Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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1) using profanity or any euphemisms for profanity
2) personally attacking other commenters
3) baiting other commenters
4) arguing for the sake of arguing
5) discussing politics
6) using hyperbole when something less will suffice
7) using sarcasm in a way that can be misinterpreted negatively
8) making the same point over and over again
9) typing "no-hitter" or "perfect game" to describe either in progress
10) being annoyed by the existence of this list
11) commenting under the obvious influence
12) claiming your opinion isn't allowed when it's just being disagreed with
Back in 2006, I profiled minor-league baseball broadcasters Russ Langer of Las Vegas and Robert Portnoy of Albuquerque for SI.com. With the Dodgers switching their AAA affiliation from the 51s to the Isotopes for the coming season, it turns out Portnoy will in effect be replacing Langer when it comes to doing the play-by-play for the Dodgers' top farm team. Langer will remain in Las Vegas, which has become a Toronto Blue Jays affiliate.
Many of you are familiar with Langer through his longtime connection to the Dodgers and know how deserving he is of a major-league job. I'm definitely hoping for the same thing for Portnoy - we were pals at Stanford, working together at the school paper so many years ago.
This offseason, Portnoy started hosting a sportstalk show on Albuquerque's 101.7 FM (from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific time). Check it out if you want to get a taste of the Dodgers' next AAA announcer.
But if we just sign CC and re-sign Lowe, I'd also enjoy watching a rotation of: CC, Billz, Lowe, Kershaw, and Kuroda
If anyone is wondering what happens when teams switch minor league affiliates, the major league club agrees to provide the players and coaching staff but the local affiliate (in this case, Albuquerque, provides all the other personnel, facilities, etc.
Part of that is the radio broadcaster.
http://www.basketballprospectus.com/unfiltered/?p=28
My guess: Orlando Hudson to the Mets for a lot of cash. (Back-up pick: Pat Burrell to the Giants.)
Furcal/Dodgers
2
Just don't see how dealing Kershaw/Kemp for Peavy is going big. To me it is going stupid. Peavy's career year was at age 23 and I'd much rather take a chance on Kershaw having that early career season then Peavy ever being close to being a Cy Young pitcher again. He's no slam dunk for me. His age 25 season leaves plenty of question marks about trading our future for his future. He only pitched 173 innings this year for a reason.
Nope. It is not a mutual option.
I did call this the "non-forward thinking" offseason, so I wouldn't actually make the move.
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/218657
I meant to reference 3 and totally agree with 11
10
No, once we exercise the option he is ours to do with as we see fit.
I agree Furcal to the Dodgers could be the first high-profile guy to sign.
Last year Hunter didn't sign until November 21. That week before Thanksgiving or so tends to be the time when the dominoes (including Derek) start falling.
The winter meetings are December 8-11 in Vegas. I'm thinking road trip...
Peavy is, today, better than Kershaw, and while I trust the scouts and the minor league guys, it might happen that Kershaw fails to develop.
If you have the opportunity to mitigate the risk on Kershaw by trading him plus a mystery candidate for Peavy, doesn't that make some kind of sense?
Again, I don't know if I actually buy this argument.
Yes, unless Ned knows something about his medical condition it would seem a no brainer to execute his option.
I think that might be illegal, or at least morally suspect...
I agree, if Penny is reasonably close to healthy, that option is exercised yesterday.
I tend to write off the "acting like a child" part since it appears he left the team for rehab and did in fact rejoin them for the playoffs. I know there were some confusing reports at the time.
If exercised, the Dodgers are free to trade Penny to whomever they see fit.
I think Lowe would want the Dodgers to move to the East Coast, which I guess would make Roger Kahn happy.
Randy Johnson started being effective at age 26 but wasn't a stud until age 29 when he finally got his control under control.
"Marc Gasol (#48, 2007) started and had 12 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks while battling Yao Ming"
Wasn't he traded by the Lakers for his brother Pau? Maybe the Grizzlies, with all that acquired CAP space from the trade, knew what they were doing.
He'd still be getting his money and his chicks. Maybe not for nothin' or free, but I'm guessing he'd feel like it was worth it.
With a team like Memphis, what good is cap space if no elite free agent would ever sign with them.
A bunch of Dodgers press located here. Tony Jackson thinks Coletti will do the smart thing and just pick up a competent backup catcher to rest up Martin.
