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2010 / 2011 MLB Off Season Thread.
With the Giants victory parade in the books, its time to concentrate on the MLB off season. Free agency gets started early this year with teams being able to contact FA's on 12:01am Sunday morning. Like always the FA period will begin with everyone looking to the Bronx to see what the Yankees are up to. Then everything will fall into place from there.
Here is a good article from the NY Daily News about the Yankees recent woes in FA signings and how they plan to approach free agency this off season. Including Cliff Lee, Mariano Rivera, and Derek Jeter.
Here was Brian Cashman the other day before flying down to Tampa and finding out what his allowance from the Boss Brothers will be this winter:
"I think that if the pitching can be shored up it will be to our best interest."
"Shored up" in this case likely means overpaying Lee, who turns 33 in August, and became the most over-evaluated pitcher in history during the postseason that just ended. When it comes to the Yankees, "shored up" always means throwing big money at somebody else's best pitchers. And going back to 1995, it has put them in the postseason every year except one, so in that sense, it's working for them.
But in the last 10 years - as shored up as they've been - they've won the same amount of World Series as the Angels, Marlins, White Sox, Cardinals, Phillies and San Francisco Giants.
I said to someone in the Yankee organization on Tuesday: "Wait a second: You have to shore up the pitching two years after you signed Sabathia and Burnett for nearly a quarter of a billion?"
Bets on who the first free agent to sign is? I think most of the money will be on Lee, but my thought is he will take some time and drive up his salary. He might actually want to stay in Texas. It's a smaller market, less pressure, easier division and he seemed to enjoy the Rangers players in the limited amount I watched of him.
The A's brought back Mark Ellis and Coco Crisp today but they decided to let Eric Chavez walk, which is really no surprise considering he hasn't been able to stay healthy. It would not surprise me to see the A's sign Beltre, they were very interested last winter.
According to a source, the Yankees aren't planning to make a hard charge for Crawford or Jayson Werth, the top two offensive free agents available this winter. Brett Gardner's breakout year, Nick Swisher's solid season and the late-season emergence of Curtis Granderson have the Yankees convinced that paying top dollar for an outfielder isn't the most sensible way to spend their money.
Was listening to MLB radio yesterday, and they were talking about the Yankees/Crawford rumblings. Made an interesting point in that if they were to keep Gardner/Granderson, add Crawford and trade away Swisher - all three of their outfielders would be left-handed bats.
Interesting to say the least, as they didn't feel this would be a move that made sense for that reason alone. I can't say I buy that argument, as they have Teixeira (switch hitter), Jeter (if he re-signs ), Rodriguez, Posada (switch hitter) as right-handed bats. If anything, adding Crawford is questionable as he is quite similar to the other two outfielders - just significantly better.
EDIT - you're right b_b_b - not sure why I didn't switch hit Teixeira. Could you see the Yankees still making a last-minute pitch at Crawford and DH Swisher?
Last edited by dustyanddaflames; 11-04-2010 at 01:11 PM.
The A's brought back Mark Ellis and Coco Crisp today but they decided to let Eric Chavez walk, which is really no surprise considering he hasn't been able to stay healthy. It would not surprise me to see the A's sign Beltre, they were very interested last winter.
Flick - what do you think the A's are going to do with the corner outfield spots. Are they happy with Travis Buck, Crisp and Davis? Or can you see them making a trade or bringing in a bat via free agency? I'm aware the A's aren't a team notorious for spending big cash in the market, but can you see them bringing in a marginal bat to hit in the middle of that order? Or is one a spot that Carter will fill this upcoming season?
Letting Chavez walk is a no-brainer, poor buggar had all the makings of a great career, just injuries got the best of him.
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Originally Posted by dustyanddaflames
Was listening to MLB radio yesterday, and they were talking about the Yankees/Crawford rumblings. Made an interesting point in that if they were to keep Gardner/Granderson, add Crawford and trade away Swisher - all three of their outfielders would be left-handed bats.
Interesting to say the least, as they didn't feel this would be a move that made sense for that reason alone. I can't say I buy that argument, as they have Texiera, Jeter (if he re-signs ), Rodriguez, Posada (switch hitter) as right-handed bats. If anything, adding Crawford is questionable as he is quite similar to the other two outfielders - just significantly better.
Swisher and Teixeira are both switch hitters as well.
Flick - what do you think the A's are going to do with the corner outfield spots. Are they happy with Travis Buck, Crisp and Davis? Or can you see them making a trade or bringing in a bat via free agency? I'm aware the A's aren't a team notorious for spending big cash in the market, but can you see them bringing in a marginal bat to hit in the middle of that order? Or is one a spot that Carter will fill this upcoming season?
Letting Chavez walk is a no-brainer, poor buggar had all the makings of a great career, just injuries got the best of him.
My guess is that they would like to upgrade on the corners, in the OF and IF. There were lots of rumors in Sept. that the A's would take run at either Crawford or Pena. I'm not sure they have the finances to do that. Carter didn't look ready when he was called up this past season but he might get a spot by default. I don't think Buck is in the long term vision and Davis is a nice player but not consistent enough. They really need a couple of big time power hitters.
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Two different opinions. One saying the Yankees have all the leverage. The other saying the Yankees should pay Jeter up to 25 years after his playing days are over
My guess is that they would like to upgrade on the corners, in the OF and IF. There were lots of rumors in Sept. that the A's would take run at either Crawford or Pena. I'm not sure they have the finances to do that. Carter didn't look ready when he was called up this past season but he might get a spot by default. I don't think Buck is in the long term vision and Davis is a nice player but not consistent enough. They really need a couple of big time power hitters.
The thing is the A's have Sheets and Chavy coming off the books this off season, which clears up a good chunk of money for a power bat. I think the real problem is convincing hitters to play their home games in the coliseum. Failed miserably with Holliday.
Weirdly, this is not so surprising. There have been pretty strong rumblings about the Nationals going after Lee for a while now, and apparently Cliff has some interest/is open to it. Jeff Blair, of the Globe and Mail, mentioned this not too long ago for instance.
A's make a very good trade yesterday picking up David DeJesus for a couple of minor league pitchers. I believe they still have to sign DeJesus but if he signs elsewhere, the A's pick up a couple of picks.
He is not the power hitter that they need but he is clearly an upgrade over their current OFers.
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Very sad news as Dave Niehaus the voice of the Seattle Mariners has passed at age 75 due to a heart attack. Massive loss for the Mariners org. and fans. RIP.
Very sad indeed.
This delayed the Yankees dynasty. People don't really remember when the Yankees were bad but this was the Yankees first playoff appearence in 14 years and some young upstart team called the Mariners beat them!
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A's make a very good trade yesterday picking up David DeJesus for a couple of minor league pitchers. I believe they still have to sign DeJesus but if he signs elsewhere, the A's pick up a couple of picks.
He is not the power hitter that they need but he is clearly an upgrade over their current OFers.
The Royals are stupid. Not shocking though.
The two picks that Dejesus would've got them will be better prospects than either of the pitchers they got from the A's.
Probably will see Greinke and Gordon traded for a pile of mediocre crap as well.
It's really disappointing that teams like the Pirates and Royals can't ever get out of their current circling of the drain that they've been in since 1990....
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2010 / 2011 MLB Off Season Thread.
), Rodriguez, Posada (switch hitter) as right-handed bats. If anything, adding Crawford is questionable as he is quite similar to the other two outfielders - just significantly better.
also expressing interest in Cliff Lee. Outside of the assumed suitors of Rangers, Yankees, and Angels.
