Official MLB Offseason Thread

It's almost freaky isn't it? It's like a friggin inferno of hate. I've never hated any franchise so much as I hate the entire city of Boston's sports teams. I guess so Moody. Although I'd say the fact your a Dolphin at least gives me no reason to hate the majority of the board members here. But my goodness it'll be painful if the Angels get slaughtered by the Red Sox, Phins fall to the Patriots, and Lakers to the Celtics.

 

Yeah after the Furcal thing the other day I won't get too excited until the deal is official. I will say that it's looking like he's headed to Boston. Apparently Boras told the Nationals if they want Tex they need to overpay for him. The Sox offer is 8 years between 160-180 million.

 

lol, in every single sport, Boston ranks as the most hated in my book. Having a bad college visit in Boston really doesn't make it any better.

 

Which is really nothing amazing. Take useless Gary Matthews Jr. and overpaid Hunter away and this was done two months ago for 2/220m.

 

At least they didn't beat UCLA in basketball....

Then again USC takes care of that in football and then some.

 

That's about it I guess. I could technically thank the Red Sox for giving up Manny but in reality it was the Pirates who got screwed over and Red Sox didn't want Manny anyways.

 

Yeah, it's interesting that they grossly overpaid for both GMJ and Hunter yet they let a better and younger talent (not to mention a big power bat who they need badly) walk away. Although to be fair to LAA, maybe Tex doesn't want to be there, who knows.

 

It would have been over quite a bit earlier in that case.

I personally would like MS and Reagins to be canned and an emphasis on a Red Sox style of free agent signing+trade acquisition to be put into place. They've got their benefits but I'm frankly tired of the money they've blasted on terrible mediocre players.

Yankees will probably go sign Manny Ramirez and DH him so expect this to be a titanic battle this year.

1- Damon
2- Jeter
3- A-Rod
4- Manny
5- Posada
6- Nady
7- Swisher
8- Cabrera
9- Cano

1- Sabbathia
2- Burnett
3- Pettite
4- Wang
5- Hughes

With Joba back in the pen.

Yep it'll be a slugfest of epic proportions.

 

...yeah I was hoping my Halos would throw the 10/200 deal at Tex...and see if he balks(willing to play on the west coast)...if things went south for the Angels in a few years...I'm sure they'd have no problem moving him...

 

I think LA really needs to look at their player development/scouting/drafting process to hitters. They always seem to draft the same fast, no power slap hitting type middle infielders/outfielders. They really haven't drafted a hitter with good power since Troy Glaus and the ones that were suppose to have a big bat (Wood & McPhearson) were busts.

As an outsider, the Angels line up this past season did not scare me one bit outside of Vlad and Teixeira (I will admit I was surprised Hunter hit as well in the playoffs). Guys like Figgins, Kendrick, Aybar, Willits, Isturzis are all just way too similar.

 

That Yankee line up doesn't scare me. People, minus BigDog, just assume the Yankees will hit because they have big names but I actually think their line up gets worse this year losing Abreu and Giambi and adding Swisher and a full year of Nady. Everyone is a year older and/or coming off surgery. It's a very old line up.

Plus if the Yankees sign Manny, they will no doubt have the worst defensive OF in the game unless they put Gardner/Melky in CF and then you have a log jam at the LF/DH position and are paying someone big money to sit on the bench everyday.

Again I really don't think the Yankees will sign Manny.

Now their rotation will be pretty good, and their pen has a shot to be tough too if Joba pitches in the 8th. That would scare me.

 

I see no rationale to the thought their lineup is too old. They're still far too productive for it even matter and they get rid of some of their oldest members.

Manny is the DH, Damon the LFer.

Matsui in that is gone. I couldn't fit him as well as Damon onto that. Speaking from an outside perspective I'd be just as scared facing that Yankee lineup considering that A-Rod and Manny are the two best hitters on the two teams. It's practically even for me as an outside fan facing both.

Also the Yankee lineup is nine deep while I don't view whoever the Red Sox play at catcher and Lowrie as major threats.

 

Age absolutely matters. And pretty much everyone in that line up last year had down years.

Here's the Yankees line up in terms of age with the date being 4/1/2009:

Damon (35)
Jeter (34)
Arod (33)
Posada (37)
Matsui (34)
Cano (26)
Swisher (28)
Nady (30)
Gardner (25)/Cabrera (24)

Manny (36)

That's an old line up. Their youngest player would be either Melky or Gardner and their offense is almost non-exist to even matter. They only have 2 guys under 30 in Cano and Swisher besides the CF combo, and the majority of that line up is on the wrong side of 30 (and guys like Matsui, Posada and Damon are very old mid 30 year olds).

