Around the Majors: Rumors — The Hardball Times
The Mariners? Well, if you want to lose, I suppose you can lose in style. Actually, I always had them pegged as the sort of team that would overpay for Ortiz, but seemingly nobody wants Ortiz.
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I think the Dodgers will swoop in late and grab Ortiz for next to nothing. He would fit well in Chavez Ravine.
Seems like the Mariners’ ballpark would also be a good fit for Russ, esp. with a good OF defense.
But at $3 million, do we think of bringing Ortiz back?
Not advocating, just asking.
I always liked Russ as a “horse” or “innings eater,” but he’s a number 3 guy on a good staff.
What the heck happened to him after July is anyone’s guess.
The Mariners’ outfield defense isn’t any good anymore. Ichiro’s pretty good in right, but last season they had a left fielder playing center and a DH playing left.
I need to clarify my earlier post by saying, I don’t think it’s possible for the Braves to get Russ at $3 million per. They couldn’t cut his salary that much.
The silence on him is deafening however. Makes me wonder what is in the scouting report. It appears that someone saw something during that abominable stretch.
I agree that there must be something in the reports on Ortiz that his 2nd half fade was more than a slump. I would hate to see us overpay for Wright. Smoltz(an idea I dread),Ramirez, Thompson and Hampton sounds good enough for me. Let the usual suspects get in line for #5.
The Giles trade rumors scare me. I would rather deal Furcal and put a combination of Green and Pena at short. Maybe Furcal could bring a 4th outfielder and a project for Leo in the pen.
I think Wright is going to score is going to score a two-year contract at $4mil per. That’s my prediction. I think that Ortiz is going to get Benson money, but only for 2 years. And I’m going to guess that he’s going to go to either Washington or the White Sox.
I think wright will be closer to Benson money than to $4m. Yeah, he’s just had the one good recent year and Benson has better career numbers, but this past year was better than any Benson has had.
Stark or Gammons had a quote recently from a scout who was concerned about ortiz’s stuff in the second half. And this was the second straight year he had a second half and postseason collapse.
I would take him back for lowe money, but not for what the market is likely to give him. But really, i can’t stand to watch him pitch.
That’s exactly right. You need to have your heart medication within arm’s reach to watch Ortiz pitch. I would much rather watch someone like Byrd who throws strikes. At least you know what you’re getting.
Looks like the Mariners made a 3 year, $15 million offer to Wright. I think he has to take it, because I don’t think he’s worth nearly that much.
So far this has been an interesting hot stove season. The Nationals’ (hard not to say Expos) Jim Bowden went brain dead and way overpayed Vinny and Guzman, the Giants overpayed for Armando Benitez, and the most talked about free agent is not Beltran, but Carl Pavano. My favorite source of rumors is Dayn Perry’s summary on Foxsports. One of the rumors he is saying is that the Nats have eyes on Russ Ortiz. Of more interest to me is he is also saying that the ChiSox are interested in Andruw. I’m not sure who they would give up but it is intriguing non the less. Of even more interest is the way Omar Minaya is having old home week with the Mets. I guess he can’t screw them up much more than they are already.
As for Wright, I think that he is a goner. Dang it. He is in the sweet spot in the market now, a guy that won’t break the bank, has some baggage to give management some leverage with some great upside. Oh well. I don’t want to wish my life away but I can’t wait to see what comes out of the winter meetings if anything. I’m sure Schuerholz has something up his sleeve.
Johnny, what do you mean Bowden went brain dead? It’s my impression that his cerebrum and cerebellum have been on life support for years. My thinking on the Guzman and Castilla deals is that he actually stopped drooling long enough to make a couple of phone calls.
Very interesting off-season. Reminds me of the old westerns, when Roy Rogers would turn to Gabby Hayes and say “It’s quiet out there tonight” and Gabby would respond “Too quiet.”
Well, shoot, I guess y’all are right. Jaret is going to bust my prediction. I can’t imagine there’s a team out there that would top 3 and $15m.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mariners/2002105263_mari01.html
Allen
If the Braves are looking for a pitcher, is Lowe a possibility? Or if Wright gets 3/15 does that price Lowe out of our budget?
As expected, Drew is looking for a five-year contract at $50M+. Of course he is not going to get it. I think Boras is playing the same game he played for Maddux two years ago and Millwood for last year. Boras is saying Drew will get a four/five year contract offer from some team…I don’t think there is any way a team will offer Drew a five-year contract given his history of injuries.