Huh. Ned never thoughtta that.
I already know about Ikea.
I'd probably lean towards Perez in that situation. But Perez would really be my third or fourth option in picking up a starter this off season.
I really need to get to work.
www.fangraphs.com
Heh. If you scroll down on Fan Graphs, you see the headline, "Free Agent Bargain: Dave Ross."
In the trainer's room.
http://www.fieldingbible.com/
But I think they might've closed their Pasadena location. I think they might just be in Van Nuys now.
I think that only now, with my youngest kid a senior in high school, have I finally rid the place of all the child-proof latches.
The best way to buy furniture--particularly specialized furniture--is online.
As for 1b, the Vowel was the best I saw last year with my own fallible eyes.
The Phillies have won enough already! :)
Hal Richman voted Juan Pierre 3rd in left field and Russell Martin 1st among catchers. No one agreed with him.
By the way, who is Hal Richman?
Founder and creator of Strat-O-Matic.
http://tangotiger.net/scouting/scoutResults2008.html
Lets hold the World Series in a foreign country, like China. The ultimate brand of baseball on the biggest stage.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-spw-pac10poll31-2008oct31,0,2399452.story
Bhsportsguy and I paid attention to about 10 minutes of the Arizona-Oregon State game.
Game-time or real-time...?
Diamond Leung has his own interview with Coletti. Among other things, DeWitt's coming back to L.A. in Jan to work at 3rd and/or 2nd.
Griffey for Dodgers left fielder? Anyone like this idea?
OK, didn't think so. He'll probably sign with Seattle anyway.
"reestablishing a Dodger way of playing baseball".
Human time.
Oregon State was buried very early in that game. As bad as you thought Oregon State was last year, seeing them up close revealed that they were even worse.
http://blogs.pe.com/prosports/2008/10/dodgers-think-less-is-more-wit.html
We've basically already heard the quotes by now about Martin so it's nothing new at this point. Sounds like it took them (and him) a year to figure out: play him less, get a competent backup. Next!
Mightn't that just mean that his flyballs aren't flying as far, and are being caught by fielders instead of fans?
The Lakers front office is just as dysfunctional as the Dodgers front office, (remember all the leaks about Kobe's involvement in the Shaq trade?) with the exception that Mitch Kupchak is likely a better GM than Ned Coletti is.
I do not think Jennie has any say in personnel decisions. I highly doubt she was pining for Sean May.
As for Buss being a better owner than McCourt. I agree with that, with the caveat that they're both with their teams, as in their right as owners of their teams. The Shaq trade doesn't get done if Buss didn't want it to happen, and push for it, and the signings of Andruw Jones and the trade for Manny doesn't happen if McCourt wasn't actively involved.
Since Jackson's return, it has been the mission of Jeanie Buss to try to control and limit the ineptness of her brother, a nice guy who is said to keep his bartender on the Lakers payroll. Jim Buss, however, is the person in the organization who insisted on drafting Andrew Bynum in 2005 when the front office leaned heavily toward Sean May. That one pick has worked out so far, which is the one thing that Jim Buss clings to as evidence of his competence.
http://blogs.hoopshype.com/blogs/lazenby/category/andrey-bynum/
Mind you, I think Jeanie Buss would make a much better owner for the Lakers over Jim Buss even with this own potentially huge blunder. Still, gotta point out the one good thing Jim Buss did, even if he sounds like he has no business being anywhere near the Lakers.
One of the best things the Lakers have going for them is that they've managed to keep their tradition fairly well intact, having former players stay close to the organization, that's a lot of knowledgeable people to turn to when making a choice for a new GM or coach.
That says front office, not Jeanie. I would not be surprised if Mitch liked May since they are both UNC guys.
But yeah, some scouts on Scout.com that know more about inner-working of Lakers have said that Jim wants to be GM and control team when he takes over and they said that he is basically terrible at evaluating talent and Bynum was his lone success.
Or at least they were until Al's brain calcified.
But yeah, I think I read too much into that.
/problem, solved
He looks like he'd make a great platoon mate for left field for some team. Maybe even Phillie, with Werth who still doesn't hit righties enough to play everyday when compared to how a left hander would do against them.
That was actually about my Al fears change comment.
Is this the same arrogant guy who runs U.S.S. Mariner?