And age does in fact matter nowadays without the 'greenies' and especially going into the dog days and deeper into the season. One can make the argument that the Yankees didn't have a good offensive year because the players are getting older (and of course losing Posada for basically the year) and now they're another year older. Even if they get Manny, who as a hitter I love, his bat has been slowed in recent years. Guys don't get better than they get older unless they're Bonds and/or taking PEDs. The age has to be a major concern to the Yankees moving forward, maybe not as much offensively but defensively as their OF will be very weak and Jeter's range is non-existent now.

 

Wow big news on the Tex front that should make some non Sox fans happy:

Red Sox owner John Henry wrote Thursday that he doesn't expect the team to "be a factor" in the final bidding for Mark Teixeira.

"We met with Mr. Teixeira and were very much impressed with him," Henry said. "After hearing about his other offers, however, it seems clear that we are not going to be a factor." Negotiating ploy or the end of Boston's flirtation? We're guessing agent Scott Boras was still presenting the Red Sox with some unrealistic expectations during the face-to-face negotiations Thursday. It's pretty clear that the Red Sox won't go beyond eight years in a deal for the first baseman.

 

...this sounds good and all....but we could very well hear his next statement to be..." I'm very happy to introduce Mark Teixeira to the Boston Red Sox family"...

 

Astros signed infielder Aaron Boone, who had been with the Nationals, to a one-year, $750,000 contract.
The Astros still badly need a real third baseman, but if they don't get one, Boone will be the better half of a platoon with Geoff Blum. He hit .275/.365/.451 in 91 at-bats versus lefties for the Nats last season, and he's still a fair defender. Most importantly for the Astros, he came quite cheap at $750,000.


Juan Rivera-OF-Angels Dec. 18 - 11:53 pm et
The Angels are close to re-signing Juan Rivera to a three-year deal, according to Yahoo! Sports' Tim Brown.
The three-year contract would come as quite a surprise. We figured Rivera would go to a weaker team that would guarantee him regular playing time. He's a better bet for the next couple of years than more than a few guys holding down regular corner outfield jobs in the majors. Maybe the Angels themselves see him as a regular if they're going to three years to keep him.
Source: Yahoo! Sports

 

Yeah I have no idea what to think now, I thought for sure with the Sox FO going down to met with Boras and Tex a deal would have been done. This doesn't mean a deal won't happen but I think maybe the Red Sox are calling Boras' bluff.

 

I agree, I went from feeling we would get it done earlier, to not at all, and now I don't know what to think.

 

I don't think that the Sox would make a panic move in response to something the Yankees or another team does. Thinking back I really don't remember them ever making one since the new management team took over in 2003 (unlike the Yankees who went out and got Kevin Brown, Javier Vasquez to a lesser extent, Randy Johnson, and Kei Igawa in direct response to moves the Sox had made). I'm sure they were prepared for the possibility that CC and AJ were going to be with the Yankees though, it shouldn't have been a surprise to them.

Again after reading Henry's comments he never states that the Red Sox were pulling out of the Tex race, he says after hearing of other offers the Sox weren't going to be a factor due to the other offers. I do believe this is calling Boras' bluff and just standing put with their offer to Tex and not raising it and/or bidding against themselves.

 

I think I'm the only Sox fan in the world that doesn't want the guy. That contract would be an albatross and Teixeira isn't worth it. We came up a couple of innings shy of the WS last year with a team that was beat to hell. And the reason we didn't win the Pennant was because we were outpitched.

We still have enough pop in the lineup (granted it won't be the juggernaut we've grown accustomed to seeing during this remarkable run) to go deep into the playoffs, if not win the WS.

Plus, we're a year or two away from Lars Anderson arriving in Boston. I'd honestly just rather roll into next season with the gutsy and gritty group we had last year (while trying to solve the long-term outlook at catcher).

 

Will he be worth that kind of contract? I honestly don't know. The only way I see a player being worth that kind of money is if he puts up consistent offensive numbers comparable to that of Manny or Arod. I have reservations about whether he can have that kind of impact on a lineup, especially in a rabid east coast market like NY or Boston.

In all honesty, I would prefer if the Red Sox used that money and extended offers to Lester, Papelbon and Youkilis. Admittedly, Lowell is a huge question mark heading into next year, but who's to say that Lowrie (who was playing with a broken bone in his wrist last year) and Ellsbury can't pick up some offensive slack with an entire year (almost) of playing experience under their belts?

And not having Teixeira on the books would give them a ton of financial flexibility moving forward. Just my two cents.

 

The kid looked awfully impressive in late inning action during last year's ALCS. More than likely, he's going to be a freakin' nightmare for the rest of the AL East for years to come.

