Furcal wants $50 mil - should Stro's do it?

[madmax11]

Link to ESPN article (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2221393)

$10 million a year seems a fair price. I was a bit surprised how few homers this guy hits though - only about 12 a year, hardly a massive upgrade on Adam.

Seems like a lot of good teams are interested, hard to see him picking the Astros even if we were interested.

[sums41]

We got our own Furcal, his name is Adam Everett and he costs less and plays better defense, i think.

[arkoe]

Noooooo.

[Hakeem06]

uhhhhhhhh..... HELL NO!!!! did you see him in the playoffs?? he was atlanta's version of adam everett. why go sign another adam everett for like 10x the price....doesn't make sense.

[Uprising]

no thanks. We have our own SS who can play D, but has no O.

[russian88]

Hell no. He's adam everett plus some pop. Give that money to Konerko.

[The Cat]

I agree his play doesn't warrant $50 mil given our budget, but Everett and Furcal are only comparable in the sense that both are shortstops that play above average defense. After that, there's no comparison. Furcal's a legitimate top-of-the-order threat for a great offense with an average OBP of .349 over the last three seasons. By comparison, Everett's OBP in that timespan barely averages over .305 and he was at .290 last season. That's awful. Adam is a .700 OPS player, at most (worse last year)... while Furcal averaged about a .775 OPS his last three seasons, significantly above average offensive numbers for a shortstop.

Everett had a good season by his standards with 21 steals last year... Furcal more than doubled it with 46. And for those of you who like contact hitters (I know that's a lot of you from the days of Adam Dunn debates), Everett struck out 103 times in 549 at-bats... Furcal 78 in 616.

I don't like Furcal for the price he's asking either, but let's not be silly. Comparing Everett to Furcal would be the equivalent of a Cards fan comparing Reggie Sanders to Lance Berkman.

[Hakeem06]

okay so we add another willy taveras......what's the point???? for $50 mil. we could get something we actually need, like a bat with power and RBI potential, not another leadoff hitter, we essentially have 2 or 3 already, why 4?

[The Cat]

okay so we add another willy taveras......what's the point???? for $50 mil. we could get something we actually need, like a bat with power and RBI potential, not another leadoff hitter, we essentially have 2 or 3 already, why 4?

Furcal steals more than Willy, has a higher OBP than Willy and hits more homers than Willy. He's a stud leadoff hitter, unlike Taveras, Everett or anyone else on our roster.

With that said, I do agree with you... I'd rather spend $50 mil on a true power hitter such as Giles or Konerko. All I'm doing is clarifying that Furcal is in a totally different league than Everett or Taveras... I didn't mean to suggest that we should meet his asking price. You're right - there are better ways to use that money.

[Kerfeld]

Hell no. He's adam everett plus some pop. Give that money to Konerko.

what are we going to do with a third first baseman?

[RocketFan85]

I would do it. I think that is a good deal for Furcal. He could play 2B and Burke and Biggio play OF. Furcal will give you .275 batting avg, 40 steals, 10 HR, 10 triples, 35 doubles etc. Him and Willy T would be scray at the top of the lineup. Both can get on base, both can steal. Hell yeah I would sign Furcal.

[Xenon]

Furcal would be an upgrade offensively over Taveras and especially Everett, but he is not worth 10 mil a year. Let someone else overpay for him. Btw, you guys can't be serious when you say Everett is as good as Furcal can you? People seriously overrate Adam Everett here. He's basically a scrub with good range.

[apostolic3]

Beltran's agent was asking for $200MM before settling for $119MM from the Mets. What a steal (for Beltran). I like Furcal a lot. If another team is dumb enough to give him $10MM/year too bad. If his price turns out to be reasonable we MUST go after him. Offense at SS is the easiest way for us to improve our lineup. I will be very disappointed if Adam Everett starts next year.

[bottlerocket]

Furcal is the best SS on the market right now, but I wouldn't $50 mill on his him.

[leroy420]

I would do it. I think that is a good deal for Furcal. He could play 2B and Burke and Biggio play OF. Furcal will give you .275 batting avg, 40 steals, 10 HR, 10 triples, 35 doubles etc. Him and Willy T would be scray at the top of the lineup. Both can get on base, both can steal. Hell yeah I would sign Furcal.

