2005-2006 baseball offseason

[Johnny93g]

I absolutly love what JP has done this offseason. I wish someone would take hinskie off our hands, but hey, noone is that stupid. We got depth now, looking forward to the season

[pennywisesb]

Its official, the Jays landed Molina. I really like what the Jays have done this offseason and I think this signing will work out very nice for them. Hopefully they can give the Sox and the Yankees a run for their money.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/02/06/bluejays.molina.ap/index.html

TORONTO (AP) -- Gold Glove catcher Bengie Molina and the Toronto Blue Jays agreed Monday to a $5 million, one-year contract, the latest major move in the team's offseason overhaul.

Molina will receive a $1.5 million signing bonus and a $3 million salary this year under the agreement, and the deal contains a $7.5 million mutual option for 2007 with a $500,000 buyout.

[pennywisesb]

On a side note, didn't Molina turn down a 3 year, $18 million offer from the Mets? Seems as though maybe the money wasn't the most important thing afterall....

[oykib]

Originally Posted by pennywisesb

On a side note, didn't Molina turn down a 3 year, $18 million offer from the Mets? Seems as though maybe the money wasn't the most important thing afterall....

Yeah, judgement was. Molina wanted something like eight mil a year. But he and his agent seriously misjudged the market. That's why he got stuck with what is, essentially, a one year make good contract even though he's coming off a career year.

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by oykib

Yeah, judgement was. Molina wanted something like eight mil a year. But he and his agent seriously misjudged the market. That's why he got stuck with what is, essentially, a one year make good contract even though he's coming off a career year.

Yeah, I think this is less about preferring Toronto over the Mets as it is the timing of the offers - he thought he could do better than the Mets offer, and when he couldn't he had to settle for the one from Toronto.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

If the Molina signing goes through, I'll be very happy. As I'm sure DarkCloud will be too. Jays have made nice moves this offseason. Hopefully it results in success on the field.

If nothing else, ownership and management have done their jobs. If the players fail to produce, I'll be pissed, but..I think that they've assembled as good a team as any, especially since - unlike Boston or New York - we have a really decent core of young players, plus we're the only team in the AL East that still has any real prospects to give up, even despite our trades this season.

I'm sorta glad that most pundits are expecting the Jays to fail, because in recent years, they've said we would content for a Wild Card and we always fall short. So..for the first time in years, I'm really looking forward to the start of the season and into mid-season, so we can see if this really works out.

Maybe I should try to get to the Rogers Centre this summer for a home game. I've only seen them twice, both times on the road (Minny and Boston) and it was fun, but...it's time to go see my favourite team at in Canada for the first time ever.

[Johnny93g]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

If nothing else, ownership and management have done their jobs. If the players fail to produce, I'll be pissed, but..I think that they've assembled as good a team as any, especially since - unlike Boston or New York - we have a really decent core of young players, plus we're the only team in the AL East that still has any real prospects to give up, even despite our trades this season.

I'm sorta glad that most pundits are expecting the Jays to fail, because in recent years, they've said we would content for a Wild Card and we always fall short. So..for the first time in years, I'm really looking forward to the start of the season and into mid-season, so we can see if this really works out.

Maybe I should try to get to the Rogers Centre this summer for a home game. I've only seen them twice, both times on the road (Minny and Boston) and it was fun, but...it's time to go see my favourite team at in Canada for the first time ever.

Other then broadcasters, your the only one that actually calls it the rogers centre....it's still the skydome to everyone in Toronto

[sterlingice]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2323617

Fake PR apologies for $200, Alex?

(or how about)

The most burned in effigy item today for $800, Alex?



SI

[Ksyrup]

I'm happy to say we're very close to putting this thread to rest and starting a new one for the 2006 season.

[sterlingice]

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Pitcher Jeff Weaver became the last major free agent to find a team, agreeing Wednesday to a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels worth $8,325,000.

Holy crap- 1 year/$8M.

They do know they're signing Jeff Weaver, right? Low risk since it's only a 1 year contract, tho, if you have the money to burn.

SI

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Holy crap- 1 year/$8M.

They do know they're signing Jeff Weaver, right? Low risk since it's only a 1 year contract, tho, if you have the money to burn.

SI

Considering it's a one-year deal, and looking at some of the crap deals other pitchers have gotten recently (Eric Milton anyone?), I think that's a pretty good value for what you get--a solid, inning-eating pitcher who takes the ball every fifth day and gives your team a chance to win.

[stevew]

Don't the angels have his brother as well?

[dervack]

Originally Posted by stevew

Don't the angels have his brother as well?

Yes.

