Mariners Miss Morris
ESPN’s reporting that free agent pitcher Matt Morris has agreed to a 3 year, $27m deal with the Giants. Possibly the worst deal in a bad free agent class.
As Dave said in “Free Agent Landmines”
Since the all-star break, Matt Morris has been, well, awful. His numbers across the board have taken a nosedive. His strikeout rate has fallen and he’s getting lit up like a Christmas tree. He has a history of arm problems, and at this point, wouldn’t be a good bet even on a one year contract. Given his reputation and his overall totals, someone is certainly going to overpay.
Action is not inherently better than inaction, and the Mariners are better for not having made this signing, even as it puts them into an even tighter situation trying to assemble the 2006 team.
Carl Everett reference timeline
An incomplete brief and quickly growing history of incidents
Which does not, at least yet, attempt to catalog comments about gay people, dinosaurs, et cetera
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M’s pick, lose no one in Rule 5 draft
Not a lot of movement in the major league portion, as it turns out. Baseball America’s got the list. Combined with their preview, you should be able to get a pretty good look at who went where, and why.
Updated: they’ve caught up with the minor-league portion now.
There, the M’s picked 2B Jason Bourgeois. And they’re getting pillaged for talent.
The A’s, as is their habit, are going nuts, picking in every round of the minor league portion.
Thursday’s moves-a-go-go
So! Larry Stone says Carl Everett’s signing is pretty much done:
The Mariners are also on the verge of signing free-agent outfielder Carl Everett to a contract, addressing their need for a left-handed bat. If nothing goes wrong, the signing of Everett, a 34-year-old switch-hitter, could be announced any day, but possibly not until next week. The Mariners need to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Everett…
Again, this is a horrible, horrible, horrible idea. Stone’s article cowardly pushes Everett’s issues to the second-to-last paragraph of the article:
The other outfielders on Seattle’s radar were Jeromy Burnitz and Everett, with Everett getting the call despite his controversial history.
Yeah. Controversial. That’s one way to put it, I guess. How disappointing.
Also, the M’s didn’t offer arb to PH Dave Hansen, RHP Shigetoshi Hasegawa, RHP Jeff Nelson, or DL Pokey Reese.
According to ESPN, the Red Sox trade Edgar Renteria to the Braves and get ANDY FREAKING MARTE. This is nutty. Marte is a stellar prospect. Renteria bites.
The Blue Jays picked up possible Mariner target Lyle Overbay, and gave up:
RHP Dave Bush
OF-L Gabe Gross
LHP Zach Jackson
That’s quite a haul for Overbay. The Brewers are making some really sweet deals this off-season.
Rangers cast net, reel in haul
Alfonso Soriano to the Nationals for:
– Brad Wilkerson
– Terrmel Sledge
– minor leaguer to be named
Soriano can contribute with the bat, no doubt, but as a fielder he largely erases that value. To get Wilkerson and Sledge… the Rangers just got stronger, and that makes the path to a division title next year even steeper.
Too many J’s
Does this whole Blue Jays thing have anyone else a bit weirded out? First B.J. Next, A.J. Now they’ve re-upped with J.P. Maybe it wouldn’t be so strange if, say, the Red Sox or Phillies has signed these guys. But the Blue Jays? C’mon. Maybe it’s just me, though.
(Cue Twilight Zone theme)
Yankees lost money
In possibly the funniest story so far this off-season, the Yankees are pushing a story that they lost money last season. It has to be true. Why would they lie? Sadly, they’re even getting people to bite on this hook and then write about it.
Baseball America’s Rule 5 Preview
Good stuff on potential picks and other related stuff.
No Mariners on the potential selectees. With their roster full, it’s unlikely the M’s will be clearing any room to take some gambles.
Forging Genius
Forging Genius (affiliate link) is the story of how Casey Stengel grew into being a great manager. Steve Goldman writes the Pinstriped Bible column and blog for the Yes Network’s website, and also writes for Baseball Prospectus.
It’s an enjoyable read, and I recommend it. Goldman’s done an outstanding job researching and writing the book, and it’s entertaining and enlightening. There are funny Stengel anecdotes, but what really comes across is how smart Stengel was beyond that sense of humor, and how even when he was losings and losing badly he was picking up things that might serve him later.
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Today’s insane market news
Konerko stays with the White Sox with a 5 year, $60m deal. This is crazy. And some of the stories floating around would have you believe that there was a 6 year deal from another team on the table.
Also, some reliever guy got some huge contract.
If Konerko gets 5/60, Giles… well, he’s not going to be a Mariner, folks.
Update! Giles re-signs with San Diego, reportedly for 3 years at $30 million. Compared even to Konerko’s deal, that’s low. Wow.