You're not serious. Biggio, Taveras and Burke in the outfield? The idea this offseason is to get MORE pop in the outfield, not less. You want to add another light hitting player in addition to Everett & Taveras?

We don't need Furcal. Spend the money elsewhere.

[OldManBernie]

I say we go after Garciaparra if the price is right and he's willing settle for a 1 or 2 year deal. Even if he does get hurt, Everett is not a bad insurance policy.

[Jturbofuel]

We have no chance at Furcal unless we play on keeping a keg on ice in the locker room. ;)

[MadMax]

VOTE CHRIS BURKE FOR SHORTSTOP!

[RocketFan85]

You're not serious. Biggio, Taveras and Burke in the outfield? The idea this offseason is to get MORE pop in the outfield, not less. You want to add another light hitting player in addition to Everett & Taveras?

We don't need Furcal. Spend the money elsewhere.

I'm not saying at the same time. Biggio is 40 years old and him and Burke could split time in the OF. Anyway screw power hitter, speed kills.

[madmax11]

VOTE CHRIS BURKE FOR SHORTSTOP!

I'd certainly like to know if he's capable.

[TMac640]

sign manny, problem solved

-God.

[DVauthrin]

VOTE CHRIS BURKE FOR SHORTSTOP!

Chris Burke is not a shortstop, and will not be taking over as the Astros SS anytime soon. Some of you misunderstood Tim Purpura's comments: He was saying Burke would be an emergency SS, not a full time starter. He said the words in case of injury. In fact, it's highly debatable whether Burke would be a major offensive upgrade, and he is an obvious defensive downgrade.

Some of you really don't know what the Astros have defensively with Everett, and Bruntlett would probably be next in line at short behind AE if he was hurt. Everett is a gold glover folks. Yes, a gold glove caliber SS, and his range factor bears it out, not to mention the comments from his peers in the Astros organization over the years. I'd be happy to find them for you if you like. The astros had a better hitting SS a few years ago, with less emphasis on defense, his name was Julio Lugo. And guess what, in the 2001 NLDS his defense cost the Astros in more than one game, and his offense didn't come close to making up for it.

Finally, I like furcal as a player, but no way do I spend 10 mil a year on him. It's foolish. He's not worth it, sorry. Not when I have a shortstop like Adam Everett on my team already, about 8-9 mil cheaper.

[MadMax]

Dvauthrin --

1. i seriously can't believe that Chris Burke can't play SS. that he doesn't have the arm or the range for it. i saw him make throws from LF that have me convinced he could certainly play SS. the throw from SS to first is no different in college than it is in pro. they don't play with a heavier ball. the runners aren't decidedly faster. if it's a range thing with burke, then that's fine. but it's never been sold that way.

2. i understand exactly what we have in adam everett. and i don't want to turn this into an everett bashing thing, because i really like the guy. but in a lineup that includes brad ausmus, having everett at SS is a liability. if you're looking on this team and you want to improve offense, SS is the hole. honestly, it may be the ONLY position on the team where they're realistically going to upgrade at the plate, assuming that ausmus is coming back. on another team, a guy like everett would be more valuable than he is here. but when your lineup is like ours...well..you can't afford adam everett. you don't have enough lumber elsewhere to give up a position like that...particularly if there are other options.

[DVauthrin]

Dvauthrin --

1. i seriously can't believe that Chris Burke can't play SS. that he doesn't have the arm or the range for it. i saw him make throws from LF that have me convinced he could certainly play SS. the throw from SS to first is no different in college than it is in pro. they don't play with a heavier ball. the runners aren't decidedly faster. if it's a range thing with burke, then that's fine. but it's never been sold that way.

2. i understand exactly what we have in adam everett. and i don't want to turn this into an everett bashing thing, because i really like the guy. but in a lineup that includes brad ausmus, having everett at SS is a liability. if you're looking on this team and you want to improve offense, SS is the hole. honestly, it may be the ONLY position on the team where they're realistically going to upgrade at the plate, assuming that ausmus is coming back. on another team, a guy like everett would be more valuable than he is here. but when your lineup is like ours...well..you can't afford adam everett. you don't have enough lumber elsewhere to give up a position like that...particularly if there are other options.


