Zenny

A's and Dodgers.

If by "about it" you mean "they have a lot more that I don't know about or give them credit for" then I agree.

Tino's a Homo from Tino's Gigantic ******* That wasn't me, I swear.

I honestly cannot think of a position that we could significantly upgrade. I really like the way this team looks. Call me crazy, but they really seem to be going with the "Patriot Mentality" perfected by Bill Belichick with the Pats when building this team. They're looking for team players and cheap deals. We got three starters (Clement, Wells and Miller) at a base salary identical to what Pedro is getting from the Mets. Guys like Trot Nixon, Mark Bellhorn, Bronson Arroyo, David Ortiz and Bill Mueller are all on cheap contracts and are all very productive. They're also putting more stock into the farm system, just as the Patriots have been getting fantastic useage out of their drafts. I love how things are shaking down in New England sports right now (except for the Celtics and Bruins, but we'll forget they exist).

It's not all about upside. Reggie Abercrombie has some of the best tools in the minors in the Dodgers system and he has the potential to be Carlos Beltran... if he puts it all together. The chance of Reggie Abercrombie becoming Carlos Beltran? 0.01%. You can't rate a player purely on what he could be, but also what he has done to put it all together. That's why I want to see more from Hall before I can consider him that high on the list. First off, I just want to say welcome and it's nice to have someone to talk prospects with who knows more than average. I want to address the above statement I quoted from you. That's the basis of my argument for Papelbon. His stuff is really very good. Forget the age and forget the performance (I know it's not really smart to do that, but bear with me here for a minute) and think about the caliber of pitches he possesses. To quote Greg Maddux (indirectly) a pitcher is 4 things: velocity, control, movement and knowledge of how to pitch. The first three can only be indirectly measured in statistics and need to be looked at via scouting reports. By all accounts, he has the first three in spades. He consistently throws in the mid-90's and counters that with two very good and one slightly above average offspeed pitches. That takes care of velocity. Baseball America said that Papelbon has the best slider in the Sox system. Granted, it's a weak system to be judging sliders on, but by all scouting reports he has very good movement on it. Add to that a very good slurve and a solid changeup, both with good movement, and he has the movement aspect covered. As far as control goes, this is probably the area he needs to work most on. He can throw all four pitches for strikes rather consistently, but he did have 40+ walks in 130 IP last year. Good, but room for improvement. In my mind, and the minds of many others, pitchability is measured in the stats a pitcher produces based upon the stuff the pitcher has. Papelbon knows how to pitch looking at what he did last year. Yes, he was a little bit older than the field (by 1 or 2 years, not 2 or 3), but considering how late his start was as a pitcher, you can put him on the same plane as the rest. Also, Papelbon should've been brought up to Portland midway through last year, but they wanted him to hone his offspeed stuff with Coach Nip in Sarasota last season and wait the extra year to put him on the fast track. Next year, he should spend half the season in Portland, the other half in Pawtucket and September in Boston.

I agree. I think Hall has great upside, but I want to see him put it all together first before I'd rank him that high on the list. If this was purely an upside list, he'd be close to the top. If it was about greatest chance to reach potential, he'd be way at the bottom. Also, why do you think Papelbon would be MR fodder if not in Boston by September? So what if he's going to be 24 at AA next year, that's not really all that awful. A guy who K's that many, BB's that few, allows minimal amounts of homeruns and has had no past arm trouble with the great stuff he has should be a lot more than just "MR fodder". If he continues on his current career path, he's Curt Schilling without the early career control crisis.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story...=bayless/041223 This is the perfect article to summarize everything about Oakland's offseason. He's dead-on.

I prefer a healthy Mientkiewicz (look at his '03 OBP), but I think he'll be the one sent out. Realistically, it's about who offers the best package for what guy. Mientkiewicz's defense makes him more attractive, but teams could potentially be scared off by the poor offensive year he had this year (but he really is a better hitter than that).

You were had! I bought them used on eBay!

One might also say that somone who wants to Dodge a pregnancy may pull out before their seed is released... Oh, I had so many dirty thoughts after reading this thread title.

Hi.

The Sox should make a run at Wade Miller. He was just non-tendered by the Astros. Great stuff, but has a tendency to get wild and is injury prone. Wait, I take that back. Forget Wade Miller.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/athletics/ci_2491963 This might be the most ignorant article I've ever read. I hope this man is unable to reproduce to save us the hassle.

Ishii would be the worst starting pitcher in the American League should this go through.

Sheets was only 25 last season while Pavano was 28. Sheets has much better raw stuff that Pavano cannot match (he doesn't throw 95-98 like Sheets and doesn't have a hammer curveball). Combine that with the amazing raw stats that BSR provided and you have an incredible pitcher, while Pavano is merely a good pitcher.

