Morenau Edges Jeter for AL MVP.
This is the reason that I put little stock in awards that are voted on. That one baseball writer actually had Jeter sixth on his ballot . . . words fail me . . . is beyond childish. That said, Morneau had a fine year, Jeter handled it in classy fashion, and again, take a look at your average baseball writer's work -- we should go nuts over some award they subjectively give out?
The Soriano Factor Kicks In Already.
Gary Matthews Jr. signs with Anaheim for 5 years at more than $10 million per. Juan Pierre joins up with the Dodgers for $44 million over 5 years. Frank Catalanato, yes the Frank Catalanato, signs with Texas for $13.5 million for four.
What's Barry Zito going to get -- $16 million a year? $17 million? Zito is, let's face it, a #3 starter . . . maybe a #2 in an otherwise indifferent rotation. The perenially underachieving JD Drew? Carlos Lee? All of them, and others, are headed into the MegaMillionaires Club thanks to the owners' giddiness over the new TV deal and extended labor peace.
Of course it can't last . . . a couple of years from now the owners will be back to clamoring for a salary cap, bemoaning their inability to make any money owning a baseball team, and I'll have to listen to more interviews with Bud Selig, wherein the Commissioner talks in ominous tones about how bad the game's financial situation is. Maybe by then it will sound funny again.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Monday, November 20, 2006
Business Must Be Good
Soriano signs with Cubs for 8 years, $136 million.
Word was that the Cubs were "going for it" in 2007. Word also was that Alfonso Soriano was looking for "Carlos Beltran money."
Well the Cubs are apparently going all out and Soriano has his Beltran money.
Rival GMs will be cursing the Cubs this offseason; the Soriano contract sets a market level that means that many average to slightly above-average free agents will be getting a lot more money this year than they otherwise might have.
But purely in baseball terms . . . is it a good signing?
Having seen the Alfonso Soriano show up close and personal for several years, I want no part of him. The most useful thing he did for the Yankees was get us A-Rod. He remains a tremendously gifted player with zero heart and zero hustle. He'll be 31 at the start of this contract . . . an eight-year deal? I know that these long-term deals are entered intp knowing the team get its money's worth up front and way overpays in the end years. But still . . . six years for $108 million wouldn't have done it?
But looking at it just in baseball terms . . .
This past season -- .277, 46 HRs, 95 RBI in 159 games. Nice home run numbers in a park not conducive to them. But . . . 95 RBI? Even on a bad team he coudn't figure out how to drive in 100? In his six years of playing full time, he's only driven in 100 runs twice, and five of those six years he played on great hitting teams.
And the biggest offensive issue with Soriano: 67 walks and 160 strikeouts. Soriano has the same holes in his swing he had as a rookie years ago. Why any pitcher throws him a fastball, ever, is beyond me. Discipline is a word unknown to him in his approach at the plate.
Defensivley, much was made of Soriano's 22 assists in the outfield this past year. Much less often mentioned is his 11 errors, trailing only Adam Dunn among MLB outfielders last year. Soriano doesn't care about defense and never has.
The rumor I've heard is that the Cubs intend to play Soriano in center field and to bat him leadoff. Those would be two massive mistakes. Hide Soriano in left field, where his defensive deficiencies hurt you the least. And you can't bat Soirano leadoff in a National League lineup -- him hitting 40 solo home runs isn't going to help the team very much overall. I'm assuming the Lou Piniella is smart enough to bat Soriano fourth, or fifth.
Soriano is a deeply flawed player capable of occaisionally astounding things. The Cubs massively overpaid . . . suddenly Jeter's $18 million a year begins to look like a bargain, not to mention the piece of A Rod's salary the Yankees are paying, by comparison.
Word was that the Cubs were "going for it" in 2007. Word also was that Alfonso Soriano was looking for "Carlos Beltran money."
Well the Cubs are apparently going all out and Soriano has his Beltran money.
Rival GMs will be cursing the Cubs this offseason; the Soriano contract sets a market level that means that many average to slightly above-average free agents will be getting a lot more money this year than they otherwise might have.