1. Max, Burke was drafted as a shortstop and for his bat. However, he was moved to 2B in the minors because he couldn't play the position. In fact, one of the astros scouts practically was fired because the Astros drafted him thinking he could play short, and he couldn't and the organization higherups were ticked. It's not changing now. If he could be a full time SS, they wouldn't have moved him 2-3 years ago in the minors.

2. Everett is the least of the astros offensive problems. In fact, it's the second to last spot on the team I'd look to improve offensively(out of the logical spots). I've said this many times before, if you desire to improve the offense you must find somebody to fill jeff bagwell's spot in the order. That is the spot that killed this team all year. Not Adam Everett. In fact to take it a step further, Jason Lane's inconsistency was the 2nd biggest cause for the offensive struggles. Those are the spots the Astros need to consider upgrading first, because you expect offense from 1B/RF, not the same out of SS. Furthermore, you aren't exactly enhancing the offense enough by moving Taveras into the 7th hole, and I don't think the organization desires to do that, which is why Furcal is a no go before price considerations.

Secondly, a lot of people on this board seem to think Adam Everett is just above average defensively, as illustrated by a recent discussion, which is why I mentioned that.

[The Cat]

2. Everett is the least of the astros offensive problems. In fact, it's the second to last spot on the team I'd look to improve offensively(out of the logical spots). I've said this many times before, if you desire to improve the offense you must find somebody to fill jeff bagwell's spot in the order.

I completely agree. The Astros, however, aren't going to do that. Because of his name and because of his history, if Bagwell wants to play (and all indications are that he does), he'll be batting third and playing first base next April. I'd love to improve 1B/RF, but I'm trying to think within the confines of reality, which tells me that there's no chance the Astros make a significant move at one of those positions. In my ideal world, I'd improve the team elsewhere and let Everett and his glove stay... but the Astros are a very loyal organization and the other names are too big to expect much of a change, in my opinion. Everett's one of the only logical places this team can go for an offensive upgrade.

[leroy420]

I'd certainly like to know if he's capable.

There were scouts that got fired because they sold Burke to Hunsicker as the future shortstop. It became very clear from the beginning that he was no shortstop. They quickly moved him to 2nd. He doesn't have the arm for SS. Imagine all of the close plays that Everett got with his arm going the other way.

[Hakeem06]

cat....willy and biggio are good enough at the top of the lineup because they do get on base. we don't need another player who plays the same kind of game that they do. we need power and another rbi man. $50 mil could be spent much better elsewhere.

furcal is a very good player but not worth that amount of money, and anyone who pays him $10 mil, should be fired. that's WAY too much for someone who just isn't at that level.

[The Cat]

cat....willy and biggio are good enough at the top of the lineup because they do get on base. we don't need another player who plays the same kind of game that they do. we need power and another rbi man. $50 mil could be spent much better elsewhere.

furcal is a very good player but not worth that amount of money, and anyone who pays him $10 mil, should be fired. that's WAY too much for someone who just isn't at that level.

It's the going rate for shortstops. Renteria got almost $10 mil per last season and Orlando Cabrera got $8 mil per last season. Furcal's better and younger than both of them. Even Cristian Guzman got in the $5 mil range. At a premium position like shortstop, getting a player with the consistent offensive production of Furcal is worth close to $10 mil in the current market. If you're going to fire someone for giving Furcal $10 mil, there are a whole lot of other GMs who should be fired too.

Also, while Willy and Biggio are at least average at getting on base, Furcal has a considerably higher OBP than both.

[bobrek]

cat....willy and biggio are good enough at the top of the lineup because they do get on base...

Actually they don't compared to the rest of the league. Of the 66 players that qualified, Taveras and Biggio were 53rd and 54th (Lane was 59th and Everett was last)

[Hakeem06]

people are paying WAY TOO much for these shortstops...during the season furcal was very good. yes he had a better OBP than taveras and biggio. let's look at the postseason stats however...when it really counts.