Lowe is a year older now than Pettitte was then, but Lowe actually has about 430 less IP on his arm, regular and post-season combined. Pettitte was also coming off a one-oh-something ERA+, 1.4something WHIP season. I think Boras will get Lowe at least three years.
I failed to ask him if he had a brother named Butts.
Defense is nice but don't we want our players to get on base, or am I behind the curve that says preventing runs is more important then scoring runs?
New executive: The Dodgers are expected to soon announce the hiring of a vice president for security, an individual whose name hasn't been released but who has extensive experience in large-crowd safety and is believed to have formerly worked for the U.S. Secret Service.
"This is a time of year when, just as we do with our roster, we take a look at what our future directions are in the organization and work aggressively on our planning for 2009," said Dodgers executive vice president and chief marketing officer Dr. Charles Steinberg, who said he didn't know the new executive's name.
Lon Rosenberg will continue to serve as the Dodgers' vice president for stadium operations, but will no longer oversee ballpark security.
The ushers need to have wireless microphones in the rowdy areas so they can be pro-active in quelling bad fan behavior. Ushers shouldn't be responsible for stopping aggressive behavior but they can easily point the security forces in the right directions.
Simple pats on the shoulder by security forces will usually quell some people. Others will of course ignore these requests but the key is to stop escalation. Dodger Stadium security is just not pro-active about controlling fan behavior.
Now, I wonder if his main job will be Russell Martin Body Guard Duty.
Dodgers GM Ned Colletti talked to the media yesterday; here's the latest.
* Tony Jackson of the L.A. Daily News believes Colletti will pursue a competent backup catcher to allow more rest for Russell Martin. A decision is due on Gary Bennett's $900K option within seven days.
* So far this offseason, Colletti and Scott Boras have exchanged two voicemails. They'll meet in person to discuss Manny Ramirez and other Boras clients (Derek Lowe, Greg Maddux, Andruw Jones, maybe Joe Crede) at next week's GM meetings. Colletti will not put the other team needs on hold to deal with Manny.
* Colletti has had preliminary talks with the agents for Rafael Furcal, Casey Blake, and Nomar Garciaparra, while Jeff Kent is expected to retire.
* Colletti intends to acquire a top of the line starting pitcher, but Jake Peavy is unlikely (the Dodgers would have to pay extra due to the same-division factor). Free agents Lowe and C.C. Sabathia may be considered. The Dodgers have seven days to decide on Brad Penny's $9.25MM option versus the $2MM buyout.
* The Dodgers would love to have Takashi Saito back, but the situation with his elbow injury is unclear.
* Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones have expressed a desire to be traded through the media, but not formally to the Dodgers.
SportsNation Keith Law: First I've heard of it and I bet it's bogus.
I liked this exchange:
Charles (San Jose): Keith, in a league with 30 teams, can a fanbase really be long-suffering if they go 28 years between titles?
Keith Law: No. Cleveland fans are long-suffering. So are Cub fans. Maybe Pirate fans just because the suffering has been so deep
Dress up like the girl from the Lawrence Welk SNL skit.
http://tinyurl.com/costumefortrainwreck
Congratulations, you're a blogger.
oh and don't forget the magazines
Use sweats and tape to look like the crash test dummies and than some fake blood
Or a yoga outfit
I'm still struggling, too. I have a few accoutrements but nothing I'm too keen on. Maybe I'll just cover myself in cat fur and go as a giant hairball.
Favorite of mine since high school.
Oh man! I just thought of a cool costume idea. Go as a "Robo-Caller." tee-hee.
Pleated khakis, loafers, long-sleeve button-up shirt, pens in pocket.
May I suggest Morning Man. A robe, coffee cup, baseball cap and a newspaper tucked under your arm. I did this a few years ago and it was well received.
http://tinyurl.com/5ks2rb
1. Repeatedly jump up and down and sometimes fall to the floor - you're the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
2. How cheap are Manny dread caps now?
Call Dodgers GM Colletti the Big Fundamental
Some might think Diamond is only 81.8% right on that last word.
Rug, Mustache, SF Giants NL Championship Ring, Ladies Snakeskin Boots.
I just wanted some fake sideburns.
If I would have known I would have saved my playoff beard. :)
I had an interview on Tuesday, so I had to shave. Ruined everything.
