jacksonianmarch

that I may 700, that I may. How do you know that I am not one already HOHO. But can you seriously tell me what you expected out of RJ for 2007 to warrant us to pass on this deal?

I dont get why you bag on Britton, Gom. If we were getting a fat single A pitcher who put up a 3.5 era in 51 innings in single A then I'd agree. But the kid is 24 and put up good numbers with good stuff in the ALE. How is that anything to rag on. And to equate it to a guy whose stats have fallen precipitously 3 yrs in a row to the point of being one of the worst pitchers in baseball is interesting. I dont mean to keep drinking the yankee kool-aid, but for once, Cashman and the Yankees are pointed in the direction of sustained excellence rather than a vortex of spending on over the hill players.

700. Can you seriously sit back and say that this offseason was poor for us? How can anyone in their right mind sit back and say that without residing at least 3 days per week in a rubber room and the other 4 in a gimp outfit giving BJ's in front of the Cask 'n Flagon? (got that one from Mr. C!). Gary Sheffield gave us 151 wonderful ABs for us last yr. 123 of them were when we needed them, the rest were during junk time. He was replaced by Bobby Abreu as the RFer who is a defensive and speed upgrade, a power downgrade, but a durability, average and OBP upgrade. Sheff had no position, had come off wrist surgery, and was a malcontent, so he was dealt. With a full season of Matsui and Abreu, Sheffield will be a distant memory. Also, sheffield was only going to be here 1 more yr as it was. We took the #3, 6, and 11 pitching prospects from one of the deepest pitching systems in the majors and got rid of his contract and we got rid of 13 mil. Randy Johnson is 43, coming off back surgery, declined to such a degree that he is mostly just useful for his durability. And after having back surgery, that isnt even plausible. With the likelihood that he misses a month or more a strong possibility, what is an expectation for him? 150IP at the most? Likely 130 maybe? An era in the 5 range? A further decline in effectiveness? And he is only signed for one more yr. Is that really something that is flat out irreplaceable? Didnt think so. His record vs the sox could have been 90-1 vs the sox, if his ERA was 7.5 last yr then anyone could win those games as we likely beat the piss out of your pitching. And to turn that into a top 10 pitching prospect and another high potential pitcher, then so be it. The Yankees got Andy Pettitte to be what RJ wasnt last yr. A reliable starter, not an ace, but a reliable starter. Igawa will likely give us what RJ gave us last yr in durability. The 5 hole can be a swinging gate for all I care, we have lots of MLB ready talent to fit the bill. Jaret Wright was about to be bought out for 4 mil. He was useless. We were about to let him go by paying 4 mil. Instead we got rid of him for 4 mil and were given a 24 yr old power reliever who had success in the AL last yr. Yeah, man, we really dealt such viable pieces to us that we have no prayer. s***. And the whole restocking the arms in our farm wont help us either.

how bout if we turn those players plus other players into a player who beats the sox. Does that count?

he's not spectacular by any means. He is a career .275 hitter with a career OBP of .350. I'd take that.

riverside. I would be wary of it. Simply because in Hughes you have a guy who SCREAMS Ace. A guy the likes of which have never come through your system. A guy who blows away the next closest guy in Homer Bailey. A guy whose peripherals flat out dwarf the last sure thing to come out of the minors in King Felix. A guy whose career minor league peripherals were better than Mark Prior's in his best college season. And the fact that the kid cannot legally drink as well. So, no, I would not like a deal of Hughes for Johan, I wouldnt trade him for anyone. His career WHIP in the minors is 0.86. To put that into perspective, that is better than Mariano Rivera's career best WHIP in 05. Now I know you will all think I am crazy, but when you are handed this kind of talent at this young of an age, you dont deal that for anyone. I think Cashman is absolutely trying to build a package to get Johan without having to include Hughes, and I think he might be getting close. The temptation will be there though. I hope he resists. Santana could be had for money in 2 yrs rather than deal for him now with Hughes. Now if Santana were not 28 and were, shall we say 23, then deal. But at 28 and 2 yrs from FA, no dice baby. Not for this talent.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6308886?FSO1&ATT=HMA DONE!! The 72 hour window has been opened as the deal has been submitted to the commish's office as tentative. Any deal submitted as tentative gives the teams 72 hours to sort out contract and money back and forth, but players usually do not change. Final score- Gonzalez, Jackson, Ohlendorf, and Vizcaino. Score one for the good guys.