Furcal:
2005 Postseason stats
.261 OBP, .150 BA

Career Postseason
.324 OBP, .232 BA


Taveras:
2005 Postseason
.404 OBP, .349 BA

[The Cat]

people are paying WAY TOO much for these shortstops...during the season furcal was very good. yes he had a better OBP than taveras and biggio. let's look at the postseason stats however...when it really counts.

Furcal:
2005 Postseason stats
.261 OBP, .150 BA

Career Postseason
.324 OBP, .232 BA


Taveras:
2005 Postseason
.404 OBP, .349 BA

three words: small. sample. size.

Until 2002, people associated Barry Bonds with postseason choker. The reality, of course, was far from it. But when you're dealing with sample sizes of between 4 and 14 games, you have the potential to come up with incredibly skewed statistics. See Beltran, Carlos.

[Hakeem06]

call it a small sample size, hell call it whatever you want. but the stats don't lie. furcal had one excellent postseason in 2004, but his other postseason outputs have been average. as much as i like barry bonds, he underacheived big time in the postseason minus his monster 2002 postseason. he still is a career .245 postseason hitter. these stats do mean a lot despite the small sample size. in the postseason every at bat counts and how players perform under pressure means a lot. furcal has been average under pressure in the playoffs. willy t was excellent in his rookie season. all i'm trying to say is, why in the hell should the astros open the bank for something that we don't need??? we could spend $50 mil. somewhere else like giles or konerko.

[MadMax]

There were scouts that got fired because they sold Burke to Hunsicker as the future shortstop. It became very clear from the beginning that he was no shortstop. They quickly moved him to 2nd. He doesn't have the arm for SS. Imagine all of the close plays that Everett got with his arm going the other way.

and i still don't buy it. i've seen his arm...FROM THE OUTFIELD. he may not have the strongest gun of any SS in the league. but i have a hard time believing that Chris Burke's arm is sooo considerably weaker than Adam Everett's that he can't field that position. having seen him play a considerable amount of time, i just can't get there. and i think purpura was saying the same the other day on the radio.

and what Cat said is right. sure, you'd love to see them upgrade Bagwell's spot in the order. tell Bagwell to retire...ask him to consider a buyout. but it's why i said the SS position is the only one "realistically" that can be upgraded. of course that assumes that Ausmus is back with us next season. otherwise...i'm not sure you'd get more offensive bang for your buck upgrading anywhere but SS. and i don't think it takes Furcal to do that.

[The Cat]

Postseason statistics may not lie... but they're close to irrelevant in determining a player's worth. You cannot accurately determine how a player "plays under pressure" in a span of 4-14 games. You can't even accurately determine how a player "plays under pressure" in a span of 50 or so games. Baseball's a sport where players routinely have fluke seasons - remember Brady Anderson's 50 home runs, for example - and those are usually 600 or so at-bats. In these playoffs, Furcal didn't even have 20. You can weight stats however you like, but the reality is that most executives don't begin to consider that in their evaluations... save for the Mets, of course. ;)

But for everything else, I agree. Our need for power is even more glaring than our need for OBP and speed, imo, so if we're going to spend $50 mil, I'd rather go after a power hitter too. For what it's worth, though, Konerko was a .000 hitter with a .100 OPS in the playoffs before this season.

[Hakeem06]

now konerko you could argue for a small sample size before this postseason...9 at bats. Furcal has had 95 postseason at bats, and Taveras has had 43. big differnce. but at least we agree that we'd be morons to waste money on furcal when we really need a guy like konerko (i like brian giles a lot too).

[Ric]

and i still don't buy it. i've seen his arm...FROM THE OUTFIELD.
throwing from the outfield and deep short are apples and oranges. i'm not saying burke can't play SS, but that what he does in the OF is irrelevant in making that determination.

i have a hard time believing that Chris Burke's arm is sooo considerably weaker than Adam Everett's that he can't field that position.
AE has a gun. i don;t know if there are 5 SS in baseball who could have turned the DP he did in game 4 of the cardinal series.

[NJRocket]

My guess is that we could get Nomar a bit cheaper...and he would help us in the rbi/HR category

[DaDakota]

My guess is that we could get Nomar a bit cheaper...and he would help us in the rbi/HR category


Not to mention taking a bat away from the Scrubs.

