MLB Offseason Thread

[Flickered Flame]

I didn't see one created yet so here it is.

The A's sent Cliff Pennington and a prospect to the D-backs for Chris Young, who turned around and flipped the prospect to the Marlins for Heath Bell.

The A's now have 4 everyday outfielders and one could be in play, likely Coco Crisp. The A's could also be in the mix for a middle infielder (Escobar?) with Pennington now gone. They could also let Drew go, they have Weeks but he is terrible and they have discussed moving Scott Sizemore to 2nd base after Donaldson's good season at 3rd. The problem is, Sizemore hasn't played in well over a year because of injuries.

Also CC Sabathia will have his elbow examined after feeling discomfort following his last 2 starts. They don't suspect he will require Tommy John surgery but it is a possibility.

[Berger]

Lincecum apparently available this offseason.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/ml...cum-available-

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Berger

Lincecum apparently available this offseason.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/ml...cum-available-

Denied by Sabean.

http://aol.sportingnews.com/mlb/stor...an-nlcs-game-6

“Timmy is going to be a Giant,” Sabean told the San Francisco Chronicle before Sunday’s Game 6 of the National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. Lincecum has one year remaining on a two-year, $40.5 million contract and is due to make $22 million next season.

Lincecum’s strikeout rate was still good this season (9.19 per nine innings), but Sabean said Lincecum will have to accept a new identity because he doesn’t have the same swing-and-miss stuff he did when he was younger.

Sabean also said Lincecum will need to tweak his mechanics, something Lincecum has been unwilling to do in the past.

“This is more a function of (being) willing to accept the delivery he’s going to use to be successful,” Sabean told the Chronicle. “He’s going to have to pitch more to contact. No matter what his strikeout ratio is, he’s not going to miss many bats.”

Lincecum has said he plans to change his offseason workout routine and possibly add weight before next spring training. He’s bulked up in the past, and he also has dropped weight; in both instances he ended up pitching fine for the most part during the season.



Tim should put on 30 lbs and stop smoking weed.

[Flickered Flame]

Marlins fired Ozzie Guillen today after one year as manager.

[TitovFTW]

Trading Lincecum while his value is this low, makes no sense. I'm not sure it's a physical thing with him, he was such a "freak" of nature, I'm not sure you can ever get that velocity back.

I expect the Phillies to spend a whole lot of money this offseason. Nick Swisher is going to get paid, and rightfully so. The Jays will have their most active offseason under AA and Josh Hamilton is not going to get much action early on, but one team is going to throw the kitchen sink at him.

And I still don't see anyway the Jays move Escobar. He still has a ton of value, team friendly contract and AA never sells low. I all but guarantee he's the Jays starting SS

[moon]

I am not sure that Escobar has a ton of value.

He isn't young, has had multiple instances of stupid behavior and a few seasons of poor production. At 26 it may be possible to convince someone of upside at 30 you tend to be what you are and he seems to be a pain in the ass that doesn't hit well enough to overcome his BS.

[TitovFTW]

I'm still high on Escobar, and any team that can get him. He's got an incredibly team friendly contract, he was a top 3 AL shortstop with the Jays besides last season. Funny enough from what I read on the Toronto Star, AA spoke incredibly high on him. Saying he was the type of guy that stays late every day and will talk baseball for hours on end. I think some Latin players get unfair reputations due to the differences in personalities and cultures.

Right now his value is incredibly low however. Weak season and the whole debacle at the end of the year. I followed him a lot as a Brave and always liked him. As far as I can count, he's really had no problems as a Blue Jay besides the eye paint. Doubt he gets traded.

Here are my thoughts on the free agent pitchers this offseason:

Lot of risk in this free agency pool and a lot of over payment to come. I really hope Brandon McCarthy gets healthy, he deserves a huge pay day. The injury might be the only way he ends up back in Oakland. He was the #1 pitching free agent IMO, maybe only behind Greinke.

Pitchers-
Edwin Jacokson- Very reliable numbers. Likely to cash in on that. I would be happy if I was a fan of a team that signed him, likely to over pay however.

Shaun Marcum- I'd have to think he ends up a BlueJay. Won't demand a lot of money, built in relationship and won't cost much money.

Greinke- Deserves all the money he's going to get. Media will hand out dumb narratives if he goes to a big market. I could see him ending up a Dodger.

Kyle Lohse- Avoid at all costs. Brutal strikeout rate. Old and will be looking for multiple years.

Ryan Dempster- I think he's worth it if you're a team with pitching depth and wanting to contend next season. Very reliable. Best suited to stay in the NL. I think he knows that. LA really wanted him before (Note: Dodgers likely to be in on pretty much everyone.