How did the interview go?
Just a temp agency, but they liked me so hopefully I get a lot of work.
Days of working at home are over. Though, I got tired of it.
I would look like Cartman when he glued pubes to his face.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081030&content_id=3655936&vkey=news_la&fext=.jsp&c_id=la&partnerId=rss_la
Well, see ya Beimel.
Offer him arbitration, if he declines, wish him well with his new teams and take the compensation pick, if he accepts, you have a lefty that can fill the LOOGY role, to set-up man for 2009 for a couple of million dollars. Not the worst thing in the world.
And saying that Kuo is the primary left-handed reliever implies that Kuo can only get lefties out. Even Ken Gurnick knows he's better than that, right?
vr, Xei
League ID#: 105121
League Name: Monkey Hoops
Password: monkey
URL: http://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy
I am in.
http://www.freewebarcade.com/game/zombie-baseball/
What's coming to light is how unpopular Morgan has become with many of his ESPN colleagues, who are less than thrilled with the way he prepares for a telecast. Some of them also don't respond well to what they call Morgan's haughty attitude, which he has displayed during some of his more outspoken performances in internal ESPN meetings.
Prone to on-air mistakes, Morgan also has come under some intense media scrutiny. And during those moments when he's made a mistake, the give and take between him and Miller can sound strained.
http://tinyurl.com/653p3j
So was Hiroki, although Hiroki does not play for the Padres.
http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/gallery/featured/GAL1147789/8/17/index.htm
That was reported last week, but Jon Miller has been interviewed and said no such thing is in the works (although I wouldn't expect him to say anything until the split has been finalized).
I dislike the announcing of Sutcliffe, the rumored replacement, more than Morgan.
If Jon Heyman sees that caption, we can expect a story soon about Kuroda being the centerpiece of the Peavy to the Dodgers deal. :)
If it really happened, that would be the end of FJM.
What is Mose going to do now?
Part of the rumored split was that Morgan would simply move to Wednesday nights. I'm assuming that broadcast plus the JoeChats would still provide plenty of fodder for FJM.
Well, the plan was to move Morgan to weekday telecasts with a new partner. So, he'd still be on the air.
But that aside, I kinda feel like FJM is already nearing its end anyway. It doesn't get updated very often, and I suspect the authors feel like they've said all they have to say and only end up repeating themselves when they post new material.
Do you have a source for that?
And isn't that against some sort of contractual agreement to go out and say that when you are signed with another team, and you chose to not show up in shape?
Kevin, it was in the AJC. Here is the link:
http://tinyurl.com/6xqa8b
A player doesn't forfeit his right to express an opinion about his own welfare when he signs a contract. The Braves, on the other hand, can't say they want to acquire Andruw Jones, because that would be contract tampering.
...plus Jon Miller could potentially be free to cover more Giants games!
Wait a minute...
That was the unnamed 5th step.
Gotcha. Yea, I knew that. I was commenting more from the feeling of, "you gotta be kidding me". I just think it is funny that Andruw "demands" a trade when he hasn't really lived up to his side of the contract.
To be fair, nothing in that article mentioned Andruw wanted to be traded. I read that more as once his contract his up, he'd come back to the Braves.
I always kinda felt like he wasn't really committed to LA, and just took the contract as a big-money pitstop in between his next destination, whether some other team or retirement.
But Bob doesn't care, either way. Of that I am sure.
They have 5 days after the end of the WS (so, by Monday) to exercise or decline the 2010 option for Jon Rauch. The option is worth $2.9m, and if declined he would still be arb-eligible in 2010. So the D-Backs basically have to weigh the risk that if Rauch is as terrible in 2009 as he was the last few months of 2008, his arb number would be lower than the $2.9m option. On the other hand, if he is good in 2009, they save money in 2010.
http://tinyurl.com/6x3kp7
(Also per that link, the D-Backs should have something like 9 of the first 75 picks)
On a side note about the D-Backs, I wonder what their plan is for 2009. They don't have a single 2B on their 40-man roster except for Augie Ojeda.
The rest of their lineup card is set, with some options. It's basically:
C Snyder
1B Tracy/Jackson
2B Ojeda???
3B Reynolds/Tracy
SS Drew
LF Byrnes/Jackson
CF Young
RF Upton
Snyder, Jackson, and Ojeda are arb-eligible.
