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MLB Hotstove 08
- Thread starter MacNut
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Like I said, seeing Mattingly here is going to take some getting used to. This seems like a really good move for him though. If Girardi doesn't work out, Mattingly will still be around for consideration for the Yankee job again.
I think this is just the beginning of an interesting Dodger offseason.
Wow,tough hit for the Tigers:
Reliever Zumaya to miss first half of '08
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071101&content_id=2290471&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Reliever Zumaya to miss first half of '08
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071101&content_id=2290471&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb
Like I said, seeing Mattingly here is going to take some getting used to. This seems like a really good move for him though. If Girardi doesn't work out, Mattingly will still be around for consideration for the Yankee job again.
I think this is just the beginning of an interesting Dodger offseason.
Let's hope so. You know who I'd like to see come back to the Dodgers? Jim Colborn. I presume he's available with Jim Tracy having been fired in Pittsburgh.
I has to be said, I feel for Grady Little. Apparently he was quite demoralized by the Dodgers' late-season collapse, and the public fight among the players. He's a good guy by all accounts, and for the most part, I liked the way he managed. I hope he gets another chance if he wants it.
Girardi is a hot head. What worked with a bunch of never-done much of anything Marlins in a nothing stadium for a nothing team is not going to work with the Yankees.
Girardi is smart, so hopefully he realizes that and can adapt.
If not, he'll have a lot of trouble working with that team.
I'll put the over under for a massive blow out fight between him and someone on the yankees at 90 games.
I'll take the under.
I think this is just the beginning of an interesting Dodger offseason.
Seems like Andruw Jones is on their list:
Dodgers Serious About Andruw Jones
Scott Boras is believed to consider the Dodgers a more serious contender for center fielder Andruw Jones than for Alex Rodriguez.
It's not the first time we've seen the Dodgers linked to Jones; David O'Brien suggested it several weeks ago.
Ned Colletti, you may recall, wasn't exactly thrilled with Scott Boras a year ago when J.D. Drew unexpectedly opted out. But it sounded like much of his anger was directed at Drew. Boras seems to disagree with the notion that Jones should come with a significant price cut this winter. Before the season he was talking about $20MM annually. He'd still want at least $15MM per year.
The signing could leave the Dodgers with an outfield of Juan Pierre, Jones, Matt Kemp, and Andre Ethier. One of the last two could be peddled, and the team might have soured on Kemp a bit. How about Kemp for Miguel Tejada?
Matt Kemp should not be traded. He's a little undisciplined, but he's very talented and still young. With such a seasoned manager coming on board, it makes no sense to deal a diamond-in-the-rough like Kemp.
I've heard that one too. Personally I think Torii Hunter might be a better bet than Jones at this point. I'm not sure how a big-contract center fielder helps much if they don't trade Pierre though.
From what I hear Tejada's defense has diminished pretty noticeably, although I haven't seen that firsthand. And we already have a capable SS in Furcal signed for one more season. Right now I would much MUCH rather give up Pierre for a bucket of balls than trade Matt Kemp. Kemp has star written all over him. In fact, I'd be OK with giving Kemp a starting job next season and daring another Dodger to take it from him.
If they trade away Kemp, they better get a proven star in return, like Johan Santana.
Especially not for Tejada
Search Pierre in my posts and you'll know what I'm thinking. I think signing Pierre was their biggest mistake since the Dreifort contract.
Tejada in 2007:
.971 FPCT
4.27 RF
Declining slightly from a high of .975 in 2002 and 5.00 in 2004. But for his whole career he's been in the .970s.
15 errors in 522 total chances is just fine.
His RF is decreasing but it still compares favorably to players like Derek Jeter who last year had a .970 FPCT and a range factor of 4.02 (down from 4.14 in 2006). That FPCT is 18 errors in 607 total chances.
By comparison Troy Tulowitzki had 11 errors in 834 total chances for a FPCT of .987 along with a range factor of 5.39.
Basically Tejada defensively is Derek Jeter or Julio Lugo.
Not great, not bad.
Trivia question: How many Short stops had a worse RF than Derek Jeter in 2007?
Answer: One. J.J. Hardy of the Milwaukee Brewers.
