165 replies to this topic

[nmigliore]

Looks like Pujol$ is headed to the Angels....

The Angels are the bridesmaid no more. Albert Pujols will sign with the Angels for ten years and $250-260MM, tweets Yahoo's Tim Brown. He'll receive a full no-trade clause. Pujols decided this morning, writes Brown. If Pujols received more than $252MM, his new deal will be the second-largest in baseball history in both its total and average annual value. Pujols is represented by Dan Lozano of Icon Sports Group.

[Onddeck]

Looks like Pujol$ is headed to the Angels....

wowwwww look at LAA makin some SERIOUS moves

adds CJ Wilson too

[NJDevs4978]

So now in addition to the Yankees and the Red Sox, the Phillies spend money, the Angels now spend mad money, Miami's spending mad money, it wouldn't shock me if the Cubs got in on Fielder and even the Dodgers who have no owner and were run into the ground are spending money...guess who's the ONLY big market team acting like a small market?

[Onddeck]

Angels just got kinda scary.. look at that rotation now adding Wilson.. and I know I don't have to mention the addition of Pujols

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

So now in addition to the Yankees and the Red Sox, the Phillies spend money, the Angels now spend mad money, Miami's spending mad money, it wouldn't shock me if the Cubs got in on Fielder and even the Dodgers who have no owner and were run into the ground are spending money...guess who's the ONLY big market team acting like a small market?

The Mets have no foundation to build on. Sandy is trying to build one the old-fashioned way. Forget big market/small market...Mets have been big spenders in the past, despite their reputation for cheapness...what has it gotten them? Yeah, it kind of blows right now, in that Sandy's more or less telling us "don't expect much for the next year or two". And it sucks going into the '11 season knowing that this season is being sacrificed for a greater good. But I'm not going to kill the Mets right now for not throwing money around. I want to give this one some time.

[NJDevs4978]

Yeah, it's just telling that the Mets are the only NY team that acts like a small-market in how badly the Wilpons are off financially and how much they've been mismanaged.

I agree they don't have much of a choice now.

[nmigliore]

Unreal that they got Wilson too. Their rotation has to be at or near the top of the AL with Weaver, Haren, Wilson, and Santana. It'll be interesting to see how they manage to keep their roster intact when key players hit free agency (Haren, Kendrick, Santana, Iannetta, etc.) but they should be big time contenders over the next couple of years at least.

I wonder how they construct their lineup this year too. Pujols to 1B leaves one of Trumbo and Morales to DH and the other to.. well, who knows. I heard a few people on Twitter mention Trumbo could play 3B but considering he has zero experience at the position in both the minors and Majors, while Callaspo is a very good defender there, makes that not seem right. They could trade him or Morales, I suppose. Abreu also throws a wrench into everything too and could prevent Trout from opening with the team unless they cut Wells...

C: Iannetta
1B: Pujols
2B: Kendrick
3B: Callaspo
SS: Aybar
LF: Abreu/Wells
CF: Bourjos
RF: Hunter
DH: Morales/Trumbo

Trumbo wouldn't be a bad player to sell-high on after hitting 29 HR in his rookie year despite a poor .291 OBP and Morales is the superior hitter anyway.

Edited by nmigliore, 08 December 2011 - 01:55 PM.

[nmigliore]

Ahh those geniuses in Tampa Bay have struck again - extending Matt Moore. Love this for them, excellent move.

The Rays have authored another precedent-setting contract, locking up 22-year-old phenom Matt Moore for at least five years, according to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. Moore has just 17 days of big league service time (plus ten innings in the postseason), but the Rays committed $14MM for Moore’s next five seasons. The contract is reminiscent of the Rays’ April 2008 commitment to Evan Longoria, but is the first of its kind for a pitcher. Moore’s guarantee is easily a record for a pitcher with less than a year’s service time, and it also tops any pitcher who signed with less than two years service. The Rays have club options covering Moore’s third arbitration year and first two free agent years. If those are exercised, the deal could be worth $37.5MM over eight years, and it could exceed $40MM with escaltors. Moore is represented by Matt Sosnick along with Jon Pridie and Adam Karon of Sosnick Cobbe Sports.

http://www.mlbtrader...matt-moore.html

[nmigliore]

Ugh..