[Butter]

Hey, the Reds signed Tuffy Rhodes and Quinton McCracken!

YEAH, BIZOTCH! 2006 NL CHAMPS!

[dervack]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Hey, the Reds signed Tuffy Rhodes and Quinton McCracken!

YEAH, BIZOTCH! 2006 NL CHAMPS!

The Tuffy Rhodes? I hope the cubs don't throw out Dwight Gooden to start opening day then.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by dervack

The Tuffy Rhodes?

That's right. He's 37, and coming off 10 productive years in Japan. He's from the area, so I think that's part of it. I still only remember him as the guy who hit 3 HR's for the Cubs on opening day in 1962 or something.

[dervack]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

That's right. He's 37, and coming off 10 productive years in Japan. He's from the area, so I think that's part of it. I still only remember him as the guy who hit 3 HR's for the Cubs on opening day in 1962 or something.

Yeah, and they were all off of Dwight Gooden. Hence the Gooden joke in my post above.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by dervack

Yeah, and they were all off of Dwight Gooden. Hence the Gooden joke in my post above.

Obviously you remember it better than I. Gooden was probably just on the smack that day anyway.

[Bearcat729]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Hey, the Reds signed Tuffy Rhodes and Quinton McCracken!

YEAH, BIZOTCH! 2006 NL CHAMPS!

They signed Adam Dunn to the contract extension. So they had to make a couple goofy moves to balance the smart one.

[dervack]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Obviously you remember it better than I. Gooden was probably just on the smack that day anyway.

Well, I am a Cubs fan. It was the one glorious moment in Tuffy's 162 game season.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by dervack

Well, I am a Cubs fan. It was the one glorious moment in Tuffy's career

Corrected

I went to Wrigley that year for the first time, the year he started off with the 3 homer first day. The promotion that night was Tuffy Rhodes promo card night. However, by that time in the season, he was riding the pine. Well, he gets a chance to pinch hit kindof late in the game and struck out and those things were raining down for the next two innings.

SI

[Terps]

The O's offered Richard Hidalgo a minor league deal, and are waiting to see if he accepts.

[Buccaneer]

Why is it every spring training we have players allowed to report late for "personal issues" or to "work on visa issues" when the reporting date have been known well in advance? Shouldn't these players have started to work on their "issues" earlier or is it all a cover to get out of work?

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Why is it every spring training we have players allowed to report late for "personal issues" or to "work on visa issues" when the reporting date have been known well in advance? Shouldn't these players have started to work on their "issues" earlier or is it all a cover to get out of work?

Andif your name is Barry Bonds you get an exception to everything and have a personal reporter on ESPN.

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

is it all a cover to get out of work?

well duh

If you don't have plenty of those on hand, you probably are in business for yourself.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

well duh

If you don't have plenty of those on hand, you probably are in business for yourself.

Or not from the right countries:

The 24-year-old right-hander was initially delayed because of an ailing aunt in Cuba and then had visa problems in his native Venezuela.

"It was a very unfortunate situation and one that we couldn't control," Rodriguez said

"It's just like any other thing. You have personal things you have to deal with or whatever, and he (Pedro) had permission to take care of it," Mets manager Willie Randolph said. "Nothing to do with injuries or doctors."

[Bearcat729]

How will Arroyo do in the GAB?


http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2376683

BoSox send Arroyo and cash to Reds for Pena
Associated Press




FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Boston Red Sox traded right-handed pitcher Bronson Arroyo to the Cincinnati Reds for outfielder Wily Mo Pena on Monday.

Arroyo was 14-10 with a 4.51 ERA last season. He was part of a deep group of Red Sox starters and had taken a home-team discount when he signed a three-year contract worth $11.25 million on Jan. 19.

Pena batted .254 with 19 homers and 51 RBI last season and struck out 116 times with 20 walks. A 24-year-old right-handed hitter, he could play right field instead of lefty Trot Nixon when left-handers pitch against Boston.

Without the 29-year-old Arroyo, Boston still has Curt Schilling, Tim Wakefield, Josh Beckett, Matt Clement, David Wells and Jonathan Papelbon as starters. Arroyo, who pitched five shutout innings Sunday after struggling in his first three exhibition appearances, was expected to start the season in the bullpen.

Arroyo had career highs last year with 14 wins, 32 starts and 205 1/3 innings pitched.

In the past four seasons, Pena batted .248 with 51 HR and 134 RBI with the Reds.

[Crapshoot]

Aha the Reds- enshrining mediocrity for generations. Trading a 24 year old with ridiculous upside for a league average SP - abso-frigging-lutely brilliant. And then they'll whine about revenue sharing.

