New York Yankees
Acquired SS Alex Rodriguez from the New York Yankees for 2B Alfonso Soriano and a player to be named.
Hell with it - if I wait for an announcement, everyone will be tired of it by then.
Highway robbery by the Yankees even considering that Team Captain’s apparent unwillingness to do what’s best for the team is preventing the Yanks from getting the full benefits of the trade.
The current plan seems to be to move A-Rod to 3B but that can always change. And should, too, since the Yankees acquired a bunch of 3B options that won’t be able to be moved to 2B. Houston or Lamb can fill a 3B hole without being too wretched, but neither will do the same at 2B. The best thing for the Yanks to do now is to leave A-Rod at short, tell Derek Jeter that being a leader isn’t just a pretty label, and move him to 2nd and eventually center.
What the Rangers get out of this? A much bleaker future than before the A-Rod trade. They pay the Yankees roughly a *third* of what A-Rod’s owed for the privilege of making the team significantly worse. Soriano’s a much better player than a lot of people, including myself, thought he would be, but he’s not A-Rod.
If the Rangers are able to keep Soriano long-term, they’ll have to give him a deal not too far from the 12-18 a year the Yanks are paying A-Rod, which’ll eat into any savings and payroll flexibility.
If the Rangers are not able to keep Soriano long-term, then they’ve lost 10 wins a year. They had enough problems *with* the wins A-Rod brought and would be that much further from making a dent in the West.
Mike Young returns to short and should handle it pretty nicely.
Really, there’s not much of a way the Rangers get any advantage in this. This wasn’t a world-class offense - it was a mediocre offense in 2003 *with* the 2nd-best SS in history.
2004 ZiPS Projections
———————————————————————————————————
Player AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB BA OBP SLG
———————————————————————————————————
Soriano 701 125 223 45 3 39 135 35 140 37 .318 .361 .558
Rodriguez 628 118 184 29 3 50 140 91 124 14 .293 .394 .588
Dan Szymborski
Posted: February 16, 2004 at 12:55 AM |
38 comment(s)
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Well, Occam's Razor suggests as a possible answer "Because he is utterly stupid."
Still, I agree with your next statement; there has to be more to this story.
It's on March 12 and Rivera already leads the AL in steals...
Are you saying that a union would support a player who was accused of stealing from other members of his union. It falls under the same line as crossing a picket line. It is an action against a fellow member of his union, which directly interferes with the ability of that fellow member (stealing his "game" glove, betraying the trust of a union member) to perform his job. The reason that the MLBPA "rolled over" is that the action was not against the owners, but against a member of the players union.
Hmmm..
The professor example is completely inapposite. Of course the university wouldn't defend the player. We're talking about a union, not an employer.
The claim that he has "not a leg to stand on" is simply wrong. For an example, see the Sprewell case. The issue isn't whether the charges are true -- though that is AN issue -- but whether those charges are grounds for termination of a signed contract. He might lose -- but the union's job isn't to decide that. That's the job of an arbitrator. The union's job is to represent him. Unless, of course, Rivera's crimes are so egregious that they really have no case. The public information about this case doesn't come close to qualifying.
It seems to me that the smart thing to do in these situations, usually, is to "get counseling" for the player or some such thing. Then you get to keep your talented player so you're not the one being punished.
Punitively releasing a player has a very Royals-ish feeling about it.
PS. If I was Ken Harvey, I'd make it a point to oversleep and come late to practices, in hopes of being released.
The wallet was still there, but one of my coworkers had taken all of the cash out of it. I was SOL.
If someone stole something of value at my company, I have no doubt they would be out the door, on their ass, ASAP. My guess is the Yankees fired him, and the negotiated a settlement to avoid a grievance. Rivera got something, when he could very well have had his contract voided.
Thames is currently playing for the Columbus Clippers, and he's struggling a bit: .218 BA, .315 OBP, .385 SLG. The walk rate is good, and there's some power there, but for whatever reason he's not hitting any singles.
He's playing at AA Chattanooga this year. The Lookouts recently passed through Raleigh, and I got to see him in one game there. He does appear to be developing some recognition of the difference between a ball and a strike - he certainly looks a lot better now than he did as an overmatched kid at Greensboro two years ago - and might even be progressing to the point where he's a real prospect.