Murphy getting the callup to the majors last yr was enough to bring him up. Moss still hasnt developed the way they wanted him to and he is running out of time.

no, it is not implied that he has the stuff. It is implied that he HAD the stuff. He has not consistently been the 95mph plus curve throwing machine he was in the past. The fastball was inconsistent start to start, the curve he couldnt locate. The problem is that he doesnt have the stuff. If he finds it, then watch out.

good to see we sent out undercover investigative minx in on the convo 007! Good work, YOWZAH!

based solely on the strength of the sox draft and the betterment of David Murphy, Moss, may drop out of the top 10.

If he wowed everyone with a changeup, had a plus curve and electric heat, why did he get lit up like a Christman tree. Also, an OPS against of .748 is pretty poor. That is right around the league average for hitters. So he is a league average pitcher early then gets tattooed late? Like I said, if he gets that stuff and command back from 3 yrs ago, then he will be great. But I wouldnt hold my breath. Like I said, he sounds like Matt Mantei to me.

well, the yankees flipped it around again, or maybe it is just me doing circles in my head. WFAN is reporting that the yankees and dbacks have signed off on the players. Coming to NY would be RHP Luis Vizcaino, RHP Ross Ohlendorf, RHP Steven Jackson (not THAT one), and SS Alberto Gonzalez. Ohlendorf is described as a sinkerball pitcher with the capability to eat a lot of innings. He is predicted as a middle of the rotation pitcher. He will start the yr in AAA. Steven Jackson is probably the one the yankees wanted over Nippert. He has a plus fastball and a plus plus slider. His power led him to a 2.65ERA in 150IP in AA last yr. The reason why he has not really been a highly known name is that he has command issues. His control is fine (low BB rates), but the command is not. He is said to rely too often on overpowering a hitter with the fastball when his offspeed stuff is off, which will make him vulnerable on the next level when he has trouble locating the slider (sounds familiar, Beckett 06 maybe?). His 3rd pitch is a changeup which is still considered a MLB pitch, but is far below his fastball and slider. He is a high risk, high reward prospect. If they passed on Owings, who was likely the safest bet of all the DBacks pitchers to make the bigs but did not have an ace ceiling, then Cashman is taking a big risk. Jackson is a big pitcher at 6'5" and fits the mold of a pitcher who could eventually be a top of the rotation starter, but with questions continuing about his command and his age getting to the upper limits of prospect status, his time is running out. He will round out the AAA rotation with Hughes, Clippard, Sanchez, and Ohlendorf. Alberto Gonzalez sounds like Rafael Belliard to me. Absolutely no power, but has some ability to reach base (.356OBP last yr). But he is considered the best fielding SS in the DBack system, and if their scouts are correct, he may be one of the best fielders in all of the minors. Either way, he projects out by the DBack people as a future SS/2B, but he really sounds like a late inning defensive replacement with no stealing ability. If that is the trade, then I'm fine with it. I want pitching in return, Jackson and Ohlendorf have the track record of durability and success in the minors. Both are ticketed for AAA and maybe onto other things too. If I had the choice, I would have taken Owings over Ohlendorf, but I have a feeling that the pitcher with the best upside (Jackson) and the pitcher with the best shot of making it in a big league rotation (Owings) were not coming in a package deal.

YOWZAH. I better liven up my act. Maybe I should do some juggling?

Aw, come on now VA! Nah, the crap at the globe would have had options listed as Crap 1-10 and a HAHA Red Sox suck ******* mixed in. I find it an interesting question, thats all. If people lose interest it will fall off the page.