jacksonianmarch

it depends. If he regresses back to his career norms then its a steal of him. A 1b who can OPS .830 and hit 15 homers is not worth 10 mil a yr. If he continues to punish AL pitching like he did last yr, then the sox just got a steal

It buys out his first 2 yrs of FA if the option is picked up. He had 3 more yrs of arb remaining.

Why should he take a paycut? Why should the sox pay less than market value seeing as they are the second most profitable baseball team? If I were Bay, I'd want 6-8 yrs and 15-20 mil a season. If Adam Dunn finds work in the 15 mil range, then Bay should want 18. If Manny gets 25 mil a yr, then Bay should want 20. This offseasons market is changing. But if he is the #1 prize on the FA market at a young age, he shouldnt sell himself short. Remember, Holliday still needs to prove he can do it outside coors.

Frank Thomas is a similar case. He's a guy who never lost the power, but the average went into the shitter once his health did. In his age 33 season, he had only 60 or so ABs. And over the next 7 seasons, he was only able to DH for over 500ABs through 3 of them. Before his age 33 season, he only had one yr where his BA was below .300. After the age 33 season, his highest BA was .277 and the majority sat in the .260 range. Listen man, I dont think Ortiz is gonna fall off a cliff here and be a mendoza line hitter with no eye or power. Even in his diminished form last yr his OPS was .876. I just have a high suspicion that he might not get back to the 1.000+ OPS seasons of his prime. Mostly because his wrist looked like problem #1 last yr. I could not believe the ease with which he was handled in the postseason. It used to be anything hard up and in could get by him if he didnt foul it off, but miss and you're dead. Last postseason, though anything hard got by him. His bat was incredibly slow, therefore leading to the conclusion on here that he needed surgery. He didnt. It was structurally sound, just inflamed. Not sure how that will pertain to this yr, but with the knee that will be balky at increasing intervals and a mysterious wrist injury that turned him into a slider speed bat hitter I do not expect to see him putting up vintage numbers.

this is why abreu wasnt offered arb apparently. He would have demanded at least 16 mil if he accepted. Instead, the way the market is looking, he might need to accept 16 mil over 2 yrs

we have both a 1st and 2nd rounder from not signing our guys from last yr

http://www.fannation.com/si_blogs/hot_stove/posts/40702-garcia-attracting-interest Saying that the Yankees are one of 4 teams interested in signing Freddy Garcia. When he is healthy, he's a horse. And right now, he should be as healthy as he ever will be. That being said, he's status post rotator cuff surgery and the last time he threw he barely touched 90 for a max. I dont like the idea unless there is another pitcher on the horizon.

they wont be. The player needs to sign by June

Bay is a more complete hitter and fielder than Dunn.

I would not be surprised if they altered the CBA when it comes to draft pick compensation in a couple yrs when they bargain again. We are seeing a lot of cases of players who are type A FAs who are getting jobbed because most teams do not want to lose their first round picks. Guys like Juan Cruz and Jason Varitek are essentially getting squeezed out of the majors by this rule. I could see the players association bargaining the picks out of the first round and into the supplemental round. A Type A player gets 2 supplemental picks, while a type B player gets 1. That would leave all the rounds untouched in the draft while giving adequate compensation to teams losing their players.

so they would trade two young, high impact offensive players who are under control for a few more yrs for an old, overpaid, significantly overpriced player and they'd refill the other spot with a rookie? Thats stupid

the only way the brewers deal fielder and hardy is if they are in full out rebuild mode and getting an older, overpaid SS in the deal doesnt help them at all

Michael Young and Derek Jeter are very similar players. High BA, good doubles, high run scored guys. But they share one other thing. Their defense is just awful. Both have good hands to handle the routine plays but their range makes them liabilities at the SS position. Both should be either second basemen or third basemen.

Bye Varitek.