[Bearcat729]

Yeah they are not happy on the Redszone forums. I can't see Arroyo doing anything good for the Reds either. Does he at least keep the ball down or is this a repeat of Milton

[molson]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

Aha the Reds- enshrining mediocrity for generations. Trading a 24 year old with ridiculous upside for a league average SP - abso-frigging-lutely brilliant. And then they'll whine about revenue sharing.

Is there some other issue with Pena? Why would the Reds trade a guy like that 3 years away from free agency for an average starting pitcher (especially since the Reds had all the bargaining power, the Sox HAD to trade one of their SPs). As a Sox fan, I love the trade on the surface, it just seems suspicious.

[st.cronin]

Arroyo? He could turn out to be good. He reminds me of ... what's his name.

hang on

[Ksyrup]

Pena's career OPS is 75 points under Trot Nixon's, and he's never had more than 336 ABs in one season. He's had about 650 ABs combined the past two seasons and struck out a whopping 225 times, with 42 walks. Yikes! Even last year, which was undeniably Nixon's worst (excluding 2004 when hewas injured), he still had a higher OPS than Pena.

That said, for $400K and a starter they no longer needed, I guess he's worth having.

[st.cronin]

Mark Portugal

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Pena's career OPS is 75 points under Trot Nixon's, and he's never had more than 336 ABs in one season. He's had about 650 ABs combined the past two seasons and struck out a whopping 225 times, with 42 walks. Yikes! Even last year, which was undeniably Nixon's worst (excluding 2004 when hewas injured), he still had a higher OPS than Pena.

That said, for $400K and a starter they no longer needed, I guess he's worth having.

He hits lefties. Nixon does not. And this is the last year of Nixon's deal and likely his last season in Boston.

Not really sold on this deal though. Arroyo was a serviceable and cheap starter.

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by molson

Is there some other issue with Pena? Why would the Reds trade a guy like that 3 years away from free agency for an average starting pitcher (especially since the Reds had all the bargaining power, the Sox HAD to trade one of their SPs). As a Sox fan, I love the trade on the surface, it just seems suspicious.

Not to my knowledge. And PECOTA absolutely adores Willy Mo Pena.

From a Baseball primer post:

Plus, in addition his 2006 PECOTA, he projects to turn into a star in the future. PECOTA, which regresses the hell out of everybody, projects him for .283/.346/.566 in 2006. In 2007, they have him at .290/.354/.578, and .291/.364/.604 in 2008. That's a very good up and coming player. A young Juan Gonzalez.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Pena's career OPS is 75 points under Trot Nixon's, and he's never had more than 336 ABs in one season. He's had about 650 ABs combined the past two seasons and struck out a whopping 225 times, with 42 walks. Yikes! Even last year, which was undeniably Nixon's worst (excluding 2004 when hewas injured), he still had a higher OPS than Pena.

That said, for $400K and a starter they no longer needed, I guess he's worth having.

BUT, Nixon didn't "break out" until he was 27 - Pena's only 24 and already has shown power comparable to Nixon. Hopefully, the plate discipline will improve.

I think the Sox made the trade because they decided that Arroyo wasn't going to crack the starting rotation. Pena for a long relief guy is a good deal.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

Arroyo was a serviceable and cheap starter.

There's your key right there. The Reds are in desperate need of cheap pitching, which is nearly impossible to find, since their farm system is so totally bereft of any promising prospects. They acquired Hatteberg earlier this winter, and I think are intent on starting him at first, and leaving Dunn/Kearns/Griffey in the OF.... but they are saying Arroyo will start in the 'pen for now.

Yeah, as Ksyrup said, Pena strikes out A LOT.

Oh, and for those keeping score, the Reds cut Tuffy Rhodes yesterday.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Why is it every spring training we have players allowed to report late for "personal issues" or to "work on visa issues" when the reporting date have been known well in advance? Shouldn't these players have started to work on their "issues" earlier or is it all a cover to get out of work?

I suspect stuff happens. It's only more visible because they're pro athletes making lots of money.


Heck, I know at summer camp every year that people have issues with visas and a lot of them have been coming to the states in the same role for a decade.

It's just one of those things, I think. Personal issues, well, the same. I'm sure for some, it's just that they need to do this or that. But for others, who knows.

More money, more problems.

[dawgfan]

In a trade of unfulfilled potentials, the White Sox traded OF Joe Borchard to the Mariners for LHP Matt Thornton.

[Swaggs]

I think it is a good trade for the Reds, actually. When you see guys like Kris Benson, Matt Clement, and Carl Pavano getting $8-10-million per year, mulitiyear deals, getting a guy like Arroyo makes pretty good sense to me.