But purely in baseball terms . . . is it a good signing?
Having seen the Alfonso Soriano show up close and personal for several years, I want no part of him. The most useful thing he did for the Yankees was get us A-Rod. He remains a tremendously gifted player with zero heart and zero hustle. He'll be 31 at the start of this contract . . . an eight-year deal? I know that these long-term deals are entered intp knowing the team get its money's worth up front and way overpays in the end years. But still . . . six years for $108 million wouldn't have done it?
But looking at it just in baseball terms . . .
This past season -- .277, 46 HRs, 95 RBI in 159 games. Nice home run numbers in a park not conducive to them. But . . . 95 RBI? Even on a bad team he coudn't figure out how to drive in 100? In his six years of playing full time, he's only driven in 100 runs twice, and five of those six years he played on great hitting teams.
And the biggest offensive issue with Soriano: 67 walks and 160 strikeouts. Soriano has the same holes in his swing he had as a rookie years ago. Why any pitcher throws him a fastball, ever, is beyond me. Discipline is a word unknown to him in his approach at the plate.
Defensivley, much was made of Soriano's 22 assists in the outfield this past year. Much less often mentioned is his 11 errors, trailing only Adam Dunn among MLB outfielders last year. Soriano doesn't care about defense and never has.
The rumor I've heard is that the Cubs intend to play Soriano in center field and to bat him leadoff. Those would be two massive mistakes. Hide Soriano in left field, where his defensive deficiencies hurt you the least. And you can't bat Soirano leadoff in a National League lineup -- him hitting 40 solo home runs isn't going to help the team very much overall. I'm assuming the Lou Piniella is smart enough to bat Soriano fourth, or fifth.
Soriano is a deeply flawed player capable of occaisionally astounding things. The Cubs massively overpaid . . . suddenly Jeter's $18 million a year begins to look like a bargain, not to mention the piece of A Rod's salary the Yankees are paying, by comparison.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Subway gone; Britton "Eats Fresh"
Wright traded to Orioles for Chris Britton.
Jaret "Subway" Wright was dealt to Baltimore for Chris Britton. By doing so, the Yankees actually save a little money and get something in return for the failed Wright experiment as opposed to simply buying him out of the last year of his contract. Wright will be reunited with Leo Mazzone, with whom, as a Brave, he pitched most successfully.
Britton is 24, six years younger than Wright. He comes off his first season in the bigs having gone 0-2 with one save and a 3.35 ERA in 52 games for a bad team that mailed it in somwhere back in July. Not terrible. Britton should help the bullpen but he will stress the post-game food budget a bit -- the 6' 3" righthander tipped the scales at a Sabathia-like 278 by the end of the 2006 season.
Mets sign El Duque to two-year extension.
I thought this was a bit of an odd move at first, but then I read that the Mets actually save some money on this deal -- El Duque qualifies for Medicare Part B and thus the Mets won't have to provide expensive MLB health benefits for him.
Jaret "Subway" Wright was dealt to Baltimore for Chris Britton. By doing so, the Yankees actually save a little money and get something in return for the failed Wright experiment as opposed to simply buying him out of the last year of his contract. Wright will be reunited with Leo Mazzone, with whom, as a Brave, he pitched most successfully.
Britton is 24, six years younger than Wright. He comes off his first season in the bigs having gone 0-2 with one save and a 3.35 ERA in 52 games for a bad team that mailed it in somwhere back in July. Not terrible. Britton should help the bullpen but he will stress the post-game food budget a bit -- the 6' 3" righthander tipped the scales at a Sabathia-like 278 by the end of the 2006 season.
Mets sign El Duque to two-year extension.
I thought this was a bit of an odd move at first, but then I read that the Mets actually save some money on this deal -- El Duque qualifies for Medicare Part B and thus the Mets won't have to provide expensive MLB health benefits for him.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Let's Try This Again
I had to abandon this blog last season due to time constraints. I'm giving it another go . . . and now, with the off-season soon to heat up, seems a good time.
Yankees trade Sheffield.