And I understand that the sox are trying a new philosophy this yr. Improve depth and you will improve your club. But when the #1 reason for this needed depth is the sox injury filled 2008, how does adding 3 currently injured MLB vets help with that predicament? And another thing it can cause, it can create a rift where there wasnt one previously. If any of these guys become a player the sox are relying on and THEN they go down, you create a hole that could have been filled by someone from start to finish. I know, its a bit esoteric. But consider this. Penny fills in at #4 with Buch in AAA. He's solid for a month, then the shoulder flares again. Insert Buchholz until Smoltz is ready. No matter how Buch is doing he goes to AAA, Smoltz comes up, is good for a month, then goes down with fatigue. Up comes Buchholz again. You're yanking this kid around knowing he will get yanked around from the getgo. And for a guy with some maturity issues, that may not sit well with him. I think the sox needed to fill their #4 slot in the rotation with a guy they could count on starting 30 games. That would give Masterson, Buchholz and Bowden defined roles from beginning to end. Instead, they are all due to be yanked around and out of their schedules due to the sox added injured depth.

No, they decided to cut bait because they didnt think he'd be healthy. If being on the DL is sucking then yeah, you could interpret it that way. It has nothing to do with finances. They are willing to cut 16 million as a loss with Jones. They are in the Manny mix and recently offered him 23 mil per yr for 2 yrs. 4 million dollars is not a make of break amount for the dodgers. If it was Pittsburgh or Minnesota, then maybe. But not LA It has nothing to do with that. Saito was in his 3rd MLB season, so the dodgers had exclusive rights to him. All they had to do was offer arbitration and they had him. Saito had no say in the matter. Arbitration would have awarded Saito 4+ mil for a 3 service yr elite MLB closer. And at 39 and with a surgical issue that rendered him useless from the AS break on, they decided to go in another direction. I dont see too much downside here for the sox except wasting some money. And you know how I dont care about major league teams paying more than they need to. I just dont see this as an impact signing at all. Lets look at the factors. 1. He's 39. No spring chicken 2. He has a torn UCL, something that typically requires surgery, something he refuses to do at this juncture 3. After 2 months of rest and rehab, he came back a sub par major league reliever. I understand the upside of this move. But I dont think there is even a chance he comes out in his old form. He has a serious injury that is only amenable to surgery. He's already shown symptoms from the injury. And he's already seen a massive decline in his performance from the injury. Its guaranteeing a roster spot to a guy who is damn near guaranteed to be injured, terrible or both

You say Otsuka 4 times and it is Saito, lol. You dont even know who you signed

How does Kevin f***ing Gilbride still have a job? On a freezing, windy day in the meadowlands, he decided to put the ball in Eli's hands and make him win the game when he has 2 running backs who just kill the competition. Brandon Jacobs had something like 6 yds per carry and we only handed him the ball 15 times or so? WTF! Jacobs got 5-6 yds every time he touched the ball. Why not just march down the f***ing field with our running game, which was dominating and then using the pass in select circumstances off the play action?

they described his elbow as "hanging on by a thread". He's old and he isnt healthy. He has a surgical problem. How effective do you think he'll be? You guys are delusional. What's next, sign Pedro cause his shoulder might hold up?

If you have played professional ball Jim, then you got me. Damn, all that professional experience must be better than ours AND it makes you SO much better at debating which team is better. Also, you are SO right that the sox pen IS WAY BETTER than the YANKEES! Screw the STATS!!11! STAT ARE FOR WOOSIES!!!!1! I dont care if the STATs SAY THAT THE yankees pen was the 2nd best in baseball!! ALL that matters is THAT I SAY THE SOX ARE BETTER, YAHOOOO!!! And that YANKEE MYSTIQUE!!! Thats all they got!!! Their lineup doesnt have ANY ALL STAR PLAYERS@!@@! Nobody will be hitting 50 homers so THEY SUCK!! AROD AND TEX SUCK!!11!! Their LINEUP IS OLD!!!! SO OLD THAT THEy wont be PRODUctive AT ALL!!! They all ARE PLAYOFF chokeRS!! BAH!! SOx rOOL!!!