Softball: Notable returns to Black Sox – 22 Nov 2005 – Sport
Yes, the New Zealand national men’s softball team is called the “Black Sox”. Oops!
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Softball: Notable returns to Black Sox – 22 Nov 2005 – Sport
Yes, the New Zealand national men’s softball team is called the “Black Sox”. Oops!
Use code “Journal” for a 5% discount.
It’s nice to know he has somewhere to go. He was definitely a bust in attempting to break through as a major leaguer. I am puzzled however as to where you got this from, Mac?
How about another Braves product from down under….Dean White? What’s the word on him? Will he ever make it? I know he’s been in Rome for a couple of years now, and he just doesn’t seem to be able to cut it. He left early this year to play for the Aussie team in some capacity or another. What does anyone who knows of him think his future holds with the organization? Where will he be in ’06?
I have a Google News customization to look up anything with the phrase “Atlanta Braves” and it was the first item by date.
I think I am going to move down under and start playing baseball so I can get signed by a big league team.
And to think he made it to the last day of ST way back when and almost went North.
Nice experiment, but no cure for cancer. Or even a cure for a sniffle for that matter.
The guy makes my main mensch Hessman look like Eddie Yost (check the Baseball Reference website to see a guy who really walked a lot). By the way, Hessmonster is back with the Mudhens. Hey JS, snooze ya lose!
Dean White may have hit the wall. It depends on where Escobar ends up. If Escobar, Pope, and Holt comprise the Myrtle Beach IF and Andrus and Campbell comprise 2/3 of the Rome IF, it may be “G’day Mate!” to Deano. The only spot that looks open right now is 2B in Rome or a back-up job in Myrtle.
Don’t know how many college hoops fans there are here, but the Gonzaga/Michigan State game tonight was a classic. 109-106 Zags in 3 OT.
One strange thing, though — Ronny Turiaf, who graduated from Gonzaga last year, was there to cheer on the Zags, which is cool. But why was he in the huddle during timeouts, why was he talking during timeouts, and why in the HECK was he in the handshake lineup after the game?
I think he is helping coach the team this season.
Speaking of college hoops, I never thought I would see my school’s name making the Yahoo Sports front page, but today they surprised me for the second time in one year…Bucknell defeated Syracuse…my school is suddenly becoming a college hoops powerhouse…NOT!!!
Sorry guys, I am so used to seeing Bucknell defeating the Colgates and the Lehighs..
Re: Gonzaga
That Adam Morrison looks like a heckuva player, but please shave that butt-hair mustache.
Guys and Gals:
I am driving across the great state of Tennessee in the morning and probably will not be on here for a few days. SO I wanted to wish all of you guys a safe and happy Thanksgiving.
Also, don’t trade Francoeur or anything like that while I am gone.
Too late.
Yahoo! Sports: MLB – Francoeur to Yankees for Wang, prospects
JoeyT, the site is awesome. Thanks!!!
OK, JoeyT, as the our proverb goes, do you know exactly what happened to A Shepherd Boy ?
He was told to do the messy room of braves rule. 3=3=3=3=3=3=3=3=3=3
I actually had the honor of seeing Wilson play for the R-Braves a couple of times and he clearly had No Business. I think he was promoted on the basis of being the dog that can walk on its hind legs.
Jayson Stark claims on “Mike and Mike in the Morning” on ESPN Radio that Delgado is going to the Mets for Mike Jacobs and a pitching prospect.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/ny-spmets112405,0,3173460.story?coll=ny-sports-headlines
hrrmmm…
I was hoping this rumor was of the unfounded variety.
Furcal delay
The pursuit of free-agent shortstop Rafael Furcal is on hold, apparently until after Thanksgiving. Furcal’s agent, Paul Kinzer, has just returned to the country and is said to be examining offers?none of them yet official?from the Cubs, Braves and Mets. Furcal is thought to be leaning toward returning to the Braves if they can afford $10 million for each of five years.
Just saw that on ESPN…Same old song and dance with the Mets. They get the veterans and continue to stink. I laugh every offseason at their antics. They trade away all their prospects in order to produce a championship team for the next season. When it fails, they try again. Stupid Mets. Just plain stupid.
I think its pretty interesting reading about the fire sale of the Marlins. Get rid of everyone, and your team sucks. Then move the franchise to another city and hope by then your “prospects” will be tearing it up.
