Baseball talk

[Hockeynutville]

Well all you St. Louis fans will like this one. The Cards announced a trade for Mark Mulder today for pitchers Danny Haren, Kiko Calero and catching prospect Daric Barton. I'd say the accquisition of Mulder is a suitable replacement for the loss of Woody Williams. All that's left in Oakland is Zito, any guesses where he'll end up?

[Boktavia II]

Mulder will be a very suitable replacement for the Cards, and finally gives them someone that they can really call an ace. Billy Beane has come out and said that he will not be trading Barry Zito, but who knows what could really happen. If he went anywhere, it could be the Red Sox, since the Cards, Braves, and Red Sox were the three teams interested in the Big 3, and the Sox still have Kevin Youkilis. So, I would predict that if he goes anywhere, it's Boston, but I don't think he's leaving. Beane is a miracle worker when it comes to collecting a contending team with a small payroll, but they've still got to give him something to work with. This is finally the year that Oakland completely drops out of contention though. They put up a good fight this last year, and it was only in that last series of the season that they blew it, but weak offense and no Big 3 is just too much for them to handle.

[Goldenloser2241]

I wouldn't understand why the Sox would want Zito. The past 2 seasons he has seemed to go downhill preety quickly.

[Boktavia II]

Maybe, but the Sox could still use another pitcher, especially if the Johnson deal goes through, and since Schilling mostlikely won't be available for the first couple weeks of the season. Signing Matt Clement was a good move, but it wouldn't hurt to try for Zito. But, I still don't think it'll happen, Oakland would be totally stupid to trade away all of the Big 3.

[Hockeynutville]

Goldenloser said:

I wouldn't understand why the Sox would want Zito. The past 2 seasons he has seemed to go downhill preety quickly.

Well even if his numbers have declined since his Cy Young season, it is difficult these days to find decent left handed pitchers. As much as the Sox would have Wells, he's getting on in his years and probably wont last much longer. If you go out and procure Zito, you still have a guy in his mid 20's and has another 10 or so years left in his career. Also taking into account the lack of run support Zito or any of the big three got in Oakland, I'm sure their win totals should go up barring self-collapses.

[Goldenloser2241]

The lack of run support did have somthing to do with it, but then again his ERA was well into the 4's last year. From what I saw his curve was preety flat too. I think Peterson leaving had a lot to do with Zito suddenly just loseing his dominance.

[Boktavia II]

Maybe, but I agree with HockeyNutville, even if he's lost the dominance he had in his Cy Young season, a young, solid, left-handed pitcher like him is hard to come by. With Wells being 41, having Zito would mean that the Sox would be sure to have a lefty in their rotation for a while, assuming they could sign him to a contract extension. But, this is all speculation, I still think he will stay in Oakland, but Boston is the most likely alternative possibility.

[Boktavia II]

Orlando Cabrera's officially heading for Anaheim, where he will replace popular shortstop David Eckstein. Eckstein was of course not offered a new contract last night, and joins the 41 players who are now free agents. Wade Miller was the only other notable player that was not offered a contract. Meanwhile, the mega-deal involving Randy Johnson has apparently been sent to Bud Selig for details, but officials in the Diamondbacks and Dogers organizations say they're still working out some of the details. As it stands the deal would go down like this:

Yankees get: LHP Randy Johnson from D'Backs
LHP Kazuhisa Ishii from Dodgers

Dodgers get: RHP Javier Vasquez
C Dioner Navarro
3B Eric Duncan from Yankees
RHP Mike Koplove from D'Backs

D'Backs get: OF Shawn Green
RHP Brad Penny
RHP Yhency Brazoban
RHP Brandon Weeden from Dodgers

There will also be some cash swapped around between the teams. The only thing left that could really be a major hitch to this deal is the physicals, as Johnson, Green, and Penny have all had major injuries or surgery within the past couple of years.

[Hockeynutville]

The deal is over. The Dodgers have officially pulled out saying that the deal won't benefit the Dodgers in 05. Not really surprised but I doubt if the Yankees are quite ready to throw in the towel for looking into alternatives to finding a deal in accquiring Johnson although I doubt there are very many possibilities left.

[Boktavia II]

Ha! I knew the deal wasn't going to go through. I never got the feeling that the Dodgers were particularly enthusiastic about it, and I guess they weren't. The Yankees could still sign Eric Milton if they're really desperate for a left-handed starter, but beyond that, there's not much. I'm sure they'll try at least one more time for Johnson, but I think the likelihood of it happening is decreasing. I mean, the Yankees and D'Backs obviously can't just make a straight deal with each other because the Yanks don't have anybody the D'Backs want (take this failed mega-deal; all the players Arizona would have gotten came from the Dodgers). That means that they have to bring in a third team. And really, unless that third team got a very, very good package in that deal, is there any team that wants to see the Yankees get better? I think not.
Paul DePodesta has reportedly gone ahead and signed J.D. Drew, even with Shawn Green still on the payroll. This means the Dodgers are probably going to have to trade somebody now- either trade Shawn Green, or trade Hee Seop Choi and have Green play first base. I'm personally thinking he'll go with the trade Green option.

