Jason Schmidt agrees with Dodgers
Reports from Orlando have the Dodgers agreeing to terms with Jason Schmidt. No official terms and dollars yet, but Rotoworld is saying 3 years, $47 million. Schmidt’s not a $15 million per year pitcher, but at 3 years, that’s not the worst signing in the world.
This could be a great or terrible thing for the M’s. If they use the money earmarked for Schmidt to pursue Tim Hudson, then fantastic. If they panic and decide they can’t get left without a starter and throw a ton of money at Ted Lilly or Jeff Weaver, then this sucks.
I think Schmidt’s overrated and likely to be overpaid, but at least he’s useful. Overpaying for one of the #4 starters on the market would be even worse.
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Oh god this makes me nervous.
Come on Hudson!
That Jason Schmidt sure knows how to play the Mariners. Three years, $47 million? The Dodgers can have him.
THANK YOU DODGERS!!! You have save the M’s from themselves and thier love of home grown boys. Now pull the Hudson/La Roche trade and get Zito on board and we will be done Christmas Shopping for the year.
I thought it was the biggest guarantee in the history of mankind Schmidt was going sign with Seattle, just a matter of how long. Huh. Well, mankind, you’ve thrown us through a loop yet again.
Very mixed feelings about not getting Schmidt. Now, just hoping we don’t get Zito. Or Lilly for 5/50.
Now it’s just a waiting game to see which way the Mariners machine goes. Will they panic, or will they be prudent.
If I had to bet, I’d go with panic.
You know what really hurts Jason? You wanted a family all along…. you just didn’t want one with me….. wwwwhwhwhhhhahahahhaaaaaaaaaaaa..
well, if the Cubs or Jays scoop up Gil & Lilly, and the Mets take care of Zito and his self-merchandising plans ….
That seems to be the ideal scenario.
Come on Bill, do this thing. DO IT!!!!
Lou is on mlb.com discussing Kerry in the bullpen (”waal, I called the kid and talked to him about it”) and Lee (”boy this young man can hit”) and Chicago (”I love the Windy City … great fans … great restaurants … Wrigley is a fun place, boy wouldn’t you like to hit in that place?”)
Terry, where’s that quote from?
When Harry Met Sally.
Ah well. I bet on panic. And a probable USS Mariner server meltdown.
I agree with Jeff over at LL, it doesn’t seem likely that the Ms let Schmidt get away unless they were pretty confident they were landing someone else.
I have a sneaking suspicion we might be landing Zito.
#14– well, it isn’t always a case of letting a player “get away” — as we learned last time with Schmidt the team doesn’t always have the final say, the player may have other reasons for their decisions.
Very hard to see given Bavasi’s abhorrence of contracts longer than 4 years with pitchers.
This just put Zito’s pricetag to ridiculous heights and/or getting that 6th year. I doubt he’s the fallback plan.
I would’ve matched this offer in a heartbeat. 3 years is perfect for a guy like Schmidt. And this could free the Dodgers to trade Penny to the Sox for Manny… NOOOOOOOOOOOOO (Darth Vader scream of regret).
Hearing this immediately made me think of Animal House: “I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part.”
Dave is right on this one — we really do not know if this is good or bad until the Schmidt alternative presents himself. This is sort of like a doctor interrupting a diagnosis: “Well, Mr. Bavasi, it’s not broken, but . . . I’m sorry, I have to take this call.”
#14– well, it isn’t always a case of letting a player “get away” — as we learned last time with Schmidt the team doesn’t always have the final say, the player may have other reasons for their decisions.
$47 million reasons!
Having Schmidt sign for *just* 3 years is a pretty decent move. I wounder why we couldn’t have offered something better… I’m not sure we should have made a better offer, but I find it a bit hard to believe the M’s would go 4 years on Washburn, but crap out at 3/47 here.
So much for “the most obvious free agent signing in history”
4/50 is a lot different than 4/37.5
Yeah, I’m surprised the Mariners didn’t beat that offer. And kinda disappointed, actually, much as I was afraid we’d spend way too much on him.
Hudson is signed for $33 million over the next three years. He’s young, cheaper, and better. If they think they can get Hudson, passing on Schmidt at 3/47 makes a lot of sense.
I think he realized how well the NL West was treating him and got cold feet about leaving it. So can we just trade Richie Sexson to NY for Mussina and get this over with?
