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MLB Hotstove 08

IJ Reilly said:
Sounds like a non-roster invitation to spring training. This story isn't even being reported on the Dodgers web site.

It sure would be helpful if you provided links to the stories you post...
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Park could be our next Scott Erickson or Brett Tomko!

Oh wait....

:eek:
 
fotografica said:
I've got a better idea in regard to the MLB post seasaon..Nevermind shortening it..How about playing the games in the afternoons? Anybody remember when post season games were on in the afternoon?I remember rushing home from school to watch them..
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How about just start them at 7:05 like normal games. Then they'd be over at by 10:30 or so. This starting games at 8:45 and not ending until 1 is ****ing dumb.
 
A-Rod not as hot an option at hot corner
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Early Thursday, after two-and-a-half days of a crammed agenda, baseball general managers quickly pulled out of the Hyatt Grand Cypress, site of their annual meetings.
Almost as fast as teams had pulled out of the Alex Rodriguez Sweepstakes during the week.

As if Rodriguez's options hadn't dwindled fast enough when all the clubs perceived as logical destinations either rejected or at least demurred on the idea, publicly anyway, his market took another big hit when Miguel Cabrera became openly available.

Cabrera, not Rodriguez, zoomed into the biggest name at the meetings as soon as Florida club president Larry Beinfest announced in a closed-door meeting with all 30 general managers that the Marlins would field offers for him.

Even previously, Rodriguez was not the only available marquee third baseman. But A-Rod could pull rank on others up for trade such as the White Sox's Joe Crede, or even fellow free agent Mike Lowell.

But Cabrera ... now there is a name to flutter the heart of any general manager looking for a hot new name at the hot corner.

Agent Scott Boras and Rodriguez, who've been crunching some pretty big numbers of their own (if you consider $350 million a big number), now have some other impressive numbers to crunch.

Such as, someone who is eight years younger and will cost half as much. A team able to trade for Cabrera would want to sign him to a multi-year deal, to cover some free-agency eligibility, but at the very least two years to buy out his two remaining arbitration years. Based on the $7.4 million salary Cabrera's received this season through an arbitration win, that two-year pact would come in at about $25 million.

If still in a crunching mood, try these numbers:

Cabrera, who will turn 25 in the second week of the 2008 season, is a career .313 hitter with 138 homers and 523 RBIs.

Rodriguez finished the season (1999) in which he turned 24 with a career average of .308 and 148 homers and 463 RBIs.

You could add that Cabrera also has a World Series ring (contributing four homers and 12 RBIs to the Marlins' 2003 postseason title run) -- but why pile on?

So it is easy to understand why Cabrera would suddenly be prioritized by all the teams with an undeniable need for a third baseman -- well, all except the Red Sox, still intent on striking a new deal with Lowell.

But the Angels, Dodgers, Yankees, Tigers, Phillies, Cubs, White Sox ... they're in the Miguel mix.
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Cabrera is great and all, but let's not pretend that a 24 year old with fewer than 150 career HR is better than a guy with 500+ career HR and multiple MVPs.

Arod wants $350 million and 10 years (or Boras does anyway).

That's going to severely narrow the market. And that's been done intentionally.

Cabrera made $7.4 million in 2007, isn't available for arbitration until 2008-2009, and isn't available for free agency until 2010.

That there is the real value.

Make him a FA next year and the interest isn't nearly as high.
 
Did you miss this,

Cabrera, who will turn 25 in the second week of the 2008 season, is a career .313 hitter with 138 homers and 523 RBIs.

Rodriguez finished the season (1999) in which he turned 24 with a career average of .308 and 148 homers and 463 RBIs.
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swiftaw said:
The other difference. Cabrera isn't going to be at 3B much longer. His (and his expanding waistline's) future is at 1B/DH.
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Im sure there will be a weight clause. A big difference from Florida and a big market.
 
Sobe said:
no I didn't miss that.

GMs want to lock in costs for good players.

That's the point.

You take those same numbers and make him on the verge of free agency and you wouldn't see nearly the same interest.
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And they also don't want to pay 350 for one player.
 
Collusion Against A-Rod?

The MLBPA leveled a serious charge, suggesting that Bud Selig is trying to hold down Alex Rodriguez's price. Apparently all the GMs gathered and publicly spoke about their offseason plans and available players. This information sharing inhibits free market economics, in the opinion of the MLBPA. The union did not specifically refer to A-Rod, but a source of the AP indicated he was implied.

The commissioner's guy, Rob Manfred, basically said the union's suggestion was absurd.
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Interesting read on the A Rod soap opera
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3101262&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines
 
Sobe said:
let's not pretend that a 24 year old with fewer than 150 career HR is better than a guy with 500+ career HR and multiple MVPs.
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Depends on how you define "better," n'est-ce pas? Because finances figure in so prominently, a player who costs a quarter of what another does can indeed be "better" than a historically more productive player. And MacNut's statistics are indeed interesting.
 
Naimfan said:
Depends on how you define "better," n'est-ce pas? Because finances figure in so prominently, a player who costs a quarter of what another does can indeed be "better" than a historically more productive player. And MacNut's statistics are indeed interesting.
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Not to mention, locking up $35 million a year on one player seriously reduces the GM's other options. A team could build most of a starting rotation for that kind of money. The talk of collusion is a laugh. Right, the teams are conspiring on their inability to spend $350 million on one player. The only teams with those kinds of resources are essentially out of the bidding. I still think Boras would do his guy a favor if he sought a three-year deal somewhere, with the expectation that by the 2011 season A-Rod is seriously chasing the home run record and can demand even bigger numbers in free agency. By that time, the bidding could include some of the teams that can actually afford to pay.
 
fotografica said:
Interesting read on the A Rod soap opera
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3101262&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines
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Can't the teams say that Boras is riding the price to high, I don't see how the union has anything to complain about when the asking price is so over the top.

In other news the Devil Rays are now just the "Rays".
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are gone.

Trying to reinvent itself, the perennial last-place team officially shortened its nickname to simply "Rays" during a celebration that brought a crowd of about 7,000 to a downtown park Thursday night.

New team colors and uniforms were also unveiled during a fashion show featuring current players, as well as manager Joe Maddon, senior advisor Don Zimmer and former Tampa Bay stars Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff as models.

Navy blue and light blue have replaced green and black as the primary colors. The club's new logo, as well as the home and road uniforms for next season, feature the word "Rays" in navy blue lettering with a light blue shadow.

Team officials and local fans have routinely referred to the club as "Rays" for much of the expansion team's existence, but it wasn't until Stuart Sternberg took over as principal owner two years ago that consideration as given an actual name change.
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http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3101213
 
aloofman said:
Somebody in the front office must have missed the memo. They should worry more about being a bad team instead of an evil one. :p
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I'm still puzzling over "local fans."

You know a business is in big trouble when they think changing their name will help, as when Phillip-Morris changed the company name to "Altria." Sorry guys, you still make coffin nails!
 
IJ Reilly said:
I'm still puzzling over "local fans."
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I thought I read somewhere recently (maybe a joke), that the Rays sold out their very first home game and then didn't have another sellout for six years. If true, that seems almost impossible. Seems like a bobblehead giveaway or something could have created a sellout for them. Makes you wonder if the Rays should exist.
 
aloofman said:
I thought I read somewhere recently (maybe a joke), that the Rays sold out their very first home game and then didn't have another sellout for six years. If true, that seems almost impossible. Seems like a bobblehead giveaway or something could have created a sellout for them. Makes you wonder if the Rays should exist.
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Maybe they should try a ten-cent beer night. I understand that usually works out great.
 
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