He's looking to reload. Beane has only a small amount of money to utilize to maintain a competitive team. He cannot be expected to maintain these guys as they get older because they just get more expensive. Young players are always cheap and can normally be relied on to be better year after year. If same team wasn't going to win the West last season, why would they do it this year with even less certainties from their starters? Plus, check out the peripheral stats on all three of the "Big 3" and look at how sharply they are declining, Hudson included. None of them are what they used to be. Also, Hudson and Mulder have had injury problems in their own right. Granted, I do believe both will have better '05 seasons than '04 seasons, but that is going to have more to do with the NL effect (and Leo Mazzone in Hudson's case) than it will with either of these guys getting better in their own right. Zito, on the other hand, is going to be average for the A's or likely suck if traded to the Orioles (here's to hoping).

I tend to do that.

I actually really like this trade for Oakland. 1) Mulder is overrated, getting more expensive and has a troublesome hip. His 4.43 ERA is wholly average. 2) Haren has a very good arm, is only 24 and has had nice peripheral stats at all levels. 3) Kiko Calero is a significant bullpen upgrade which allows them to non-tender some of the older, expensive guys (Chad Bradford, etc.) or move them on for some prospects. 4) Daric Barton is not just some no name. Just because you haven't heard of him doesn't mean that he sucks. He had a 66/44 BB/K ratio last year which is nearly unheard of to get that kind of amazing plate discipline out of a 19 year-old. Not to mention he hit over .300 (that's for you guys who can't look past BA/HR/RBI) with 23 doubles and 13 homeruns. That's with more power coming because he's only 19. He's likely not going to stay at catcher (or, if Dan Johnson works out as a 1B, in the A's organization), but he's going to be useful as a future regular for the A's (even potential All-Star) or as great trade bait. All of Beane's Big 3 pitchers have had declining peripheral stats over the last few years. They've been allowing more runners on base (hits and walks) and striking out fewer people. Beane got a fantastic package out of another overrated player. I'd love to see them move Zito along for guys like Erik Bedard, Hayden Penn and John Maine from Baltimore to make sure that the Orioles continue to suck for another decade.

I'm in shock that the Marlins would be stupid enough to consider David Dellucci "left-handed power". My God, the Arlington effect is pathetic.

When healthy, Magglio Ordonez is a fantastic outfielder. The only team that I've heard with more than marginal interest in him was the Rangers, but that was before they signed Hidalgo. That interest is gone now. This is retarded, more teams should want this guy.

No, I would not say Pavano. If you were a member of NetSports, you would have seen that I have liked Clement over Pavano as a Red Sox since the trading deadline when we were rumored to get Clement for Nomar. You know why Clement won 9 games and Pavano won 18 games? Run support. You're going to come back with "bt teh cubz hev uh bttr offns tehn de mrlinz", but run support varies from pitcher to pitcher. Ben Sheets was the third best pitcher in baseball this season and went 12-14. Anyone who judges a pitcher on wins is an idiot and that goes for much of the mainstream media as well. ERA, WHIP and K/9 is where it's at.

BSR is right. Clement had a 1.60 groundball to flyball ratio, which is better than Pavano's 1.43. Also, Clement had a 9.45 K/9 as opposed to Pavano's 5.63. On top of that, batters only hit .229 off Clement against the .253 off Pavano. Granted, Clement does walk more people, but he will also get the benefit of having more double plays behind him to back him up. Let's also look at things this way: Matt Clement had one of the worst infield defenses in baseball behind him while Pavano had one of the best defensive middle infields of our generation. Also, Clement pitched in a small ballpark in front of packed houses in the country's #3 market while Pavano pitched in one of baseball's best pitchers' parks with 10,000 people a night to watch. For a right-handed pitcher, Fenway is a bit easier to pitch in than Wrigley. For a right-handed pitcher, Yankee Stadium is much more difficult than Pro Player. Both have to make the NL to AL switch, so that's a wash. Less length, less money, less commitment. I like this move a lot.

Pedro is the best pitcher I've ever seen. Pre-'01 Pedro was simply mystifying. He shall be missed, but I'm glad we won't have to be paying his medical bills from now on.

Only '03 and '04 were injury related (Tommy John). The rest were because he was 22 (1999) or 23 (2000) and inexperienced. Plus, the fact that he's already had Tommy John as a young pitcher reduces the risk that he could potentially have it while under contract with us.

I don't see why Burnett has such a huge injury prone reputation. Tommy John Surgery should make him better than ever, as his monthly splits proved from this year. I don't see him as much of a risk.