Every now and then it seems like the Dodgers get it. Between this deal and the Furcal deal, they would seem to understand that probably the biggest risk in a huge contract is being committed to paying a player four (or more) years later to be crappy. But then they go and make deals like the Juan Pierre deal, and you wonder what goes on in their thought process.
Signing free agents at this pace, though, I have to think that someone’s going to get some of their talented prospects, whether it’s now or mid-season.
Fair enough. You don’t worry that two years in a row of his allegedly unsustainable HR/fly rate might actually be sustainable? If you tell me that two year in a row anomalies aren’t that strange, I’ll believe you, but when I saw that his 2006 was actually down from his 2005, I started to worry.
#27: Yes…. I’d love to be a fly on the wall in the Ms war room….
From Geoff Baker’s article in today’s Seattle Times:
This sounds almost too good to be true.
Dodgers are out of whatever Manny sweepstakes there ever was. They can’t take on his salary now.
BTW, Joe Sheehan just said the Braves might be close to finalizing a trade concerning LaRoche.
Can this be true? Last I heard Schmidt was looking for a five year commitment. Maybe he would be paid a bit less per year, but five. The M’s, as I understand it, were having trouble talking him down to four. And now he’s agreed to three? For two mil a year extra? Doesn’t seem probable. I guess we’ll all know in a few days, but the talk about bringing Hudson here has made me forget about J.S.
This makes me nervous as 3 way deals are never easy to complete and often fall apart.
Looks like we will keep being mentioned in the Zito deal to add competition until they ultimatly loose him to Texas or NYM and then grossly overpay for a #4/5 starter Washburn style.
Is it just me or does this resemble last season??
Carl Everett = Guillen
Washburn = Lilly/Suppan/Weaver…
Food for thought: Are the Boston Red Sox the new Yankees? They’re throwing money around like there’s no tomorrow.
I half expect them to announce they’ve just signed Zito to a 7-year, $110 million contract.
Fair enough. You don’t worry that two years in a row of his allegedly unsustainable HR/fly rate might actually be sustainable? If you tell me that two year in a row anomalies aren’t that strange, I’ll believe you, but when I saw that his 2006 was actually down from his 2005, I started to worry.
As a pretty severe groundballer, Hudson’s true talent HR/FB is higher than the average HR/FB rate. Based on the research I’ve done, guys with a 60% groundball rate will post about a (park adjusted) 14% HR/FB rate. So I’m certainly not saying that his HR/FB rate will go back to 11%, but it’s very unlikely to stay at 16%. It’s one of the most volatile “skills” in baseball.
The only way I’d be worried about his HR/FB rate is if it indicated a dramatic decrease in his stuff. That would be supported by a decrease in GB% and K%. With Hudson, his K% has gone up, and his GB% is basicalliy the same.
So no, I’m not worried. Hudson isn’t the guy he was in Oakland anymore, but he’s still a very solid middle of the rotation guy.
Didn’t the Dodgers already dump a lot of their prospects shuffling around infielders and mercenaries?
yeehaw! Keith Law and Dick Fein, together at last!
Just the upgrade from Sexson to LaRoche has me salivating. Losing Soriano hurts as a fan, but as any kind of tactician it’s a win-win-win scenario. Needless to say, this would complicate my attempt to sort-of-like-and-sort-of-hate everyone in the NL East even further.
First time poster… Hopefully SF panics that their rival signed their ace, and pushes harder for a Sexson deal. Getting Hudson and La Roche would be ideal.
Another thing about the homers, He doesn’t really give up bombs. Hittracker online has him averaging 390′ on home runs, and a good ten of them fell inside of 375′. Safeco’s dimensions and Ichiro in center (as opposed to Jones) has got to help that.
Hud-son! Hud-son! Hud-son!
LaRoche ain’t too shabby either.
Man, I hate rumors… They just get my hopes up.
41: Maybe we could start with Cain and ask that they throw in Liriano, Bonser and Nathan
If this turns into getting the Hudson deal done, great. If it turns into signing Zito… yecccccccccccchhhhhhhh.
PMR doens’t like LaRoche so much, puts him about the same as Sexson. What do other metrics say about him? PMR particularly has trouble at 1B, right? It loves Broussard but he has a bad defensive reputation in the game, as I recall.
I’ve heard good things about LaRoche’s defense. How much of an impact would it make?