DD

[NJRocket]

Not to mention taking a bat away from the Scrubs.

DD

True...but the Cubs have made it pretty well known (even to nomar) that they are going to try and do whatever it takes to land Furcal....granted, I think Nomar is a better bat, but they will get the leadoff hitter they have been missing

[NJRocket]

throwing from the outfield and deep short are apples and oranges. i'm not saying burke can't play SS, but that what he does in the OF is irrelevant in making that determination.


.

he's right about this......when you throw from the OF, especially when there is a tag up play, you can almost get a running start and use a skip/hop to put everything you have into the throw....whereas at SS, especially plays in the hole, you are throwing a lot of the time off of your back foot...or even on a shot up the middle where you are throwing off balance....totally different types of throws

[msn]

he's right about this......when you throw from the OF, especially when there is a tag up play, you can almost get a running start and use a skip/hop to put everything you have into the throw....whereas at SS, especially plays in the hole, you are throwing a lot of the time off of your back foot...or even on a shot up the middle where you are throwing off balance....totally different types of throws
I agree--I said the same thing last month.

[MadMax]

he's right about this......when you throw from the OF, especially when there is a tag up play, you can almost get a running start and use a skip/hop to put everything you have into the throw....whereas at SS, especially plays in the hole, you are throwing a lot of the time off of your back foot...or even on a shot up the middle where you are throwing off balance....totally different types of throws

i'm totally aware of that difference. i'm not saying every LF could go in and be a SS. not saying that at all. i'm saying i saw burke make throws that make me believe his arm isn't nearly the issue that it was made to be earlier. from what purpura said, apparently he saw the same thing.

[Ric]

i'm totally aware of that difference. i'm not saying every LF could go in and be a SS. not saying that at all. i'm saying i saw burke make throws that make me believe his arm isn't nearly the issue that it was made to be earlier. from what purpura said, apparently he saw the same thing.
you saw him range far to his right, stop a lined shot and toss a rocket across the baseball field to nab a speedy leadoff guy while he was playing LF?

i don't know what pupura said, or what it is he's seen, but if the guy could play SS... he'd be playing SS. they would have given him extensive looks. to think he can no,w all of sudden, seems like a pipedream, like those long ago "bagwell back to third" machinations.

hope i'm wrong - i think burke needs to play everyday and preferably in the INF.

[MadMax]

you saw him range far to his right, stop a lined shot and toss a rocket across the baseball field to nab a speedy leadoff guy while he was playing LF?

i don't know what pupura said, or what it is he's seen, but if the guy could play SS... he'd be playing SS. they would have given him extensive looks. to think he can no,w all of sudden, seems like a pipedream, like those long ago "bagwell back to third" machinations.

hope i'm wrong - i think burke needs to play everyday and preferably in the INF.

ric -- what you're saying is that nothing ever changes. or that scouts never get it wrong the first time. those are the assumptions in your post. If craig biggio could play 2B, he would be doing so by now. but he's a catcher.

i haven't seen burke play SS. no, i haven't. he was an all-american at Tennessee playing SS, though. a decision was made very early in his pro career to track him to 2B. there was no room at the inn, so he became a leftfielder. i'm saying it's worth giving him a harder look at SS. purpura said he saw some things from burke in long toss and playing LF that lead him to believe he could come in and play SS if need be. the sole issue has been arm. i've never heard anyone say burke doesn't have the range for SS...merely that he doesn't have the arm for it.

there is a HUGE difference between what i'm saying and the "bagwell to 3rd" stuff. HUGE difference.