 

Ok seriously this is ridiculous. Why is it assumed that the Angels offer is significantly lower than the Red Sox offer? Why on Earth would deep-pocketed Moreno be assumed to be offering something so terribly low for Teixeira?

 

I've said it many times before, Teixeira to the Red Sox is not a need but a luxury. If the Sox don't get him it will be ok as Patsy stated Lars Anderson is going to be a stud. I do agree that the Sox must set a limit in both in terms of years and dollars and if Boras wants them to go past it then they should just pass and wait the year for Anderson.

If for some reason Lowell is hurt and can't play then the Sox can always slide Lowrie over to 3rd and play Lugo at SS (I know it won't be popular but the Sox are stuck with him) or they can slide Youkilis over to 3rd and play a platoon of Jeff Bailey/Chris Carter at 1st. The Sox have options, of course they can bring back Sean Casey or Kevin Millar if they get desperate.

 

Exactly. It's also not an upgrade the size of Montana for the Red Sox. They're replacing Lowell's low 800 OPS with a high 900 OPS. Significant? Yes.

Worth approximately Teixeira's deal+another 14m they have to eat out of Lowell's? Depends on Teixeira's price...

1- The Angels are far more desperate
2- Have only one real off-season target
3- Moreno has plenty of cash

 

I completely agree. Teixeira is perfect for the Angels and they NEED him more than any team in baseball.

 

By the way, Jon Heyman was on WFAN a few minutes ago and said he's heard the Nationals and another team both have better offers than the Red Sox and the Angels. He should the Yankees have not yet made an offer and he doesn't expect them to be in the running.

Hey if Teixeira wants to go to Washington or Baltimore for the money, go ahead and enjoy last place for the next 8 years.

 

It seems that we now know exactly what the Red Sox were offering. Based on some MLB article (excuse me for no link) it was something like 165-167ish. Boras said he had 185ish in hand.

The Angels are probably in the 168-172 range without too much trouble. The Nationals may be in the 180 or so range and Boras is full of **** and says 185m. Hey **** it if he wants to go there for the money than screw him. I sincerely doubt it in my honest opinion. I still see him ending up an Angel. At least I'm happy that I was proven right in one respect that the Angel's offer was not 20m less than the Red Sox offer. I'm sick and tired of this terrible sports reporting coming out of ESPN and the majority of the East Coast.

Think about it this way the Orioles laughed at the possibility that they had offered something like 180m so probably take them out. Besides Teixeira has a better chance of competing on the Nationals than the Orioles who will not taste the division for the duration of Teixeira's prime. As for Washington i could see it but it would have been an absolutely extravagant offer. I'm talking about 190m or so. They suck, they flat out suck. It's a pain in the *** to play there if your team sucks.

 

Angels re-signed Rivera a to deal averaging just north of 4m. If he's ever given consistent playing time he's actually a very nice above average starter. Very cheap and easy to trade if need be as well.

 

See here's the problem for Boston. With Lowell's salary to be paid included the deal likely will cost them close to 195 over 8 years (give or take 5m).

While that's nice all it provides really is a +160 OPS boost for them. That's huge sure but it doesn't change the fact that other poor production positions could instead be improved upon. The Saltalamacchia deal for instance is a strong possibility. I could see that covering half of the improvement Teixeira could provide.

I could see the Red Sox trading for a better shortstop or signing a first-rate pitcher or trading for Peavy. Point is, you don't just go blast close to 200m unless it's the only way to improve. The Red Sox get poor offensive production from C, mediocre from CF, and decent from SS. For that much money they could easily improve the team without making such gigantic moves.

Why do you think they tried to get Napoli? If Napoli is truly something like a 860 OPS batter the difference between him and Varitek, versus Teixeira and Lowell would be even bigger.

 

The Sox can afford Teixeira, they cut their payroll by 40 to 50 million over this offseason. I really think you're trying to talk yourself into believing the Sox can't/won't sign Teixeira because of money issues. I think the Sox are more than willing to add Teixeira but drew a line in the sand and won't cross it if the price goes too high.

The only hole in the lineup with the Sox I see is catcher. Everything else I've very comfortable going into the season with, including Ellsbury in CF who is not mediocre (he had a poor June/July due to an injured wrist as well as not making adjustments at the plate) and Lowrie at SS who should be pretty solid hitting wise (again was injured, had a broken bone in his wrist), no one questions his hitting ability. Catching is the huge hole, and I'm confident that they'll make a deal for a good young catcher. I'd be very upset if they traded for Peavy, and thankfully he said he won't waive his no trade clause to go to the AL.