Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Quick MLB Update

Quick MLB update before the Week 5 NFL Rants & Ranks. I know you're all desperate for that. It's coming in a couple hours - I need to get out of this damned shirt and tie first and relax (i.e. drink...) a little.

-- Although no one will believe it, I actually posted in my Blogger's Fantasy League my postseason picks early last week: First round - D-Backs in 4, Phillies in 5 (oops), Red Sox in 5, Indians in 5. I gave the Cubs, Angels & Yankees far too much credit.

-- For the record, I have the World Series as Red Sox over D'backs, and have had that as my pick ever since about late June.

-- I could not be happier and more pissed about the Sox drawing the Indians for the ALCS. From a pure baseball perspective, I would have much rather faced the Yankees and their Gawd-Awful pitching staff. Chien-Ming Wang & Andy Pettite are not nearly as scary as CC Sabathia & Fausto Carmona. But from a fan perspective, the fact that games 3 & 4 are in Cleveland is fantastic, since I only live 2 hours away now. Of course, I can't go to either game because of previous committments, but if there's a Game 5 (which I think there will be - Sox in 6), I am absolutely going to find a way there.

And finally, the "Joe Torre Watch" in New York. There's pretty good debate going in the comments section today on Shanoff's Blog about many things, not the least of which is the Joe Torre situation. At the risk of duplicating someone else's comments (I'm far too lazy to sort through all 100+ so far), here's my take:

1) If Torre's fired, do not be surprised if the following happens:
-- A-Rod opts out to go play for either Lou Pinella (as a shortstop again) or the Angels to put some pop back into the lineup behind Vlad. The Red Sox will probably make a push, but mostly to drive up the price for someone else. They will probably stick with Mike Lowell for 2 more years at 1/10th the overall contract cost of A-Rod. Or they could push for Mark Teixeira and move Youkilis back to third.
-- Jorge Posada leaves for another team. Let's face it - if another team (again, Anaheim jumps to mind, among others) offers him more money, but the Yankees keep the only manager he's ever known, he's staying in pinstripes. But if Torre's gone, he's got to take that last big contract, doesn't he?
-- Mo Rivera gets lowballed, but stays in NY. This is just a hunch - if Torre's gone, the baseball ops people can justify Mo walking because of the young arms they have ready to go. If Torre stays, he's going to demand the veteran arm in the back of the bullpen.

2) As for the question of how best to spend $25M a year if/when A-Rod walks, first let's remember that Texas is kicking in about $6m of that. So the Yankees are "only" saving about $19m. Obviously, that money is best spent on the best player in the game, but why not spend it on, say, Dontrelle Willis or Johan Santana in a year? Or even this year, if they make a push to trade for them?

Back later with the weekly NFL Ranks.
Lata.

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posted by Big D @ 2:39 PM 0 comments

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Never too early to start planning

With the 2007 non-waiver trading deadline in the rear-view mirror, I thought I'd take some time to look through the crystal ball at the names being thrown around at this time next year. Well, not exactly this time - actually, 364 days from now (love the leap year), but you all get the point.

With Johna Santana's comments to the media recently showing his feelings about the Twins' organization and their spendthrift policies, it's not hard to imagine a feeding frenzy at the trading deadline. The Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Braves, Cubs, White Sox, Dodgers, Angels... pretty much every team not named "The Twins" are going to get into a bidding war over him.

In fact, the Twins stand to lose quite a bit of talent over the next two seasons, with Torii Hunter leaving town after this year ends, and Santana & Joe Nathan both eligible to hit the Powerball after 2008. There were never any legit rumors involving Hunter at this year's deadline (surprising, considering the Twins don't appear to be going anywhere in the standings), but don't expect next July to pass without Johan & Nathan's names popping up every thirty seconds or so in the next great Rumor Central blockbuster.

Two other names on a team going nowhere that are likely to pop up next season are down in South Florida - Dontrelle Willis & Miguel Cabrera. Both are arbitration eligible through 2009, but the Marlins would be crazy not to at least entertain offers for one or both of these guys. Sure, they could hold on to them through that one final season (talking about '09), hope the pieces come together and they make a playoff run (let's face it - it's the Marlins. A franchise that has never lost a playoff series), and with the third ring in twelve years, the city of Miami builds them a new ballpark. That's a perfect world type of situation.

Or, they could deal away their two biggest chips, rebuild around Dan Uggla, Josh Willingham, Mike Jacobs and Josh Johnson (oh, and some kid named Hanley...) and shoot for 2011 and beyond. Let's face it - Dontrelle isn't the pitcher he was three years ago, and Cabrera is growing more, uh, large with each passing day. Why not deal a little early on two mid-20's stars that could return enough talent to your system to fill your everyday roster from now until the next Bush is elected to the White House? We all know Florida certainly isn't going to pay them, and they aren't going to import any free agent talent worth a shit to help the team contend while Miggy & Cabrera are still there, so cut bait now and refill the farm system.

Finally, the Reds should still have both Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn. But it's the Reds - they'll probably let Dunn walk and try to get Griffey signed long term...

Of course, if the '08 deadline is anything like the last few, we'll see one major move, one mid-major move, and a lot of "Wow, this was so close - it all broke down at the last minute" stories involving everybody under the sun.

Lata.

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posted by Big D @ 12:00 PM 1 comments