While I hate the Mets as much as anyone here, I feel leery of writing them off under the guise of “same old mets”. I’ll admit that the Mets buying everyone does have a bit of a mid/late-90’s Baltimore feel, and hopefully it has the same results. But a lineup of Reyes-Beltran-Wright-Delgado-Floyd-Molina-Nady-2B is pretty damn good.
I would think acquiring Delgado takes them out of the Furcal race.
I don’t really think they were ever in the Furcal race. No way he agrees to play 2B.
Let’s trade Hampton to the Cubs to take them out of the Furcal race.
Wow, we’re really offering 5/50 for Furcal? With all the shortstops we have in the pipeline? That surprises me…
Too bad about the Mets getting Delgado. They should have a very good team next year.
I think it would be great to see both the Yankees and the Mets miss the playoffs next year. With all the money they are spending they deserve it. Lets just hope they under-perform like always
The Delgado pick-up scares me. The guy can still hit and that team had zilch at 1B.
I guess it’s Jacobs and Petit. Jacobs had his 15 minutes already, but Petit could prove interesting. I can’t believe the Mets got Delgado for this package.
I read the comment as Furcal wants 5/50 from the Braves, not that it has been offered. I wouldn’t offer it. I’d rather spend it on Giles and Javy Vazquez or a closer.
I’m watching the Mets, but not too worried yet. They may be good, but I don’t think they are in Yankees/Red Sox territory yet. Their pitching seems kind of thin, they need a 2B, and Cliff Floyd will surely get hurt.
Yeah, seems like the Fish kinda got ripped off there. Traded a sure thing (and $7 million dollars?!!) for something mostly mediocre at 1B and a big maybe prospect. Seems like they could of at least gotten another prospect or two.
Not only did the Marlins get jobbed on the Delgado deal, but they also seemed to willingly take the lesser pieces out of the Beckett deal. They may have made the Mets a better club, but at least the NL East won’t be a 5-team race next season.
Just thought I’d throw this in…apparently the Mets are still going after Wagner and now Vazquez. First I had heard of this one.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=rotowire-avierazquezeadedtohe&prov=rotowire&type=lgns
The Mets just became Threat #1. Firstbase was a blackhole for them last season, now they have All-Star level production. They are a couple of arms away from being heavy favorties, and from all reports they have the money to go get those arms.
I read the comment as Furcal wants 5/50 from the Braves, not that it has been offered.
There is no way we should go for 5/50 as it would cripple our ability to address our many other weaknesses. Make Betemit the starter, sign a cheap insurance policy for him, and use the money elsewhere.
Delgado is one of my favorite players of the last 10 years, but he’s about to turn 34 and he’s a big, slow slugger. These guys don’t age well — they have a tendency to get hurt and/or lose 50 points of batting average in a hurry. You have to like the deal for the Mets in the short term, but they’ve got to pay him $50 million over the next 3 years, and these contracts have a way of becoming albatrosses. I’d say there’s a 75% chance he won’t be worth the money he’ll be paid in 2007-8. Yes, I’m thinking of Thome.
Hopefully we see Delgado do the Mo Vaughn thing like when he went to the Mets. He could urn into a totally old and unproductive player, right?
Yeah, I’m kind of with nyb on this one. The Mets look really good right now. I’m glad they seem comfortable with the out machine they have playing short and the underperforming centerfielder just on the hype level of those two. They’re being aggressive, and it really looks like they’re going to make a strong push to fill their other needs (bullpen arms, second baseman, catcher) before opening day.
I loved that Mo Vaughn deal. In 2003, the mets paid 5.7 million to Mo per HR or 1.1 million per RBI. Lets hope Delgado falls in line.
i dont really understand the mets’ direction with this, other than just picking up more big names for big money. Jacobs was very productive in his short time in the bigs last year, and I thought he might be a big part of their future.
And to anyone that says this team is a complete threat yet, remember something: though this MIGHT fix the hole at first base, there’s tons of other issues still, so here’s a position by position:
1B: Carlos Delgado, whose production will be great, but in decline
2B: ?? – can they continue the Matsui experiment and hope to stay in the race?