#40: Laroche for Sexson wouldn’t necessarily be an upgrade production wise (its probably a bit of a downgrade). The advantage is you’d be getting a much younger/cheaper reasonable facsimile for a guy whose salary you desperately want to dump. Oh ya, you’d be getting a solid #3 for your rotation too…
Someone needs to do a good Bob Barker impersonation:
“Tim Hudson, come on down!”
It’s kind of scary that the M’s will sign either Hudson or Zito. It’s heaven or hell. And I suppose resigning Meche would be considered purgatory.
LaRoche’s defense was pretty terrific in the minors when he was a slap-and-spray guy with gap power. When I saw him for Myrtle Beach, he could really move around the bag and had good range. However, he’s added about 20-30 lbs since then – thus, the power spike – and his mobility has taken a huge hit. He’s not very good with the glove.
Offense+Defense, LaRoche is an average first baseman. He’s not likely to repeat his ‘06 season, and he’s got very little upside. But a league average first baseman who doesn’t make any money is a lot better than a league average first baseman who makes $14 million.
I wish the M ’s would just give Zito 6 and $90 and get it voer with… or is that even enough? Texas will match that and more, I bet.
The M’s are going to be a $90+ million payroll team for the forseeable future. They’ve got to spend big bucks on somebody. They can’t spend all that money just on smart deals. If the M’s have to pay somebody $15 million a year, Zito’s as safe a bet as anybody that will be available in the next 2-3 years.
There’s no reason they can’t get both Schmidt and Hudson with Sexson off the books.
Wouldn’t Schmidt have been better off with the M’s at 4/52 than the Dodgers at 3/47? Is he going to get more than $5.0 million in his age 37 season if he continues to pitch?
I’m relieved that we didn’t spend that kind of money on a declining veteran, but I fear that panic has set in, and all we have to look forward to is Washburn part 2.
Yeah when I saw LaRoche play in AAA Richmond, he was putting on a clinic in picking balls in the dirt. He certainly has found his beer of choice in the ATL, it seems.
Dave, how likely is this deal with Hudson and Co. to go down, as you see it?
Thanks, but until I hear we haven’t landed him, I’ll go on irrationally hoping that 2006 was LaRoche finally realizing his potential (yeah, yeah, look where that got us with Beltre, but I don’t make the decisions anyway so I can afford to be unrealistic). 2006 LaRoche is an offensive upgrade over Sexson, if you ask me.
A quote from this mornings paper in Atlanta….
Schuerholz said he paid no attention to countless rumors. The most improbable was a published report of a Hudson-to-Seattle swap for $14 million first baseman Richie Sexson of the Mariners, which would run counter to the Braves’ stated priorities of improving their pitching staff while managing a tight payroll.
I don’t know what the M’s offered Schmidt, so for all I now know they took a pass. I do recall that the last time he was on the market, the M’s offered a similar deal (or better) than he took with the Giants. This time around, it looks like he has done it again to the M’s: Used them to get an offer he preferred elsewhere.
That is fine–truly fine–and there should be no hard feelings on anyone’s part. I’m just tired of the dance. For many months we’ve had to endure the lengthy speculation about him coming (home) to Seattle as if it was pre-ordained or, at the very least, as if he really had the Mariners at the top of his list and the M’s wanted him, too. I now wish that when he came to Seattle last summer and suggested he might want to join the M’s next season (or other cryptic words to that effect) that we all would have just said, “I’ll believe it when I see it, because you burned us before and the best indication of future behavior is past behavior.” But, no, we all pretty much got sucked in again.
To reiterate, I don’t blame anyone, Schmidt or the M’s, that it didn’t happen. Just add it to the pile of frustrating time-wasters, like the annual trade of Griffey back to Seattle.
Now, on to filling those 600+ innings we still need from the starting rotation. I now pray they are supplied by pitchers other than vastly overpaid #4 or #5 starters. I’m not expecting quality innings anymore. I just hope (like most others) that we don’t shoot our wad for the non-quality innings that we appear to be left with.
I’m not sure how the M’s sell tickets based on either approach.
Maybe Schmidt decided on the Dodgers because he wanted to win. The money could have been the same.
If the M’s trade Sexson and Soriano for Hudson and LaRoche, sign John Tomson, and trade Broussard they’ll come in at least $15 million under budget for Opening Day. I kinda don’t think that M’s would do that. They don’t want to appear any cheaper than they already are.
for all of Boras claims that Zito is “geographically free”, do you really think Zito/Boras would pick Seattle (far NW locale, ’small market’ for merchandising opportunities, recent win-loss history) over NY?
