years (both MLB and MiLB) were driven by really high BABIP.
Where did you here that?
I meant hear that?
Loney? No thanks. He fields his position decently, but that matters less at 1B — and at this point we’re looking for offense, right? Offensively speaking, he’s one of only three first basemen who would make moving Jose Lopez to first look like a better option.
Of course you can’t discount defense at 1B completely — well, unless you’re Adam Dunn.
I think Loney has more upside than you are giving him credit for. He’s only 25 and while he may never have huge power, I do think he can grow in to some more power. The guy is a really good hitter with good OBP and a lefty bat…he might fit a lot better in Safeco than in Dodger Stadium.
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Count me in on the Loney bandwagon.
Upside is nice and all, but Loney is not better than Nick Johnson. And it’s quite possible he never will be. I’m much more interested in Mat Gamel’s high walk rates and power capabilities than Loney and his very pretty swing.
In looking deeper at Loney, I do agree that his slg percentage and offensive stats have dropped and he is certainly way below par in terms of the what you would want at 1B for offense in the power department.
Adam LaRoche might be a good fit at 1B…
If we trade for Loney, I wouldn’t want to give up Morrow the more I think about it.
what about Billy Butler? Definitely not a huge name, but seems like one that would satisfy everyone, some pop, some OBP, really comparable to Johnson’s numbers last year, including the same WAR last year as Nick Johnson. Now obviously I’m not as good at this as Dave and the others, and not nearly as good as GMZ, but he seemed like a guy that fit the profile all right. Not sure what it take to get him though, although Moore is his GM.
I’ve always been a sucker for Loney, and GMZ seems to like some of my favorite players (Hall, Figgins). not sure how much he helps us for winning it all next year, same goes for Butler, which is way I want Gonzalez or Votto, but the price may be too high. Never say never with Jack though.
Love Billy Butler, have heard him mentioned as a young Edgar Martinez type hitter.
He’s only 23 and had a breakthrough season last year hitting .301/.362/.492 with 21 HR’s so my guess is the Royals would ask for a TON from the M’s.
Even with Moore as the GM, not sure the M’s could fleece KC for Butler or even get him for that matter.
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I want whatever Jack wants.
Well, I was probably a little harsh on Loney — he did suffer from a low (for him) BABIP in 2009; Bill James (who seems to always err on the optimistic side for young hitters) projects a bounce back to his career average and a corresponding bump in his wOBA to .351 from 2009′s Lopezesque .332. And he’s still cheap at about the league minimum (though Lopez at $2M is pretty reasonable too).
It’s a good point about park effects: Dodger stadium is a pitcher’s park all around, but it punishes a pull lefty like Loney about as much as Safeco does a pull righty like Lopez. But several of Loney’s 2009 shots would have been pretty iffy and might not have gone out in Safeco either (it might be just 326′ at the RF foul pole, but it’s 385′ where Ichiro climbs the wall in RCF).
All in all, I still think the M’s can do better (without blowing their payroll limits or giving away too much of the farm).
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Yeah. Mr. and (soon to be ex-)Mrs. McCourt are fighting over joint custody of Manny Ramirez. As nasty as things have gotten down there, I’m not sure you’d even know who could ok a deal with them.
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If anyone can relate a msg to Jack Z, let him know to take Lee to Puyallup and take him to the Sonic there. P-town is a lot like his home town of Benton and it has a Sonic as well. One long strip and ya. Show him its a good place to live.
The Sonic in Puyallup? I thought we wanted to convince Cliff Lee to stay!
As much as I wanted Nick Johnson, I can’t say I blame him for going to the Yankees. He gets to play for the World Series champs in one of the most hitter-friendly parks in all of baseball (or so we think after one year of existence). IF he stays healthy, he has the potential to put up better numbers in that lineup and park than he would have here. Oh well, in Jack we trust.
Nickwest1976,
I’m not sure we have the over-priced, under-talented guys Dayton Moore would seem to want in a deal for Butler- well, other than Carlos Silva. But even Moore’s not that dumb, right? Right?
This might be a stretch [yes, it is]
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[off-topic] Its also kind of a bummer about Nick Johnson but I imagine they will end up signing Russell Branyan to another 1 year deal.
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Which Sonic? Steve Scheffler?