Comments on: Melvin’s extension

By: XMFan

XMFan — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 23:07:05 +0000

I always thought they gave Melvin the extension so that he would quit playing the veterans and see what the kids had to show. The extension says, don’t worry about winning now, just sort out who to keep and who to let go. He got fired for not doing that. How long did Reed sit around? How much pt did Boccachica get to shwo whether he was worth keeping? The only thing that BoMel did that was unforgivable was squander an opportunity to set up the team for next year.

By: EdPres

EdPres — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 20:31:24 +0000

This is what I told my friend, Steve, in email… on May 6th!

“You could easily frame Melvin’s extension in terms of Lincoln being a value investor. Here’s your business, slowly running itself into the ground, and you’re not sure how to really fix the problems. Or, you have ideas about how to really fix the big problems, but they would cost way, way too much. What’s a value person to do? How about a “morale event”, spread a little money around when you don’t have to, blow a little air up a few people’s asses, and maybe things will turn around. You’ve seen how things can go from good to bad for no apparent reason, so maybe this is enough to spark it from bad to good? And without much money expended, what’s to lose? It might just be the cheapest investment you ever bought.

It’s nice he got an extension. But he can be fired, even though he’s got the extension. How long would they keep a manager around just because he’s owed ~$500K? Jarvis was released just a few days ago, for the reasonable cost of ~$5M. That is about ten times the cost of Melvin’s extension. If they’re willing to agree to pay Jarvis $5M, and then they’re willing to throw him on the trash heap, how come $0.5M means for sure we will keep him around next year?

I want to know, how many of these players, at the instant they were clapping for Melvin’s employment for next year, were wondering what they would be doing next year?”

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 20:00:20 +0000

How could you possibly have a gripe with the PA announcer? Complaining about Rizzs is one thing, but the PA announcer?

By: LB

LB — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 08:14:01 +0000

Arroyo is a #4 or #5 starter who got boosted to the #3 position in the playoffs because Lowe and Wakefield have been abysmal down the stretch. The point isn’t that he’s Cy Young, the point is that he’s cost-effective. The other Rotation Fodder arms you mention are either free agents or arb-eligible.

Tomko $1.5m
Lima $0.95m
Valdes $0.8m

Arroyo $0.33m

(Figures are from http://dugoutdollars.blogspot.com)

Which would you rather pay?

Bill Mueller was also a pickup from the bargain bin (nontendered free agent) and won a batting title in 2003. Kevin Millar was also sort-of a remaindered item, through his story was complicated by his sale to a Japanese team that never quite happened.

I’d say Theo’s done pretty well for the Red Sox in this area.

By: John

John — Mon, 18 Oct 2004 08:00:21 +0000

Re: # 18: BUCKY JACOBSEN was signed as a Free Agent by the Mariner organization on November 10, 2003.
http://tinyurl.com/6zkkz

By: eponymous coward

eponymous coward — Sun, 17 Oct 2004 22:58:05 +0000

Note I said “Gillvasi”…Gillick and his organization would have to take credit for those, mostly.

OK, Epstein…though Bronson Arroyo isn’t really any better than Brett Tomko, Ismael Valdez, Jose Lima or any number of Generic Rotation Fodder that’s floating around.

By: Jim Thomsen

Jim Thomsen — Sun, 17 Oct 2004 22:19:39 +0000

#13 — Lewis and Kozlowski were claimed off waivers by the Tigers and the Reds, specifically. The Tigers seems to be unusually active dumpster-divers so far.

#15 — Bavasi had nothing to do with the transactions that brought Sherrill, Madritsch and Jacobsen to the M’s organization. Well, Jacobsen, maybe … I haven’t been able to find the date he was signed on waivers from the Cardinals. But Bavasi wasn’t on board at this time last year, and that’s the time of year when these signings usually take place.

By: LB

LB — Sun, 17 Oct 2004 22:18:29 +0000

Theo Epstein and the Red Sox have done a pretty good job shopping in the bargain bin: David Ortiz (a non-tender from the Twins) and Bronson Arroyo (claimed off waivers from the Pirates) come to mind. Arroyo is worthless when he doesn’t have command (e.g. against NY last night), but he’s still better than Lowe and making only the MLB minimum.

By: Dave in Palo Alto

Dave in Palo Alto — Sun, 17 Oct 2004 21:30:23 +0000

Off topic again: could they just shut up for a little while about Steinbrenner buying Beltran? I’m glad our Strong Leader© let the assault weapon ban lapse so I can go postal when it happens.

By: eponymous coward

eponymous coward — Sun, 17 Oct 2004 21:02:10 +0000

I suppose- though I’d note that the Gillvasi team brought you Bucky Jacobsen, Bobby Madritsch and George Sherrill as recent examples of looking at various sources of “overlooked” talent.

OTOH, Gillick spent lots of time futzing with the waiver wire and looking at other organizations rejects- remember Matt White? Giovanni Carrara (who, while he’s been OK in LA, was AWFUL for us)? Doug Creek? Mark Watson? We occasionally would get the Jose Paniagua, but still…

IMO, dumpster-diving only works well if you have a strategy- and nothing indicates to me Bavasi is any more enlightened than most GM’s are in doing the waiver shuffle. Who would you cite as someone who does a good job of this, consistently?