Under that scenario, the Ms have no need to trade Broussard and who says that would be the end of their dealings?
for all of Boras claims that Zito is “geographically free”, do you really think Zito/Boras would pick Seattle (far NW locale, ’small market’ for merchandising opportunities, recent win-loss history) over NY?
Seattle does have the cool music scene. Oh, wait, that was like 15 years ago.
Response to #37
I think Hudson’s recent mediocrity was more mechanical than anything. I watched him on TBS a number of times last year and they kept saying he wasn’t getting on top of his splitter and it was flattening out, and thus hitter were taking him deep more often.
The thing is, he would occasionally have a game where he put it together and look like the Hudson of old.
What’s this mean? It means you go get him, and try to contain your excitement when doing so. Because it seems to me the chances are good he’ll return to form, and Safeco can only help him if and when his splitter flattens out. Plus, as mentioned by others, you avoid having to spend in this overblown market.
Regarding the Schuerholz quote, though, that deal would be crazy, but it’s not the deal being talked about. Why would ATL want Sexson? God I hope this is true.
Dave, given Hudsons peripherals, what kind of performance do you expect from him at Safeco?
He put up a 4.49 FIP and 4.26 xFIP last year. I dont see him matching xFIP, like you said, he’ll have a higher than average HR/OF, but I think he’ll be at worst a league average SP, possibly a little better than that. He did play in Atlanta, and would be coming to Safeco. A Sub 4 ERA wouldn’t surprise me with our infield and our park, but of course, that’s not what we’d be expecting if he picked him up, we’d be expecting a league average SP (well, I’d hope so).
Looking at the #’s also got me thinking, even if Felix still struggles, for the same reason Hudson should do better, so should he. 18.4% HR/F and 68.2% LOB! With his stuff, I dont think he can help but be better, over-reliance on fastballs or not. If we pick up Hudson and Thomson, I think our rotation will probably be a lot better than I would have expected going into the off-season.
If the M’s trade Sexson and Soriano for Hudson and LaRoche, sign John Tomson, and trade Broussard they’ll come in at least $15 million under budget for Opening Day. I kinda don’t think that M’s would do that. They don’t want to appear any cheaper than they already are.
If they don’t make any more moves, they could try to restructure some contracts (especially Hudson’s, which is light this year and heavy the next two), enabling them have a high enough payroll to avoid looking cheap and free up cash for the next crop of free agents.
Or they could re-sign Ichiro and give multiyear deals to multiple guys to buy out arbitration years. This was Bavasi’s MO in Anaheim, and he’s talked about wanting to lock the core of the team up as a group before.
A raise for Ichiro and multiyear deals for Betancourt, Putz, and maybe Lopez and Felix would add money to the payroll.
Are we as enthusiastic about re-signing Ichiro as we are about not trading him?
FWIW, ESPN sez Lilly “has narrowed his possible destinations to the Cubs and Yankees, his agent, Larry O’Brien said”
Looks like it is going to be another looooooong year….
If the Cubs are in the market that should boost Lilly’s value to, what? 6yrs/$90M?
So Dave, what percentage would you give the Sexson 3-way deal of happening? What about the M’s overpaying to get Zito?
Please, please, please make this deal! Then do exactly as Dave said, and lock up or extend our core group of players.
This seems better than any of the free agent moves or other trades we could make.
On balance I’m more relieved than disappointed on Schmidt. I was horribly afraid that the M’s would sign him for 5 years and bazillions of dollars and torpedo the organization for the foreseeable future.
ESPN reporting that the M’s name has been linked to Cliff Floyd.
The Dodger’s replacement for Drew? Louis Gonzalez, who wants to stick it old team for not thinking he was worth 11 million next year.
What the Hell would the M’s want with Cliff Floyd at this time? How many defensively horrible outfielders do we need?
#77
Bench bat/DH and move Broussard for something useful. Basically gets us something useful for free (assuming little difference in the salary and impact of Broussard and Floyd)
Seattle does have the cool music scene. Oh, wait, that was like 15 years ago.
Still does, you just aren’t looking in the right places, or are too swayed by bands going mainstream.
Part of me thinks Bavasi dropped the ball here, part of me says that Schmidt signed for too much. The 3 years is nice though, I thought for sure he would get 4.
