MLB Free Agency Thread.

[liamenator]

Astros have signed Carlos Lee to a 6 yr/$100 million.
Baseball is insane.

But back to the Blue Jays.. I echo Jiri's sentiments.. I think a quality, experienced 4-5 guy a la Woody Williams would be great. Re-upping Lilly is a pipe-dream as he is by and large considered the top Pitching free agent in the "B" pool = lots of suitors.

But that line-up as is scary, and in the long-ball happy AL.. I like what Ricciardi is doing... so far. If he can't suppliment the rotation or find a decent catcher at a decent rate, then this offseason will likely be considered a disappointment.

However it is too bad to see quality guys like Zaun, the Cat and Speier walk.. Nature of the beast I guess.

[CaramonLS]

Well so far we've upgraded at DH, taken a major hit at catcher (as in don't have one), still don't have one of a 2B/SS (Adams isn't starting next year), lost our #3 pitcher and lost our Setup guy.

Chips better start falling soon, otherwise this has the makings of a disaster.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Well so far we've upgraded at DH, taken a major hit at catcher (as in don't have one), still don't have one of a 2B/SS (Adams isn't starting next year), lost our #3 pitcher and lost our Setup guy.

Chips better start falling soon, otherwise this has the makings of a disaster.

Well it's still very early in the offseason, and theres speculation that a fair amount will happen during the winter meetings next week. But so far it's been a bit of a strange start to the offseason for the Jays. I do think they may need to look at exploring the trade route to try and find a few guys to fill the roles that they need. When a pitcher like Vincente Padilla is demanding like 10 million...maybe you do decide to trade for some pitching.

[socalwingfan]

[quote=liamenator;653729]Astros have signed Carlos Lee to a 6 yr/$100 million.
quote]

Living in Houston, Lee should be topping 300 pounds by about year 3 of that deal

[Super-Rye]

Originally Posted by liamenator

Astros have signed Carlos Lee to a 6 yr/$100 million.
Baseball is insane.

But back to the Blue Jays.. I echo Jiri's sentiments.. I think a quality, experienced 4-5 guy a la Woody Williams would be great.

As an Astro's fan I'll say "w00t", but I'd also like to point out Woody Williams has also signed with the Astro's.

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/news_story/?ID=185707&hubname=

[Antithesis]

Originally Posted by liamenator

Astros have signed Carlos Lee to a 6 yr/$100 million.
Baseball is insane.

It's not really that insane when you look at the revenues brought in by teams and the league in general. When you speak in pure dollar figures then yes of course it is - but in terms of relative salaries, hockey easily takes the insanity cake.

At any rate, I do agree that giving that big and that length of a deal to a Carlos Lee type is questionable, but so is commiting $20 million to a fragile guy like the Big Hurt.

So was giving that money to BJ Ryan last year, but I'd say that worked out well (at least last season).

[moon]

So two central teams have gone out and given guys big contracts and still are going to miss the play-offs.

When will teams realise it takes more than one guy to win in baseball and more than just throwing money around. Smart decisions on where to spend money work out much better than getting the biggest name for the biggest bucks.

I hope the Astros are happy when Carlos Lee hits a HR to get them within 4 runs after Wandy Rodriguez has already given 5 runs in the first two innings.

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Well so far we've upgraded at DH, taken a major hit at catcher (as in don't have one), still don't have one of a 2B/SS (Adams isn't starting next year), lost our #3 pitcher and lost our Setup guy.

Chips better start falling soon, otherwise this has the makings of a disaster.

Relax, the offseason and FA has just started. Everyone has net lost people at this point.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

Well so far we've upgraded at DH, taken a major hit at catcher (as in don't have one), still don't have one of a 2B/SS (Adams isn't starting next year), lost our #3 pitcher and lost our Setup guy.

Chips better start falling soon, otherwise this has the makings of a disaster.

Wow, relax the GM meetings have not even started yet. The Jays will be fine. I bet the next move is too sign a Catcher. As for Pitching it will take longer as lots of teams are looking. I believe the Jays will trade for Pitching. Wells will be moved at the GM Meetings for Pitcher IMO..... not a rumour.