3B: David Wright – This guy has superstar written all over him, but his defense is still lacking
SS: Jose Reyes – finished with a bang last year… remains to be seen if he’s going to be able to get on base
LF: Cliff Floyd – seems to be imminent trade bait, entering final year of his contract (i think?) but is a defensive liability for the most part anyways
CF: Carlos Beltran – a reflection of the lunacy that is dealing with Scott Boras… the guy needs to be controlled, this may end up being one of the worst deals of the Mets’ recent history, next to Matsui
RF: ?? Xavier Nady or Victor Diaz? hope the Mets have been saying their prayers, if they’re hoping these guys will be able to have Cameron-like years, of provide even half of his defense
C: ?? say what you want about Mike Piazza, but he’s a big bat in their lineup that they’re gonna miss. is Bengie Molina going to end up there, who knows?
Don’t forget that the Mets are also relying on Glavine and Pedro to match their numbers from last year.
I wouldn’t be surprised if, come July, the Mets have about $70m worth of payroll sitting on the DL.
I disagree on most of these points. For example, if you are going to predict Delgado’s decline based on age, shouldn’t you predict Chipper Jones’s decline on the same grounds?
Matsui won’t kill you batting 8th, he’ll kill you batting second. And besides, they might even pay him 4 million to sit the bench and find a replacement.
Agree with the Reyes/Floyd assessments, although I think it’s equally possible that Floyd has a .280/20/85 year.
David Wright is awesome. His defense will not kill that team by any stretch.
While I don’t think Beltran deserved his contract at all, I don’t think he is anywhere near as bad as some people on this website do. He had an awful year last year, but he is still a pretty productive player. People are looking at him within the context of his contract which they shouldn’t do, b/c in New York money is no object. No difference if he makes 3 million or 30 – no difference next year anyway.
If Nady and Diaz are such huge question marks, then what is Ryan Langerhans?
Piazza blew last year. This team will be better off shifting away from “Mike Piazza’s team” and into “David Wright’s team”. If they get Molina, I think it’s a great pickup.
I still think the Braves are the favorites even though they haven’t done anything yet. I just can’t take the Mets seriously until they actually win on the field. But that being said, I think people are nuts for completely discounting them just because they are the Mets.
Just read where Thome is on the verge of being traded to the White Sox for Aaron Rowand per Buster Olney, ESPN.
I disagree on most of these points. For example, if you are going to predict Delgado’s decline based on age, shouldn’t you predict Chipper Jones’s decline on the same grounds?
Chipper is somewhat more athletic than Delgado. Delgado isn’t fat like Mo Vaughn, but he’s big and sort of stiff, like Thome. Again, they don’t tend to age well.
As it happens, I have been predicting Chipper Jones’ decline for a couple of years, and sure enough, he has declined and will continue to do so. In 2004 he lost almost 80 points of OPS, and while he gained them back (and then some) last year, he only played 2/3 of the time. Decline doesn’t mean have to mean you fall off the map, it means you become less productive and are less able to stay in the lineup. Delgado will be one of the absolute highest paid players in baseball the next three years. Would Chipper have deserved that in the last two seasons, based solely on his performance?
Sheesh. According to Buster Olney, Thome is reportedly going to the Chi Sox, bringing Rowand to the Phils and, much more importantly, making room for Ryan Howard.
The Phillies proved they more than stand a chance last season. Whichever team signs Wagner will be the better threat. (Let’s hope it’s us…ha ha…ha…)
And maybe we want Vazquez to go to the Mets. I’m not too worried about that possible deal.
Now that I’ve reread your post, Aram, it seems to me that you’re making the same point as I just made. I call “straw man” on myself!
Mets have offered Wagner..
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5107930
White Sox have dealt for Thome…
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2234843
Exactly, sansho, I think we were both driving at basically the same thing.
I can’t believe the WSox took Thome off the Phillies hands. I just can’t believe that.
Have a safe trip, Smitty. I flew home yesterday and now I have 6 weeks off and I’m already bored to the death to the point that I cleaned my brother’s room, mopped the entire downstairs, changed all the sheets, and ran 3 loads of laundry. My mom is, needless to say, in shock.
I don’t understand the Thome trade at all. What on earth are the White Sox doing? My guess would be that they are going to re-sign Konerko and put Thome at DH in hopes he won’t fall apart completely. But Rowand, while no superstar, was not a wash, either, and what are they going to replace him with? Carl Everett? This move doesn’t seem to make much sense, especially given Thome’s age, contract, and injury history.
