jacksonianmarch

no and none

lol. We shall see. Pettitte is more durable than you give him credit for. 200+ innings is considered normal, not groundbreaking for him.

lol, homah.

ZIPS is useless.

yeah, 40 games is a lil over .500. Do the math.

they can target a closer from those three teams all they want. They dont have a match unless they get really creative. I'm not even sure they have enough when you throw in the lower level kids. Gonzalez will take a lefty power bat. The sox dont have that. The braves have one available, but they will have to be a match for them, and they arent. Washington wants MLB ready pitching and power. They have the power in WiMP. They dont have the MLB ready pitching. Houston also wants pitching, mlb ready starters and they dont have it.

Mr. C. The direction was coming from elsewhere, and if the yankees went out and signed zito, you could assume the direction was continuing to come from elsewhere. But this approach by Cashman is to deepen the arms in the system, and he has done that. He has 3 top 10 pitchers in AAA, yet his most "promising" pitcher lies in single A that he got in the 8th round last yr. Joba is another guy who has shown amazing control and power thus far in the hawaiian league. Sufficed to say, he has restocked the farm with arms. And if he were to make a deal, young arms are the ticket to get what you want, so he has stocked himself up good. If he deals Randy for 3 pitchers, one middle reliever who can help this yr and 2 starters who could be ready this yr or next, then do it. Increasing depth in the pitching rotation is the fastest way to major league success long term. Johnson's dealing wont hurt the team in the form of losing an ace. It will hurt in the terms of saving bullpen. If we get a younger player who can eat innings while having an era near 5, then you do it. By no means would I want solely offense out of this. Good move if he can get it one.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061228&content_id=1768001&vkey=hotstove2006&fext=.jsp Barry Zito is expected to join the san francisco giants.

what are the entire winter leagues. I know there is a league in the dominican, in venezuela and in hawaii. Is this league you are talking about one with MLB players or is this a development league?

This ended. Hillenbrand to angels 1 yr with vesting option for 2nd.

me too.

I find OPS in the terms of Loretta kinda detracting. The guy never hit for extra bases, but he had a respectable average, made contact a whole lot, and walked a fair share. If he was in your 9 hole, you'd be no worse for wear.

Womack was a big reason why Cano was brought up. But having the veteran there was a good fall back option, dont you think? If Cano went belly up, Womack would have been back at 2b and at the very least he'd be a .270 hitter with speed. Instead, they got a kid who a yr later challenged for the batting crown. I think .700 is correct on this one. Pedroia is not a "can't miss" talent. It sounds like he is a lot like an Eckstein type of player, a guy who could be a great dirt dog type player, but equally a guy who can be overwhelmed at this level. He does not project to have soriano power or speed out of 2b. He does not project to have a vizquellian glove or have Loretta (in his prime) ability to hit the ball to all fields. He is a nice player who has no huge tool but at the same time is only a minus in power. He is by far not a can't miss prospect, hence he should be monitored closely and have a fallback option better than Cora. I think he'll do well, but does anyone on here want to bank on that?

I forgot that piece, nice rebound ORS.

