jacksonianmarch

I just woke up and saw that. Vizcaino is a better reliever for right now, but he is 1 yr from FA and due a significant pay raise. Not terribly excited about him vs Medders. As for the other players they receive, I sure hope they eat some cash here so they get 2 pitching prospects.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/01/03/sports/professional/padres/22_25_571_2_07.txt here is a link that may be more reliable.

not at all. But rumors are rumors. I just want this thing to end so we can do our spinoff deals for Gonzalez.

nyynews is saying something interesting.

what is worse is watching a masterfully pitched ballgame get blown by a s*** closer on a repeated basis. A bad closer loses games that you have a lead in late, ie games you should win. Bad closers torpedo good teams.

but I think the sox may be better off with him as the 5 and paps closing.

Should be my sig.

Wake is no ace. He is not a #2. He isnt even a #3. He is a guy you stick in your 5 hole and watch him go 12-12 with a 4.5 era and chewing up 200 innings like clockwork.

VA, I'm not glad it is January. January sucks. I like April MUCH better

they dont have a teflon GM anymore. Everything from last offseason on will be pinned on Cashman. His performance thus far was nice for now and the future.

I think he has been Yankee GM for 9 yrs. He didnt have a good rep until the early 2000s. His contract was up last October. He held out for a month and then signed on.

hey VA. Good to see you stepping up on the boards. We need a feminine influence on here more often, WOWZAH! The sox wont be signing a closer between now and the season. They may deal for one, but there arent any other pitchers out there that should get closer duties. Also, unless they make a deal involving one of the guys under contract, this is the team that will take the field. The only guy on the projected 12 man pitching staff that doesnt have a major league contract is MDC (well he has options left). That means that Timlin, Tavares, Okajima, Romero, Piniero, and Donnelly will be on the opening day roster. And unless the perfect deal falls into their lap, this is the team going forward. Now one thing Dibble and Kennedy were talking about was Papelbon's history. He was a closer in college, so it isnt like he got hurt in his only season of closing. They did say he was overworked in his first closing season of professional ball, but by no means does this mean his shoulder cannot handle it. They were also replaying an interview with Torre. Torre said some powerful things about Papelbon. Like "he changes the game" and he has "changed the mindset of our players when we play them". Essentially something along the lines of, we better tie or go ahead prior to the ninth or we are sunk. A mindset the yankees have not had at any time in the past while facing the sox. He gave the sox the same thing that Mo gave the yankees for one yr. And since he has the pedigree as closer, and his injury wasnt serious as far as we know, why the hell arent they sticking with what works.

Of course it is because of Rivera. His presence pushes solid middle relievers into middle relief roles. We arent relying on old middle relievers on the downslope of their career for closing duties in quite possibly the toughest place to play in all of baseball. Also, we are doing what the sox should have been doing. We are stockpiling young arms and putting them in low pressure situations to begin with. The sox should have done that with Hansen. They should have done that with MDC. They didnt. They went right from the minors to setup roles. They cracked under the pressure. If we went into this season without Farns, Proctor, insert any other reliable reliever we may acquire from now until the season and had to rely on Bruney, Britton, or Medders as SU men, then I'd be worried. But these kids will likely see 40-50 innings this season of variable pressure which will only be to their benefit. AND, all of them have options left should they stumble. And, all of them could step up into more formidable roles should they play well.

his contract was up. He laid out what it would take to keep him. He has protection in his contract if he doesnt have the power he was promised. He laid it out. Give me power or watch me leave. George wanted to keep him.

Interesting rumor making the rounds on yankee fan boards. The rumor is that the yankees are holding out for Medders because they want to package him with Melky and close the deal on Mike Gonzalez. Now that would be nice.