I would imagine they will non-tender Chris Burke, Edgard Gonzalez, and Wil Ledezma, all of whom are arb-eligible.
The pitching staff will lose some free agents in Juan Cruz (anticipated Type A!) and Brandon Lyon (Type B), and there are talks of bringing back Randy Johnson, but here's where they are at now:
SP Webb
SP Haren
SP Scherzer
SP Davis
SP Petit???
CL Qualls
RP Rauch
RP Peña
RP Slaten
RP Rosales (acquired last August from SD for Scott Hairston)
RP Peguero
Outside of a 2B and maybe bringing back Johnson and a few bench parts, I don't see the D-Backs making major moves. Which makes the NL West eminently very winnable for the Dodgers again in 2009.
Yeah, to quote Lou Brown, "that's a hell of an idea."
Also, if they bring back The Unit, their starting staff will be a force to be reckoned with (it already is).
I think the D-Backs plan has to be run the same team out there, and pray Young and Upton break out.
Hudson figures to command a deal in the four-year, $40 million range - too rich for the Diamondbacks, who are expected to have between $10 million and $15 million to spend this off-season
http://tinyurl.com/655kur
4/40 for Hudson is much more palatable than the 5/75 discussed a few weeks back.
That article also mentions Bill James, in his weird young player position rankings, thought in his gut instinct Arizona would win the 2009 WS.
http://rangersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/10/bradley-starts-with-a-b.html
*Unit Career
With Seattle: 1838.1 IP, 130-74, 884/2162 BB/K, 128 ERA+, 1 CYA, 2 playoff seasons, 1 series win
With Arizona: 1630.1 IP, 118-62, 416/2077 BB/K, 164 ERA+, 4 CYA, 3 playoff seasons, 1 championship
Oh wow, Rosenthal isn't actually pushing for the Dodgers to make a move!
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/10/padres-to-explo.html
They could eschew defense all together and try Reynolds at 2B.
Cool, thanks for that link. This one mentions that the Elias rankings were distributed to clubs Thursday:
http://tinyurl.com/6mdrk5
Incidentally, not that I want to change history but with many players playing for multiple teams these days I would like to see HOF plaques show a blank cap for the player, and have a strip just below the name with all the logos of the teams that player has played for.
http://tinyurl.com/keymlbdates
McDonald does not throw as hard as a starter as he did as a reliever in the playoffs, and his stuff is not at the level of Kershaw's or righty Chad Billingsley's. Still, some believe his feel for pitching is the best of the three, and his development should give the Dodgers the flexibility to pay righty Brad Penny a $2 million buyout rather than exercise his $9.25 million option.
Of course, they might still be going after a starter if Penny is brought back, but declining his option would leave no doubt.
I have no doubt they are.
Agreed
219
Agreed
I thought we moved past the point of throwing out unrealistic trade rumors.
Or rather, I think the Reds would be interested in Penny for one year, even if its coming off an injury. We should explore it.
I think Billingsley, Kuroda, and Kershaw are etched in stone right now in the rotation.
I think McDonald is at worst 6th on the depth chart going into the season, with Stults, Schmidt (haha!), and this year's Park is the backups.
I would be surprised if Park stays. There's will be one team desperate enough for Starting pitching to promise Park a starting job.
Promise a starting job to a guy who hit .264/.344/.383/.728 as a 3B/2B?
I don't think any team will guarantee anything to Park
Including a contract.
But within the current context of the Dodger's needs it makes sense. If we can sign a quality LF, SP, and 2B/3B, Dewitt is a valuable option based on his cost and potential for improvement.
One is 22 and bound to improve. The other is 35 and put up a season out of line (performance and/or health-related) with any season in some time. Big difference.
I want to amend that by saying "more likely to improve" rather than "bound."
Plus DeWitt has defensive value, especially at 3B.
Then stop gap LF (Juan Rivera, Bill Hall, Ethier with jones in CF) and Sign the O-Dawg.
Besides, the Padres were throwing out Beak, and Wade LaBlanc in Sept. 2008 in consideration for starting spots in 2009. Park isn't better than those two guys?
No reason the Yankees can't sign both.
With a few timely skips, they can keep Kershaw at or around 30 starts and/or 180 innings pretty easily.
They don't have to be skipped at the same time.