Reigning NL MVP Ryan Braun has tested positive for a performance-enchancing drug, reports Mark Fainaru-Wada and T.J. Quinn of ESPN. YokalSports.com was the first to report the news (on Twitter). Braun is facing a 50-game suspension and is disputing the positive test through arbitration.

...

Braun, 28, was tested during the playoffs and notified of positive result in late-October. Elevated levels of testosterone in Braun's system triggered the positive test, which prompted MLB to ask the testing agency to perform a second test. The second test determined that the testosterone was synthetic, meaning it was produced outside of Braun's body.

http://www.mlbtrader...e-for-peds.html

Braun is one of my favorite players in the game.. this is really disappointing to hear.

Edit, good news I suppose...

Haudricourt Tom
Just spoke to someone familiar with the details of Braun's test and was assured he will be found innocent. If so, horrible this leaked out.

Edited by nmigliore, 10 December 2011 - 09:47 PM.

[thefiestygoat]

I wonder how he can be found innocent (not saying he's guilty just curious to as how the test may be wrong). I honestly don't care what these guys do behind closed doors so this doesn't change my opinion of him.

[nmigliore]

Pretty big trade: Mat Latos to the Reds for Yonder Alonso, Yasmani Grandal, Edinson Volquez, and Brad Boxberger.

Latos is young, really good, and in great company... but wow, that's a lot. I could see the argument for the Reds to give up Alonso and Grandal since they already have superior talents in place with Mesoraco and Votto, but San Diego has to be loving this return.

[NJDevs4978]

I wonder how he can be found innocent (not saying he's guilty just curious to as how the test may be wrong). I honestly don't care what these guys do behind closed doors so this doesn't change my opinion of him.

Rumor is he was taking Herpes medication lol.

[nmigliore]

Rangers win bidding for Yu Darvish for a figure north of $51M: http://sports.yahoo....ning_bid_121911

Assuming they pay him a contract of at least $50M, that's going to be $100M+ total to an unproven Major League pitcher. Hey, I think Darvish looks fantastic, but that's a pretty big gamble. Dave Cameron (of Fangraphs) put it well on Twitter: if the Rangers end up paying something like $125M total ($50M posting fee plus a 5/75 or so contract), Darvish would be on the hook to produce about a 23 WAR for the deal to be just fair value.... only 9 pitchers have been worth that much over the last 5 seasons. That's basically on the level of pitchers like Zack Greinke and Josh Beckett.

Who knows, maybe he'll be on that Beckett/Greinke level, and the Rangers DO have a lot more incentive to pay a premium on wins right now than, say, the Mets, but it's still a big gamble... not one that I would probably make.

But assuming a contract is worked out, this should be fun. I'm eager to see what he can do in MLB and the AL West battle between the Angels and Rangers should be awesome to follow this summer.

Edited by nmigliore, 20 December 2011 - 01:24 AM.

[nmigliore]

Great trade for the A's: http://www.mlbtrader...o-gonzalez.html

I'm not sold on Peacock as a starter yet, he's basically a 2-pitch pitcher who pitches up in the zone, but he at least profiles as a late-game bullpen arm. Cole is the real prize; he was great in his pro debut and comes with front-of-the-rotation upside. Norris gets underrated because of his low batting averages; he does need to keep the whiffs in check as he moves up to AAA and the Majors but he has a great throwing arm and fantastic patience and power that should make him an above average regular behind the dish. Milone doesn't throw very hard but he put up excellent numbers in AAA last year and his skillset is perfect for Oakland's park.

Gio Gonzalez is pretty good, but his low-3's mirage of an ERA over the last couple of seasons makes him look a lot better than he actually is. Edwin Jackson, a current free agent getting very little attention (or so it seems), is quite literally just as good once you look past the deceiving ERA.

Edited by nmigliore, 22 December 2011 - 04:39 PM.

[Devils Dose]

Fausto Carmona is dead








Meet Roberto!!!!

