jacksonianmarch

Olivo is a shell of his former self defensively. The funny thing is, the guy you dealt away in Tim Federowicz would probably have won your catchers job out of ST this yr for you guys. He finally blossomed moving to the PCL, and while I know the PCL is a hitter's league, you dont just all of a sudden learn patience and power. He's stuck behind Ellis in LA, I wonder if there is any chatter about getting him back?

He is definitely gathering info to make a sale, if the price is right. He's a businessman, and the only owner in sports who wouldnt have sold their team was Steinbrenner. Now that he's dead, I guarantee that every owner in baseball has their price at which they could be bought out

I think the club's tumultuos nature actually helped the rookies, to be totally honest. Who were the guys who were pissed with Valentine? It was typically the veterans who thought he was undermining them. Valentine went out of his way to embrace the rookies, and made their job a little easier. Hence why Middlebrooks and Doubront were able to blossom. But what did that also mean? That Youkilis and DiceK were set aside in contract yrs and were undermined by a lack of "committment" comment from Bobby.

He's a guy who can hit 90 with a heater and throw a knuckler in the low 80s. You typically are supposed to hit a knuckleball as late as possible, but it is harder to do when it is coming in 20mph faster than most knucklers.

Dojji, what the f*** are you talking about? Schilling had a 98mph fastball in his prime and by the time he was solid with the sox, he was a low 90s pitcher who learned over time that he could change speeds and locate and be just as effective. Halladay was not blessed with the arm Schilling had. Halladay has excelled with mostly low 90s heat that he can run, cut, split and locate with the best of them. Add in a changeup that he can do the same thing to and a breaking ball that is lights out and you have Halladay. Halladay has used deception from his early days and will, IMO, deal with diminishing stuff better than anyone not named Maddux as he ages

His stuff was never in question, it was his location and his backwards pitching that was in question. This will be a telling season for him. Either he finally relents and makes the club and excels or he continues to be pigheaded and fades into obscurity into the minors. My bet is on the latter with him returning to Japan next yr

Verlander in 2006 was decent in his rookie campaign. He pitched to contact for the most part and got a ton of outs and was effective. His 2007, he effectively threw the same amount of innings as the yr before, but his K rate rose significantly and led him to throw over 400 pitches more in that season. Come 2008, he was still searching for an identity and his arm was tired as evidenced by his career low 93.6mph average fastball. What happened the following yr? His arm rebounded and he added a slider and the rest is history. Jon Lester, OTOH, crossed the 3000 pitch markin 2008 and hasnt looked back. If you are looking at this from a fatigue POV, you would have expected a dropoff in 2009, but you didnt see that. What you saw was sustained dominance through 2010. You saw a very strong 2011 and then a terrible 2012. Why might that have happened to a guy so young? Well, his FB velo is down nearly 1.5mph and his cutter velo is up over 1mph. The increased velo is taking away some of its bite and flattening it out at nearly the same speed on the same plane leading to it getting hit. You also are seeing his changeup increase in speed as well. You also are seeing a guy who cannot command his pitches in the zone anymore. While he may never recover his lost velocity, his other flaws are correctable assuming he doesnt be an obstinate ass and insist on doing things like Beckett did, alone and without input from anyone else. He is no longer a guy anyone considers as one of the elite pitchers in the game and likely won't return to that level of dominance, but he very well can return to a 200IP, 8K/9IP pitcher with an ERA around or below 4.

Pedro in 2000, and it isnt even close.

And Wainwright has said he won't negotiate in season. The season is fast approaching and I am sure the Cards GM is negotiating from a stance that last season, he wasnt worth ace money, while Wainwright points to his strong finish and the fact that he was recovering from TJS to justify it. I think it is a near certainty that Wainwright hits the open market

You do know that the next "ace" coming available is coming after 2013 when Wainwright hits FA. He doesnt have the sexy fastball, but he has been nothing short of a top of the line starter for the Cards and showed plus stuff after he fully recovered from TJS. He's going to have another 20 win season this yr and command the next $20+mil per yr AAV contract