Great move. I'm bemused by the talk-radio idiots, who continually rag the Yankees for:
1) Having a bad farm system (demonstrably not true, but that's another post)
2) Having too many older players
3) Having too many stars and not enough role-players
4) Having old and creaky starting pitching
So, the Yankees trade an aging "star" in exhange for three young pitching prospects. One could expect the talk radio goons to be overjoyed, that finally the Yankees are heeding their "wisdom."
Nope. I heard almost nothing but cirticism of the trade on WFAN and ESPN Radio.
The Yankees won 97 games with basically zero from Sheffield last year. He just turned 38, was going to make $13 million, and is prone to taking little vacations for weeks at a time. Those on talk radio who say, apparently with a straight face, that, "Sheffield plays hard every game" apparently didn't watch too many Yankee games. Sheffield gets in a sulk and dogs it badly at those times. Only when he's 1) playing for a new contract, and/or 2) is made to feel like the most important player in the history of the team he's playing for, does he give consistent effort.
It will only take a couple of months and six or seven would-be home runs to fall into outfielder's gloves in cavernous Comerica Park before Sheffield launches one of his personal "job actions." Having signed a two-year extension with Detroit for $28 million for the two years after this coming year, Sheffield has absolutely nothing to play for, knowing that his next time "free" he's 41 years old. Even that cross between Abner Doubleday and Dr. Schweitzer (eyeroll), Jim Leyland, won't be able to turn this sow's ear into a silk purse.
On the Yankees' side of the deal of course it's a risk. Pitching prospects are just that -- prospects. But you have to have four or five, often, to get one winner out of the bunch. And Humberto Sanchez just might be the real deal. And he was raised in the Bronx. Instant star if he can pitch at all on the big-league level.
Sports talk radio is fun to listen to sometimes, but really, it's hard to take seriously.
Carl Pavano Update.
Pavano is um, tanned, rested, and ready. Joe Torre says he's our fourth starter for 2007.
There are a lot of jokes I could make but none of them are as funny as that previous sentence above.
Yankees trade Sheffield.
Great move. I'm bemused by the talk-radio idiots, who continually rag the Yankees for:
1) Having a bad farm system (demonstrably not true, but that's another post)
2) Having too many older players
3) Having too many stars and not enough role-players
4) Having old and creaky starting pitching
So, the Yankees trade an aging "star" in exhange for three young pitching prospects. One could expect the talk radio goons to be overjoyed, that finally the Yankees are heeding their "wisdom."
Nope. I heard almost nothing but cirticism of the trade on WFAN and ESPN Radio.
The Yankees won 97 games with basically zero from Sheffield last year. He just turned 38, was going to make $13 million, and is prone to taking little vacations for weeks at a time. Those on talk radio who say, apparently with a straight face, that, "Sheffield plays hard every game" apparently didn't watch too many Yankee games. Sheffield gets in a sulk and dogs it badly at those times. Only when he's 1) playing for a new contract, and/or 2) is made to feel like the most important player in the history of the team he's playing for, does he give consistent effort.
It will only take a couple of months and six or seven would-be home runs to fall into outfielder's gloves in cavernous Comerica Park before Sheffield launches one of his personal "job actions." Having signed a two-year extension with Detroit for $28 million for the two years after this coming year, Sheffield has absolutely nothing to play for, knowing that his next time "free" he's 41 years old. Even that cross between Abner Doubleday and Dr. Schweitzer (eyeroll), Jim Leyland, won't be able to turn this sow's ear into a silk purse.
On the Yankees' side of the deal of course it's a risk. Pitching prospects are just that -- prospects. But you have to have four or five, often, to get one winner out of the bunch. And Humberto Sanchez just might be the real deal. And he was raised in the Bronx. Instant star if he can pitch at all on the big-league level.
Sports talk radio is fun to listen to sometimes, but really, it's hard to take seriously.
Carl Pavano Update.
Pavano is um, tanned, rested, and ready. Joe Torre says he's our fourth starter for 2007.
There are a lot of jokes I could make but none of them are as funny as that previous sentence above.
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