-- MWE
Journeyman Pedro Swann was called up today when Chris Woodward was placed on the DL.
www.20000-names.com/male_czechoslovakian_names.htm
The name 'Dudek' in Polish (my ethnic background) is the name of a small (supposedly slow-witted) bird.
Sad but true.
That's a lot for Derek Bell.
On a slightly related subject: apparently, J.P. Ricciardi has an out clause in his contract - he can leave Toronto after this season if he wants to. I'm a Jays fan, and I'm in favor of what he's done so far, but I can't imagine what would happen next in Toronto if J.P. were to jump ship to, say, Boston.
That's a lot for Derek Bell."
Derek Bell - career OPS+ 100
It certainly would be.
George Bell at 32: 255/294/418
Yankee fans, say hello to your new rightfielder.
This one was a beautiful combination of stupidity on the Jays part, as it required both Cito Gaston's efforts to convert John Olerud into a more agressive pull-hitter, and the Amazing Gordo's failure to see what Cito was doing.
When Olerud moved to New York, I would guess that pitchers didn't know about his tendency to inside-out everything, and pitched him away. This brought his levels back up.
While Cito may have made some mistakes as manager and hitting coach, I can't imagine him trying to change somebody while they were hitting .363 - especially since Cito was usually known for inaction.
There must be data available to confirm either your hypothesis or mine - if Olerud started pulling everything, presumably he'd have a lot more F9's and 4-3's on his record, plus a few more GIDP's.
(By the way, Cito-bashers might want to note that Delgado, Cruz, Stewart, Mondesi, Fletcher and Lopez are all hitting worse this year than they did while under The Pernicious Influence Of The Evil Cito (tm). Of course, there are lots of other factors involved - age, discouragement - but I don't see a lot of evidence that Cito was a bad influence on the Jays' hitters.)
By the way, I predict that Mondesi will singlehandedly win at least one game in the upcoming Jays-Yanks series. It's all part of the dark cloud that the Jays' franchise has been under ever since either (a) Gillick left town, or (b) Duane Ward first developed "tendinitis" (you pick).
(I'm pretty sure there's also the discussion of how you don't win without a power source at first, and Olerud wasn't providing that.)
Inevitably, Olerud would struggle for half the year, then get left alone to do whatever he was doing before pulling the ball. At that point, Olerud would hit rather well until the end of the season. Wash, rinse and repeat for 1995 and 1996.
He then got railroaded out of town by the amazing logic of him not putting up enough RBIs (never mind that he had ~400 PA, and a simple projection over 162 games would give him 80 RBIs, which is what the club claimed to want from him).
Jason
It could get ugly....5th inning lead pullouts,spot starts versus weak sisters(wait..they do those already),middle inning vulture wins.
There's little reason to believe that Clemens cannot keep pitching well for a while. Most of his injury troubles this year have been bad luck, not recurring problems. He has this groin problem every year, but it usually doesn't land him on the DL.
I'd guess that Clemens will have no problem with 300 or 311 wins, especially if he stays with the Yanks.
And no he wasn't pushed to pitch too many innings, but Torre knew he could rely on his bullpen and he also realized that he was going to need Clemens in October.
And November.
And no he wasn't pushed to pitch too many innings, but Torre knew he could rely on his bullpen and he also realized that he was going to need Clemens in October.
The only problem with these statements is that Clemens threw 220.3 innings last year. That' hardly sounds like they were protecting him. You want to talk about a protected pitcher, look at Pedro, who's hasn't hit 30 starts or 220 IP since 1998. He's often pushed back an extra day and misses some portion of every season with injury.
Besides, isn't it a good idea to "protect" valuable pitchers like Clemens and Pedro?
Stanton came into the Clemens games(all in the 7th inning) with leads of 5-4,4-3,3-2 and kryzneled them all.
In a past NL lifestyle Stanton also cost Greg Maddux a number of wins.
Utter laziness precludes me from checking RI's
Clemens just happened to get better run support so was winning more often and removed with leads more often.
That said, he's on a major-league deal and I think he'll be out of options next season. He needs at least another minor league season, IMO; he still has strike-zone recognition issues.
-- MWE
yes, he got some cash, but he already had $4 million from Big George. He couldn't play ONE more year?
Anyway, that's my rant. part of me wants to see him succeed because he went to Michigan and part of me wants him to fail because he d***** them in the end. At least part of me will be happy.