Rumors have been flying around, and while I was away for a few days, I still kept my ear to the ground. The dbacks offered 3 B level prospects and the promise to eat the entire salary. The Yankees turned them down flat. The DBacks have a very deep prospect base, but are unwilling to part with one of their top 5 pitching prospects or one of their top five hitting prospects. Therefore, it wont get done. As for another team in the race, SD is the frontrunner. Rumor has it, they want RJ at 10 mil a season, asking the yankees to eat 6 mil. But they are apparently willing to throw Scott Linebrink, Kevin Kouzmanoff, and a prospect for him. That package is being mulled, but Randy would have to waive his NT to go there, and that is not certain yet. As for how this all started, a few weeks ago, Randy's brother died. Cashman called with his condolences and essentially, the call ended in a "I wouldnt mind being closer to home" bit out of Randy. It was not a trade demand, but enough to get the wheels turning. Cashman is trying to shed some payroll and get more flexible, but we'll see if this is all wheels spinning. Overall, I hate the idea. Randy at his worst last season still at 200IP and won 17 games. As I pointed out, his peripherals were pretty good despite a poor ERA. This was attributed to his inability to avoid the big inning (OPSw/RISP and OPSw/runner one was 200+ points higher than at any point in his career). Therefore a pretty good WHIP and a good K and BB rate translated into a horrible ERA. You put his peripherals from last season against Schilling and you have nearly the same pitcher (more BB on RJs side and more hits on Schillings side). I do not expect him to improve per se, but I think his ability to avoid the big inning is something that his career dictates will return and hence his era will slide, possibly dramatically. Either way, when he returns, which should be by the middle of april at the latest, he will still be in line for a lot of wins and a lot of innings eaten. That is what the yankees need. At the same time, last yr I was very hard on the red sox when they dealt a guy who ate innings for offense. Dealing RJ for Kouzmanoff may be real nice, and adding a piece to the pen like Linebrink can only help, but without some sort of contingency plan in the rotation, I hate the idea. We saw the red sox trim 6 to 5 and before you knew it only one was standing. While I think the yankees are in a different position altogether in depth, dealing from a position of depth in starting pitching is playing with fire. If the yankees keep RJ, they will have a rotation that looks like this. 1. Wang 2. Mussina 3. Pettitte 4. Johnson 5. Pavano Igawa in AAA Without RJ 1. Wang 2. Mussina 3. Pettitte 4. Pavano 5. Igawa But we are in a different boat than the sox were. Karstens and Rasner both had good debuts in the Bronx last season, proving that at the very least they could be serviceable 5's and go deep into games. Hughes and Sanchez are in AAA and both have the label of MLB ready. Steven White was in the class of Karstens and Rasner and is likely major league ready as well with the caveat that he is likely no better than a 5. So the depth is there. But throwing away a 200IP 17 win machine like Johnson better get a little pitching depth in return. If the "prospect" from SD is a high level starting pitching prospect with no injury history, then I will sign on the deal right away. But if the prospect is another fielder or a reliever, I say no dice.

I hope all had a good one, mine was fantastic. The second part to this post should be, how much champagne/beer will be drunk on new yrs eve, and will everyone be huggin the bowl on Jan. 1?

ARod will run a male escort service in Miami.

The health of the overall lineup will determine how much is needed out of Pedroia. If Drew stays healthy and has a good yr, if Lugo shows he is more of the player he was in TB and not for the other parts of his career, if Tek rebounds at all, if Coco shows he is the player he was in cleveland, if Youkilis builds off his previous season, and if Lowell can play like he did in the first half rather than the last half, then Pedroia could sit in the 9 hole and do whatever he wants, cause he wont matter. But when you consider that the team has 2 slam dunks in the lineup and is surrounded by 6 question marks and a rookie, then the rookie may be leaned upon. If Drew does his biannual DL sabbaticle, if Coco is still the .700OPS slap hitter, if Tek declines further, if Lowell reverts to 05 form, if Lugo reverts to the .700OPS player he was prior to 04, if Youkilis gives exactly what he did last yr and god forbid if anything happens to Manny or Papi, and then the kid goes belly up? Then the sox are in deep deep trouble. Having a vet like Loretta who at the very least reached base, made contact, and was a potential 2 hitter likely hitting in the 9 hole, could really make a difference not only on the sox short term, but could give a mentor to the kid long term. As I showed in my previous posts, the yankees were the prime example of how to break kids into a team of superstars and keep rolling. You get em hot in the minors, bring them up teamed with a veteran and monitor them closely. None were ever given the job outright, all of them had to win it in some form or another.

strong argument 700. Merry Christmas all.

Can I come over for dinner tonight? Wow, sounds great.

He loves the game. If he wants to play, I wont stop him. He just wont have a spot here.

Bernie was never considered a player who made great breaks. He was always someone who tracked a ball well once he broke. His speed made up for his slow breaks. Once his speed went, his breaks were very apparent.

butch huskey, love it. I got one, how about Benny Agbayani?

I dont know what I am having for dessert. Probably ibuprofen and water, to avoid a hangover.