MLB - 2009 Regular Season Thread!!

[Imran Siddiqui]

Sheets isn't represented by Boras . Also, unlike Lowe, he hasn't had many people bite at him. He's seen (somewhat correctly) as a large injury risk. If you don't have a lot of competition, you can't drive the price up.

Sheets is getting looks from, AFAIK, Texas. And you've barely heard anything about him during the Hot Stove League.

Basically you offer him $10 mil (or less) and add incentives to drive it up.

[Ming]

He made 10 mil last year, and would have made far more if he had accepted the arbitration deal from Milw.
I don't think there is any way he will sign a 10 mil offer, even with incentives. Granted, he doesn't have the slime bucket Boras as an agent, but if somebody is willing to sign a 36 year old pitcher to a 4 year 60 mil deal, I'm sure somebody will risk far more than 10 mil a year to get somebody who pitched in the all star game last year

[Imran Siddiqui]

As had been said by many, the vast majority of players were fools this offseason for not accepting arbitration.

And of course they are all talking about Sheets being available for a bargain price. After all, aside from Texas, there has been no noise on him.

Hell, I read at MLBtraderumors.com that Milwaukee found Lowe to be too expensive, but they were considering a run at re-signing Sheets now.

In this market, when you can get Burrell for $8 mil per year and Bradley at $10 mil per year, Sheets may have to take far less than he thought.

[Ming]

More minor off season news...

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Right-hander Mark Prior, who has missed more than two full seasons because of shoulder problems, and infielder Chris Burke agreed to minor league contracts with the San Diego Padres on Tuesday and were invited to spring training.
Prior signed with the Padres as a free agent prior to the 2008 season but missed the entire year after undergoing surgery on his right shoulder on June 4, the latest medical setback to a once-promising career.

Prior also missed the 2007 season after undergoing surgery on the same shoulder that April.

He last pitched in the big leagues on Aug. 10, 2006, with the Chicago Cubs. He was 1-6 with a 7.21 ERA that season.

Padres general manager Kevin Towers said Prior threw off a mound on Friday for the first time since surgery, and the report from team trainer Todd Hutcheson was good.


"The last surgery benefited him a great deal," Towers said. "It looks like his mechanics are back in line again and he has good carries on his throws when he's doing long tosses.

"He's had quite a few surgeries, and we're hoping this one certainly fixed any issues he had," Towers said. "I hate to put any timelines on it, but we hope he's pitching competitively at the start of the season. If it's not in the big leagues, then maybe a few starts in the minor leagues."

Prior will make $1 million if he's on the big league roster. His salary is not guaranteed.

Prior was once thought to be the Cubs' ace of the future. In 2003, he finished third in the NL Cy Young Award voting, was 18-6 with a 2.43 ERA and struck out 245 in 211 ⅓ innings.

That October, he was on the mound for Game 6 of the NL championship series against Florida with the Cubs leading the series 3-2. Chicago led by three runs in the eighth inning before the Marlins, perhaps helped by fan Steve Bartman's play on a foul ball at Wrigley Field, rallied to win. Florida won Game 7, then went on to win the World Series.

Prior has won just 18 games since then.

He grew up in San Diego and was the second pick overall in the 2001 amateur draft.

Burke was with the NL West rival Arizona Diamondbacks last year, playing all four infield spots and both corner outfield positions. He batted .194 with two home runs and 12 RBI in 86 games. Burke was acquired by the Diamondbacks prior to the 2008 season from the Houston Astros.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

And in the WTF category...

ANAHEIM (AP) — The city of Anaheim is dropping its legal challenges to the name of the Angels.
Mayor Curt Pringle says the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to give up its battle to restore the team's name to the Anaheim Angels.

The city had argued that team owner Arte Moreno violated the city-owned stadium lease agreement when he changed the name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2005.

A California appeals court ruled against the city last month, and an Orange County Superior court jury sided with the team in 2006.

Pringle says city leaders believe the wrong court decision was made twice, but says "it's in everybody's best interest to take no further action."

Morons for evening bringing this to court in the first case...

And finally, in the totally silly category...

'Baracklyn' Cyclones host Obama bobblehead night

Yahoo! Buzz Digg Newsvine Reddit FacebookWhat's this?NEW YORK (AP) — Change you can believe in: A minor league team is swapping its name in tribute to Barack Obama.
The Brooklyn Cyclones will change their name to the "Baracklyn Cyclones" for June 23 and give away Barack Obama bobbleheads to the first 2,500 fans in honor of the new president.

Special red-white-and-blue jerseys will be worn by players and auctioned during the game, with proceeds going to the Jackie Robinson Foundation. The team, a Class A affiliate of the New York Mets, will have an "Economic Stimulus Package" from Jan. 20 — Inauguration Day — until Jan. 23, selling tickets at $5-$10, matching the levels of its inaugural season in 2001. Regular prices are $8-15.

In addition, the first 1,000 fans get free Band-Aids as part of "Universal Health Care," all fans named Barack get in for free, fans named McCain or Palin get free bleacher seats ("a bipartisan consolation prize") and any plumber named Joe gets two free tickets.

"One for himself, and one to 'spread the wealth' with a friend," the Cyclones said,

Fans will receive American flags when they leave, what the Cyclones called "a clear-cut exit strategy." The Cyclones are reserving four seats behind the plate for the first family, in case it can attend.

