hot stove 2011-2012

First topic message reminder :

thought it would be good to have a thread to discuss this winters trades and free agency

first big moves of the off-season haven't involved players tho with theo epstein moving to the cubs and cherington taking over as GM in boston

couple of interesting articles on mlb.com about what their priorities for the off-season were likely to be , one thing that jumped out at me as a yankee fan about boston's needs is that they will mainly be looking for starting pitching and maybe a right fielder which is probably the same thing the yankees are. good news for the players who will be in the frame as a bidding war between the redsox and yankees will push their paychecks up

biggest names in the frame for free agency are pujols and fielder, pujols will probably re-sign with the cards i think even if they dont go on to win the world series, they have showed themselves to be a pretty good outfit in the second half and will have wainwright back in the rotation next year.

yeah giving a 10 year contract to a guy who turns 32 next month and has had some injury problems over the last couple of years is a huge risk tbh

angels sign cj wilson as well so a big week for them and another big investment

thats them got $40M invested in those 2 players alone for the next 5 years

rich,
I think the rest of baseball will feel that the Angels and, possibly, the Marlins have over-reached although both may possibly be well-placed to unload some names, Hanley Ramirez for one, adroitly so that there is some addition by subtraction.

At the moment, I'm happy the Yanks have repeated their trade deadline act of keeping their wallets closed. Though not sure how the process with the Japanese pitcher will evolve.

kwinigolfer wrote:I wonder if the Cards are pondering the old saw that some of the best deals are those you don't make?

Some franchise owners don't seem to get it with these mega-long contracts, especially for players demonstrably on the downside of their careers.
Having said that, at least Pujols can DH for the Angels which obviously raises his value to an AL Team as opposed to an NL outfit.

A fortune poorly invested in my eyes.

Indeed kwinigolfer. Pujols, who is 32 next month, has a "full no trade clause", He can now semi-retire in the DH spot in So-Cal right now and draw his big salary for the next 10 years. I doubt anyone (maybe the Yanks someday ) will be picking this contract up. In 2021 the Angles will be paying a 41 year old millions for little or no production. Ten years is crazy but if teams are willing to throw money at 30+ players, you sure cant blame a player for snaping their hands off in a deal like that.

Angles also do a deal with CJ Wilson. 5 years, $77.5m

kwinigolfer wrote:
At the moment, I'm happy the Yanks have repeated their trade deadline act of keeping their wallets closed. Though not sure how the process with the Japanese pitcher will evolve.

Seeing that you mention Darvish, I read that he will be starting a biding war for the rights to talk to him, no doubt looking for a similar $51m that Dick-K got for his 'interview' in '06. Texas and the Yanks set to show an interest. Also coming out of Japan, The Yankees won the negotiating rights to shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima of the Seibu Lions on Wednesday. The posting fee for the 29-year-old was $2.5 million. I know nothing about this guy, any info?

hes a .300 career hitter i think and did well at the last WBC

bit of a surprise as hes at best going to be backup and the yanks already have pena and nunez as cover for SS, 2nd and 3rd which is basically the positions nakajima will cover

still think the yanks need another starter as relying on AJ and hughes is a bit scary imo, wonder if they might be signing this guy to give them some legroom for trades with nunez or pena included

rich,
Lots of chat about AJ being traded, but perhaps Cashman has planted the story in hope of drumming up some interest!
I'm ambivalent about him given that we'll be paying for him anyway. .500 pitcher who can eat up innings is not all bad.

Do you think this is the start of a power shift in LA now the Angels have Pujols?

Dave,
The Angels are in the process of concluding a mega-TV deal with Fox; might be the turbo-charger for their ambition. But to suggest Pujols elevates their team significantly is a bit of a reach in my book; Wilson too, though they have the makings of a very tasty-looking rotation now.

i think in the short term pujols would make almost any team better , the question mark is whether he will still be a $25mill per year player in 5 or 6 years time as the yankees are maybe finding out with arod

certainly makes the AL west interesting next year where the rangers depsite winning the AL pennant the last 2 years might not even be favourites for their own division next year now

i see the cards have re-signed furcal , do they now have to go for fielder to replace pujols ?

rich,
I wouldn't touch Fielder if I was an NL GM, unless it was a 4-year contract or less. He'll be as mobile as Ortiz by the time he's 30, surely?

