Jack
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,411
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Post by Jack on Oct 11, 2005 12:26:48 GMT -5
For Red Sox and Yankee fans too self-centered and myopic to allow a postseason thread to flourish without their overreactions to their somewhat predictable demises.
Picking up the discussion and responding to a few points:
-Pierre is coming off a bad year, but he is only 28 and does not seem to have lost all of the tools he had that make him attractive. For that reason he may be a very good free agent signing, but I am betting he draws a fair amount of interest from both Boston and NY, with the loser perhaps being stuck overpaying for Rock Star Damon.
-No reliever should get a four year deal unless his name is Mariano Rivera and the year is 1998. If the Yankees will give BJ Ryan four years at big money, they can have him. I think he wants to be a closer, but at some point everything has its price.
-Gordon and Matsui are both free agents as well and may not come as cheap as some Yankee fans think. I will agree they can probably afford both of them and they can be a bit more confident in their purchases than they were with Wright and Pavano, but they might also be looking to exercise some financial discipline.
-Point well taken on the Red Sox spending, but let's not try to pretend that they are even in the same galaxy as the Yankees on that mark. Only the Yankees can afford to have Jaret Wright in middle relief.
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One
Century (over 100 posts)
Posts: 192
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Post by One on Oct 11, 2005 14:39:38 GMT -5
A view on northeastern baseball from afar:
To address Jaret Wright and the Yankees pitching situation (discussed on the other thread), why would Tampa Bay ever trade one of their promising (or even average) young outfielders for a guy who doesn't pitch very well with his third elbow in 8 years? That's a pipe dream. The Yanks' pitching will suffer (read: stink) again next year for many of the reasons already stated, not least of which is the fact that Shawn Chacon, Aaron Small and Wang will eventually remember they are Shawn Chacon, Aaron Small and Wang. And their $$$ probably won't help much this offseason. The only bigtime free agent starting pitcher is AJ Burnett. Yankee fans should not be more than cautiously optimistic if they sign another "stud" from the Marlins staff. I think he is better than Pavano, but he wont come cheap.
As for centerfielders, I think Pierre is a good ballplayer who had a bad year. By all accounts, he works extremely hard on his game, and I expect he will rebound next season. I would certainly prefer him to Corey Patterson at Wrigley next year. Then again, I would prefer just about anyone to Corey Patterson at Wrigley next year.
Somebody will pay Johnny Damon way too much money for far too many years. I expect it to be the Yanks or BoSox, but I kinda hope its the Mets.
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FormerHoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,262
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Post by FormerHoya on Oct 11, 2005 15:34:59 GMT -5
Haha, taking this thread away from the overrated AL East. I love it.
I'm just hoping that Rafael "Kyle Farnsworth told me about this great place called Ty's 'til 4" Furcal isn't the Cubs big offseason pickup. That guy has Alonzo Spellman style breakdown written all over him.
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FormerHoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by FormerHoya on Oct 11, 2005 15:48:49 GMT -5
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One
Century (over 100 posts)
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Post by One on Oct 11, 2005 16:18:20 GMT -5
I don't know if that's good or bad.
As for Furcal, the Cubs don't have a Mike Singletary type to talk him off the ledge when he does finally lose it. I hope they let somebody else sign that guy.
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TBird41
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"Roy! I Love All 7'2" of you Roy!"
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Post by TBird41 on Oct 11, 2005 18:03:44 GMT -5
I could see the Cubs going after BJ Ryan, or Johnny Damon.
The Red Sox and Yankees have a lot of money, but they aren't the only ones.
And Jaret Wright is pretty much worthless. That being said, betting on all baseball GMs not being stupid is a sucker's bet. Especially betting on the DRays (though who knows what the new guy will be like). The Twins are going to be a player this offseason as well--they have a TON of young pitching, have some wiggle room in terms of money (not a lot, but some) and they desperately need help w/ their offense.
Liriano and Baker aren't going anywhere, but considering that the Twins have a deep bullpen (Nathan, Romero, Rincon, Crain) the rights to Kyle Lohse (who would have much more trade value than Jaret Wright) and 3-4 pitching prospects as well as Torii Hunter and Shannon Stewart to trade.
