jacksonianmarch

9-10 years? I think we have learned our lesson. Yes, we just gave Ellsbury 7 yrs, but he's also a year younger than Cano. Cano just turned 31, Ells just turned 30. Ells contract expires shortly after he turns 37. If Cano got a 9 yr deal, his contract will end right after he turns 40. I think we have learned that guaranteeing players big money through their late 30s is a bad f***ing idea.

Pal, what are you smoking?

Rosenthal says the M's offer did not cross $200 mil.

Cano should just take the deal. That's f***ing insane

Aside from NY in 1996, how many teams had a rookie SS when they won the WS? I would assume, not many. Add to that a rookie CFer. You win up the middle. C, 2B, SS, CF, P. There is a reason they made so much out of Buster Posey winning a title as a rookie. It's a rare thing.

I guess this is a crossroads the sox have to decide upon. I don't think their plan had them winning a WS in 2013. This puts a certain sense that the team they created was better than they thought. It also might throw off the plan. I am pretty sure the plan was to give SS to Bogaerts, 3B to Middlebrooks and CF to JBJ. Doing so will likely guarantee that you don't win the WS in 2014. You win titles up the middle and with 2 rookies up the middle, it is gonna be hard to win. Regardless, all three of those players could blossom into All Stars should they get the appropriate time to grow and learn. Do they stick to the plan, or do they go for 2014? That's the question. I don't fault them either way

They really only have a bad window for the next 3-4 years. CC is under contract through 2016. There is a vesting option for 2017 that will only vest, IMO, if he's pitching well. If he isn't, then he isn't going to get the starts to vest that option Tex is under contract through 2016 ARod is under contract through 2017 Jeter is under contract for 2014 Ichiro, Wells, and Soriano are under contract only for 2014. As of right now, the only contract obligations past 2016 are Ells, ARod, and McCann. Past 2017 are only Ells and McCann. They aren't as bogged down as one would think

It's a possible buy low candidate who you'd be buying at a large contractual obligation. If you traded for Kemp two years ago, you would have had to send Bogaerts, Owens, Ranaudo and your first born to get him. Now, send over one good prospect, another middling one and eat a whole lot of dough and you can have him. Kemp is a chronically injured guy who keep pulling, tweaking, straining, etc and he seems to never come back healthy or he comes back too soon and misses more time. Granderson makes absolutely no sense for Boston. I watched the guy and enjoyed many of his homeruns. Many which would have landed in the gloves of RFers had they been hit in Fenway. He's hit 61 of his 108 HRs (56%) between 2010 and 2012 at home. He also had a split of .872 vs .815 OPS home vs road over the last 3 years. He's a good player outside of Yankee Stadium. He is borderline elite in Yankee stadium. His defense in CF sucks. His D in LF is good. Getting him for ages 33-35 at $15 mil per yr in Fenway as a CFer wouldn't be a smart bargain.

This is a good signing. He was miscast as a closer, but as a setup guy, he gives you insurance should Tazawa regress

The problem is, UN, the Yankee ratings fell and the attendance fell to where their income was severely impacted. They will have to either find a way to build on the fly or continue to buy up FA's on an annual basis to keep that steady stream of revenue flowing in. Cashman had a plan and ownership f***ed with it. My guess is the lost revenue from their brand being down for a year was more than the savings they could have had by staying under the lux tax

Great! Tanaka is back in our hands! This is good

The guy subluxed his shoulder and broke multiple ribs. Those are serious injuries. And maybe Ells wouldn't have taken so long to come back from the ribs had the docs not misdiagnosed him

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jacoby-ellsbury-and-injury-proneness/ A good article for those who think Ells is truly 'injury prone'. Especially for those advocating acquiring Matt Kemp

And you're sure CC is done? He was his typical self for most of the first half and then fell apart. You think it could have something to do with not having a full offseason or ST due to elbow surgery? I think CC rebounds in 2014. He's too good not to. We need 2 SPs. CC, Nova, Phelps/Warren should fill out the 1,3,and 5 spots well. We need a 2 and a 4

I have a feeling they get Kuroda and garza now

Also, the Yankees aren't getting tanaka. The new rules stipulate a max bid of $20 mil and if there are multiple $20 mil bids, it goes to the team with the worst record in the previous year. The sox have zero shot. The Yankees have next to no shot. My guess is he ends up a Cub

2 things. 1. Sometimes you must overpay to get or keep great talent. Dustin Pedroia's are rare in this day and age. 2. It's only a stupid contract if you cannot afford it or if said player tanks, so does your team. I think we all know the Yankees can throw 3 more of these contracts out there and not bat an eye. Is ellsbury overpaid? f*** yeah. Every one of these baseball players makes more than I do, and I save lives for a living, lol. But if the Yankees can afford it, then haggling over the financials is kinda silly. Now if the Yankees come out and throw that fiscal responsibility garbage out there and don't fill out their team, then I'll back the arguments here. Ellsbury is a good player who had one great season. In Yankee stadium, he could be great. He's being paid to be great. And his loss hurts the sox on December 4th. The offseason is a month in. I'd preach patience to everyone, neither team is done

So the yanks are offering over$2 mil per yr more to Cano? Sounds fair

Yankees sign Kelly Johnson for 1 yr $3 mil. He's a nice utility pickup and can hit homers. That lefty bat in this stadium should be a boon. He can play 3b as well should we not be able to find a suitable replacement for f***Rod

Your supplemental draft choice isn't technically from us. All we lost was a second rounder to sign Ellsbury. Listen, it's a ridiculous contract, a major overpay and probably an albatross in the final 2-3 yrs of the deal. For 2014, it is a solid move. We'll see how it goes after that

Go for it. So you are denying that moving Ellsbury from a Fenway to Yankee Stadium for half his games will help him?

You wont find them recently anyway. His only 2 major injuries were contact related. I was saying this early on in the offseason and haven't strayed

Yeah, they aren't staying under the threshold. They couldn't afford Cano and stay under. Now with Ells and Cano? No way. If they can get Cano's head out of the clouds, f*** it, sign him. Then focus on pitching. We actually held together on the rubber until September. Bring back Kuroda, get Tanaka and see what we have in CC.

Ellsbury got the "injury prone" label pretty unfairly. He collided with a brick shithouse in Adrian Beltre one time and a player fell on him another. Those aren't nagging non-contact injuries. That's just s*** luck. He makes us a lot better in 2014. The life of the deal sucks, but that's the price of business I guess. He'll be a 20+HR hitter in our park. He'll steal 50 bases. He'll play good D. He was a 5.8 WAR player last yr when he was completely average per his career totals. Assuming good health, he should easily surpass that in 2014. If he doesn't make a long term transition to a power hitter, though, this deal will be a collosal bust. He needs to age akin to Johnny Damon and start to see his homers rise when his SBs fall. If that doesn't happen, then this deal is a waste. If it does, then this is an overpay but not a disaster.

Interesting move. If the plan is for fiscal constraint, then this doesn't help. If the plan was to build an all star team regardless of cost, then this works. Pretty obvious we aren't getting under the cap now. f*** it, trade for cliff lee, sign Garza and Tanaka and trade for Headley while we're at it