Anibal Sanchez- I don't think he's suited for the AL, but even at 29, I think his best years are ahead of him. He's durable, strong health and strikes a lot of batters out.

Jake Peavey- If he didn't have any injuries in his past, he'd garner the biggest pay day of any player this offseason. He's still got a lot of good years ahead of him, he was one of the best pitchers in the AL this season.

Hiroki Kuroda- Likely to re-sign with Yankees. 1 year 10 million plus

Dan Haren- Had back problems to end the season. Looked like the elite pitcher Dan Haren has been, for the first half of the year. Angels are not going to bring back.

[moon]

Originally Posted by TitovFTW

I'm still high on Escobar, and any team that can get him. He's got an incredibly team friendly contract, he was a top 3 AL shortstop with the Jays besides last season. Funny enough from what I read on the Toronto Star, AA spoke incredibly high on him. Saying he was the type of guy that stays late every day and will talk baseball for hours on end. I think some Latin players get unfair reputations due to the differences in personalities and cultures.

Right now his value is incredibly low however. Weak season and the whole debacle at the end of the year. I followed him a lot as a Brave and always liked him. As far as I can count, he's really had no problems as a Blue Jay besides the eye paint. Doubt he gets traded.

He has had other issues such as taking a lot of fly balls that weren't his and pissing guys off in the clubhouse. The second part comes from Zaun so may be hearsay but it seems based on what came out of Atlanta and how he is treated by the Blue Jays something more is going on than one incident with the eye black.

[Drake]

I'm going to make a bold prediction about free agency that likely will not come true, maybe it does but whatever as guessing is fun I guess... Angel Pagan signs in Atlanta and becomes the everyday CF.

[TitovFTW]

Originally Posted by moon

He has had other issues such as taking a lot of fly balls that weren't his and pissing guys off in the clubhouse. The second part comes from Zaun so may be hearsay but it seems based on what came out of Atlanta and how he is treated by the Blue Jays something more is going on than one incident with the eye black.

Yeah, I wouldn't buy into anything Zaun says at all I think the Jays have treated him incredibly well. He's started every game he could since he's been here besides a pretty short suspension for what the Jays could have given him, if they disliked him. I really don't hear much problems with his teamates, the flyballs one seems pretty minimum. Jays had a lot of reasons to not play him this year, and they did. There really have not been any issues where a teamate has spoken out against him or any specific incidents. We both agree his value is pretty low right now. He'll be a BlueJay in 2013

[moon]

Originally Posted by TitovFTW

Yeah, I wouldn't buy into anything Zaun says at all I think the Jays have treated him incredibly well. He's started every game he could since he's been here besides a pretty short suspension for what the Jays could have given him, if they disliked him. I really don't hear much problems with his teamates, the flyballs one seems pretty minimum. Jays had a lot of reasons to not play him this year, and they did. There really have not been any issues where a teamate has spoken out against him or any specific incidents. We both agree his value is pretty low right now. He'll be a BlueJay in 2013

I think Jays Management likes him and that is why he played so much but watching the Jays there is zero doubt that he pissed guys off with his fielding. You could see that in their faces.

The teammates thing comes from guys like Zaun, Ashby and Rosenthal saying there is no way he makes it on the field with the Marricon writing on his eyeblack without teammates seeing it. There is a though that guys were tired of him and let him go knowing it would blow back on him.

[TitovFTW]

Originally Posted by moon

I think Jays Management likes him and that is why he played so much but watching the Jays there is zero doubt that he pissed guys off with his fielding. You could see that in their faces.

The teammates thing comes from guys like Zaun, Ashby and Rosenthal saying there is no way he makes it on the field with the Marricon writing on his eyeblack without teammates seeing it. There is a though that guys were tired of him and let him go knowing it would blow back on him.

You're really reaching for narratives here.

Also as I remember it, the Escobar fielding thing was squashed pretty early on in the season. Was a few cases of him interfering with the outfielders, but you'd be hard pressed to find any incident of it happening or being brought up in the last 1/2 of the Jays season.

Disagree with the black eye paint as well. The latin players on the team all stood up for him, Vizquel even talked about how he didn't think what he wrote was wrong (Due to the fact that in the Latin culture, the word is used from such a young age and so liberally to mean something else then a mans sexual orientation) Considering he wrote things on his black eye paint from a lot before that, I don't think you'd see the Caucasian/English speaking players have any idea what it meant. That is a narrative that is really reaching in my opinion, I also think it's one that an incredibly small minority believe to be true, nor did many acredited writers/media type speak up on it.

