Boston made some AWFUL decisions. $8million/yr for Julio Lugo? JD Drew, too, is flaky, but shoot 5/$70 million is a major investment.

Minimum 100 games, Drew has 2 seasons (2004, 2001) with an OPS above 1.000; he also has two seasons with an OPS below 0.800 (2002, 1999). Point is.. he's not very consistent.

I have no fucking idea what people see in Lugo that merits $8 million. I'd take Jose Valentin any day over him.

12/6/2006 3:04:24 PM

^ agreed. JD Drew is made out of snowflakes and I'll be surprised if he plays 100 games next year.

Lugo is overrated as hell and basically is riding his one good season to a fat paycheck.

I am really surprised at all of the huge contracts FAs are getting this year. $10 millon seems like the norm for an average player this year. WTF!?!

12/6/2006 5:44:43 PM

Freddy Garcia to PHI
Gio Gonzales and Gavin Floyd to CHW

Ugh

12/6/2006 11:35:12 PM

^ Gavin Floyd could finally reach his potential in a new place. If not, then, yeah, it's a bad trade for the White Sox.

Also the Mets traded Bannister for Ambriox Burgos of the Royals. Decent move for both sides.

Ted Lilly somehow is getting at 4 yr $40 million contract. WTF!?!

12/7/2006 3:35:33 PM

Royals signed Gil Meche...don't feel like looking it up but I think it's $55 mill over 5 years

12/7/2006 4:00:47 PM

^ WTF!?! Good god this off season is ridiculous. I see now why Schuerholtz hasn't done anything - he can't afford to. Even the Royals are spending 10+ million on shit pitchers.

12/7/2006 4:34:57 PM

Quote :

"Ted Lilly somehow is getting at 4 yr $40 million contract. WTF!?!"

Yeah, I woke up and heard about that. I was like the Cubs SPENT WAY TOO MUCH on that guy that is .500 at best.

I want his agent if he can hook me up w/ $10 mil./year.

12/7/2006 4:38:03 PM

^ The Cubs must have been bought by Steinbrenner in secret with the way they are throwing out the cash this offseason. Oh well I wish the damn Braves would do something to improve their shitty team.

12/7/2006 4:44:09 PM

traded Ho-Ram to the Mariners for Rafael Soriano

12/7/2006 5:04:12 PM

The Royals/Meche deal may be the stupidest thing so far. I'm not saying its the worst deal, its pretty much in line with everything else I've seen so far, but just dumb.

The Royals are in such horrible horrible shape...holes all over the place, and hardly have any money to spend. And then they go and spend what little money they do have (and I wouldn't be surprised if this is the only signing of note they will make) on ONE pitcher. Terrible

12/7/2006 5:05:50 PM

^^ That doesn't count as improving the team. HoRam sucked, but Soriano is nothing exciting either.

12/7/2006 5:07:10 PM

I think it helps some.. face it we need all the bullpen help we can get.. he's sure as hell better than some of the guys we have in the bullpen.. we had an extra starter anyway with Hampton coming back

..not saying its a blockbuster deal but i think it helps

[Edited on December 7, 2006 at 6:17 PM. Reason : f]

12/7/2006 6:17:02 PM

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2691380

Pettitte back to the Yanks!

I know he might not be as good as he was during his first stint, but he's a Yankee through and through, and I'm glad he's back!

12/8/2006 4:59:56 PM

^^ true. I am glad that I won't have to watch HoRam and his girl arm throwing 78 mph fastballs anymore. Soriano does have potential.

^ Good signing by the Yanks. They need guys who can log innings and are proven consistent winners (unlike Jaret Wright, Pavano, Kevin Brown, etc.) I was hoping he'd stay with the Astros because I hate the Yankees, but he deserves to finish his career in pinstripes

12/8/2006 5:03:49 PM

Cubs reportedly sign Marquis for 3 yrs/21 million. 7 mil a year for a 6 ERA and 4 Ks/9 innings. Again WTF!?!

12/9/2006 7:27:54 PM

12/9/2006 7:29:04 PM

aha

kurkijan just said the third biggest 'winner' at the winter meetings, behind the dodgers and cubs, were the agents

12/9/2006 7:47:32 PM

PETTITTE FOR $16 FUCKING MILLION?

12/10/2006 8:48:07 PM

I cannot believe that the guy with the worst ERA in the National League at almost 6.00 got $7 Million a year. I am so glad that Marquis is out of STL's hands.

12/10/2006 10:22:55 PM

Rangers sign Kenny Lofton and Eric Gagne, each for $6 million

They are also interested in Mulder. If they get Zito, thats an damn good starting 3 of him, Millwood, and Padilla. They're hitting is already there, and even if Gagne can't prove healthy Otsuka has already shown to be capable as a closer.