If the M’s had singed Schmidt for the deal he got, we’d be looking at huge contracts for Ichiro, Sexson, Beltre, Washburn, and Schmidt, just ridiculous.
Being linked to Cliff Floyd now is ridiculous. I thought for sure everything would be “pitching, pitching, pitching” here.
I was salivating last night of doing the deal SF/ATL and then signing Schmidt, making the M’s immediate contenders. I guess not.
77 – Just what I was thinking. Unless the Beltre rumors are true and they want to move Ibanez to third.
I guess they don’t think Snelling can play everyday.
Brilliant…
Ibanez at third? What could possibly make you think he can play that position?
And why get rid of Broussard to get an old, broken down version in Cliff Floyd?
Do the 3-way trade, and maybe sign Thompsen (or someone similar), lock up the core of our team with the extra $$, and call it good!
#79– just because they are talking to every pitcher not named Gil, doesn’t mean they can’t also network with the available hitters
a caller to KJR thinks we need Freddy to ‘tutor Felix’
I know we don’t want Ms to grossly overpay for someone like Schmidt, but at some point they need to DO SOMETHING MAJOR this offseason to show they are serious about improving the team.
There is a cost in disappointing the fans that may justify overpaying (to some degree) for decent talent, especially pitching. I’m growing irritated with the Ms. I hope they use the Schmidt money to land Hudson.
Freddy “tutoring” Felix scares the *bleep* put of me (insert your favorite curse word).
#84– so they should weaken the team in order to show the fans they are serious about improving the team?
I know we don’t want Ms to grossly overpay for someone like Schmidt, but at some point they need to DO SOMETHING MAJOR this offseason to show they are serious about improving the team.
Like the Baltimore Orioles do every year?
Look, you want the team to win, right? So sit back, relax, and root for the team to make moves that help the team win.
Good Lord, I don’t want to be like the Orioles. Please FO, make the smart decisions!
I’m wondering why the Giants wouldn’t work with the Braves straight up (Benitez, young starter prospects and cash for LaRoche and Hudson). Thoughts?
[rosterbation]
83 – Mitch had Jayson Stark on this morning who couldn’t go on enough about how Freddy Garcia and Mark Buehrle were #1 starters, but Tim Hudson wasn’t. Flarg.
How many starters do the Dodgers need? This has signs of Penny and prospects to Boston for Manny writen all over it…especially combined with the loss of Drew.
WOW, count me as someone who is upset we let Schmidt slip away! I would have done this deal in a heartbeat. I would have gone 4year @14 per or uped the money to get it down to three years no problem! Here is a guy who is an offseason of rest and slightly easier workload during the year away from regaining at least a #2 starter level, he WANTS to pitch in Seattle, and yet we can’t get a deal done, this just SUCKS!
Come on Bavasi, git r done!
I think what I’m most worried about is that the common fan will come out of the offseason unimpressed, leading to decreased attendance, and if we don’t wow them this season, ownership will start to think “gosh, with the decrease in attendance, we can’t afford to keep spending this money.”
82 – I did write “Just kidding”, but put it in brackets, and it was apparently left out of my post.
Of course I know Ibanez at 3rd is a joke. Getting another LF/DH such as Floyd just makes ZERO sense, unless, as I noted, they have no faith in Snelling.
I just saw Ted Miller’s column about the Ms today. My, Ted did a lot of in-depth research for that baby.
#93– I would have done this deal in a heartbeat. I would have gone 4year @14 per or uped the money to get it down to three years no problem! Here is a guy who is an offseason of rest and slightly easier workload during the year away from regaining at least a #2 starter level, he WANTS to pitch in Seattle
obviously, pitching in Seattle wasn’t on the top of his wish list.
The Bottom Line is that Ted “Bottom Line” Miller had trouble reaching the Bottom Line of his required inches.
The best part of the signing Schmidt would have been the need to move Sexson to clear salary. Without Schmidt, it seems likely that Richie stays put.
99: Some might argue that is the WORST part of the signing.
Does Jeff Weaver not sound like a classic Bavasi signing at this point? Former Angel, has ‘upside’, casual fans might recognize his name, and has ‘veteran, playoff experience’. I can just hear the press conference now.
#90
Oops, sorry!
I guess I don’t understand why everyone is so happy/relieved that we did not sign Jason Schmidt.
Would you rather have a legit #3/2 for 3yr/47mil or a #5/4 for 4yr/40 mil.