I don't give Pujols that many years of high productivity, is he really that big an upgrade on a $5M great fielding 1st baseman? Not to underestimate his last ten years of high performance but, as you say, even A-Rod who's much more athletic has declined noticeably these past couple of years.

thing is the cards fans will be desperate to see a big name brought in to replace pujols and fielder is arguably the biggest name left , sometimes GMs do things for all the wrong reasons

is kendry morales fit again for the angels , i didn't see much of them last year so dont know if he played much or not , he looked a decent player at first base before that freak leg break he had

yahoo sports reporting Ryan Braun has tested positive for PED's.
Good Lord!
Makes one wonder then if Fielder all of a sudden becomes a more attractive proposition for the BrewCrew to re-sign.
Regardless, didn't see that coming.

braun seems to be vehemently proclaiming his innocence even tho he cant go into detail at this point in time

mlb.com has an article that answered my kendry morales question , he is eligible for arbitration and they are meant to be considering offering him a contract even tho he has missed 18 months with that broken leg, he still isn't 100% fit tho and will have to prove his fitness in spring training

The Hot Stove is decidedly cold.

Jed Lowrie to Houston slipped under my radar (even as I sit here on the northern borders of Red Sox Nation) and Cuddyer signing with the Rockies doesn't really do it.

If it hadn't been for the Fish and the Halos, you'd've thought the Stove switch was completely turned off.

Reports that Rollins has re-signed with the Phillies, 3 yrs for $33K with some sort of option for Year 4.
Pretty good value for Philly I'd think, not that he seemed likely to go anywhere else.

Would think Cardinals must be pretty pleased at getting 2 yrs of Beltran at $26M total to replace 10 yrs of Pujols for $250M.
But Berkman had better put on a better show at first base than his little cameo in 2010 for the Yanks.

And: With Cahill and Gonzalez flying the Oakland coop, wonder what Billy Beane's new policy is called? Obviously not Moneyball.

Look for the Jays to be big spenders now that they have lost out to Texas for Darvis. Lind is no kind of protection for Bautista so Fielder could be a good bet for them, if they want to substantially improve their line-up.

Bullpen is however their biggest weakness.

Bit strange that Texas and Jays both (reportedly) bid just under $51m, with Texas just outbidding the Jays.

More winter-cleaning by Billy Beane - will he ever stop?
Andrew Bailey unloaded to the Red Sox for Josh Reddick and a prospect.
Will likely hurt the A's more than it helps the infernal Red Sox.

Lots of chat that the Washington Nationals are looking to make an offer to Prince Fielder, who is countering with the suggestion that he wants a Pujols-type contract.
(If he gets it, Washington, like the Angels, have more money than sense, especially given that the Nationals are an NL team; can only imagine Fielder's mobilty in five years' time - will make his name an oxymoron.)

Reports from Tweetdom that Jorge Posada has announced his retirement.

The right decision for him and for baseball I would think. A great career, but not a Hall Of Fame career methinks.

Torre to own the Dodgers?


http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/story/_/id/7423044/joe-torre-quits-mlb-job-attempt-buy-los-angeles-dodgers

Don Mattingly will be pleased if Torre's group is successful. (Talking of players with great careers but not Hall Of Fame credentials.)

Yankees sign kuroda on a $10M one year contract.

Yankees trade Montero to the Mariners for Michael Pineda, pending physicals.

No room now for Andy Pettitte with:
Sabatthia
Hughes
Novo
Pineda
Kuroda
Burnett
Garcia
etc etc.

kwinigolfer wrote:Yankees sign kuroda on a $10M one year contract.