The Mets are overspending again but at least they’re overspending in the right places. Along with the Phillies, they are actually making halfway decent moves. I’m a little concerned.
Happy Thanksgiving, all! For once the Cowboys game should actually be good football!
Like most folks here I think that 5/50 for Furcal is a stretch. You’d really have to believe that his second half of last season is his baseline going forward. Assuming one could turn his money into Brian Giles, and Betemit is your starting SS, the Braves have a plus offense with either KJ or Langerhans becoming a quality 4th OF option should Francouer stumble. Packaging whichever one you like less for a quality middle releiver, and moving John Thompson + Estrada for Vazquez (add more if you want less salary), resign Farnsworth, and you’ve got a good looking team with some SP, decent pen, and some bigtime pop in the lineup. Talk Chipper into moving to first or teach Marte to play there and things are really looking up.
Jenny: if you want to hop on 495 to Alexandria, I have lots of chores at our house you could do for us. I’d even let you babysit my daughter while you did them!
I think we all need to wait on the details of the Thome deal before we jump to conclusions – i predict they will eat a LOT of his contract. At least $15 million, maybe 20-25. Rowand is an upgrade over Michaels/Victorino, but not a huge one. And I still think Ryan Howard strikes out too much.
I read somewhere that the White Sox are hoping they can get Juan Pierre from the Marlins to play CF, which might explain the Rowand trade.
I have always sort of liked the Marlins, but why…
why trade a Delgado within your division……….
I hope the Marlins aren’t running out of people to deal…
Can’t the Braves get in on a little of that action? We’ve got a loaded farm system, the Marlins have been trading away guys for 40 cents on the dollar, and they’ve shown they don’t even mind doing a trade within the division. Maybe we could take someone else off their hands? For example, is Guillermo Mota totally D-U-N, or is there any life left in that golden arm?
the white sox have a loaded farm system with centerfielders/outfielders and the phillies are paying for most of thomes contract. its basically win-win.
Leaving out the money, though, that’s a tremendous deal for the Phillies, iffy for the White Sox. If Thome bounces back, it’s win-win. Rowand solves the Phillies’ perennial CF problem. If he can rebound to his career line (.283/.337/.451) he’s an offensive plus, too. The Phillies already had the best lineup in the division. Now their only weak spot could be third base.
Well Rowand will be an upgrade defensively, but he’s not going to match what the Phillies got out there last season from Lofton (.335/.392/.420) and Michaels (.304/.399/.415). Of course Lofton and Michaels themselves will never match those numbers again, but in terms of an upgrade over last season this isn’t much of one. The Phils still need a third baseman, a catcher, and some arms.
I like the deal from the Sox perspective. You get Thome at half price, and lose a guy in Rowand who you can pretty easily replace from within your system. Seems like a good job by Kenny Williams depending on how good the prospects are he’s including.
Well, except that you can’t leave out the money side of this deal. The Phillies are paying $22M of the total $43.5M remaining contract. This means they are paying $12M in 2006 for the service of Rowand (and more in 2007 and 2008). Of course, I think Gillik did a great job by getting Rowand as it’s hard to find a good centerfielder who can excel both offensively and defensively. This may end up be an ok deal for the Phillies if Rowand returned to his 2003 form. Personally, I don’t think centerfield defense is such a big deal for the Phillies as their ballpark is not a big one anyway.
I think the White Sox will play Thome as DH and hoping that keeping Thome off the field will keep him healthy.
Also means Frank Thomas’ days in a White Sox uniform must be over; I can’t imagine him or Thome playing first base.
That would be a pretty expensive combination of platoon at DH!!!
How can the Mets spend so much money on players?? Wagner and now Delgado. Florida gave him and 7 million to the Mets. Why couldnt the Braves be players in this deal?? Are we going to do anything this offseason??
JS disappears into the lazarus pits every year at this time. He’ll reemerge at the winter meetings and punch us in the chest with something huge.
Of course we’re going to do things. Actually, I’m happy we haven’t done much of anything yet, because prices are ridiculous so far this year, and doing something now just because other teams are doing things is not the Braves’ organizational method (though it is the Mets’).