It seems pretty clear cut to me that Jason Schmidt is probably one of the best signings this offseason.
Cannot agree more.
What pisses me off about these position player deals/rumors is that the M’s are obviously not convinced that Doyle is an everyday player. There is absolutely no way that Guillen will be sharing significant time with anyone, unless Hargrove wants someone to get shivved.
How is it OK to sit a .375-.400 OBP guy half the time? If he’s healthy, you’ve got to give him the chance; he’s just too good of a hitter to be a part time player. I hate to say this, but I’d rather see Doyle play to his full potential elsewhere than be wasted here.
Agreed on Snelling. Reminds me a bit of how much trouble Raul had breaking into the everyday lineup until he went to KC.
#103– Would you rather have a legit #3/2 for 3yr/47mil
well, apparently the Ms couldn’t get him for ‘3yr/47mil’ — there was a belief that they’d go that price for Schmidt, and perhaps up to 4 years, so it likely came down to things they couldn’t offer. Things like Stan Conte, Ned Colletti, familiarity with the NL, a winning team….
World Series veteran leaders-turned-Mariners by Bavasi:
2004: Scott Spiezio, Rich Aurilia
2005: Pokey Reese
2006: Carl Everett, Jerrod Washburn
2007: ??
Given the option between overpaying for a Pontiac Fiero or overpaying for a Merkur XR4T1, I’d take the Merkur. But I’d rather buy a Acura Integra of the same vintage, or else save my money and buy a better car next year.
I’m wondering how the Ms are goiing to get Brad Penny for their rotation….
Isnt it about time to open up the annual Griffey talks?
wacky. after all the hoohah about Gillick wanting to get back to Toronto, he now plans to retire to Seattle. oh, and Hargrove had a nice sit-down with Guillen.
At this rate there most likely will not be a next year for Bavasi and Co.
Keith Law (analyst at ESPN) “…but the Dodgers’ three-year, $47 million deal with Jason Schmidt is one of the better deals of this offseason.” – Not that that is too hard to acheive with all the ridiculous deals out there.
Wow. This is like having a flush in poker and sure you’re going to win but then the other guy pulls out 4 aces.
Aaron Gleeman:
“It’s surprising that Schmidt would sign before several of the market’s lesser starters, and it’s even more surprising that he’s agreeing to a reported $47 million deal that’s more along the lines of what people were expecting Gil Meche and Ted Lilly to receive.
Schmidt’s apparent price tag seems to indicate one of two things. The first is that he was willing to take less than full market value in order to sign somewhere he truly wanted to go, which might also explain why he was willing to commit so early. The second possibility is that Schmidt’s actual market value was somewhat depressed after he made it clear that he didn’t want to pitch on the East Coast, thus eliminating several of the biggest bidders.”
I like Snelling, but really, what has he done that should give the FO any faith that he will hold up long enough to be an everyday player?
I hope Floyd and LuGo are both off the market SOON, so we don’t have to hear their names associated with M’s rumors anymore.
World Series veteran leaders-turned-Mariners by Bavasi:
2004: Scott Spiezio, Rich Aurilia
2005: Pokey Reese
2006: Carl Everett, Jerrod Washburn
2007: ??
Let’s see. Cliff Floyd or Luis Gonzalez 2007 Mariners left fielder.
Raul had trouble breaking into the lineup before he went to Kansas City because he hit like crap in his first stint in Seattle. By the time he left, he’d had more than 500 plate appearances in a Mariner uniform, was 28 years old, had hit no better than a .313 onbase and .421 slugging at 27, and was coming off a .229 year.
Ichiro won the Japan series, isn’t that good enough?
If the M’s don’t make any good moves/deals, at least there is the excitement of Jose Guillen to fall back on.
Over/Under on brawls that Guillen starts with the Angels alone next year? I say three.
Reminds me a bit of how much trouble Raul had breaking into the everyday lineup until he went to KC.
Ibanez was unimpressive in amassing over 450 AB in his first tour of duty with the team, including regular playing time in the second half of 1999. Ibanez really did nothing to help himself with that playing time.
If the Cubs are in the market that should boost Lilly’s value to, what? 6yrs/$90M?
I guess that means Gil Meche is going to Toronto. Apparently he and Halladay are buddies.
And that’s not so bad for Toronto. If they’d had Meche instead of Josh Towers last season they’d have won an extra 5 games.
