Official MLB 2006 Off-season thread

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Originally Posted by stormy

It's funny because i know your view will be scewed no matter what happens to make the Sox look bad. Sometimes i just can't believe how far it goes.

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I'm an objective baseball fan when talking about other team's moves; I give credit where credit is due. Do you conveniently not see me routinely calling Manny the best pure hitter in baseball? I'm hardly the only person that finds bidding $51.1 million on DM only to try to bully him into taking a dirt contract for 29 of the 31 negotiating days silly. By any objective standard Theo's been making awful moves for at least a year now.

The posting system is completely broken; DM should either be a legitimate free agent or traded/sold directly to Boston. The Blue Jays could simply bid 10 trillion dollars for DM to keep him away from the AL East.

As for Petitte, I agree he's not what he was 3 years ago. That said, he's still a proven reliable AL East starting pitcher; in this market that's all you can hope for. It makes far more sense to give Petitte 1 year $16 million than DM 6 years $110 million (if Boston is lucky enough to get him for only $60 million).

The Mets are going to land Zito for $13-$14 million per year and he'll put up better numbers than DM.

"Dice-K" (ugh) and the Red Sox with the typical dull-tastic press conference. I'm sure he'll do fine here but I can't wait to see him pitch against the Yanks. Boy Genius GM Theo called it a "signing of a national treasure".


Before the World Series Tigers pitcher Joel Zumaya had soreness in his arm...because of throwing all those 100mph fastballs?? nah.. its because he was strumming it up in Guitar Hero! I'm sure the Tigers will remind him not to play when the 07 season starts.

Zumaya the Rock Star

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Originally Posted by SpoDaddy

The Mets are going to land Zito for $13-$14 million per year

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In my dreams maybe. $16M/yr is more realistic.

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Originally Posted by Buster Olney

Red Sox brilliant with D-Mat deal
posted: Thursday, December 14, 2006 | Feedback | Print Entry

The private plane that Daisuke Matsuzaka rode to Boston was tracked on the Internet the way Santa Claus is followed by NORAD, and after he touched down, the pitcher was greeted by a crowd, a dozen TV cameras and a police escort. It was pure melodrama, a fitting ending to negotiations that turned out to be more bluster and snarls than biting and tearing. And the Red Sox executives handled this episode exceptionally, their peers believe. Eight major league executives contacted Wednesday evening all felt Boston had done very well in its negotiations this week.

Had the Matsuzaka talks been Texas hold 'em, the table cam would have shown that superpower agent Scott Boras was holding a pair of 2s. GM Theo Epstein and the Red Sox? A pair of queens. Boras couldn't negotiate with any other team, and the Red Sox were well aware of how much Matsuzaka wants to pitch in the major leagues and how much inherent pressure there was to get a deal done.

So Boras made the only play he could: He bluffed. Big-time. He got in the ears of reporters at the winter meetings and made a case about what an asset Matsuzaka is, and he continued to talk and talk over the weekend to anyone who would listen about the possibility that he would advise the pitcher to go back to Japan. Meanwhile, he essentially stopped negotiating with Boston executives, stopped returning their phone calls.

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You're right Spo. I'm embarrased the way the Sox negotiated. ;_;


lol

If they were so brilliant they wouldn't have overbid the Mets by $14M.

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Originally Posted by burgundy

If they were so brilliant they wouldn't have overbid the Mets by $14M.

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If the Mets were smart they would have bid $13 million higher.

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Originally Posted by Gohron

Phillies traded Gavin Floyd and a player to be named to the White Sox for Freddy Garcia, I was hoping for maybe Buerhle but he collapsed at the end of last year. Garcia should be a decent addition to the Phillies starting rotation. Supposedly the player to be named is Giovany Gonzalez who the Phillies acquired from the White Sox for Thome early last year. He was a top pitching prospect but I suppose there was no way around it.
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The Chi-Sox actually traded Gio Gonzalez to Philly as part of the Rowand-Thome deal. Kenny Williams was very reluctant to part with Gio and was elated to get him back in the Garcia deal. Garcia should benefit from the move to the NL, but he really isn't a #1. He's more of a #2-3 and really padded his stats last year with a strong finish to the season.

Jason Marquis is a waste of money. The Cubs think Rothschild can round him into form, but why pay that money for a guy who's not much better than a Sean Marshall?

With the M's on the verge of getting Vidro from the Nats, it looks like Cliffy Floyd is coming home to the Cubs.

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Originally Posted by ESPN

New York is also trying to sign its own Japanese pitcher, Kei Igawa, bidding $26,000,194. The Yankees, who have until Dec. 28 to work out a deal, have been discussing a five-year contract that would be worth about $20 million.

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I see the Yankees are being far more generous signing thier Japanese pitcher.

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Originally Posted by stormy

If the Mets were smart they would have bid $13 million higher.

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The Mets are smart, which is why they're not giving $18 million per year for 6 years to a pitcher that's never thrown a ball in America. They're also not trading away all their quality young players for guys like Doug Mirabelli and Coco Crisp.

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Originally Posted by stormy

I see the Yankees are being far more generous signing thier Japanese pitcher.

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I wasn't aware that DM = Kei Igawa.

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Originally Posted by Gooch

it looks like Cliffy Floyd is coming home to the Cubs.

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I'll be rooting for Cliff. I hope he has success with the Cubs, but let's face it, they're the Cubs, and they just signed Jason Marquis.