In his time with Toronto no teamate has said anything bad about him publicly or has a manager. The narrative stuff is so overblown, especially with all the good things his teamates and general manager have to say about him. I don't think he's at an age where his skill set has regressed at all, and he's likely to return to somewhere close to the numbers he's put up his entire career. Yunel Escobar is a really good baseball player. He's not without his flaws on the diamond, and there is the though that if he could focus a little more he could make the jump to an elite short stop. I don't buy into the idea of him being a bad teamate, nor does it mean much to me. He's been able to produce more then he's failed on the field, I don't put much or any stock into trying to decipher off the field actions that is nothing but hearsay and usually narrative based.

[Flickered Flame]

It would not surprise me if Escobar ends up in Oakland for Brett Anderson.

[moon]

Originally Posted by TitovFTW

You're really reaching for narratives here.

Also as I remember it, the Escobar fielding thing was squashed pretty early on in the season. Was a few cases of him interfering with the outfielders, but you'd be hard pressed to find any incident of it happening or being brought up in the last 1/2 of the Jays season.

Disagree with the black eye paint as well. The latin players on the team all stood up for him, Vizquel even talked about how he didn't think what he wrote was wrong (Due to the fact that in the Latin culture, the word is used from such a young age and so liberally to mean something else then a mans sexual orientation) Considering he wrote things on his black eye paint from a lot before that, I don't think you'd see the Caucasian/English speaking players have any idea what it meant. That is a narrative that is really reaching in my opinion, I also think it's one that an incredibly small minority believe to be true, nor did many acredited writers/media type speak up on it.

In his time with Toronto no teamate has said anything bad about him publicly or has a manager. The narrative stuff is so overblown, especially with all the good things his teamates and general manager have to say about him. I don't think he's at an age where his skill set has regressed at all, and he's likely to return to somewhere close to the numbers he's put up his entire career. Yunel Escobar is a really good baseball player. He's not without his flaws on the diamond, and there is the though that if he could focus a little more he could make the jump to an elite short stop. I don't buy into the idea of him being a bad teamate, nor does it mean much to me. He's been able to produce more then he's failed on the field, I don't put much or any stock into trying to decipher off the field actions that is nothing but hearsay and usually narrative based.

I don't think I am reaching, maybe relying on too few sources but it was clear with Johnson and Vizquel that late in the season he was still being a dick on the field.

You are wrong on the eye black as well. Sportsnet looked back at the game film and saw that he didn't put al ot on his eye black and when he did it was other immature crap that he put on there.

Also every guy they talked to said that the maricon comment wasn't Latin common phrase and a stupid thing to put on there. Zaun said it was one of the first Spanish word he knew. Mccown knew it, Ashby knew it, other guys from other teams all said it was a well known word amongst MLB players.

[TitovFTW]

Originally Posted by moon

I don't think I am reaching, maybe relying on too few sources but it was clear with Johnson and Vizquel that late in the season he was still being a dick on the field.

You are wrong on the eye black as well. Sportsnet looked back at the game film and saw that he didn't put al ot on his eye black and when he did it was other immature crap that he put on there.

Also every guy they talked to said that the maricon comment wasn't Latin common phrase and a stupid thing to put on there. Zaun said it was one of the first Spanish word he knew. Mccown knew it, Ashby knew it, other guys from other teams all said it was a well known word amongst MLB players.

I just didn't see that in the second hall of the year at all, besides a few rare occasions. Either way, he didn't cause any errors, he was a 2.0 Defensive War this Season. He's an over 7 total WAR the last two seasons. I'm just not a narrative guy. I don't see how he acts off the field, or around his teamates, or that it affects his play or theirs. Nobody knows.

[TitovFTW]

Sorry to Hijack thread. here is a list of all the free agents this offseason

http://www.chickenfriedbaseball.com/...2012-2013.html

[TitovFTW]

Originally Posted by Flickered Flame

It would not surprise me if Escobar ends up in Oakland for Brett Anderson.

He'd be a good fit financially for the A's and they have a history of doing deals with the Jays. Can't wait for the offseason!

[troutman]

Astros new logo leaked:

http://news.sportslogos.net/2012/10/...ew-logo-leaks/

[flambers]

Originally Posted by TitovFTW

And I still don't see anyway the Jays move Escobar. He still has a ton of value, team friendly contract and AA never sells low. I all but guarantee he's the Jays starting SS

I bet Jays would move him for sure, key is will AA find the right buyer at the right price........

[evman150]

Originally Posted by troutman

Astros new logo leaked:

http://news.sportslogos.net/2012/10/...ew-logo-leaks/

Awesome. Looks just like their old logo. Used to be my favourite logo in the league, before they changed it in 94.