Yankees trade Montero to the Mariners for Michael Pineda, pending physicals.

No room now for Andy Pettitte with:
Sabatthia
Hughes
Novo
Pineda
Kuroda
Burnett
Garcia
etc etc.

been expecting a trade like that all winter tbh , the yankees obviously dont see montero as being a major league catcher and with romine and sanchez in the system he was always going to be traded imo as i think girardi prefers to have the DH slot available to rotate starters rather than have a dedicated DH anyway. i was kinda hoping it would be hernandez rather than pineda but that was probably too much too hope for and pineda did look very very good last year on a struggling team

rotation looks alot more solid now but i am wondering where hughes fits in tbh, you wouldn't think there was any room for him in the bullpen either with robertson/soriano there already as setup guys for rivera

the other trade i thought we might see was someone looking for a closer trading for soriano and hughes moving to the bullpen not sure whether the yankees see soriano as takig over from rivera after next year tho

Hi rich, Happy New Year!

Consensus round here is that Pineda could be very, very good.

Remember Kuroda and Garcia are only on one-year contracts. Would think Girardi will be content with this lot, Burnett clearly expendable. But I hope they'll find an opportunity for Hughes.
And Feliciano is presumably another bullpen option, eventually.

Glad the Montero situation is resolved, agree with yr assessment on Girardi's preferences for DH.

Hope Jane and Healer update us on what they see in Boston . . . .

happy new year to you too

been a bit busy with other things and got myself a new PC and forgot to add this site back to my favourites :-s

the kuroda one is a bit strange imo. i haven't seen alot of him but even tho its only for one year, $10-11M is quite alot of money for someone when we in theory already had 6 guys for 5 places, and now 7.

do you think they will try to just get rid of AJ and take the hit on his salary and try to at least get some prospects back for him from someone desperate for a starter.

CC , pineda and nova seem certain in the rotation, kuroda has to get a spot after going out and giving him that money for one year, so that would mean garcia, hughes and AJ for one spot. and again they just resigned garcia so he must be favourite unless hughes and/or AJ have great springs.

I would think Girardi would just be pleased to know he's got seven proven starters going in to spring training and let the chips fall where they may. If someone comes in for Burnett, all well and good, but otherwise you can't have too much pitching.
I'd hate for Hughes to become the next Kennedy.

Kuroda - hard as nails. Easily our #2.

A's have signed Bartolo Colon on a one-year contract.
To replace Cahill, Gonzalez and reliever Andrew Bailey?

colon did a decent job for us last year but his age and weight caught up with him down the stretch , could be a good long reliever and occasional starter imo but i am not sure he can take a spot in a rotation any more

wonder how much having boras as an agent is affecting what is happening with fielder, is boras holding out for the 10 year contract and no-trade clause and thats putting teams off? the nats seem to have the most serious interest but it would be madness for an NL team to sign fielder for the long term when they dont have the option of moving him to DH at some point.

bit of talk of what the yankees will do with the DH after trading montero, saw links to damon, matsui and even bringing posada back, also carlos pena being mentioned. personally i would like to see us bring chavez back for another year and between him and jones it gives us good cover and good options for rotating the DH between them or giving guys like tex and arod days at DH as well.

Fielder was said to be talking to Texas last week but haven't seen any follow up.

I like Chavez a lot, never lets anyone down and agree that that's the best use of the DH slot; add Jeter and Cano to the guys who need a rest just occasionally.

I'd like the Yanks to keep their cheque-book closed now, unless it's to sign Chavez - let everyone else spend themselves into oblivion.

Detroit report Victor Martinez out for most of the 2012 season with an ACL tear.

And, not to be outdone, Boston report Carl Crawford has undergone wrist surgery which is likely to keep him out for the first week or three of the season.

dont know what to make of the AL central atm , detroit looked to be overwhelming favourites on paper and probably still are despite this injury to martinez

none of the other teams seem to have done anything significant this winter imo and this looks to be the weakest of the three divisions in the AL by far

could this be KC's year to win the division with the young players they have been bringing through ?