Schuerholz does his best work in the shadows. The Mets will get the headlines for now, but it’s the headlines in September that are more important.
Because the Braves don’t have a $100M payroll and they don’t trade away prospects like rubbish. In order to get Beckett, the Red Sox is eating the entire Lowell contract, which is about as expensive as Furcal is going to be.
Yes, the Marlins are sending $7M to the Mets, but the followings are the details of Delgado?s contract: ?Delgado received just $4 million last season and is owed $13.5 million in 2006, $14.5 million in 2007 and $16 million in 2008. His contract contains a club option for 2009 at $12 million with a $4 million buyout, but it could become guaranteed at $16 million.? Would you prefer to 28 years old gold glove centerfielder who happens to be the homerun leader last season? Or do you want a going-to-be 34 years old first baseman at essentially the same price?
Those are bad contracts steel211, and the Braves can?t afford to take bad contracts. Teams like the Mets, the Red Sox, and the Yankees can afford to take these contracts with a $100M+ payroll.
The Cubs just signed Bob Howry for $12M-3yrs…they are spending $15M a season on Dempster, Eyre, and Howry…yes, the reason why they can?t win is because they are cursed.
Yes, the Marlins are sending $7M to the Mets,
And before anyone gets too excited about that $7M, that money goes to Delgado to pay the New York state tax and is in addition to the money he is already owed. Put another way, when the Mets traded for Delgado, Carlos’s state tax clause was triggered (since he went from Florida, a state with no income tax) and his contact was suddenly worth an extra $7M. The Marlins just picked up that tab. The Mets are still on the hook for essentially the balance of the contract.
Happy Thanksgiving to all on this list.
I am sure that JS will act–and act quite intelligently. I do not believe that he will give Furcal 10 million a year. Given the incredible wealth of the farm system he has many assets to work with.
That said, I think the Mets have made some impressive moves (KC’s point about their budget is well taken); bringing in Delgado may be a nice incentive for Wagner. Given that the Braves won by 2 games and have some question marks of their own, I think that Mets and Phillies have to be taken quite seriously.
Beltran may well be overpaid, but a lineup build around Delgado, Floyd, Beltran and Wright has to be taken seriously.
The next few weeks should be mighy interesting…
a club option for 2009 at $12 million with a $4 million buyout, but it could become guaranteed at $16 million
From the Mets’ perspective, at least the vesting of the guarantee isn’t based solely on plate appearances (as is typically the case), but on some formula of MVP votes received. He’ll have to have played very well in order to cost them more than the buyout.
Bobby freaking Howry??? The reincarnation of Kevin Malone is running the Cubs’ front office.
If I were the Cubs, I would see if I could find someone willing to trade blue-chip prospects for Kerry Wood–the guy’s snakebit in Chicago, and there’s no chance he’ll live up to his potential in that town. Maybe trade him to the Rangers for the same deal they were offering to get Beckett, and flip Blalock somewhere else, maybe in a package with Corey Patterson, who could still play center field for a team that needs one (Yankees? Giants? White Sox?). Their farm system’s getting real thin real quick.
nyb, your information on that $7M is good stuff. Then, the Mets basically take up the entire contract and paying Delgado almost $15M per season with the $4M buyout.
I think the Marlins actually did a pretty good job considering they are getting the best pitching prospect of the Mets and Mike Jacobs as well as getting the Mets to eat the entire contract. I guess that’s the cost of trading within the division.
The true meaning of Thanksgiving…the Hawks finally won!!!
Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
AJC is reporting that the Dodgers are now in on Furcal. It sounds to me like Furcal’s agent is a bit desperate to get a bidding war started. I don’t think Fookie has any intention whatsoever of signing with the Dodgers or Mets. Unfortunately for him, this looks like a two team race. When one of those teams is the Atlanta Braves, the chances of a high-stakes bidding war are nil.
The Cubs are in for Juan Pierre now, so they might be looking to lower their bid themselves. With Pierre they’ve got their leadoff man, and then they can hide a poor-hitting SS (ie, Neifi) down in the order.
Heard from somewhere that the Dodgers are cutting their budget to around $70M to $80M range, so I doubt the Dodgers are really in the bidding for Furcal.
I can’t believe the Cubs are actually smart enough to search for alternatives.