12/12/2006 3:39:46 PM

Just want to take a second to vent about Boston and Matsuzaka

The way they are negotiating right now is complete horseshit. Boston put up almost $20 mill more than any other team to earn the negotiating rights, and now they are saying that price should be included in the contract they give him. They may be honestly trying to sign him (and who wouldn't) but they have definitely worked the system unfairly.

If you think that his contract should have the posting fee worked into it, than I ask you this: Next time a superstar like this comes up for posting, why not simply figure out how much his contract should be, let's say $100 mill, and just bid $90 mill and then offer him a contract worth only $10 mill? Will he be pissed off? sure. Will you be upset if you can't sign him for only $10 mill? sure. But no other team will get a shot at him, and you haven't spent any money.

If Boston doesn't sign him, I will probably hate them just as much as I hate the Yankees, maybe more, because it was already close before this year.

12/13/2006 10:56:03 AM

^ was the bidding for the negotiating rights to Matsuzaka an open deal? I doubt the Red Sox would have just bid $20 million more just for the hell of it. I think they figured the Yankees were going to bid $50 million so they went to $51 million.

Regardless though, Steve Phillips did a good job talking about the situation this morning on Mike and Mike. He basically said that Boras and Matsuzaka need to be willing to accept less than market value because he is NOT a free agent and thus cannot expect FA money. He mentioned that Ichiro had to accept less money in his initial contract.

Phillips said it is just like when baseball teams draft kids out of high school and college. They can only negotiate with that one team so they have to accept in the short term that they may not get market value. I don't think what the Red Sox did was wrong at all. If nothing else they prevented the Yankees from getting Matsuzaka too.

As for some of the previous arguments that the Sox will benefit from the all these new Japanese fans and that increase in fans will pay for the $51 million. Phillips said that is a farce because first the Red Sox already sell out every game and secondly the revenue from hats, jerseys, etc are put into one giant pot and split between all teams so they'll never recoup that $51 million that way as well.

12/13/2006 11:19:11 AM

I see the point, but even if it wasn't open, the amount they bid was vastly higher than any previous amount bid. I honestly think they knew they were going to blow everyone out of the water. And my point still stands, if that is to be part of the contract, than you should have taken that into consideration before you bid that much. Otherwise, you could just bid the $90 mill on a $100 mill contract. If it pisses some people off that you don't sign the player, no sweat, because you spent nothing and no other team can bid on the player.

[Edited on December 13, 2006 at 11:27 AM. Reason : sp]

12/13/2006 11:26:37 AM

^ it is definitely a flawed system, but I don't think the Red Sox ever had an intention of signing the guy unless he was willing to do like a 5 year $20 million contract.

12/13/2006 11:33:34 AM

Agreed...and if that were the case than they should have treated the posting system the same way that every other team did, which was to bid somewhere around 30 mill...Even the Yankees factored that into their decision

12/13/2006 11:38:40 AM

Bonderman signs extension with Detroit 4/$38: Incredible deal for Detroit. (http://tinyurl.com/wz5nm)
Zito now flirting with the Mets: Just go ahead and get it over with, Boras. (http://tinyurl.com/y3hfma)
Radke retires from Minnesota: Had a good run, but it's about time. I'm sure the Cubs/Royals would have loved to throw $12 million at him. (http://tinyurl.com/v3py8)

Not much else happening.

12/20/2006 12:48:07 PM

Zito signs with Giants for 7 year $128 million deal

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2710389


Guess he didn't want the New York spotlight. Or half the city hating him and the rest of the team for failing to make the world series every year.

[Edited on December 28, 2006 at 12:54 PM. Reason : damn that's a lot of money]

12/28/2006 12:50:54 PM

Wow

12/28/2006 1:01:41 PM

Good going Barry. Blow smoke up everyones asses about wanting to win championships and go sign with a team that can't afford that type of contract over that time and has NO great young players outside of Cain.

I can't blame him though. That offer is insane. $26M more and 2 more guaranteed years than the next highest offer..


[Edited on December 28, 2006 at 1:04 PM. Reason : x]

12/28/2006 1:03:52 PM

yeah, gg to him
puss out and play for a shitty team for the rest of your career

12/28/2006 1:05:41 PM

Rangers and White Sox swap Danks for McCarthy, respectively, plus some other people

I know the Rangers have been counting on Danks to come through with Diamond and the V guy to be the saviors of their pitching squad...I've read McCarthy is just an older and more experienced version of Danks.

What are your thoughts on the trade Crede?