[Ric]

ric -- what you're saying is that nothing ever changes. or that scouts never get it wrong the first time. those are the assumptions in your post. If craig biggio could play 2B, he would be doing so by now. but he's a catcher.
not really. what i AM saying is that there's never been any question about his bat, so knowing he was likely blocked at 2nd, if they thought he could play SS, they would have given him a look. same goes for 3rd base, the outfield, catcher.... if they haven't and just amde 4-year old assumptions, then they've failed in his developement. but bringing up biggio (and me bagwell) is relevant in that this team has always been creative about getting great players into the line-up. so why do they have no working knowledge of what else burke could do? especially last year when AE was hurt?

purpura said he saw some things from burke in long toss and playing LF that lead him to believe he could come in and play SS if need be.
what did TP actually say, because there's a tremendous difference between playing SS in a pinch and playing it everyday. he could probably do it once a month, sure.

the sole issue has been arm. i've never heard anyone say burke doesn't have the range for SS...merely that he doesn't have the arm for it.
i understand that. and throwing the ball from the OF isn't relevant to your ability to gun a guy down from deep short. or throw a ball running at a different angle to the bag. or throw from your knees. or while being upended.

it's just night and day and i don't understand what you or TP saw that would make you think he could play SS on a daily basis. please elaborate.

[Major]

not really. what i AM saying is that there's never been any question about his bat, so knowing he was likely blocked at 2nd, if they thought he could play SS,

Except maybe they were simply more concerned about replacing Biggio. Up until last year, the expectation was that Biggio would be done by now, and that 2B would be open. They also had Everett as their SS of the future.

Maybe now they are re-evaluating both of those thoughts.

[Ric]

Except maybe they were simply more concerned about replacing Biggio. Up until last year, the expectation was that Biggio would be done by now, and that 2B would be open. They also had Everett as their SS of the future.

Maybe now they are re-evaluating both of those thoughts.
valid point. but again, all i'm really asking MM is to tell us what he's seen in burke from LF that would lead him to believe he could play SS on a regular basis, considering the positions are so radically different.

[MadMax]

valid point. but again, all i'm really asking MM is to tell us what he's seen in burke from LF that would lead him to believe he could play SS on a regular basis, considering the positions are so radically different.

i didn't see anything. forget it.

[rezdawg]

I have nothing useful to add to this conversation other than the fact that I hope A.E. isnt in the lineup next year. Even if that means that Im playing SS.

Everett sucks. Like Beltran.

[MadMax]

i didn't see anything. forget it.

Wait, I DID see something!

http://houston.astros.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051121&content_id=1271020&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&c_id=hou


11/21/2005 1:43 PM ET
Astros mailbag: Offseason musings
Beat writer Alyson Footer answers fans' questions
By Alyson Footer / MLB.com

If the Astros were to trade Adam Everett (which I think would be a mistake) would they consider moving Chris Burke to shortstop? Do you think that he could play short on a daily basis? -- Jon H., Spanish Fork, Utah
I've heard varying stories on that subject, but it's my understanding that Burke can indeed play short. He was a shortstop in college, but once he began his pro career, the Astros felt his arm was better suited to play second base. That said, they also believe his experience making throws from left field this year helped his arm strength.

If Everett were to be dealt, and I have no factual evidence to believe that they're shopping him, Burke would be an option to take over at short. But I think they'd rather see him back in left.

[Mr. Brightside]

Furc yes.

[yaopao]

people are paying WAY TOO much for these shortstops...during the season furcal was very good. yes he had a better OBP than taveras and biggio. let's look at the postseason stats however...when it really counts.

Furcal:
2005 Postseason stats
.261 OBP, .150 BA

Career Postseason
.324 OBP, .232 BA


Taveras:
2005 Postseason
.404 OBP, .349 BA

If you think Taveras will have a .405 OBP next season, you are higher than a kite.

Taveras needs to have a good full season of getting on base for me to think much of him.

[plee]

[QUOTE=MadMax]Dvauthrin --

1. i seriously can't believe that Chris Burke can't play SS. that he doesn't have the arm or the range for it. i saw him make throws from LF that have me convinced he could certainly play SS. the throw from SS to first is no different in college than it is in pro. they don't play with a heavier ball. the runners aren't decidedly faster. if it's a range thing with burke, then that's fine. but it's never been sold that way.
QUOTE]

Agreed, you know if you don't have a arm for SS what makes you think you can then play the outfield with that arm :rolleyes:

[desihooper]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2241012

The race is down to the Braves, Cubs, and Dodgers.