Rick Leach was a hell of a college quarterback. But, he's no Bobby McCallister.
Will: Yeah right. Maybe if the officials let Nebraska get away with kicking the ball to a teammate...oh wait...
Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim.
You don't think that if Henson had had a monster season last year (and he would have), he wouldn't have been a top five pick? I have yet to see someone write that he would not have been. On the contray, I have seen numerous people opine that he would have. He's bigger and stronger than both those guys and plays at a more glamorous program.
State is clearly the better team this year? Based on what? Their blow out of EMU? The worst team in the MAC? Wow. Good job, Sparty. Who's your next home game? Sister Mary of the Poor? When MSU beats a good team, let me know.
And as for last year, they would have scored even MORE points if Henson was the QB instead of Navarre the invalid. They would'nt have needed the defense to mess it up at the end of the game.
Come on Tim. Sparty's time to talk is when basketball season starts. That's when all Michigan fans start passing the hat around in order to pay for our next star. :) But football season? Come on.
Quite a schedule they've put together. And all at home too. Nice one. :)
The Reds just called him up when they placed Brandon Larson on the 15-day DL.
-- MWE
He won't be in the instructional league, as the Yankees have joined the Royals in skipping it. (I'm guessing George may have different reasons than Glass, however.)
Latham might not have taken a NRI with the Yankees, knowing he has less chance of landing a major league job there than somewhere else. Latham's a significantly better player than what the Yankees have lying around to fill a real fifth (more likely sixth) outfielder's role, so the extra amount it costs to sign Latham and burn a 40-man slot that was available anyway.
Ventura will be 35 next season, while Bell will be 30. I'd rather have Bell, who can also play 2B, signed for 4 years at $17M than Ventura for 4 years at $20M.
Widger is a better hitter because he has more power, but his career OBP is less than Mark Johnson's... which means he makes more outs.
Regarding Billy Beane, the Mark Johnson acquisition was very different. For one, he received cash to cover most of Johnson's salary. For another, if I needed a backup catcher, I'd get Widger. If I wanted a guy with an outside shot at earning a starting job, I'd take Johnson, who I can conceive of posting a .370 OBP. It won't happen, but it's in the realm of probability, which it really isn't for Widger.
Widger's mean production would be higher, but Johnson's best possible season, his uppppside, is higher. So, if you're in a more conservative position with an all-star catcher signed long-term, you want certainty. If you want a guy with a shot at earning the starting job, you take the upside. I may be wrong - I got those probabilities by eyeballing their stat lines and a couple similar players - but that was the theory.
That said, I can't for the life of me understand giving two guaranteed years to a guy who spent three years out of the major leagues from 99-01. Whose peripherals were mediocre (7.46 K/9, 3.67 BB/9) outside of a ridiculous HR rate. Whose success derived greatly from the strong defense around him (.242 $H). The Yankees can eat the money if it's a mistake, but he's a better bet to be Jason Grimsley than Mike Stanton
Can he strike out three batters with it on one pitch?
I suck.
And while we do have evidence that one well-run organization, the Yankees, thinks Hammond will continue to be effective, we have equal evidence that another well-run organization, the Braves, did not feel the odds of this were sufficient to justify a contract in this range. It's certainly possible the Yanks see something the Braves don't, but given the Braves' expertise with retread relievers and with Hammond in particular, I can't think of any reason to think the Yanks know more in this case.
I would guess not, since the Yankees have been somewhat on the side of the players in recent labor negotiations, or at least closer to it than the other 29 teams.
Is he a slow LF/1B/DH type or a legitimately league-average or better RFer?
I don't believe that's a foregone conclusion. I've heard no reports that anyone seriously topped the Yankees' offer, even though a 3/27 deal would be well within Matsui's value, simply as a player, not even considering the extra revenue he brings. I don't understand why nobody got in on this, even if they merely would've forced the Yankees to go 3/30.
While the Orioles were possibly less than proactive in their pursuit of Matsui, they still were more aggressive than most of the other teams in baseball, who didn't show the slightest interest in a player who would have potentially represented a substantial improvement to their starting nine. They deserve credit for that, at least.
As smart as Gillick is, he's probably calling Omar Minaya, because after the Yanks overpay for Contreras, Colon may be available at a much more reasonable price.
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