"Steve Cohen, our GM there, came up with it, and Dave Howard worked with him on it," Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon said Tuesday, referring to the Mets' executive vice president for business operations. "They ran it by me. I said if you think this is going to be good for ticket sales and you like it, let's go. It created a little bit of excitement."

The Mets aren't worried of running out of the bobbleheads.

"We could make it Baracklyn week," Wilpon said. "We'll keep ordering bobbleheads if the people if the people come coming."

Cohen said he was struck by the similarity between "Barack" and "Brooklyn."

"The president-elect's message is one of change," Cohen said. "In an effort to pay homage to that idea, we're changing our prices, our policies, and the name of our team — for one day, at least."

[rah]

I predict that sheets will get 40mil for 3 years. It won't happen for at least a month.

How about a few other definative predictions?
Predict how much, how long, and when.

[Arrian]

Seriously? $40MM guaranteed? 3 years? Seriously?

I very much doubt it. Someone will take a chance on him, but not that big a chance.

I could see someone giving him a contract similar to Smoltz. But he's younger, so...

1 year of $5MM guaranteed plus more if he meets IP benchmarks (if all goes well, total of $10MM), with a team option for a second year at $12MM. That's a total guess...

-Arrian

[Imran Siddiqui]

Breaking news!!

Bonds May Not Be Guilty After All

Wow!

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AmVKR0i8rg8m8d1YjOnOr8c5nYcB?slug=li-clear011409&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Taking the Clear – the star drug of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative – was not a crime, according to expert testimony included in grand jury documents.

Not only was the performance-enhancing drug tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) not specifically banned when athletes squirted “The Clear” under their tongues to gain an edge, the testimony also indicates that the drug wasn’t categorized by the Justice Department as a steroid until January 2005, long after the drug laboratory had been shuttered.

Yahoo! Sports has examined sealed grand jury testimony given by drug-testing expert Dr. Donald Catlin in 2003 and BALCO lead investigator Jeff Novitzky in 2004. Both men testified that THG was not a steroid according to the federal criminal code. Furthermore, Novitzky testified that “there’s never been any studies to show whether or not THG does, in fact, enhance muscle growth.”

More than two months after Bonds testified, the government dropped clues that it was aware that the Clear was legal – and not a steroid. Buried in the February 2004 BALCO indictment of Conte, the government charged that the Clear or THG lacked directions in its labeling and was a “‘designer steroid’ or ‘steroid-like derivative,’ which would provide ‘steroid-like’ effects without causing the athlete to test positive for steroids.”

“And that’s the problem that we’ve run into with THG and which Dr. Catlin testified to the grand jury, is that there’s never been any studies to show whether or not THG does, in fact, enhance muscle growth.”

If Novitzky’s understanding of the law is correct, the fact that no studies had been done on the substance meant that possessing or taking THG was not a crime. However, the FDA announced Oct. 28, 2003, that THG was “an unapproved new drug” and could not be “legally marketed without FDA approval.”

Major news organizations announced that the FDA had ruled THG an illegal steroid. But all the FDA had done was to rule that THG was not a dietary supplement and therefore could not be legally marketed without FDA approval.

“I don’t understand why the government would seek an indictment after obtaining Catlin’s expert testimony that the Clear was not a steroid,” Cannon said. “Why come up with an indictment based on an ambiguous definition?”

Again, just wow.

[snoopy369]

I predict that sheets will get 40mil for 3 years. It won't happen for at least a month.

How about a few other definative predictions?
Predict how much, how long, and when.

1 year, $5m guaranteed
$5m in incentives
Team option for 2nd and 3rd year at $15M and $20M respectively.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Btw, Kerry Wood is a class act:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090118&content_id=3748809&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb&partnerId=rss_mlb

CHICAGO -- Kerry Wood said thank you to Cubs fans and bid farewell on Sunday in full page advertisements in two Chicago newspapers.

--

In Sheets news, the Mets seem to be looking at him now if they can't get Oliver Perez:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090118&content_id=3748835&vkey=hotstove2008&fext=.jsp&partnerId=rss_mlb

If Perez and the Mets come to terms, of course, all of this is moot. Yet if a three-year, $30 million contract reportedly isn't enough to bring back Perez, a client of agent Scott Boras, then the Mets will apparently be ready to explore their other possibilities.

Seems to indicate that 3 years at $30mil is what they are prepared to offer at most, including to Sheets.

[Arrian]

And that strikes me as too much for sheets (too much guaranteed money, anyway).

-Arrian

[Supr49er]

I'm still surprised that Manny Ramirez isn't signed by anyone yet.
Maybe there is finally a backlash against Scott Boras.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I believe Boras is sticking to his prior used strategy of waiting it out. He's at least going to get $20 million. They are going to see if he can get $25 mil.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Oh, also, Jeff Kent is retiring today:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3849334

And it looks like his next stop with be in the Hall of Fame. Probably the greatest hitting 2B since Joe Morgan hung 'em up.

[Supr49er]

I believe Boras is sticking to his prior used strategy of waiting it out. He's at least going to get $20 million. They are going to see if he can get $25 mil.

I bet they won't get the six year deal they originally wanted though.
Didn't the Dodgers offer 2 years at $25M per?

[Imran Siddiqui]

I bet they won't get the six year deal they originally wanted though.
Didn't the Dodgers offer 2 years at $25M per?

Dodgers offered 2 years at $22 mil per, IIRC.