Looks like AE stays at SS for the time being... although there could be an opening Atlanta shortly ;)

[Rule0001]

In all this talk for a SS, what could possibly be wrong with getting Nomar?

It ain't like he's demanding $50g's

[Hakeem06]

If you think Taveras will have a .405 OBP next season, you are higher than a kite.

i wasn't talking about a full season, i was talking about the playoffs. he was great during the playoffs and i think that will help in his confidence and work towards this next season. he had a very good rookie season and i think he'll get even better next year. i'd rather keep him for cheap in center than bring in furcal for a ton of money and similar batting skills.

[OldManBernie]

In all this talk for a SS, what could possibly be wrong with getting Nomar?

It ain't like he's demanding $50g's

agreed, he'd be a good signing as long as it's short term and little money.

[Hakeem06]

except when you sign nomar you either have the joy of watching 1/2 hour at bats with him adjusting his batting gloves after every pitch, or him sitting on the bench blowing kisses to mia hamm out with an injury. i dont' like either option.

[toby]

i'd go to a game at mmp just to see mia hamm across the aisle. That alone would be the best reason for signing Nomar. Get R' Done!

[Xenon]

The Dodgers have offered Furcal 3/39 million. Thats 13 mil per year. Those guys are nuts.

http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051201&content_id=1275064&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl

[TMac640]

The Dodgers have offered Furcal 3/39 million. Thats 13 mil per year. Those guys are nuts.

http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051201&content_id=1275064&vkey=news_atl&fext=.jsp&c_id=atl

I say we top it and offer him more.

a brilliant move it'd be.

[Stevierebel]

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5137486



The Dodgers, making their first major move under new general manager Ned Colletti, have signed free-agent shortstop Rafael Furcal to a three-year contract worth nearly $40 million, FOXSports.com has confirmed.

The deal, first reported by the Los Angeles Times, will enable the Dodgers to move shortstop Cesar Izturis to second base when he returns from elbow-ligament transplant surgery in July. Second baseman Jeff Kent likely will move to first.
The Dodgers outbid both the Cubs and Braves for Furcal. Both those clubs are now expected to pursue Devil Rays shortstop Julio Lugo in a trade. The Braves, who lost their closer, Kyle Farnsworth, to the Yankees earlier this week, also will seek to add bullpen help.

Furcal, 28, will be the game's second-highest paid shortstop, behind only the Yankees' Derek Jeter. He will be a free agent again at 31.

[Hakeem06]

the dodgers are crazy...13 mil.???? don't get me wrong he is very good, but 13 mil. better get me somebody GREAT.

[MadMax]

good news if you ask me. i was hoping the cubs wouldn't be able to get him. they're pursuing juan pierre as well....hope that doesn't work out for them, either.

[bottlerocket]

Sign Nomar. Even a hobbled Nomar is better that Everett.

[JaWindex]

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060109&content_id=1293221&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

LOS ANGELES -- Rafael Furcal, signed to a $39 million contract a month ago to be the Dodgers' new shortstop and leadoff hitter, will undergo arthroscopic right knee surgery Wednesday.

Furcal, 28, will have a slight tear in the medial cartilage near the back of the knee repaired at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Center. It is the first known knee surgery for Furcal, who is coming off a career-high 46 stolen bases in 2005 and was acquired primarily to put his running speed and scoring ability atop the batting order.

General manager Ned Colletti said this is a "cleanup" procedure and "by Spring Training he will be ready for full activity."

Colletti said the condition was revealed in a physical examination taken before Furcal's contract was finalized, but he was "asymptomatic" at the time. The knee was drained several times last season and it flared up during increased recent workouts.

"We decided to do it early rather than late," said Colletti. "He probably could have gotten through the season with it."

Revelation of Furcal's surgery comes after the Dodgers recently announced that second baseman Jeff Kent, Furcal's new double-play partner, would undergo surgery Tuesday on his right wrist to remove scar tissue. Kent is expected to be healed by the second week of March, missing the first two weeks of Spring Training.

One of the attractions of Furcal to the Dodgers has been his durability. He played in 154 games in 2005 and has played in at least 143 games each of the past four years. He was limited to 79 games in 2001 when he dislocated his left shoulder trying to steal a base.