The wires are saying Chamberlain and Robertson have signed new one-year contracts.

We were talking to a KC fan earlier this week - he's very, VERY! optimistic for the new season.

Another question: Was Ozzy holding the White Sox back, or keeping their head above water?
Guess we'll know soon enough.

so rangers get darvish , how much of a risk is spending $120M on a guy who has never played at this level even tho his nymbers in japan are extremely good.

was reading an article about ichiro and how he prepared for the move to america. for example, in japan because they dont have the same issues with distance for away games teams tend to just stay at home the night before and travel on the day of the game, ichiro started adopting the sort of routine he would face in america with travelling the night before etc etc. he said this prepared him better for the transition.

texas does have a little bit of a track record with japanese players bt they were all fringe players really, not assuming the role of the staff ace like darvish looks like he will have to do following wilson's departure.

around 4 weeks til spring training and still no team for fielder as well.

rich,
Brett Gardner signed yesterday avoiding arbitration. Very happy with the NYY business so far.

Meanwhile opportunities for Fielder will become more limited as the weeks go by - increasingly difficult to see where he might be destined.

Love the story of the Indians' Carmona. Or whatever his name/age finally reveals itself to be!

and that he may be 3 years older than everyone thought he was

yeah i'm fairly happy with what the yankees have done as well , i know there has been some concerns about losing montero but we are well covered at catcher i think so could afford to give him up

i had reservations about gardner when he first broke into the team, didn't think his hitting was good enough and would have liked to see us keep melky instead but he has improved alot of the last couple of years and hopefully can continue to do so

looks like posada is going to officially announce his retirement tomorrow

possibly one year too late imo but no doubting the guy is a class act and will have a monument out in centre field at some point in the future

hard to be objective as a yankee fan about his HoF credentials, his numbers alone maybe fall short but his part of a dominant yankee team and those 5 rings he has surely bring him into serious consideration

I'd bracket Posada and Bernie Williams pretty much together as HOF candidates, close but not quite. But I'll always feel that World Series achievements play second fiddle to longevity which, in most cases, is just extending a career where performance has dropped off significantly.

See Scutaro has exited Boston - they still haven't replaced Nomar! Yankees be warned; Jeter can't go on for ever.

Well, That's one way to replace Victor Martinez. Detroit getting a Fielder according to reports on yahoo. Good luck!

that makes detroit a serious player for this year imo

good pitching and having fielder and cabrera at 3 and 4 , always thought fielder would end up at an AL team and there weren't too many other options for him

Agree about Detroit, love watching Verlander pitch.

And word that Roy Aswalt is likely to sign with the Cards - looks like a very good fit.

Boone Logan signs for the Yanks avoiding arbitration - I suppose that's a good thing. Pitching looks pretty secure. Now, if we could just get productivity out of 3rd base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Now stories that Oswalt is speaking to Texas - both make sense, close-ish to his Mississippi home, but would think he'd prefer National League.
Regardless, Roy, make up your mind!

reports that AJ could be on his way to pittsburgh

Not really bothered abouyt AJ, whether he goes or stays, but if they trade him I'd like to see Swisher on the same ticket and hope that a young Bucs arm and/or outfielder can be attracted.

Glad to see the Red Sox settled with Ortiz for $14.5+M; makes ARod look a bargain!

rich: I'm running a WGC and Majors fantasy game on the Golf Board if you're interested.

i thought he was surplus to requirements after we signed pineda and kuroda so if we can get shot of him and get some payroll room for another bat i would be happy


is the first event in that the matchplay that starts on the 22nd ?

Yup, I'll get a thread up as a "sticky" before week's end.

i might give it a try altho i am a little out of touch with golf atm

you'd be in good company . . . . !

Nothing to do with hot stove, but sad to read of Gary Carter's death. 57.