12/28/2006 1:31:55 PM

I think Kenny Williams (White Sox GM) needs to be fucking fired. White Sox pitching had a bad 2006, but was in line to come back to normal in 2007. Yet the Sox trade their top proven MLB stud (the best chip you can play), who is incredibly cheap, for more prospects. Meanwhile the Sox still need a LF and some sort of middle infield upgrade. At best, the Sox will be good in 2009. Ugh.

[Edited on December 28, 2006 at 1:36 PM. Reason : .]

12/28/2006 1:35:04 PM

holy shit. $18M a year for SEVEN years???

that's more than the Sox paid for DiceK....including the $51M bid

[Edited on December 28, 2006 at 2:14 PM. Reason : insanity]

12/28/2006 2:05:26 PM

Gotta sell tickets somehow.

12/28/2006 2:06:55 PM

Not to justify any of the crazy spending going on, but Zito is the most sure thing there was in the FA market this year...plus he's a pitcher

12/28/2006 2:21:01 PM

Yeah, he's a solid investment and will sell tickets... it's still pretty ridiculous though.

12/28/2006 2:22:20 PM

Huff to the Os and Foulke to the Indians. The Indians have been loading up their pen this offseason (Foulke, Borowski, Fultz, and Roberto Hernandez).

Zito is a lucky SOB to be part of this FA class. He was the best pitcher in this class, but he does not deserve the largest contract in history for a starting pitcher (in terms of total $$).

I'm just glad the Mets weren't able to buy another all star.

1/4/2007 1:57:09 PM

Per FoxSports - Yanks are close to trading Randy Johnson back to D-backs.

1/4/2007 5:37:55 PM

espn is saying it's a tentative deal, but that it will get done and it's to be in exchange for vizcaino and two minor leaguers

1/4/2007 5:44:02 PM

Yankees are only going to be paying up to $2 mill of the $16 mill he's owed this year...it's hard to say whether he either couldn't handle New York or he is just too old...if it turns out to be the latter than this is a horrible trade for the DBacks no matter how little they gave away

1/4/2007 5:44:37 PM

Well if Gil Meche is worth $11 million, then the Unit at $14 million is not that bad of a deal I guess. Either way Johnson pretty much is no better than a 3rd starter or less now.

1/4/2007 5:47:41 PM

good point...

1/4/2007 5:53:14 PM

Johnson to Arizona link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2720413

1/4/2007 6:30:14 PM

Terrible deal for AZ. They give up 3 prospects so that they can pay the Unit 24Million for 2 years?
I don't know much about those specs though.

I think they could have gotten the Yanks to pay more if they were giving up that much.

[Edited on January 4, 2007 at 6:36 PM. Reason : ]

1/4/2007 6:34:58 PM

reminds me of father of the bride 2 when steve martin bought his old house back for an extra 100K after like 2 days

1/4/2007 6:47:57 PM

So what does everyone think?

Especially now that Pettitte is back in the Bronx, does this deal clear the way (and the money, for that matter) for Clemens to pitch in NY this season?

1/4/2007 7:24:31 PM

I dont know that Clemens would pitch all that well in the AL after being in the NL for two years and basically getting a break every 9th batter.

His last 2 years in the AL he had ERAs of 3.91 and 4.35 ....so I am not convinced it will come down if he comes back. The Yanks would be better off giving that spot to someone like Philip Hughes or Jeff Karstens

1/5/2007 9:17:20 AM

sorry if old....

Quote :

" Mark Loretta selected the Astros' offer over those of the Rangers and the Reds. (Charles Krupa/AP) Astros, Loretta agree to deal The Houston Astros signed infielder Mark Loretta to a one-year deal on Thursday. The 12-year veteran was with the Red Sox last season (.285, 5 HRs, 59 RBIs) and also has played for the Brewers, Astros and Padres. Loretta, who played for the Astros for part of the 2002 season, has primarily been a second baseman for most of his career. But with Craig Biggio entrenched at second base and expected to log his 3,000th hit in 2007, it's likely Loretta would be used in a utility role. Loretta also has extensive experience at first, third and shortstop. "

1/5/2007 11:36:34 AM

^^The Yanks don't care about his regular season ERA though, only his postseason ERA, which in those 2 years was much lower. That was the main problem with the Unit, his postseason ERA was terrible as a Yank.

I'd say Clemens will be back in the Bronx.

1/5/2007 3:23:37 PM

Roger Clemens 2005 playoff stats:

17 IP, 10 ER, 2 HR, 5 BB, 8 K, 5.63 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, .279 BA

Im not going to say that he's not good or even one of the best pitchers today...but he didn't exactly do stellar the last time he pitched in the playoffs

1/5/2007 4:16:34 PM