[flambers]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

Well it's still very early in the offseason, and theres speculation that a fair amount will happen during the winter meetings next week. But so far it's been a bit of a strange start to the offseason for the Jays. I do think they may need to look at exploring the trade route to try and find a few guys to fill the roles that they need. When a pitcher like Vincente Padilla is demanding like 10 million...maybe you do decide to trade for some pitching.

I agree, going the Trade route is the best option. Signing Pitchers to 10M deals is risky thats a good way to find another Towers...

[OILFAN #81]

The Jays are in talks with catcher Rod Barajas and close to signing him apparently.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Citing multiple sources, the Globe and Mail says the Blue Jays and Barajas could have a two-year deal worth approximately US$6 million completed by Tuesday.

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/news_story/?ID=185834&hubname=mlb

[Pagal4321]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

Citing multiple sources, the Globe and Mail says the Blue Jays and Barajas could have a two-year deal worth approximately US$6 million completed by Tuesday.

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/news_story/?ID=185834&hubname=mlb

If Barajas is the primairy starter....I don't like it at all. Barajas is a good guy to platoon at catcher, but as a starter...it's just a big mistake. Him and Zaun combined would make a good combo.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy McGillicuddy

Boston Red Sox have won the bidding war for prized Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, paying more than $50 million just for the rights to negotiate. In money terms, Matsuzaka will become the new A-Rod, making more money in a single season than Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Randy Johnson or Ken Griffey Jr ever made, despite having never thrown a pitch in the majors.



http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2662193

Wasn't sure if I should start a new thread for this, but I was reading something on ESPN that blew me away about this guy:

Three years later, a 17-year-old Matsuzaka capped off an undefeated, 208-strikeout season for Yokohama High School with a performance at the Koshien that was as brutal as it was brilliant. In a complete-game victory over powerhouse PL Gakuen, he threw 250 pitches over 17 innings in withering heat. The following day, in a semifinal against Meitoku Gijuku, he played eight innings in the outfield before throwing a 15-pitch ninth to get a win. And the next day, in the final, he pitched a title-clinching, 11-strikeout no-hitter vs. Kyoto Seisho.

Unbelievable.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2669791

[RedHot25]

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/news_story/?ID=185886&hubname=mlb

Thought that I would also throw this in here as well, as the Brewers/DBacks made a reasonably big 6-player trade:

The Arizona Diamondbacks acquired left-hander Doug Davis from Milwaukee on Saturday in a six-player deal that sent catcher Johnny Estrada to the Brewers.
Right-handers Greg Aquino and Claudio Vargas also went to Milwaukee, while the Diamondbacks obtained a pair of youngsters, left-hander Dana Eveland and outfielder Dave Krynzel.
The 31-year-old Davis is 62-63 with a 4.35 ERA in eight major league seasons. He was 11-11 with a 4.91 ERA in 34 starts last season with Milwaukee and, like Estrada, is arbitration eligible.
The 30-year-old Estrada hit .301 with 11 home runs and 71 RBIs during his only season with Arizona. The switch-hitting former all-star had the sixth-best batting average among NL catchers.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Free-agent pitcher Gil Meche was the guest of Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi at the game . . .

http://www.mapleleafs.com/news/news.asp?story_id=2330

So obviously the Jays and Meche are talking. I don't know much about the guy.......would it be a decent signing?

[JiriHrdina]

I may be mistaken but Gil Meche is the guy that Mike Wilner on the Jays broadcast kept on bringing up this past year as the type of starter the Jays would target to round out the staff.

[flames_1987]

I'm very happy with bringing Zaun back. The Jays lineup is filled with talent, that they didn't need to bring in a big bat at all at the catchers position. Zaun in my mind is the "captain" of the Blue Jays. You won't find many other guys who want to win as bad as Zaun does, that goes a far way on a young baseball team. He's got a really good relationship with a lot of Jays pitchers, and decent enough defense to be a starting catcher.

[Caged Great]

Apparently the jays are close to signing meche to a 4 year 36 million dollar deal

[flames_1987]

Suddenlly the contracts AJ and BJ signed look like a really good price.

Meche's Stats

Last year on a brutal Seattle team he was 11-8 with a 4.48. He's a lifetime 55-44 4.65 ERA guy. 29 years old so not that old by any means.

Away from salary, because yes obviosully it's a lot of money, I like this move. This is the kind've guy the Jays missed last year, a guy at the middle/back end of the rotation that can finsh the year over .500 in W/L.