I dont know. Wilson had been a consensus #1 coming into 2013, but he is slipping into the Sox range on a lot of mocks, and some even are seeing him slip past #10. He's your prototypical 5 tool OFer, I dont know why he's slipping

No, it wasn't. I always maintained that Felix wasn't obtainable for trade and I had said that he liked it in Seattle. I had said that if he reached the open market, then we'd outbid everyone

Yankees ownership will get something along the lines of a $100+ mil break from going under the lux tax for 2014. After 2014, ARod will have only 3 yrs left on his deal and Tex only 2. We'd have presumably come off our first season of non-contention since before we traded for Paul O'Neill. We'd also reset the lux tax and our ace, CC will have half his new contract done and will be entering his mid 30s. Right now, the Yankees are a profit machine, but a lot of Yankee fans are humongous bandwagon jumpers and one bad season will drive the profitability down immensely. They'll be looking for a splash and that splash would come in the acquisition of Verlander or Kershaw

http://www.mymlbdraft.com/MLB-Mock-Draft New mock draft with updated draft positions. They have Austin Wilson (a guy who was considered #1 as recent as 3 weeks ago) slipping to the sox at #7. They have the Yankees nabbing a trio of prep players, 2 of which has been top 10 draftees in other mocks in JP Crawford and Jonathan Denney. They also have then nabbing Brett Morales. Here's a list of guys I have seen attached to the sox pick at #7 over the last month Jonathan Crawford RHP Florida- mid 90s heat, plus slider Reese McGuire C Wash HS- top defensive catcher in draft class, plus potential bat Kohl Stewart RHP TX HS- athletic, power arm with a solid 3 pitch arsenal Karsten Whitson RHP Florida U- Power arm coming off an injury. #9 pick 2 yrs ago, spurned the Pads Kris Bryant OF SDU- Best college power hitter, most mocks are seeing him move into the top 3 of late, though

I am sure they'll be throwing big money his way. I am saying, if the Yankees put Kershaw at the top of their list, I guarantee the highest AAV would come out of the Bronx

Lackey looks like he has cancer

Kershaw seems intent on hitting the open market. If he does, do you really think the Yankees will be outbid should they really want him? I know the Dodgers have money, but they also have $150 mil tied up in another pitcher

Verlander would be entering his yr 32 season when the first yr of any new deal would start, so this would presumably be his final contract. He also signed a pretty team friendly deal previously, I guarantee that if he were to sign an extension, the Tigers would need to approach him now and be willing to tear up the current contract and surpass Felix. The other interesting pitcher available at that time will be Clayton Kershaw, who I think will definitely reach FA

The best player to ever wear the sox uniform was Babe Ruth. The greatest Red Sox player as in the guy who put up the best numbers wearing a Red Sox uniform is Ted Williams with no questions asked

The next wave will hit after 2014 when Verlander hits FA. At that point, the financial shackles will be removed from the Yankees. I have a feeling we see him in pinstripes unless the Tigers go bonkers to keep him

They won't void his contract. But they'll try. You know what will be funny? If ARod is villified in NY especially, he comes back in July, lights the world aflame and leads the Yankees deep into the playoffs. It will be interesting to see how he'd be received after all the s*** he's shoveled in our faces over the last few yrs.

7yrs, $175 million. He'll be a Mariner for life

Wait, so you mean a player who is better than Shane Victorino?

They were an 80 win team before the trade. After the trade, they were a 50 win team in terms of who was taking the field. When you consider the fact that WMB and Ortiz are going to be on the field for opening day, presumably, then you're looking at a 60 win team before their transactions. The question is, can improvements by guys on the roster, improvements by acquisitions, improved health and rebounding statistics make the sox a 90win team. I dont even think it's close in that the answer is a resounding no

Keith Law finally giving the Yankees their due with 4 guys in the top 100 and another player in the first 10 out category. He has the Yankees #10 in the game and the sox #18. If Campos and Banuelos had been healthy, we'd have had 6 guys in the top 100. The funny thing is, we got a huge haul from the draft last yr, we have an even bigger haul coming and we are coming off one of the most snake bitten seasons in minor league history (at least that I can remember). If we even have a decent yr, this farm will be top 5.