The maximum tax rate in New York State is 8.20%. So, Delgado’s state income tax is going to only be a maximum of 1.2 million per year. The money the Marlins are sending is more than that, so they are obviously paying some freight just to get rid of Delgado. Cheap bastards.
Izturis isn’t great, but he provides pretty good up-the-middle defense and is about $9m/yr cheaper than Furcal right now. He’ll be fine from his injury by the start of next season, so I don’t imagine that’s a concern. Furcal’s agent is probably just trying to ratchet up the market a little bit; let’s see if the Braves call his bluff.
Can anyone who has BPro or access to other hardcore statistics tell me how bad of a fielder Betemit is likely to be? Like, how many runs would he cost us over the course of the season compared with the average shortstop?
Mets are now pursuing Soriano. These guys are trying their bext this year. Also, according to MLb rumors Wagner is very impressed by the Mets. These guys are becoming a pain!!!
Izturis is lucky to get his ops above .700 and he will cost more than $3M entering his fifth year of services, not to mention it will cost the Braves a prospect for obtaining him. If the shortstop is not going to be Furcal, let’s just give Betemit a chance.
While I personally don’t think any defensive statistics are meaningful, Betemit’s defensive stats last year will not have much meaning anyway because he played more at third base than shortstop last season. His range is obviously not as good as Furcal based on our limited time seeing him in action at shortstop, but he does have a pretty good arm.
I agree kc, if it’s not Furcal give Betemit a shot. He’s finally showing signs that he might become the hitter everyone thought he would.
Looks like Guillermo Mota’s been tossed in on the Beckett deal. He started well last year but was pretty poor afterwards, and did most of his best pitching in his huge park at home. Might do okay with Fenway’s weird dimensions. Probably never be a closer again, but if he gets a bit of control back he could be good for their pen.
Nice throw-in, especially since the rumor was that the Marlins had been balking at including him with Jones a free agent.
Looking at Betemit’s BPro fielding stats, he appears to be about exactly average or a bit below defensively. Someone correct me if I’m reading it wrong, but that’s what I gathered. He’ll essentially be serviceable. He is also significantly inferior to Furcal, who was fantastic this year. This is basically what you know already with your eyes.
BPro’s fielding stats hate betemit – 6 fielding runs below average in very limited playing time.
Wilson Betemit DT card
Of course, rate3 hates every Braves 3b in the last 15 years, so that just indicates what a stupid stat it is, not how good betemit is.
I do not believe there are any existing statistics that can accurately measure how good a player is defensively. At least any stats that are based on total opportunities are stupid because the players do not control the number of times balls that are hit to him. The assumption that all players at the same defensive position have equal numbers of opportunities over the course of a season is, in my opinion, inaccurate.
I agree, kc. To me, the only defensive metric that works consistently is one in which each play is judged on its own merit. In other words, by watching the freaking games.
Mets now preparing their offer to Bengie Molina.
I still think they’re going to be weak in the rotation next year, especially if Pedro goes down for any length of time. Vazquez won’t change that.
Newest brave Brad Baker. 6 year minor league FA, Good peripherals, great 2004, so so 2005. Guess will find out if Mazzone was tha man or not – this is exactly the kind of guy he has been credited with improving.
Stats: http://tsf.waymoresports.thestar.com/thestar/baseball/player.cgi?3043
Story: http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8865~3143504,00.html
I agree about the Mets rotation as it stands: Pedro, Glavine, Benson, Trachsel, Zambrano, Ishii, Seo, Heilman…it’s definitely their weak point.
What bothers me is that they have the depth to go out and get someone with a couple of these arms. Let’s hope it’s Vazquez.
You all misinterpreted what I was saying about Izturis…I wasn’t saying that the Braves should obtain him, I was asking why the Dodgers would throw money there when they already have Izturis, slightly better than a no-hit defensive wiz, at a much lower price? I’d never want him on the Braves, but the Dodgers have much larger holes to fill than SS — why would they want Furcal? One of their better prospects, Joel Guzman, is also a SS. Going after Furcal doesn’t make sense from their standpoint, at least to me.
