The smart money goes for Dontrelle. He's gonna make around $7 million next year. Where are we going to get a pitcher who does what he does from the left side for that kind of money? If he is on the market, we've got to move whatever we have to move to get him. Then you use FA dollars on Soriano or Lee. Sign Woody Williams for a couple mill. And then you ask Pettitte back for a reasonable salary. Give him the Clemens option of staying home with the kids on his off days, etc. etc. And see if you can get him signed for about $10 mill. You get Lee for $11 mill. Dontrelle for $7 and Woody for $2. That's pretty good. Roy O Dontrelle Woody Pettitte (righty lefty righty lefty) Sampson (whoever) with Wheeler in the pen. If we have to move Lidge to get Dontrelle, I'm okay with Wheeler. Dontrelle will probably cost us Hirsch. I'm okay with that too. Dontrelle is 24 years old and a big time stud. He would bring out the African-American fan base just like Yao brings out the CHinese fan base. Plus Dontrelle has plenty of "it". Everybody likes to watch him pitch. Very entertaining and very good. What I'm trying to say is he would be a hit at the ticket booth, so Drayton wouldn't have to worry about his long term contract becuase he brings the fans in a similar way to Roger. Then you've got a lineup of: Willy Burke Berkman Lee Ensberg/Huff (if Ensberg traded) Scott Ausmus Everett with Biggio spelling an outfielder and an infielder about 4 days a week. And wouldn't it be nice if that J.R. House could actually get some ABs and spell Ausmus once or twice a week???
He couldn't be 100% more right. If any of the kids had shown a bit of promise this year, the team would be in a much better shape (ie - would only really have to re-sign Pettite to shore up the rotation). But, since Hirsh/Albers/Buchholz are still huge question marks for next year, the team not only has to re-sign Pettite... but go after another veteran pitcher who has a limited injury history, and doesn't give up the long ball. Woody's name is being dropped a ton... but he isn't really all that good anymore (don't buy into his era in petco). Granted, I'd take him if nobody else was available... but if you're going to be interested in him, you might as well take a look at Jeff Suppan, Randy Wolf, Vincente Padilla, Ted Lilly, Miguel Batista, and Jamey Wright.
That morning show is unlistentoable IMHO because of their 13 year old, LZ. JG, when without the bratty, silly, immature partner of his, can actually deliver some decent stuff.
Ted Lilly in MMP? Oh, thay'd have to sell body armor in the Crawford's. Jamey or Jaret Wright? If Jaret (and I know you meant Jamey, but...I wanted to say this he is, IMO, a reincarnation of, a mind and body double of Tim Redding.
justice's source, i would be willing to bet, is gerry fraley, the rangers' beat writer in dallas who has a hard-on for ripping arod. i'd push my salary and bonus into the middle of the table for a full year. fraley hasn't said anything positive about a dallas sports team in roughly 67 years. not surprisingly, he was my favorite writer. and he HATES arod. statistically, arod is bulletproof. this nonsense of him not being clutch is bordering on insane. if i hadn't been in dallas during his tenure there, i'd be driving the arod bandwagon - next stop: world series. but i was there and arod worries me. still no way to explain it.
Well, I don't think it matters anymore... NY is probably not going to trade him, and A-rod doesn't want to be traded (otherwise, that's an admission of "failure"... which hurts his image). Plus, I think Yankees fans are finally starting to realize how its insanely STUPID to think that they're entitled to win the World Series every year because of a $200 million dollar payroll. They understand that winning as many games as they do in the regular season is damn hard... not many teams can guarnatee that sort of success. Also, they understand that PITCHING is the name of the game in the post-season, thus who cares if they have A-rod, or don't have A-rod, or A-rod is batting 8th... if Jaret Weaver is your starter in an elimination game, you have bigger problems than your lineup. If I were the Yankees, I'd forget about Zito and go harder after Jason Schmidt. Zito has gotten roughed up whenver he faced the AL East (albeit, a lot of that was by the Yankees)... and I forsee another big-ticket flop if he went to the big apple. Look for them to be firmly in the Dontrelle sweepstakes as well... Phillip Hughes is the Yankees #1 prospect (solid righty pitcher with a plus arm), and depending on what else the Marlins want, that would be a great starting point.