Just throwing out some names: Sheets, Burnett, Oliver Perez for starters; perhaps Hudson/Furcal up the middle (keeping JP as a starter).
Furcal, Crede, Moyer.
Getting him to 200 IP in 2009 might be difficult - his 26 starts last season was his most ever, and probably some were limited to a certain number of innings.
If Kershaw and McDonald both end up in the rotation, all the more reason regfairfield's point in 219 is well-taken.
According to the Chicago Sun Times, trading Javier Vazquez is "topping the offseason priority list" for the White Sox... He has two years and $23 million remaining on his deal.
We should be all over him. Vazquez posted another deceiving ERA year 4.67 vs. 3.74 FIP. Factor in the league change and he would be a beast. 9 straight seasons of 198+ IP. Still only 31. Guy is a horse.
Plus they want a leadoff/CF guy.
But McDonald shouldn't be looked at the same as Kershaw in terms of arm development. McDonald will be 25 next year.
Not to mention the fact that he once refused to come to LA (as part of the ill-fated 3-team Green/Unit deal in 2004). I don't know if his distaste for the West Coast still exists though.
I agree with Eric on Stults. Park made 5 starts and had a 2.16 ERA with 30 K's in 25 innings. I'm sure someone noticed and will offer to put him into their rotation.
I'm not sure that if the Dodgers don't sign Penny that is a sign they are freeing up money for a free agent run or simply freeing up money.
Right, but if you go 8-9 pitchers deep, usually the 6-9 guys are gonna be worthless and it doesnt make sense to spend money on those guys.
Definitely not the same situation, but McDonald essentially took two years off from pitching, so it is sort of like his age 22 pitching season next year (but with more a more mature body). In any case, I imagine that there has to be a version of a plan for him not being able to increase his IP by 33%.
How can you say things like that when none of us know what the makeup of the offense will be in 2009?
271- Outside of re-signing Manny, no.
Sure, if the same team that ended 2008 is playing in 2009 with someone better replacing Casey Blake and expected offensive improvements from Loney, Kemp, and Martin. I don't expect it but it surely doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility that Manny and Furcal resign with us.
If only you had a blog where you could further define what you are talking about.
Last season, in the 86 games featuring Manny OR Furcal, the club averaged 4.91 runs/game (actually scoring more during the Furcal period than the Manny period).
A strong case, but I still have my doubts. Vote YES on Sabathia. Vote NO on Sheets!!
Vote No on Sheets, Texieria, and Prince Fielder.
Prince Fielder would require a special election, leading to the recall of a few of our players already in office. I agree with your No on Prince, as well as all of your Yesses.
I'm Eric Stephen, and I approve this message.
I would do that in a heartbeat, but would sign Hudson over Blake.
And if Chicago wants to get rid of salary, that's not much of a help for them. Pierre's remainder is about $5.5M over Vazquez's, although it's spread out over an extra year.
Vazquez reportedly has a limited no-trade clause for AL/NL West teams, so it might be a dead end anyhow.
No, but with their normal production combined with the possibility of improved performances for most of Kemp, Loney, Martin, and DeWitt* will make for a solid offense.
*I realize Kemp, Loney & Martin all regressed in 2008 but lets face it, if that happens again the Dodgers are screwed anyway.
Is $15 million the starting point?
If the Phillies offer $15 million and Howard asks even more than that, I will be giddy, and then very sad since this will totally screw up the arbitration process even more.
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/bird-land/bird-land/2008/10/ryan-howards-next-swing-for-the-fences/
As long as Tal Smith's not involved for the Phillies' side of that hearing, they will win this time.
Besides, I bet Howard signs a long-term deal this winter anyway fresh off the championship glow.
So there's a 50% chance the fans will like him then? :)
Crowd: BOOOOOOOOOO!
Sheffield hits home run.
Crowd: YAAAAAAY!!
Really?
That's not a difficult list to top.
If there is a time to do it, it is right now during the championship euphoria.