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

I think it is a good trade for the Reds, actually. When you see guys like Kris Benson, Matt Clement, and Carl Pavano getting $8-10-million per year, mulitiyear deals, getting a guy like Arroyo makes pretty good sense to me.

Arroyo took a hometown discount to stay in Boston with the supposed assurance he wouldn't be traded. He could have signed for more elsewhere. Doh!

[Ksyrup]

I'd say Jim Bowden deserves to be fired for the Soriano debacle. He refused to play LF today and is a couple of days away from being placed in permanent limbo (or traded). I didn't think the trade was all that great to begin with, but to essentialy give Wilkerson away for a malcontent who will either sit out the year or fetch a hugely discounted return as spring training ends? Horrible. There's no way Bowden makes that deal without at least discussing the move to LF with Soriano. As far as Soriano goes, what an idiot. He's a horrible defensive 2B by any measure.

[stevew]

Yes, agreed on Soriano. All he really has to do is feign being a team player until mid-july and then he can get traded. At the end of the year, he signs with whomever he wants.

[Young Drachma]

But I love how I'm reading all these comments from dolts on other boards or on ESPN who complain that "oh, he's not a team player. Blah Blah, if I did this on my job.."

1) It's not your job. Working at the widget factory, isn't anywhere on the scale of playing major league baseball. Soriano could quit now and be ok for the rest of his life, his future kids lives and their kids lives, if they invest well.

2) He got traded twice in his young career and when he went to Texas, he just played ball and did a damn good job at it. He got dealt in a deal that helps Texas, but no one in DC consulted the guy as to whether he wanted t play outfield. And I suspect having Frank Robinson around, an old school guy who plays by those old school rules, doesn't make matters better here.

3) This establishes Bowden as the moron that everyone knew him to be when he got this job and I just want to know when they're going to sell this time finally so he can go back under the rock he came from before this whole debacle came together.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

Arroyo took a hometown discount to stay in Boston with the supposed assurance he wouldn't be traded. He could have signed for more elsewhere. Doh!

Can he opt out? Or is he just stuck and screwed?

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

But I love how I'm reading all these comments from dolts on other boards or on ESPN who complain that "oh, he's not a team player. Blah Blah, if I did this on my job.."

1) It's not your job. Working at the widget factory, isn't anywhere on the scale of playing major league baseball. Soriano could quit now and be ok for the rest of his life, his future kids lives and their kids lives, if they invest well.

2) He got traded twice in his young career and when he went to Texas, he just played ball and did a damn good job at it. He got dealt in a deal that helps Texas, but no one in DC consulted the guy as to whether he wanted t play outfield. And I suspect having Frank Robinson around, an old school guy who plays by those old school rules, doesn't make matters better here.

3) This establishes Bowden as the moron that everyone knew him to be when he got this job and I just want to know when they're going to sell this time finally so he can go back under the rock he came from before this whole debacle came together.

Bowden ought to be fired- he's an idiot, and always has been. And most of those "fans" keep assuming that their career paths are somehow relevant in Soriano's - which holds no appeal.

[Swaggs]

I think the biggest issue with Soriano is that he is a free agent-to-be and FA 2Bs that hit like Soriano (even if they, unfortunately field like Soriano) are worth a considerable amount more than a LF that hits like Soriano.

I suspect that we will see the Nationals sign him to a multi-year extension and he will suddently be willing to play LF.

[Young Drachma]

I don't think he'll resign with them. He doesnt' want to play there, at least not while they're in RFK where I think he feels like he might get hurt.

[Toddzilla]

Soriano is one year in service time away from free agency. However, if he is put on the Disqualified List - which he is eligible for now that he has oficially breached his contract - he does not accrue service time along with not getting paid. That in effect puts his timetable to free-agency on hold. If he refuses to play for the year, he would still be a year away from free agency. Snark Snark.

[CraigSca]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

I suspect stuff happens. It's only more visible because they're pro athletes making lots of money.


Heck, I know at summer camp every year that people have issues with visas and a lot of them have been coming to the states in the same role for a decade.

It's just one of those things, I think. Personal issues, well, the same. I'm sure for some, it's just that they need to do this or that. But for others, who knows.

More money, more problems.

I actually just learned about this. For foreign players that recently switched teams, they have a very good excuse to show up late. Apparently your work visa has your club (employer) on it, and when you get traded or move on to another team, the paperwork has to be completely redone because you have a new employer. This is the reason that Jorge Julio was late to the Mets camp this year.