I guess that means Gil Meche is going to Toronto. Apparently he and Halladay are buddies.
Latest word is that the Jays are out of the Lilly race.
Would you rather have a legit #3/2 for 3yr/47mil or a #5/4 for 4yr/40 mil.
That’s like saying would I rather have a punch in the face or the groin. Can’t I skip BOTH of them?
Anyone else have the feeling that not much is going to happen and we are going to be left with woods / baek at the back end? I guess there is a lot of time left, it just doesnt seem to be going well.
Anyone else have the feeling that not much is going to happen and we are going to be left with woods / baek at the back end?
I don’t mind Baek OR Woods at the back end; I mind Baek AND Woods at the back end.
interesting line in the LA Times report on the Schmidt signing:
“The Dodgers allowed free agent pitcher Greg Maddux to go to the San Diego Padres without making a serious offer to re-sign him, all along knowing Schmidt probably would end up in L.A.”
from Rotoworld, via Yahoo:
Yahoo! Sports’ Tim Brown says the Red Sox have asked the Mariners for J.J. Putz, Adam Jones and a third player in return for Manny Ramirez.
That’s not quite what the Dodgers had to offer, but it would be a decent return if the Red Sox need to dump salary after landing J.D. Drew and Julio Lugo. Also, it’s realistic for the Mariners, as they have Rafael Soriano to put into the closer’s role. Whether it’s truly doable for Seattle may depend on whether Ramirez wants his $20 million options for 2009 and 2010 picked up as part of a deal.
I’m sure it’s a garbage rumor – but boy, it really depends on who that third player is, huh? Here’s hoping it’s Willie Ballgame.
see editor’s note on previous thread.
Rosenthal is reporting that we’ve jumped into the Batista sweepstakes. I have no problem with that, so long as we keep it in the 2 years/15 million range.
Still, with the money both LA and the Sox have committed recently, I have to think our chances of landing Ramirez have gone up. (That doesn’t mean they’re good, to be sure.) If we could somehow pull off both that and the deal for Hudson, I’d be a happy man.
Did we just trade Soriano for Horacio Ramirez?
We sure did.
http://braves.scout.com/2/598302.html
If it was true, they would’ve lost me after the first player…..
WTF?
All that hope and we end up with this shit? God damn it.
At least he’s a ground ball guy.
Please tell me this is a joke…..
Horacio Ramirez blows serious chunks. He’s ******* worse than Jake Woods.
Hudson Smudson….
There goes our best trade chit and what we have to show for it is Horacio F’ing Ramirez?!?!?
First dibs on the domain name firebavasi.com
I HATE THIS SHIT THE MOR EIT HINK ABOUT IT THE MORE I WANT TO GO BOMB SAFECO FIELD
That is seriously unimpressive.
note to Bavasi…. “no….the other groundball pitcher…”
He’s cheap, he’s a lefty, kinda young, he’s cheap, has groudball tendencies, he’s cheap, once went 200 innings, he’s cheap, has good stuff, he’s cheap, has lousy peripherals, he’s cheap….
Really, i’d be happier if they got Elizardo Ramirez…. this is BS in a vacuum…. but frankly, I can’t see good looking dominos in either direction….
who knew it would take so little to land ramirez? we’re lucky– we only had to give up soriano and didn’t even need to include jones or clement or anybody else…
whoops, wrong ramirez…
Great…another guy who can’t miss bats.
Rule #1: Don’t acquire players who look mediocre even when playing in the weaker league.
Well, I haven’t heard anything other than the post to that Braves site. Can anyone confirm this is ACTUALLY true?
one piece of the rumored fleecing of the Braves is actually on his way to Pittsburgh…. LaRoche for Gonzalez…
I guess Bavasi was the one drinking in the Brave’s hotel room last night…
note to Bavasi: just because Schuerholz is drinking a clear liquid, it doesn’t mean he’s chuggin’ vodka…. meanwhile, just because your drink tastes like OJ, it doesn’t mean you’re not drinking vodka…
Just jumped on the site. So in the last five minutes I’ve had to process not getting Schmidt and then dealing a talented player away for Ramirez…
I feel ill.
Let’s all hope this is nothing but unsubstantiated gossip or smokescreens. I’m crossing my fingers.
i have some insight I’d like to contribute. Are you ready? Here it is…
we suck.
i have some insight I’d like to contribute. Are you ready? Here it is…
we suck.