A quick look at the Phillies' potential 2009 payroll:
C Ruiz - $500k (estimate)
1B Howard - $15m (4th yr; 2nd yr arb)
2B Utley - $11m
3B Feliz - $5m
SS Rollins - $7.5m
LF Jenkins - $6.75m
CF Victorino - $2m (1st year arb)
RF Werth - $3.5m (3rd year arb)
PH/OF Stairs - $1m
OF Taguchi - $1.25m (option; or $150k buyout)
IF/OF Bruntlett - $1m (2nd yr arb)
PH/3B Dobbs - $1m (1st year arb)
C Coste - $450k (estimate)
SP Hamels - $2.5m (Super Two)
SP Myers - $12m
SP Blanton - $6m (2nd yr arb)
SP Kendrick - $500k (estimated)
SP Eaton - $8.5m
CL Lidge - $11.5m
RP Madson - $2m (3rd year arb)
RP Romero - $4m
RP Durbin - $1.5m (2nd yr arb)
Gordon - $1m (buyout of $4.5m option)
That's already $102.5m with a few bullpen spots to fill and a bad rotation. Their situation isn't that bad.
"We had some outstanding recruits in when USC played Ohio State [in football]," Floyd said. "Percy Miller is a great entertainer and he was with us when we took our five recruits out to dinner that night in a little place in Santa Monica.
"We were shooting pool, having dinner, and Percy wanted to host some players, take them out. Percy said, 'Coach, which two of those guys do you really want?' I said, 'I want that one over there, that one in the middle.'
"Percy said, 'Consider it done.' The guy [Miller] is worth a lot of money, so I said, 'Please, don't buy these guys.' That's the first time I had to say that to a player. You're allowed to spend $30 per player for the host, so I put three $20s in Percy's hand. He said, 'What's this for, Coach? Just keep your money.' "
2006- 58 HRS
2007- 47 HRS
2008- 48 HRS
His main problem is a declining walk rate.
The Phillies would be much better off dealing Lidge (talk about selling high...the guy had a perfect season) and his 11 mils dollars owed.
Still, I can believe Tim Floyd would allow himself to be quoted like that.
Manny signs with the Angels or Yankees.
Teixeira signs with Boston or Angels.
CC signs with Dodgers or Yankees.
CC is the only FA the Dodgers sign other than a few Park type pitchers.
Loney & Kershaw for Ryan Howard.
Do you take it?
If you're the Dodgers, do you take it (provided Howard signs an extension)?
However, Howard's still likely to put up big numbers for the next 3 seasons (age 29,30,31).
The only thing that hurt Howard in 2008 was his bb rate. That could be an outlier.
I think a deal like that would be fair. It would hurt to lose Kershaw, but the Dodgers would still have a chance to sign him in his prime as a free agent. They'd get Howards (2009-2011) seasons, and still be able to sign Kerhshaw after 2013.
http://tinyurl.com/5waqc8
How did they not regress? Anyone will put up career counting stats in their 1st full seasons but all of their meaningful numbers were off quite a bit from their near full time seasons in 2007. Avg, OB, Slug%, HR/AB ratio, OPS+, OPS.
He is available now:)
Kershaw won't be eligible for free agency until after the 2014 season at the earliest.
I think I'd rather have Prince if I was going to deal Loney/Kershaw. They both destroy RHP but are below average(Loney 2008 Level) against LHP.
Instead of trading Kershaw I'd rather spend the money on Manny or Dunn or Burrel. I'd rather have Dunn then Burrel since I think the team needs some LH punch.
Skip 321, I reread your post and understand your point. They didn't meet my expectations but then they might have been artificially high based on their 2007 seasons.
I don't think we all expected Kemp & Loney to hit .330, but their 2008 seasons were offensively underwhelming, at least.
20 commenters here submitted predictions before the season, and here's what they were:
Loney
Avg Prediction: .311/.368/.494
Low Prediction: .280/.340/.440 (I'll give everyone one guess as to who this was!)
Actual: .289/.338/.434
Kemp
Avg Prediction: .298/.349/.509
Low Prediction: .260/.322/.480
Actual: .290/.340/.459
Both Kemp & Loney had OPS numbers lower than the lowest of the 20 predictions here. They regressed, relative to their past and relative to our (reasonable) expectations.
He'll only be 26 after the 2014 season.
Anyone have a digital slr recommendation for under $800?
Also, would you rather have a nice camcorder or nice camera?
He'll only be 26 after the 2014 season.
Just like Maddux when he signed with the Braves.
So if Kershaw puts up a 76 ERA+ in 155 or so innings next year, don't be alarmed folks! :)
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