I am predicting the Braves will offer Drew arbitration, and Drew will accept the arbitration. The difference this time is that JS will have spared enough budget this time to take the hit. This should be why he can’t commit too much money on Wright as there is really no attractive alternative on outfielders right now while there are more choices on starters.
If this arbitration thing really happens, the Braves will be happy to avoid long term contract and can see if Francour is ready for 2006, and Drew will be happy to prove that he is healthy for another seasonand can command more money in the next off-season.
What do you guys think about this?
Gosh, maybe Boras was right, it is 2000 again. I can’t imagine anyone offering Wright that much money for one good year. Of course I don’t know but I’ll bet the Braves were more in the 2 year 6 million range with their offer. If I were Jaret I’d take the Seattle offer. Pitcher’s park, great city (or so I’ve heard), American League so I don’t have to bat, and 15 million for one good season. Sigh.
KC your prediction is as plausible as anyone elses. I don’t think that he gets 5 years and 50 but I’ll bet that someone gives him 4 and 36 or something like that. With that being the case I bet you are 1/2 correct. The Braves offer arbitration but Drew doesn’t accept it. Last year he made 4.2. In arbitration he doubles his salary. Dang, the way the market has started he can probably make more than that.
But I’m also of the opinion that just because the Giants, Nationals, and Tigers are flat out nuts doesn’t mean that teams are going back to the A-Rod days again. I think that some of the premium free agents are going to be disappointed.
But then again theres Omar Minaya. Ok I’ll stop now 🙂
It must be 2000 again.
I think a lot of this started when Kenny Williams gave Garcia 3/$27 million after acquiring him from the Mariners.
But thanks to Minaya’s deal with Benson, every average pitcher in the game is looking for the 3rd year along with the big dough. Twins had an offer of 2 years and $15 million on the table for Radke and that has been upped to 3 years and between $21 million and $23 million. And why shouldn’t Radke get that? He’s not the world beater some think, but he’s at least two-and-a-half times the pitcher Benson is.
And all this probably gets Wright 3 years at $6 million per. Crazy. I’m no socialist and I think markets are a pretty good thing, but we all need to remember that markets have made millionaires out of the marginal, like the guy who invented the pet rock.
As for Drew, the Braves have to offer him arbitration. There is no way around it. I think that is why JS is dragging his feet on a couple of other things. One year of Drew could be a sufficient bridge to Franceour (hopefully) and that could be an ideal situation. It’s either that or Jacque Jones (who I think is a little, but not much, better than his stats indicate).
Omar Minaya is helping us by wasting Mets budget to ensure the Braves have one less competitor, Ed Wade is helping us by spending money on mediocre free agent (Cory Lidle?!), Jim Bowden is as crazy as Minaya with less money. So, my only concern is the Marlins. I am waiting to see what the Marlins will do in this off-season.
The money they’re talking about for Wright isn’t really that far out of line. It’s more than I thought two months ago, but $5 million a year is pretty reasonable considering that third starters have been getting about $4 million. Heck, consider that Byrd got $5 million a year (backloaded) two years ago basically on the strength of one season — and that was with a discount. What surprises me is the third year.
Bowden is screwing up the market.
But Byrd didn’t have the injury history that Wright has and before his good year at KC he had a rep as an innings eater. But upon further reflection I guess you are right, the dollars are market value but the length of the contract is surprising.
atlantabraves.com has a chat wrap with John Schuerholz. Only a couple useful bits of info. The Braves have tendered an offer to Byrd. He says that he has no plans to trade Andruw or Furcal. Getting anything more substantial from the stuff he says is like Kremlin watching.
Boras is at it again saying that someone will give a 50 million dollar 5 year deal to Drew. It won’t be the Atlanta Braves I’m sure. Has anyone seen anything more on the Reds trying to move Kearns?
After reading the chat transcript, I get the impression that Schuerholz will go join the silent heads at Easter Island when he retires.
I love the guy, but his picture is in the dictionary next to the word “obfuscator” if that word were indeed in the dictionary (which it is not, which kind of surprised me).
Call me a nut, but I don’t think the offer is way out of line for Wright, nor do I think the floated deal for Drew is that bad. Drew would be a $13m+ a year player if healthy, so while the deal is long, the dollars per year are corrected pretty substantially.
I’d offer 4 years at that price with a games-played option for the fifth. I mean, let’s face facts. In their current price range the Braves have to take some chances. Nobody out there is a realistic option to replace his bat, neither in this year’s free agent class nor in next year’s.