Offseason Baseball Thread

[Lawrence of Arabia]

$5 says he does worse this comin year than last year, but you would be an idiot to bet against me. any takers?

[Arrian]

You don't think Papelbon can be an effective 4th or 5th starter this year?

-Arrian

[Imran Siddiqui]

You mean like when you said the Red Sox were going to win the World Series in 2003?

(besides, who are you talking about?)

[Arrian]

To be fair, they came awfully close to the WS, and might have won had they made it. Switch ALCS managers and they win. That was probably the closest LCS ever.

edit: but yeah, who ARE you talking about? Renteria? Peralta? Wells?

-Arrian

[Lawrence of Arabia]

You don't think Papelbon can be an effective 4th or 5th starter this year?

-Arrian

he could, but theres too much money tied up in the others to justify them in the bullpen/ not playing. papelbon is young, has no ego, so can get moved around.

i was talkin about jhonny perlata.

[Arrian]

Peralta may take a step back - last year he had a pretty big breakout season - but I do think he's going to put up a good season anyway. He can take a step back and still be quite good.

As for Papelbon... well, yeah, but in theory you want your best players for a given role in that role... and I think Papelbon is probably the 4th or 5th best starter on the team, so that should be his job... maybe he and Arroyo (who has also been switched in/out of the pen) can shuffle between the rotation and the bullpen. Given the age of the other guys not named Beckett, you're gonna need some spare starters anyway...

-Arrian

[Arrian]

Damn

Giles resigns in San Diego - 3 years, $30 million

[Imran Siddiqui]

HA HA!

Yankees can't get everyone .

And besides, Giles likes California.

[flash9286]

Anybody know if Roger Clemons is going to pitch another year? How old is he now?

[Arrian]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
HA HA!

Yankees can't get anyone .

And besides, Giles likes California.

Fixed. This year, anyway. They can make due, however, with some relatively minor pickups, IMO. They just need to go and actually do that. They need to plug 1-2 lineup holes and shore up the bullpen. This can be done w/o Brian Giles, although getting him would have been nice.

...

Clemens: ask Andy Pettite. Clemens appears to do whatever Andy wants.

-Arrian

[reismark]

Originally posted by Arrian
Clemens: ask Andy Pettite. Clemens appears to do whatever Andy wants.

Clemens will be back, and I doubt he needed to be convinced much. He wants to pitch for the U.S. in the Classic, and I'd be shocked if he allowed his career to end on the note it did.

[Stuie]

Re: Offseason Baseball Thread

Originally posted by Stuie
And the Phillies are that much better for it. I'm liking Pat Gillick as a GM thus far.

Well, didn't take him long to make some poor moves.

Tom Gordon (38 years-old) for 3 years/$18 million. I had heard a Gavin Floyd for Danys Baez rumor... wish that had panned out.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AsDJNLPyqmcTZYlsRQ7RjVARvLYF?slug=ap-phillies-gordon&prov=ap&type=lgns

And he signs Sal Fasano to appearently take Todd Pratt's job - what a HUGE downgrade. Pratt is just all-around better than Fasano - better fielder, better hitter, more power, and he's nice to have in a brawl.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

still no CF or leadoff hitter for the yanks. if they cant get farnsworth, then they are in big trouble this year.

(the best yankee fans are those who wonder why they cant manage to trade jorge posada.)

[Arrian]

LoA - I wouldn't say they're in "big trouble" if they fail to get Farnsworth. I'm not that psyched about getting him, honestly. They do need some more bullpen guys, but I'm unconvinced that overpaying for a guy like Farnsworth is the way to go. I'd rather have "get to Mo by committee" and spend money elsewhere: CF and/or DH/1B.

The lineup & defense are actually bigger problems than the pitching, IMO. The 7-9 spots in the order were black holes last year, which went a long way toward ruining the incredible 1-5 spots. Turning 1-2 of those spots into productive hitters would be a big boost, and would go a long way toward overcoming bullpen problems. It's not OPTIMAL to have a weak mid-relief, I'll grant you, but given the market this year, I'm don't think it's wise to be grabbing desperately at the left-over scraps on the table. Best to work on other issues and come back to the bullpen in '07.

As for Posada - he's been a very good player for the Yankees, and it was inevitable that he would begin to decline. Last year was pretty shocking, because his patience vanished. I hope for a small rebound. The problem is that the front office has made no progress in finding a replacement for him, so when he fully collapses (this year? '07? '08?), the Yanks will be in Big Trouble. He's untradeable b/c of the contract, but overall (given the market at the time) they got pretty good value from him.

Stuie - yeah, 3 years for Gordon? Yikes. This is what I mean about this year's relief pitcher market. It's NUTS. Relievers, aside from a select few, are perhaps the most unpredictable players in baseball. It seems silly to me to pay top dollar for a guy who could easily suck, and, if he's good, will only pitch ~100 innings. Top-flight guys like Mo are worth more (although I think Mo is monstrously overpaid), but guys like Gordon? Maybe worth the per year amount, but not the risk of 3 years!! That makes the Mets 4-year gamble on Pedro look great (and hey, maybe it will work out, who knows).

-Arrian

[Imran Siddiqui]

And the fire sale continues... Marlins deal Castillo to the Twins for a couple of pitchers. ESPN.com said one could be Florida's closer, but obviously another fire sale deal.