The reason the Mets are throwing money around is that they are in NY, they are competing with the Yankees, and they are starting up their own cable network (a la the YES network for the Yankees). They not only have the money but they almost have to spend to make the cable offering attractive to viewers. In addition, according to an article I read in the NY Times, Omar Minaya is trying to build the Mets into sort of a flagship brand for the large numbers of Dominicans that live in NY; this explains, in part, why he clearly overpaid for Beltran and may have overpaid for Pedro and for Delgado. Whether it works on the field remains to be seen, but the strategy is in part dictated by business considerations. Of course, considering the quality of Dominican players, becoming the team of choice for players from the DR would probably be quite a coup for the Mets.
The point is, I wouldn’t be too complacent about the fact that it’s the Mets. For one thing, it’s not like the Mets have never had good teams so that they are doomed to always be incompetent. (After all, they’ve been to the WS more recently than us.) Second, with Time Warner treating the Braves as essentially a peripheral asset, the Mets have a huge financial advantage over everyone else in the division. That doesn’t, of course, mean that they will use it wisely, but, it does give them an advantage.
Pedro, Glavine, Benson, Trachsel, Zambrano, Ishii, Seo, Heilman…it’s definitely their weak point.
Benson and Zambrano outpitched Thompson and Ramirez last year, by ERA+. NY finished in 3rd by R/G, Atlanta sixth – that ain’t all park effect. All five of their main starters pitched at 100 or better ERA+ this year. They got killed by a stinky closer (106 ERA+ sucks for a RP)and a mediocre offense. What they’ll get from Delgado over Minky addresses a lot of that problem. If they get Wagner and anything out of Beltran, don’t kid yourselves. Fortunately, Randolph is still the manager, and Floyd/Delgado/Martinez/Glavine have to be considered at least yellow flag injury risks. Either Furcal or B. Giles needs to be a brave next year, and SOMETHING needs to be done about 1B and the pen.
I’m having an interesting problem. I have both Explorer and Firefox on my laptop, and I’m on a high-speed wireless connection. For some reason, I can’t access this site on my Firefox browser, but it works just fine on Explorer. On Firefox, it tells me “The file / cannot be found.” What’s wrong with it?
Also, I thought the Mets already had a cable network. Aren’t they shown on some random channel called MSG?
I am using Firefox with no problem – interesting.
Firefox works like a dream, especially the multiple tabs function. You can also place a bookmark on the toolbar. I’ve found that Firefox loads fairly quickly.
The Yankees used to be an MSG (Madison Square Garden Network) team until YES came along. The Mets were an FSN team until there was a dispute between FSN/Cablevision/Time Warner. Then a bunch of Mets games got moved to MSG, but it was never their own network.
Jenny, I suggest you re-install firefox to see if the same problem still exists. I use firefox too and I have no problem reading this site.
New York Daily News says the Jays have grabbed B.J. Ryan for 5/47. If that’s, I wouldn’t be surprised if Wagner’s price goes up as well.
The feeding frenzy is on; feels like this will be one of those offseasons that people look back on 5 years later and say, “What the hell were they thinking?”
If prices keep climbing like this, the Braves may want to just pack it in, get what they can for the extra pieces like Estrada and Reitsma, and trust in the talent of the farm system to come through again. A lot of teams may be spending themselves out of the market for ’07 and ’08, and those look to be better free agent classes anyway.
“If that’s true,” the first paragraph should say. Missed it in preview.
Drew, can you link to that story? I can’t find it on the Daily News site, ESPN, or the New York Times.
I agree with you, though–if it’s true, then up is down, black is white, and this entire offseason is screwed. The Braves would be better served just to sit on their ass than to pay a guy like BJ Ryan $50 million dollars to sit in their bullpen.
Here you go, AAR. When I read drew’s post, I went fishing for the article, which was buried. I wanted to send the article to a buddy who’s from Baltimore.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/369023p-313970c.html
Thanks, David. Good gracious. Signing a closer to a five-year deal… after one year on the job… given that most closers can’t hold the job for that long… given that even if he can keep the job without going crazy, virtually no closer is worth $10 million dollars outside Gagne, Rivera, and Smoltz… immediately after making a $50 million, 5-year offer to A.J. Burnett, the J.D. Drew of pitchers… WHAT THE HELL IS J.P. RICCIARDI THINKING???