[nmigliore]

Prince Fielder reportedly signing with Detroit, 9 years/$214M:

The Tigers have agreed to sign Prince Fielder to a nine-year, $214MM contract Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports on Twitter. The 27-year-old first baseman will join Miguel Cabrera in the middle of the Tigers' order to create more than enough offense to make up for the loss of Victor Martinez.

Though the market for Fielder seemed far from robust at times this offseason agent Scott Boras has found an unexpected suitor once again. Yahoo's Tim Brown first reported that the sides were close to a deal.

http://www.mlbtrader...ce-fielder.html

Wow, I really didn't see that coming. I figured he'd get, at MOST, 5 or 6 guaranteed years. Scott Boras is amazing. This contract looks like a future disaster but hey, I guess the Tigers won't be missing V-Mart next season now, at least.

[Onddeck]

Prince Fielder reportedly signing with Detroit, 9 years/$214M:


http://www.mlbtrader...ce-fielder.html

Wow, I really didn't see that coming. I figured he'd get, at MOST, 5 or 6 guaranteed years. Scott Boras is amazing. This contract looks like a future disaster but hey, I guess the Tigers won't be missing V-Mart next season now, at least.

Wow... bigmoves

[Hi, I'm VALUE!]

I have no idea how all three of these bats will fit in their lineup when V-Mart is healthy. And defensively, where do they put these guys...V-Mart when healthy is primary DH/secondary catcher, while Cabrera is their current 1B. I would imagine Cabrera/Fielder will platoon, or a trade/free agency is coming next year to get one of these guys out of town.

EDIT: Just say that Cabrera will play 3rd...this is going to be a hell of hitting team but not much for defense methinks.

Edited by Hi, I'm VALUE!, 24 January 2012 - 04:13 PM.

[nmigliore]

No way would they platoon any of them - they are all very much starting-caliber players. My guess is Fielder at 1B, Cabrera at DH, and V-Mart pawned off somewhere next season (don't forget he's more than likely out for all of 2012, so it shouldn't be an issue this upcoming season). They could also say "screw the defense!" and stick Miggy back at 3B with V-Mart at DH and Fielder at 1B.

Detroit is going to be legitimate contenders for the next 3-4 years with Fielder, Verlander, and Miggy all under contract through their primes. After that, it may be ugly; Fielder's deal will probably begin to form into an albatross at that point and Verlander and Miggy could hit free agency.

Edited by nmigliore, 24 January 2012 - 04:31 PM.

[Hi, I'm VALUE!]

No way would they platoon any of them - they are all very much starting-caliber players. My guess is Fielder at 1B, Cabrera at DH, and V-Mart pawned off somewhere next season (don't forget he's more than likely out for all of 2012, so it shouldn't be an issue this upcoming season). They could also say "screw the defense!" and stick Miggy back at 3B with V-Mart at DH and Fielder at 1B.

Detroit is going to be legitimate contenders for the next 3-4 years with Fielder, Verlander, and Miggy all under contract through their primes. After that, it may be ugly; Fielder's deal will probably begin to form into an albatross at that point and Verlander and Miggy could hit free agency.

I have no idea what V-Mart's contract looks like, but the fact that insurance companies are picking up the tab for 2012 might make him look very palatable to a team in money-hell that has an asset the Tigers want. My initial thoughts were the Mets and Dodgers, both teams that are not seemingly in a position to compete in 2012 and looking to save money, but I'm not sure what either team could send to Detroit at the major league level that would make sense, I don't know how much longer V-Mart is under contract, and IIRC the Mets have a young 1B in Ike Davis and a young C in Thole...displacing either (and trading ML assets to do it) might not be a very solid move. IIRC Loney is the Dodgers 1B right now and he could easily be displaced by V-Mart. Also an AL team might look to make that move if they can, but again, I have no idea what the Tigers need/want at this point.

Here's a point of discussion I was talking with my friends about. If you're the Yankees, would you deal AJ Burnett for Adam Dunn (assuming the extraneous pieces either way weren't critical to the franchise)?