| Good Article |
[18 Dec 2009|01:05pm] |
Yankee adviser sad to see old Stadium go
December 17, 2009 By JIM BAUMBACH jim.baumbach@newsday.com
In what used to be centerfield at the old Yankee Stadium Ray Negron
stood Wednesday with his shoulders slumped, a somber look plastered
on his face.
Clearly he did not like what he was seeing.
“Sad,” he said. “Just sad.”
( Read more... )
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[17 Dec 2009|09:16pm] |
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Yankees close to signing Johnson
Buster Olney reports:
"The Yankees, frustrated in their attempts to re-sign Johnny Damon, are on the verge of reaching an agreement on a one-year deal with Nick Johnson, sources said."
( Entire Story )
This bothers me. The stalemate is between Hank Steinbrenner and Scott Boras, Damon is unfortunately caught in the middle. Someone of his caliber, he should follow A-Rod's example and take control of the negotiations. If his desire to stay is sincere, of course.
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| Eventful Day |
[14 Dec 2009|11:02pm] |
As I was finishing up a term paper and doing some studying, I realized I hadn't checked up on MLB news in a while (that being longer than 24 hours), since Red Sox news has been so... nonexistent lately. I looked on ESPN and a few other sites and my brain exploded.
First, the big news: we got John Lackey for 5 years, $85 million. While this is by no means a bargain, I thought he would go for a bit more, but of course, I also thought he was likely to go to the NYY. While I've had my reservations about him due to his being a sore loser in 2008, he has to be in the 95th percentile for consistency in MLB. And while there is a lot of talk about the horse race with the Yankees, which I can't see us "winning" for a few years at least, this looks to me like a mortal blow for the Angels, which have been the third team which has dominated the AL for the past several years. While they certainly aren't getting much intra-divisional competition (Rangers or Mariners maybe? Perhaps Seattle if this weirdo Halladay/Lee deal goes down), their team looks incredibly unimpressive on paper, even if they were to make a major signing/trade or two.
Second, looks like the Jason Bay era is officially over. Mike Cameron's been signed for 2 years, ~$15.5M. I'm feeling very lukewarm on this move, but it does show that things are falling into place in a hurry. It'll probably a platoon with Hermida to some extent (although I'd expect, unless he's horrible, that the majority of ABs in LF or CF or wherever they want him will go to Cameron, with Hermida giving the rest of the OF frequent days off). I'm going to miss Bay a lot--he was our last totally legit 30+ HR hitter (I love Youk, and while I think his value is comparable or even more than Bay's, he's not as good at hitting the long ball, and we don't know what to expect from Papi at this point), and was generally a really great guy to have around. I will always remember on the eve of my birthday hearing about the Manny trade and being surprised that we'd received someone as good as Bay in compensation, whom I had respected for several years. But I suppose all good things must come to an end, however short they are, so good luck Jason, wherever you end up (unless you're playing Boston, of course).
The implications of both of these moves are enormous. The individual who will feel the greatest effect from these moves is certainly Clay Buchholz, and it looks like judgment day has come for him. Since the Red Sox are still lacking a bit in the lineup, especially in consistent power, it's not the craziest suggestion that the Sox will trade him somewhere in a blockbuster trade for a big bat, Adrian Gonzalez or Miguel Cabrera being the usual suspects. However, while there's a large possibility of such a trade occurring at some point, I do have one alternate theory. If Buchholz stays and pitches well (or heaven forbid, breaks out as an ace), and if the rest of our rotation performs as expected, the singing of Lackey might mean that the Sox are more comfortable letting Beckett go at the end of next season. With the salaries of Beckett, Ortiz, Martinez and Varitek coming off the books along with the deferred salaries of Lugo and Lowell (or regular salary, depending on how this soap opera ends) as well, there will be nearly $50 million coming off the books. I don't know if they'll be going after Mauer or Martinez or someone else, but if Milwaukee doesn't re-sign him, Prince Fielder would be a free agent. My point is that with these two moves, it would greatly surprise me if the Red Sox didn't acquire a younger big power hitter for the long-term by the start of 2011. While I'm still not sure about these moves, I do feel a lot more optimistic about the future.
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| Today's Hot Stove |
[14 Dec 2009|04:55pm] |
Matsui to Angels for $6.5MM (not confirmed, but it sounds likely)
Lackey to Red Sox for 5 years/$85MM
Halladay to Phillies; Lee to Mariners in blockbuster three-way trade
What do you think the Yankees need to do to answer to the lack of Matsui's bat and the improvement of the Sox's rotation?
EDIT: Boston is close to signing Mike Cameron, and the more and more sources are claiming the Hideki deal will be confirmed soon.
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| Red Sox acquire... Boof Bonser? |
[10 Dec 2009|07:11am] |
Yep. It's being reported several places, like here. The deal's for a PTBNL.
I'm pretty sure it is, but I hope to god this is just a sort of opportunistic backup move.
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| Yankees set to pick Jamie Hoffman in the Rule 5 |
[10 Dec 2009|09:08am] |
The Yankees traded Brian Bruney to the Nationals for the first pick in the Rule 5 draft. With that pick, they will take Jamie Hoffman from the Dodgers.
LINK
I won't pretend to know much about him but here is the article's profile of Hoffman for those too lazy to click the link:
Hoffman is 6-foot-3, 210 pounds and was taken in the eighth round of the 2003 NHL draft by the Carolina Hurricanes. He has been in the Dodger system since 2004.
The Yankees view him as an above-average fielder across the outfield with very good – but not elite – speed. The 25-year-old righty swinger played in the majors for the first time last season, appearing in 14 games, going 4-for-22 with one homer and seven RBIs. Ideally for the Yankees, he would be a late-game defensive specialist who could also pinch-run – a bigger, stronger, but slower version of Brett Gardner, who does have options and could be sent back to the minors in 2010.
Hoffman played in 97 games between Double- and Triple-A last year, hitting .291 with a .390 on-base percentage. He had 10 homers, 64 RBIs and stole 15 bases, but was caught 11 times. He also walked (54) nearly as much as he struck out (55).
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| Myglowl Trade |
[10 Dec 2009|01:21am] |
So, it's been reported here and here that Mike Lowell has been traded to the Rangers in exchange for catcher Max Ramirez. The deal is preliminary and the Red Sox are probably going to be eating some as yet undetermined (but supposedly large) amount of his salary.
From what I've gathered, Ramirez is a much stronger hitter than catcher, although his catching has improved considerably the last couple of years. I don't have all that much info on him though, and I'm a little worried that he didn't play a single major league game last year. However, I'd attribute that more to the Rangers' weird logjam of catching prospects than anything else.
Also, as a sort of frightening side note, the Globe article mentions that the Sox were considering getting Milton Bradley from the Cubs. I don't see how that could have possibly ended well and I'm glad it's mostly a remote possibility now.
So, I guess that's the end of the Mike Lowell era. He was pretty damn good, especially since he was a salary dump/straight "bad player" dump by the Marlins, I'll miss him, but I'm happy to see the team going in a different (read: younger) direction.
Thoughts?
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| Pettitte and Yankees agree to terms... |
[09 Dec 2009|04:48pm] |
Pettitte and the Yankees agreed to a one-year contract for $11.75 million, according to a source, paying the lefthander more than twice his guaranteed salary from last season. There are no incentives in the deal. Last season, Pettitte's contract guaranteed him $5.5 million, though he doubled that to $11 million with incentives for days on the roster and innings pitched.
Sauce
Thoughts?
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| Bruney to the Nationals |
[07 Dec 2009|06:03pm] |
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For a "player to be named later" - first thing I've heard out of the winter meetings so far.
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