I used to have decent respect for Ricciardi, but the way he is spending the additional money that he has gotten in this offseason is absolutely awful. Perhaps they (I mean the likes of Ricciardi and Beane) are only effective when managing a small budget…
Has JP Ricciardi gone absolutely raving mad? First he offers 5/50 to Burnett and now this deal to BJ Ryan? Yes, they are both good pitchers. But they aren’t that good. Give him an extra $20 million and he seems to get absolutely intoxicated with it and go nuts. If they wind up with both deals, they will regret it later, I’m sure of it. I thought Ricciardi was smart, too, kc, but the past few weeks have been extremely stupid. Maybe Ricciardi should just set fire to a pile of cash to keep himself from spending it like this. I’m not sure it’s a product of the Moneyball GM type; Epstein had $120 million and never went totally crazy like this. BJ Ryan has never pitched a meaningful game in his career and AJ Burnett’s elbow is about to fall apart again. Neither deal is good if they go through.
Jenny, what url are you trying to access the site?
I’m using http://www.braves.net, should I try something different? It’s worked before and just stopped working…well, it’s 5AM, I guess it would be yesterday. And it’s only on Firefox that it doesn’t work.
just as a side note about the mets, though i agree with the direction of trying to win a championship or get the public excited with an impending release of their own cable network, as per usual, they’re going about it the wrong way. i think that i’ve been misinterpreted as more of a naysayer than i am, so let me clarify:
here are a few of the players that the mets have acquired/pursued thus far this offseason:
-Carlos Delgado: defensive liability at first base, good solid offensive numbers, large backloaded contract, previous beef with some of the members of the mets organization
AGE: 33
-Billy Wagner: One of the top closers available, whose price/value just skyrocketed due to the lunacy that is B.J. Ryan’s freshly inked contract with the Blue Jays, which i might add, eclipses the value of Mariano Rivera’s contract to become the largest all time for a reliever
AGE: 35
-Xavier Nady: an unproven utility man who finally hit the triple digits in games played last year for the second time last year, still unsure if he can last an entire season
AGE: 28
the point again is that they may be getting better on paper, but they’re getting much older. a similar approach by the yankees has been used the past few years, and it’s been quite far from a walk in the park, pun intended.
the fact is, older players = more injuries and declining production.
and in response to that earlier post:
i would think that a Braves fan would appreciate the intangibles of one of our finest farm products – Chipper is a great team leader, helps out the young kids, has had his contract renegotiated twice, switched positions for the team, and is a PLAYOFF TESTED AND APPROVED performer. the guy can elevate his play when he has to, and can steal a base when needed (which i dont think can be said about Big D)
Sometimes there’s a cache situation in Firefox and it won’t work unless you reboot. But try http://www.bravesbeat.com/bravesjournal/ instead.
older players = more injuries and declining production
Delgado and Chipper are the same age.
PLAYOFF TESTED AND APPROVED performer. the guy can elevate his play when he has to,
Chipper hasn’t hit well in the playoffs since 2001. I love him as much as the next guy, but keep it real.
Wagner are Delgado are GREAT pickups. Both would have looked good in a Braves uni next year, now that I think about it. Sure would have fixed up our 1B and closer problems. Nady I can take or leave, but there are legitimate injury concerns about Cameron and the Mets needed to shed some payroll. I’ll call out Omar for doing stupid things, but none of these three (Wags still ain’t signed yet though) are going about it the wrong way..
Also, korobeiniki, be careful mentioning “intangibles” on this site. People have been killed for less.
again, you’re failing to acknowledge a couple of things. for one, wagner hasn’t signed with the mets, not yet at least. delgado had a down season last year. i was not saying that these were BAD pickups. but you have to agree that the contract that they’re going to be offering wagner is a little crazy (possibly guaranteeing a 5th year to make sure he goes to NY). another thing is that there has to be a presence in the locker room that binds the team together. ignore it as you may, but the team’s cohesiveness does play a part in it’s success.
Delgadp had a career high 162 OPS+, and exceeded his career avg in AVG, OBP, and SLG. That’s my kind of down year.
AS far as Wagner goes, I noted that he wasn’t signed yet, but would be a great pickup. When you have the resources a NY team has, you can afford to overpay. He’s only 34, and coming off of arguably HIS best season as well.
I say again, if you are NY, this is exactly the right way to go about it.
Well, I woke up this afternoon and tried Firefox again and it’s working now. Thanks, guys.