Hot Stove League
 

Baseball's offseason is in full swing, and there's been lots of activity. Here are my thoughts:

Oakland: Interesting, trading two of their big three. Supposedly the catcher from St. Louis and Meyer from Atlanta are solid prospects, and Cruz is a cheap, live arm in the pen if nothing else. Still surprising that they made both of these deals so quickly. I would have thought they could get more for Hudson (Thomas = one year wonder?), but maybe that's why I'm not a GM.

New York/Boston struggle: The Sox got Clement yesterday, which I could see being a good move. He had a solid year last year despite the record, and I think he'll be a good middle-of-the rotation guy for them. I like the Yankees possibly getting Johnson, but it looks like they'll trade their last two legit prospects (unless you count Robinson Cano) to do it. Jaret Wright will be a bust, but the rotation will still be a bit better. Renteria is a good sign, but not for the money they're giving him.

Carlos Beltran: He only has until next Monday to sign with Houston. After that it could be the Yankees bidding against themselves, although California could still be a player.

Any other thoughts - if you have ESPN Insider, it's a great way to keep up with the day-to-day happenings.

Collin

Re: Hot Stove League
 

I think the Mulder trade is just sad - kiko freaking calero? Dan Haren? They got one prospect and two assbag middle relievers. Just a joke - Beane's notoriety appears to be working against him, as other GMs are a.) unwilling to part w/ prospects given his record in trades and b.) beginning to abuse his ego, playing up middle-of-the-road guys with strong subsidiary numbers.

I like signing Clement, the rotation needed another strikeout guy and a fastball/slider righty traditionally is a strong profile for Fenway. Assuming Schilling recovers, the rotation looks strong again, especially if Arroyo continues to make strides on the back end.

Of course, adding Randy Johnson would be, uh, some good? I'm not sure how the Dodgers and d-bags have agreed to this deal, but good for Cashman if he pulls it off. Wright and Pavano are marginal signings, but Beltran and Johnson would obviously make the Yanks the team to beat again.

As far as Renteria, he's a better NL guy - it's a good signing, but there were better values around. I think Theo panicked a little here, but he fills a need.


watch out for the dodgers, who have been clearing payroll like whoa - if the Unit deal goes down, they'll be down something like $30 million off the roll . . . they can give him what he needs, and it looks like DiPodesta is willing to gamble (that's a euphemism).

Re: Re: Hot Stove League
 

I agree on GMs not willing to deal with Beane - I buy into the philosophy that numbers can tell you a lot, but while he got some good numbers guys, I can't believe there weren't better deals out there. I'm wondering what they'll get for Zito if the Baltimore deal goes through. It could be what you're saying though, about GMs being unwilling to deal with Billy from now on. If I were Ken Williams I would have punched him in the stomach after reading Moneyball.

If I were a Dodger fan, I'd be hoping they do something else if they make the Green/Johnson/Vasquez deal, what with the loss of Beltre. That's not to mean that you should do offseason dealings based on what your fans want, but it will be an interesting situation.

Re: Re: Re: Hot Stove League
 

Yeah there HAD to be better deals . . . those two appear to suck, although Hudson's is far better than Mulder's.

On the bright side, there's a special ring in hell for Ken Williams, and though Beane didn't need to be a dick about it, he definitely beat Kenny around like a little bitch in basically every deal they ever did.

Vasquez goes immediately to the white sox for Konerko, Rauch, and a prospect, according to reports . . . Kenny Williams, he still sucks.

It's a decent start for the Dodgers, but they'll need to turn the cash into someone important (delgado? beltran? varitek?) or the media will pee in their mouths . . .

Re: Re: Re: Re: Hot Stove League
 

Yeah, Kenny is as good a GM as he was a major leaguer...mediocre. He really is starting to run the White Sox into the ground, one bad deal at a time. He may get the Krause treatment in Chicago before too long.

There has to be something with Mulder's hip, or there has to be more to his subpar finish to last season. Those are the only two reasons I could think of to unload him so quickly.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1958269

It looks like, finally, the Randy Johnson trade will be made. It looks like it will be soley between the Diamondbacks and the Yankees, with the Yankees getting Johnson and the D-Backs getting Javier Vasquez, Brad Halsey (pitching prospect) and Dionner Navarro (Yankees top prospect/catcher).

I'm excited about getting Johnson, but the farm system is now bone dry (except for Eric Duncan and Robinson Cano, who may end up being marginal prospects at best). It's the same cycle that drove the team to the bottom of the AL East in the 80's, and that scares me.

Duncan is blocked by some manicured .260 hitter at third in NY, and by an ogreish .260 hitter in AZ . . . even so, it's interesting he wasn't included in the deal, seeing as the Dodgers were getting (comparatively) more value, and only sending back the dead body of Kaz Ishii to 'offset' (sounds like more value to not pay his broken skull).

Cano is interesting - he was the 'new' poster child for the overrated Yankees prospect (see: D'Angelo Jimenez), but with Wily Mo having a breakout year there might be some hope for that particular skill set . . . but yeah, the farm, not good right now, and with the lost picks piling up right now (they might lose the first-rounder for pavano! puke), this draft will be herculean.

As far as the Unit . . . I mean, God. It was going to happen no matter what, but how disgusting to add on a $16 million season at age 44. It's insane - but Johnson's the only guy you would ever consider it for (post-BALCO). Yes that last sentence is terrible, here's to BU english degrees.

However, he's an injury risk (even though he'll still pitch through it, b/c he's crazycrazycrazy) on a team whose pitching staff is a potential sea of injury risks (non-Moose catagory). Also, Johnson can't catch the ball, and it turns out neither can 50% of the players in the field, unless Tino takes over 1B permanently. I don't know - the Yankees have assembled my fantasy draft team from High Heat 2003, and they're obviously the best team in baseball, but there are still some holes . . . however, I still see 2 out of three titles for the next couple years, until the team collapses onto itself in a crushing pile of pituitary tumors and old age. Red Sox in 2008!

On the bright side . . . buy your D-Backs stuff now, kids, b/c there's no chance they exist in 5 years. Trading/extending Shawn Green will result in me vomiting in my mouth and immediately attempting to get financing for Collin and I to take the team over and resurrect that sad ass franchise. Ugly!

Johnson scares me - he's unreal and a freak of nature, but how wise is it to give that much money to a 43/44 year-old. Even Nolan Ryan, who was in insane shape towards the end of his career had a fall-off at that point. The whole rotation is like that though - one bad curveball, one slip from going on the DL for a long time.

I think that Navarro is overhyped - he'll be solid, but nothing more than a .270 type hitter with decent defense.

There's a chance Duncan could be converted to 1st base, as that thought has been tossed around. I believe he's only 19, so if they wanted to develop him in that way there would still be time. Cano may be ready this year, although he's not ready for full-time quite yet. I'm hoping he's not just overhyped, as it would be nice to have a longterm solution at 2nd base.

I'm also all in favor of the financing to take over the D-Rays - I think we may be able to save them if given money and time. Think we can get Rob Neyer to be our scouting director?

Oh word to that - he's immediately on staff, and we toss Wil Carroll in charge of the medical staff. Clay Davenport becomes our minor-league director as well.

Wade Boggs, post-induction into the HOF, is our Director of Sexual Addiction - I will not budge on this, but I'll throw you a bone and hire like Steve Balboni or something as a bench guy.

Steve Balboni is the nutritionist.

2005 is the year! let's go cubbies!!!

way ta go, Ryno!
next year we'll get Andre Dawson in there.