And they're really only set at a few positions--1B, C, Closer and the top 4 spots in the rotation. They have a decent young SS in Bartlett and Cuddyer can give you decent production at 2B/3B but the Twins are going to have to upgrade whereever they can, b/c their offense was PUTRID this year. They had as good of pitching as anyone this year, the problem was that their offseason was the worst in baseball.
I see Terry Ryan making noise in the offseason this year while he has his pitching staff in order--it starts to come apart after this year in terms of contracts w/ the starters. And the Twins won more than 2/3 of the games in which they scored 4+ runs this year. The problem of course being that didn't happen anywhere near that often.
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One
Century (over 100 posts)
Posts: 192
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Post by One on Oct 11, 2005 18:32:44 GMT -5
I agree with TBird about the Twins chances to improve this offseason. For all the crap people give it for being full of small market teams that few people care about, the AL Central could be really, really good next year between the White Sox, Twins and Indians. And Detroit has even shown some willingness to spend money the last couple offseasons. Looks like the NL West has taken over as MLB's wasteland.
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Hank Scorpio
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
You're gonna die now!
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Post by Hank Scorpio on Oct 12, 2005 0:53:48 GMT -5
Wang is going to be a very good pitcher for a long time. Chacon could come back to Earth, but he has the stuff, and the cajones, to make it as a Yankee. Aaron Small was the only one throwing out of his mind. Our rotation will be very good next year, IMO, if they stay healthy. obviously a big if. Jaret Wright makes sense if you get him for free and you have a glut of OF talent. Both possible if the Yanks and D-Rays swing a deal. Wright actually was half way decent after coming back from the shoulder problem - he just became a magnet for bats, balls. He is a #4 or 5 pitcher for a lot of teams in MLB A view on northeastern baseball from afar: To address Jaret Wright and the Yankees pitching situation (discussed on the other thread), why would Tampa Bay ever trade one of their promising (or even average) young outfielders for a guy who doesn't pitch very well with his third elbow in 8 years? That's a pipe dream. The Yanks' pitching will suffer (read: stink) again next year for many of the reasons already stated, not least of which is the fact that Shawn Chacon, Aaron Small and Wang will eventually remember they are Shawn Chacon, Aaron Small and Wang. And their $$$ probably won't help much this offseason. The only bigtime free agent starting pitcher is AJ Burnett. Yankee fans should not be more than cautiously optimistic if they sign another "stud" from the Marlins staff. I think he is better than Pavano, but he wont come cheap. As for centerfielders, I think Pierre is a good ballplayer who had a bad year. By all accounts, he works extremely hard on his game, and I expect he will rebound next season. I would certainly prefer him to Corey Patterson at Wrigley next year. Then again, I would prefer just about anyone to Corey Patterson at Wrigley next year. Somebody will pay Johnny Damon way too much money for far too many years. I expect it to be the Yanks or BoSox, but I kinda hope its the Mets. |
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hoyarooter
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
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Post by hoyarooter on Oct 12, 2005 12:41:02 GMT -5
I agree with Borat re Chacon. There were quite a few teams interested in him, and I think the Yankees were (unfortunately) lucky to get him. Remember he's spent a number of years pitching in Colorado, and still managed to emerge with some semblance of his confidence intact. Lots of guys improve when they get away from Coors, and I think he will be one of them.
There's also no reason to say that Wang's performance was a fluke. He seems to have pretty good stuff. He belongs in next year's rotation.
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One
Century (over 100 posts)
Posts: 192
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Post by One on Oct 12, 2005 14:42:50 GMT -5
I'm neither a Red Sox nor a Yankees fan, so it makes little difference to me who the Yankees have in their rotation next season from a rooting standpoint. However, I'll just say (and I may be proven wrong next April and May) that if I were a Red Sox fan, I would not mind if 2 of the 5 members of the Yankees rotation were Chacon and Wang next season. That said, I dont think anybody knows who will be in the Yankees' rotation next season. We'll have to see what King George does.
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FormerHoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
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Post by FormerHoya on Oct 12, 2005 15:30:15 GMT -5
I hope 2 members of the Yankees rotation are Wang and Johnson.
Because I'm juvenile.
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