General manager Ned Colletti has confirmed that the Dodgers are looking for a centerfielder, with the thought of moving Juan Pierre to left. This comes just one year after Colletti signed Pierre to a five-year, $44 million deal. Either Colletti saw this coming and planned on it all along (unlikely), or he recognized his mistake and is moving quickly to correct it. Either way, that's too much to pay an outfielder with no power (one home run in his last 872 plate appearances) and a miserable on-base percentage (.331 last year).

My favorites are when people quote some Fox Sports or AOL blogger who has no more insider info than we do, basically making up some farfetched rumor and then freaking out about it.
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Donovan's analysis at the end is right; center or left, he should be a 4th outfielder. It still amazes me how surprised Colletti now seems by Pierre's abilities and lack thereof, when he was exactly what they should've expected, but we've covered that question ad nauseum here already.

Possible Explanation #3: He recognized his mistake and is moving quickly to compound it.

http://dcbb.blogspot.com/

The New York Yankees have been discussing a deal with their former All-Star third baseman Alex Rodriguez -- but the team says a deal can only move forward if his agent, Scott Boras, is not part of the talks, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday.

According to the report, a high-ranking Yankees source said the team is willing to bring back A-Rod on a below-market contract that would make up for the $21 million subsidy from the Texas Rangers that the Yankees lost when A-Rod opted out of the final three years of his contract -- despite team comments indicating he had burned his bridges by opting out.

But any such deal can't take place with Boras at the table, a Yankee source said, according to the report.

"We will not negotiate with Scott Boras," the source told the Daily News. "He cannot be in the room."

How can you force a player to negotiate without his paid representative? A man who is authorized by MLBPA to negotiate contracts as an agent.

I wonder if the Yankees front office, if given the chance to operate as judges, would suspend the Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh amendments to the Constitution.

And maybe the Third while they're at it.

They may have heard one thing we said at Dodgerthoughts day:

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_7455418

Homer: Marge, since I'm not talking to Lisa, could you please ask her to pass me the syrup?
Marge: (sighs) Please pass your father the syrup, Lisa.
Lisa: Bart, tell Dad I'll only pass the syrup if it won't be used on any meat products…
Bart: You dunking your sausages in that syrup, Homeboy?
Homer: Marge, tell Bart I just want to drink a nice glass of syrup like I do every morning…

And so on and so forth.

I'm hoping Camille Johnston didn't say "fewer than less than" especially since the guy asking the question is a retired English teacher from my high school.

T.J. Simers actually has a non-horrible article today! It's relatively free of cheap shots and stupid nicknames.

Still, if true -- and that's a very big if -- it's quite insane.

I would be highly insulted if somebody offered to do business with me, but only if my chosen representative -- who had done very well by me -- was not part of the discussion. I would tell them where they could put their offer.

And a goat.

ARod and his agent are free to refuse the request, and I'm sure they will.

1. we need more pitching
2. juan pierre is a solution in leftfield
3. laroche is not ready
4. kemp is the next milton bradley
5. torre is the savior
6. m. cabrera is worth 4 players
7. billingsley is expendable
8. lowe and kent are good clubhouse guys
9. veterans are better than youngsters
10. batting .330 with power and potential to improve is not really worth celebrating

as far as i'm concerned, let's just sign andruw jones and hang it all . . .

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3109894

They have nothing to lose. Boras, on the other hand, will look self-centered and domineering by refusing to allow ARod to talk to the Yanks without him.

Fantastic.

The greatest number of PAs (or ABs) for a leftfielder in a single season with zero HRs.

I think it makes the Yankees look insecure and scared.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/shannsp01.shtml

You can get the all time leader free using Baseball Reference's play index.

I think it makes the Yankees look like they're calling the shots and can leave ARod if he won't play by their rules.

They've got hand. (Whether they're gonna need it or not remains to be seen)

Alex Rodriguez is a professional baseball player. He is very good at hitting home runs and stuff like that.

Scott Boras is a professional negotiator. He knows the ins and outs of contracts worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

I'm not letting a guy who has a high school education negotiate a contract when I can get someone who knows what's he doing to do it for me.

If Sam invited me to DC by handing me a subpoena, I'd certainly get an attorney no matter what the topic was.

Jon,

I doubly apologize for my comment earlier, and I make a new commitment to read the rumor junk first hand before I comment.

it makes the Yankees look like they are trying to cheat Alex Rodriguez

Except that he is fully capable of refusing their offer. They can't "cheat" him without his complete approval and knowledge, in which case he wouldn't be getting cheated.

If Pierre ended up moving to LF, it would be a little sadistically fun to watch him "chase" history.

Players went on strike for the right to have representation. This isn't the 1950s where Walter O'Malley or Buzzie Bavasi would refuse to even acknowledge a player's agent.

If they're gonna break their word and come groveling back to ARod, I don't blame them for not wanting to have to face Boras after promising they wouldn't. Not that I respect their flip-flopping.

good stuff for a change

Then all the employee has to do is just get on his cell phone and say, "Hey, Scott, the Yankees offered X dollars for Y years?"

http://tinyurl.com/24u8fu

Is this statement true or false: Scott Rolen hits well when he's healthy, but lately, isn't often healthy.

See! At least STL is saying positive things about Rolen in the article. This is what Ned needs to be doing about anyone who is possibly on the trading block.

Cabrera to L.A.?
Nov 14 - It's looking more and more like Miguel Cabrera will be playing in Southern California next year, with the Dodgers and Angels as the front-runners to land the third baseman in a trade, The Palm Beach Post reports.

Florida's goal is to complete a trade at baseball's winter meetings in early December, the newspaper reports.

The Marlins are believed to be asking the Angels for second baseman Howie Kendrick and pitching prospect Nick Adenhart along with another pitcher and an outfielder.

The Dodgers reportedly would have to give up four players from a group that includes pitcher Chad Billingsley, pitching prospect Clayton Kershaw, third baseman Andy LaLoche, first baseman James Loney and outfielder Matt Kemp.

Another example for the original post?

If the Association has notified the Office of the Commissioner that a
Player has designated a certified Player Agent or Agents to act on his
behalf for the purposes described in this Article IV, no Club may negotiate
or attempt to negotiate an individual salary and/or Special
Covenants to be included in a Uniform Player's Contract with any
Player Agent(s) other than such Player Agent(s).
A Club may require a Player's physical presence only once during contract
negotiations. This limitation shall not apply to telephone conference
calls, at reasonable times, with a Player and his certified Player
Agent. A Player required to be physically present during negotiations
shall be entitled to be paid by the Club for round-trip first-class transportation
and first-class hotel costs.

I'm not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV.

http://www.salon.com/sports/col/kaufman/2007/11/14/wednesday/

"Before beginning real work, every man should take mild doses of physic to work on the bowels."

Or they just want to drive up the price.

This does not say that the player's agent has to be present, it just says that if you're gonna negotiate with an agent, it has to be the player's agent. This does not preclude negotiating directly with the player.

Plus, I'm not an apologist for management in general. Baseball is different from "the real world" in at least two important ways.

1. The Little Guy in baseball makes 300 hundred something thousand a year, and once you've been around a while, you make a lot more than that, even if you suck (e.g. Brett Tomko, etc.). The Little Guy in the real world makes significantly less money, sometimes in the 4 figures.

2. In baseball, we root for the team. It's nice if the individuals do well, but that's a secondary concern. In the real world, we care about individuals, not so much the corporations and businesses they work for.

Thomas