Oh, and apprently a major part of this deal falling apart was Javier Vasquez. He just basically flat-out refused to play for the Dodgers and did not go to LA for a physical as he was scheduled to do, which of course helped to scare the Dodgers out of the deal. I never thought I'd say this, but go Vasquez!

[Boktavia II]

El Duque (Orlando Hernandez) has apparently joined Jose Contreras as Yankees who have gone to the White Sox, and Wade Miller has just been signed by the Red Sox. That leaves the Red Sox rotation all set, even if Curt Schilling misses a couple weeks. David Wells, Matt Clement, Wade Miller, Tim Wakefield, Bronson Arroyo, before Curt comes back. Then Arroyo'll probably go back to the bullpen. Not last year's rotation, certainly, but still very solid.

[Hockeynutville]

Boktavia said:

El Duque (Orlando Hernandez) has apparently joined Jose Contreras as Yankees who have gone to the White Sox, and Wade Miller has just been signed by the Red Sox. That leaves the Red Sox rotation all set, even if Curt Schilling misses a couple weeks. David Wells, Matt Clement, Wade Miller, Tim Wakefield, Bronson Arroyo, before Curt comes back. Then Arroyo'll probably go back to the bullpen. Not last year's rotation, certainly, but still very solid.

Hernandez is clearly a strong addition if he picks up where he left off last year for the Yankees but only time will tell if he continues his comeback or stumbles. The Red Sox bullpen looks so empty without Martinez in there. I don't know If I'll be able to get over the fact that he is Met...Still, the rotation looks good on paper BUT, the variables have to be weighed. Schilling will obviously be watched on the injury front all throughout the season and if he doesn't stay healthy, it may be a big concern down the stretch. Wakefield has 2 types of games, a good one or a bad one depending on how his knuckler breaks which last year was more times bad then good. He will definetly have to get back to 03 numbers to be a working part of the rotation. Clement and Miller will be making a league transition where hitting is generally more dominant than pitching which may cause problems at first. Wells will probably be the most consistent threat all season but he is getting on in his years and who knows. Yes the rotation looks good. But like all revamped pitching staffs, only time will tell.

[Boktavia II]

Yeah, it is still a revamped staff that has the potential to go either way. But at least they'll have the best in the business behind the plate! Jason Varitek just re-signed with the Red Sox for a 4 year, $40 million contrac. w00t!

[Boktavia II]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Well, the Yankees and D'Backs have apparently agreed over a trade that will send Randy Johnson to the Yanks in return for Javier Vasquez, Brad Halsey, Dionerr Navarro, and cash. This will mean that the Yankees piching rotation will be paid more in 2005 than many teams paid their entire rosters in 2004. George Steinbrenner will be paying his team $200,000 per inning.

AAAAAAAAAARRRRGHHH!!
I know the Red Sox are almost as bad, but is anyone besides me just disgusted with the amount of money these people are spending to win a game? To pay people who just end up pumping their bodies with steroids and tarnishing the game? I'm losing faith in my favorite sport!

[Goldenloser2241]

Here is the great thing, I don't care what the Yanks do, the rest of their rotation isn't good enough to go up against any other team. At this point the rotation is no better than the Soxs in my opinion. So Randy is one of the best in the game but his knees were giving out on him last year, they can go at any minuet and it is not like he is getting any younger.

I personally hope Randy's knees do give out. The past couple of months he has been such a whiney baby over getting out of Arizona that he has made me lose most of my respect for him.

[Hockeynutville]

Boktavia said:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Well, the Yankees and D'Backs have apparently agreed over a trade that will send Randy Johnson to the Yanks in return for Javier Vasquez, Brad Halsey, Dionerr Navarro, and cash. This will mean that the Yankees piching rotation will be paid more in 2005 than many teams paid their entire rosters in 2004. George Steinbrenner will be paying his team $200,000 per inning.

AAAAAAAAAARRRRGHHH!!
I know the Red Sox are almost as bad, but is anyone besides me just disgusted with the amount of money these people are spending to win a game? To pay people who just end up pumping their bodies with steroids and tarnishing the game? I'm losing faith in my favorite sport!

Heh, well you could have just named this the Yankee bashing thread. It's getting hard to think of things to rebut when I know about the avalanche of posts I'll get.

[Goldenloser2241]

Ahh don't worry we will only bite.

[Free Guns For All]

I wonder if this thread will take off again if I post here...

[Echolilia]

Machine gun armed guards, I think.