I would (almost) put $$$ on the fact that A-Rod will open the '07 season in a different uni, probably NL. To assuage his 'failure' he'll force a trade to LA, Cubs or similar IMO. The Houstons of the world may be better fits but lacking the requisite panache.
Soriano just rejected a 5 year 70 million dollar offer from the Nationals. Man, does that bring back flashbacks. (exact same opening offer we gave to Beltran... except the Nats are moving on). Yankees or Red Sox, take your swings... he's yours (and he won't be worth it... not until he puts up better #'s than Berkman, Pujols, or Guerrero). http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/9723454
I would hope the Yankees have finally learned their lesson and focus on pitching...scratch that...let them get Soriano and we can pick up Dontrelle, etc...and hopefully Carlos Lee or somebody else.
They have enough money for both... but if they sign Soriano, it could entice them to trade A-rod, since they will have a pretty crowded infield (assuming Cano or Soriano takes an adventure to handle 3B).
Well now Rijo is denying that he made those statements and is only saying that they had a meeting with Soriano. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/baseball/mlb/10/12/nationals.soriano.ap/ SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) -- Washington Nationals special assistant to the general manager Jose Rijo denied a published report Thursday that he told a radio station that Alfonso Soriano had rejected a $70 million, five-year offer. "We have a meeting with Soriano this week, because we still want him to be on the team," Rijo told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. Rijo denied telling radio station 91.9 FM, based in San Cristobal, that the Nationals would not be able to sign Soriano for economic reasons. Thursday editions of the Dominican newspaper Listin Diario quoted Rijo as telling 91.9 FM: "It's almost impossible this great player will stay on our payroll." I really hope we can get Soriano, even if we have to overpay him. He's not like Beltre and Drew who have only shown flashes or had one solid season, he's been consistant and improving. I picture him hitting behind Berkman forming the most awesome duo in the NL. Think of Papi and Manny, except both of these guys can play their positions fairly well. If Soriano is hitting 4th, I fully expect to see him getting at least 120 RBIs. Of course, we need guys who can get on hitting in front of them, so I think Luke Scott needs to hit in the 2 hole.
I disagree that Soriano isnt a Berkman type offensive force. Berkman hit 315 to Sori's 277....clearly we know that sori K's plenty and his average will always be like a Beltran-like number.270-290. (career #'s are a bit closer...280 vs 304) Sori actually outhomered Berkman...and Sori plays in a VERY pitcher friendly park. RBIS are 136-95 in favor of lance...but 95 is pretty darn good for a guy who hit leadoff most of the year. The runs are 119-95 in favor or sori...which makes sense because of where they bat...but overall, the rbi's and r's are a wash sb's are obviously going to favor sori obp favors lance pretty heavily All in all....I dont think you could say its crazy that a guy who puts up the numbers that Sori does isnt worth 15-17 per year given what the market is demanding these days. I certainly think that its a much better bang for the buck to give Sori 15-17 than it is to give Lee 11-12.
Additioanlly....in response to what Nick was saying as far as ...until he puts up berkman, pujols etc type #s....i thikn we are talkking about a completely different type of player here. This is a guy who gives us the power than a berkman does and mixes in the baserunning of a Willie t/Pierre....him being on base in front of Lance would result in some serious offesnse and could actually make Lance even better. not to mention....wasnt he is the top 3 or so for OF assists?
From what I can see... if you're one of the best FA's available, no matter what your individual skills, those guys seem "entitled" to get the $15-17 million dollar per year contract, whether or not they're actually worth it. Soriano may be a special case... he's young, he's got power, and he's got speed. But I still don't think he was as valuable as Lance or Pujols was last year... and looking at those guys' contracts, they seem like absolute bargains. I understand that you have to overpay sometimes... I just wish that most teams would pay guys who are actually going to put up even BIGGER numbers after the contract as beein signed (like Lance, Albert, Vladimir, and Big Papi did), or offer larger incentive-based deals that ensure that said player is going to continue to make efforts to improve every year. We already know Lee isn't worth the $15 million he wants... and we already know that Soriano is going to get his money from somebody... but I just don't think the Astros would get him unless they offered 2-3 million more per year than the big teams do (unless, for some reason, he really really likes taco cabana).
