Comments on: Priority numero uno

By: joser

joser — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 19:04:11 +0000

Conor, I think you're selling LaRue a little short. He said

On the free agent market there are closers looking for huge multi-year deals, specialists like Francisco Rodriguez, Brian Fuentes, Kerry Wood and Eddie Guardado.

Yeah, it's "one of these things is not like the others" but he just said Eddie is looking, which of course is true (I'm sure those of us with 401Ks are looking for a sustained stock market rally, too). And he said Eddie is a specialist, but he didn't specify in what.

By: sass

sass — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:07:25 +0000

The Easter Bunny’s, because you’re dreaming and he has delicious candy.

By: Oolon

Oolon — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:05:22 +0000

Imagine you’re the Z-Man at the GM meetings and you have two messages waiting for you in your room. One from a GM asking about Yuni’s availability and the other from a GM asking about Washburn’s availability.

Which call do you return first?

By: mymrbig

mymrbig — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:11:01 +0000

Too bad the Cards already traded for Greene. I could have seen them being interested in Yuni and the Cards have quite a few interesting names beyond their top prospects. My random thought (before the Branyan signing) was that Joe Mather would be an interesting name for the M’s. Good power, seems like a late developer, and versatile defense.

Thankfully, the SS market is exceptionally thin right now. Furcal is spendy, Cabrera costs a draft pick and is fading, and everyone else is relatively putrid. At least the M’s can sell Yuni as a player with some upside.

If the M’s trade Yuni, I like someone like Iztuis or Everett as a stopgap. Black holes for bats, but the plus defense on the left side of the field would be fun to watch.

By: Steve Nelson

Steve Nelson — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 14:50:23 +0000

Because of this, much like stocks it’s better to sell high (which is where Yuni probably is now) rather than after his stock hit’s bottom (where it probably will be in a year or two) when everyone realizes his defense won’t get better.

In stock market terms, high is where Yuni was two years ago. If Yuni were Washington Mutual, right now he’s where WaMu was one year ago, i.e., he’s way off of his high but does still have value. But one year from now ….????

By: pmbaseball7

pmbaseball7 — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:30:26 +0000

[deleted, random speculation]

By: pmbaseball7

pmbaseball7 — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:25:18 +0000

If we wait another year with Yuni we could lose out on the chance to get some talent in return. Why risk it when you could sign a better defensive SS like a Cesar Izturis or even (getting my hopes up here) signing Rafael Furcal.

By: Five Number Ones

Five Number Ones — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 12:38:34 +0000

[deleted, random speculation]

By: Lucky Number

Lucky Number — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:24:15 +0000

Conor wrote:

Guardado? Really?! That’s like writing, “Agents will be mingling throughout the Las Vegas Convention Center trying to find teams willing to sign big-money superstars like Manny Ramirez, C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixiera and Mike Lamb.”

Well, Eric Gagne did make $10 million last year…

By: Kunkoh

Kunkoh — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:07:46 +0000

SCL, I think what you’re missing (and please someone correct me if I’m wrong) is, Yuni’s offense isn’t significantly worse right now than it has been so there isn’t much chance of a “rebound” there. His defense on the other hand has been steadily and rapidly going downhill – which would indicate this isn’t a fluke. So if there is a rebound there, it’s probably only going to be a “dead cat bounce.” Even if there is a rebound from this year, rebounding from horrible to merely bad isn’t going to increase his value, but will probably help people realize just how far his defense has fallen.

Because of this, much like stocks it’s better to sell high (which is where Yuni probably is now) rather than after his stock hit’s bottom (where it probably will be in a year or two) when everyone realizes his defense won’t get better.

It’s possible his defense could improve, but that would take a significant effort on his part to lose weight, get in better shape, working with strength/speed coaches, etc. However, losing weight doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll get his speed and agility back; much less his throwing accuracy. (I thought, there was a post/article about this, but can’t seem to find it. It’s late, and or I may be blind?)