Of course don't let Yankee fans read this, they'll go insane and start talking about the playoffs where he cut that ball off on the first base line and shuffled it to the catcher to save the game.
Tejada may not be the MVP he once was, but decent defense and the ability to hit 18 HR and drive in 80+ rbi from the short stop position aint terrible. His OBP was decent (.357) and actually above his career average by 13 points.
Could do a lot worse, but I'd prefer to see the guy stay in Baltimore.
And Furcal fields better than both of them. To make up for that, I'd want Tejada to put up better numbers at the Ravine than he did at Camden last year, which seems unlikely, doesn't it?
What are you drinking, my friend?
The usual stuff.
That was meant to convey my desire to keep Kemp more than the odds of landing Santana. But if that idea scares you a little, then by all means take it seriously.
And Furcal fields better than both of them. To make up for that, I'd want Tejada to put up better numbers at the Ravine than he did at Camden last year, which seems unlikely, doesn't it?
The usual stuff.
That was meant to convey my desire to keep Kemp more than the odds of landing Santana. But if that idea scares you a little, then by all means take it seriously.
Furcal is better defensively yes.
My point was that the observations that Tejada is deficient defensively are a bit overblown and probably have more to do with his drop in offensive producivity.
Fielding Bible
Have you ever heard of this site? It takes the top ten votes of some well respected observers of the game and ranks the defensive abilities for each position. Notice Tejeda isn't listed in the top ten of defensive shortstops by anyone. Furcal comes in tenth.
The fielding stats are some the most notoriously inaccurate ways of measuring a players worth, so it is hard to evaluate a player without seeing him play day in a day out, but I guess Tejeda isn't impressing many people these days with his glove work.
Have you ever heard of this site? It takes the top ten votes of some well respected observers of the game and ranks the defensive abilities for each position. Notice Tejeda isn't listed in the top ten of defensive shortstops by anyone. Furcal comes in tenth.
The fielding stats are some the most notoriously inaccurate ways of measuring a players worth, so it is hard to evaluate a player without seeing him play day in a day out, but I guess Tejeda isn't impressing many people these days with his glove work.
The usual stuff.
That was meant to convey my desire to keep Kemp more than the odds of landing Santana. But if that idea scares you a little, then by all means take it seriously.
The idea of Santana in Dodger blue does scare me. I'm counting on more breakdowns in the Dodger pitching staff to help give the Giants any chance at all. That and the Giants signing a new starting lineup.
Nothing wrong with that.
There are what...30 teams? So tejada could be 11-20 and still be a middle of the pack type.
The point is how much a role perception plays.
Read that article at the site you linked to by Bill James on Jeter vs. Everett.
A really good read that breaks a lot of this stuff down even if it doesn't specifically deal with Furcal or Tejada.
Bottom line: Tejada is just fine defensively but why go get him when you have a fine shortstop in the form of Furcal?
Just get Arod and problem solved!
I really don't understand the name calling or the hostility.
He's hand down the best hitter in the major leagues right now and he's quite good defensively. Even adds some speed.
I mean Jason Giambi made $23+ million in 2007.
Manny made $17 mill for sleep walking til the post season.
Hell, Mike Fricken Hampton made $14.5 million.
$30 mill over 10 years for a player of his caliber seems pretty good.
I'd rather pay Manny $17 mil to sleep walk in the regular season and perform amazingly in the postseason rather than pay A-Rod $30 mil to hit a ton of HRs in the regular season then choke on a dick in the post season.
But I don't really care. One of the LA teams or whatever can overpay him as much as they want. There's no way he's coming to Boston though, because Theo would never sign a 10 year deal especially to a guy who's 33.
Easy to say that when the rest of his teammates did all the heavy lifting to get to the playoffs to begin with.
You might want to check how baseball works.
You actually have to get to the playoffs first before you can actually play in them.
You can't use playoff performance through 20/20 hindsight to justify a lack luster regular season.
Well you can, it just fails the logic test because one is necessary in order to have the other.
Give Manny a break.. he didn't have his best season but he still finished the regular season with a .296 average, 20HR, and 88RBI. And that was including missing a month due to injury.