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Thursday, November 13, 2008

Rosenthal: With 300th win near, Johnson files for free agency

Much like turgidious U.S. Army Colonel Robert Neville not being the “last of his kind”...another 300-game winner shall arise.

First, Trevor Hoffman. Now, Randy Johnson.

Future Hall of Fame pitchers are bolting their teams at an alarming rate this offseason.

Johnson, unable to reach a contract agreement with the Diamondbacks, opted for free agency on Thursday, the final day players could file.

“Randy instructed us not to file for free agency until we made every effort to reach an agreement,” Johnson’s agents, Barry Meister and Alan Nero, said in a statement. “The Diamondbacks have a budget based on their club’s financial situation and obviously viewed Randy’s contract in that context. Randy considered every reasonable compromise including offering to take a 50% pay cut, all to remain a Diamondback. However, the economic situation did not lend itself to an agreement.”

...“Randy can be a difference-maker,” Meister said. “I expect there to be significant interest.”

Repoz Posted: November 13, 2008 at 10:09 PM | 18 comment(s) | Login to Bookmark
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1. Walt Davis Posted: November 13, 2008 at 10:31 PM (#3008676)

type A, type B or not offered arb?

An interesting signing. Johsons would be good fit on a team in or on the verge of contention with enough young pitching depth to cover for an injury. Tampa, Boston, Yankees (ha!) fit that description. Possibly the A's if they're really spending. Dodgers? Possibly Milwaukee but more in the "we need to replace Sabathia and Sheets with something!" sense. I'll pick the Reds as a dark horse.

2. Craig Calcaterra Posted: November 13, 2008 at 10:36 PM (#3008685)

Bad thing about this for RJ is that given how close he is to 300 wins, he can't plausibly pull that "well, I may just retire, so your offer had be pretty good" routine.

3. Quinton McCracken's BFF Posted: November 13, 2008 at 10:45 PM (#3008692)

Yeah I was actually thinking that Randy would look very cute wearing the green n' gold

4. Shooty: Applying to be Fearless Leader

Posted: November 13, 2008 at 10:47 PM (#3008695)

Yeah I was actually thinking that Randy would look very cute wearing the green n' gold

Yep. Time to come home for your swan song, RJ.

5. Bill McNeal Posted: November 13, 2008 at 10:52 PM (#3008704)

I'm kind of new to following baseball free agency, but am I right to be under the impression that is not a frenzy like the NHL free agent market?

In hockey it seems like the majority of noteworthy free agents sign within 2 days of the start of free agency. Not the same in baseball, right?

6. DL from MN Posted: November 13, 2008 at 11:02 PM (#3008709)

> good fit on a team in or on the verge of contention with enough young pitching depth to
> cover for an injury

He has family in Minnesota.

7. Alberto Gilardino Posted: November 13, 2008 at 11:04 PM (#3008710)

No chance he gets offered arbitration. Sounds like money was not the issue here... the DBacks just don't want to pay him. I can see the Dodgers or Mets getting him, although Houston might intrigue him too.

8. Rodder Posted: November 13, 2008 at 11:16 PM (#3008725)

Wouldn't mind the Phillies taking a flyer on him, as they could use him in the low risk/high reward fifth spot and have Kendrick/Happ/Carrasco to step in if/when he gets injured. Still, I would be surprised if he chose to go to a team in the northeast.

Please excuse all the ///'s.

9. Ivan Grushenko of Hong Kong Posted: November 13, 2008 at 11:27 PM (#3008736)

Angels need a 5th starter and have Adenhart as insurance. Seattle could bring him back along with Griffey.

10. Tripon Posted: November 14, 2008 at 01:09 AM (#3008795)

Dodgers were willing to trade for Maddux. If they miss out on C.C., Randy Johnson wouldn't be a bad alternative.

A rotation of:

Billingsley
Kuroda
Randy Johnson
Clayton Kershaw
James Zell McDonald

with Kuo, Eric Shults, and Scott Elbert all able to do long relief or start wouldn't be so bad.

11. Cooperstown Schtick Posted: November 14, 2008 at 01:53 AM (#3008812)

In hockey it seems like the majority of noteworthy free agents sign within 2 days of the start of free agency. Not the same in baseball, right?

That's pretty much right, Bill. Baseball agents seem to advise their clients to hold off from signing early in the hope of building a bidding war. Free agent signings seem to end up getting spread fairly evenly through the off-season. Which, of course, is good for fans and media.

12. flournoy Posted: November 14, 2008 at 01:56 AM (#3008814)

The Braves have made public their desire to acquire two starting pitchers this offseason. If nothing else, it'd be fun to have him around.

13. Justin T contains indigenous nudity Posted: November 14, 2008 at 03:01 AM (#3008842)

If TBU was in an A's uni next season that would be frigging spectacularly fabulously great. God damn! If it helps, I will now commit to making it to at least 50% of his home starts, and I'll buy seats in the club level behind home, not cheapies.

14. Jeff K. Posted: November 14, 2008 at 03:01 AM (#3008843)

Yeah, CS has it right in #11. Much like the sports themselves, things move much more leisurely in the baseball offseason vs. hockey.

15. Never Give an Inge (Dave) Posted: November 14, 2008 at 03:19 AM (#3008850)

These days, whenever I see a headline that begins "_________ files for..." my brain assumes the next word will be "bankruptcy".

16. Justin T contains indigenous nudity Posted: November 14, 2008 at 03:19 AM (#3008851)

I don't know if it pertains to the free agency situation, but it seems like the NHL and NHLPA are less concerned with tampering and collusion and that stuff than anybody else. I would imagine that players are talking to multiple teams well before free agency begins and have their choices made by then so that only the formality of signing the contract remains. Whereas I don't think baseball teams can start anything until free agecy starts, which maybe I'm wrong about but I don't think so.

My basis for saying this is the way an NHL GM gets publicly bent out of shape when somebody makes an offer to their RFA. They pretty much come right out and say that the other team violated the wink-wink agreement not to negotiate with RFAs. Which seems crazy to me and I don't understand why nobody cares about it. Does anyone know any particulars of operations with the NHL that make this allowable?

17. Iwakuma Chameleon (jonathan) Posted: November 14, 2008 at 05:29 AM (#3008894)

I would absolutely love for the A's to sign Randy. I don't know if it was voiced much, but I didn't see much mention of just how bad our rotation is for the immediate future amidst all the Holliday-trade "guess the A's are kinda going for it" talk.

Duchscherer for a while-RJ is at least, on paper it seems, a pretty acceptable 1-2. Then I guess you hope Eveland/Braden/Gallagher/Gio Gonzalez round it out well enough. Though I'm still skeptical. Hopefully Anderson/Cahill/Mazzaro move quickly.

18. Greg (U)K Posted: November 14, 2008 at 05:42 AM (#3008900)

Much like people getting angry at players opting out of contracts, I don't get why NHL GMs expect anyone to share their outrage when someone puts in an offer on one of their RFAs.

It's like ######## about your opponent stealing bases or something

EDIT: Just noticed it now...by far the best NHL related BTF handle Jussi

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Thursday, November 13, 2008

Rosenthal: With 300th win near, Johnson files for free agency

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