Gather the wood. . .time to fire up the Stove!!

[Elster88]

Johnny Dickshot wrote: Vazquez must have been awfully frustrating for MFY fans. He'd pitch lights out for a few innings, then KABOOM. Seemed like he'd give up a 3-run homer in every start he made. Pitchers who consistently cough up the longball make me nervous.

Like Pedro?

[Frayed Knot]

Say what?!?

I didn't realize that a HR every 11.5 innings (19 in 217 IPs) was a lot.

[Elster88]

Oops. I read the numbers wrong. Thanks for the double check, LFK.

[Elster88]

With Wagner gone, the Phillies may look to Flash.

[Willets Point]

Elster88 wrote: With Wagner gone, the Phillies may look to Flash.

Better them than us.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

Edgy DC wrote: Guess he means Julio. Jayson crashes on autopilot.

I dont know if it was him, but one of them refered to Wagner as a dominant righty. I guess they're slipping.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

Phillies make another move, and are involved in a biiiig rumor.

1st, the real stuff:

Free-agent infielder Abraham Nunez and the Phillies agreed Tuesday to a $3.35 million, two-year contract

]A native of the Dominican Republic, Nunez will likely platoon at third with David Bell, who hit just .199 against right-handers last season. Nunez hit .277 against right-handers last year.

Now for the rumor, from none other than Mark Healey and Gotham Baseball:

]http://www.gothambaseball.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1607 The Yankees have been abnormally quiet these past few weeks, but that doesn't mean they haven't been hard at work. Last week's reported interest in Philadelphia's Jason Michaels may have sown the seeds of a blockbuster type of deal that would send Carl Pavano, Eric Duncan and Jorge Posada to the Phillies in exchange for Bobby Abreu and Mike Lieberthal. The Phillies feel Pavano can be inserted right into their rotation, Eric Duncan is their third baseman of the future, and Posada can be an upgrade over Lieberthal. The Yankees, who have begun to shop Gary Sheffield quite actively in hopes of dealing him during the winter meetings, want to add the suddenly very available Abreu to both their lineup and in RF. We'll keep you posted

Does this mean they think Duncan is ready for some point this coming season?

[Frayed Knot]

]Does this mean they think Duncan is ready for some point this coming season?

If they do they're the only ones.
Duncan actually regressed somewhat this past year before having a good AFL. There's also some question about his defense and about whether he'll even be a 3rd baseman in the future or need to move across the diamond.

I don't believe that rumored trade for a second.
Posada has an option for next year that kicks in at a very reachable # of games (90-some games started). IOW, he'll almost certainly be very expensive ($20mil or so) over the next 2 years.
I don't see Philly taking on his $20 and Pavano's $30+ just to get Eric Frickin Duncan. Lieberthal's out after this year (I believe) and Abreu's reasonable.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Such a deal would look good for the Mets, I think.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Eric Duncan & Friend

[Willets Point]

It think the Mets should go hard after Carlos Guillen, Carlos Lee and Carlos Baerga so that they may corner the All-Star Carlos market in MLB.

[Centerfield]

It's almost 3 p.m. How come we haven't signed a player today?

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

They could at least give us a Tike Redman press conference.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I like what Marty Noble is saying today on MLB.com:

]Heilman, Milledge not going anywhere 11/30/2005 11:30 AM ET By Marty Noble / MLB.com NEW YORK -- The Winter Meetings are on the immediate horizon, and the Mets, reveling in the momentum of their recent successes, say they are not done remodeling. That may make those without trade protection or primary roles a bit uneasy, but Aaron Heilman and Lastings Milledge need not be. Indeed, the Mets' second-most valuable reliever and their primary prospect are in position to buy some green bananas. Neither will be changing career paths anytime soon. That became increasingly evident during the Mets' trade negotiations with the Marlins for Carlos Delgado. Heilman and Milledge would have made a more appealing package than Mike Jacobs and Yusmeiro Petit, even though Heilman would have been in position to earn more from the cost-conscious Marlins than Jacobs. As much as general manager Omar Minaya wanted Delgado's left-handed power, he wouldn't deal either. Moreover, the Mets' reluctance to deal Heilman or Milledge was reinforced Tuesday by members of the club hierarchy as they basked in the glow of the team's signing of closer Billy Wagner. One said neither will be involved in a deal that would import Manny Ramirez, making such an acquisition even less likely. And another expressed confidence the Mets could make the trades they need to make without dealing Heilman or Milledge. "There's nothing -- no one -- we have in mind that we think will require us to move either [Heilman or Milledge]," another person said. "We think we can make the moves we want without hurting ourselves at other positions." The club still needs to define its catching assignments and now is more inclined to do so by trade than by signing either of the high-profile, high-priced free agent catchers -- Bengie Molina or Ramon Hernandez. The Mets believe neither would be enough of an acquisition to warrant the projected price tag. They have made offers to each, but the offers were designed to determine what the catchers won't accept. In the unlikely event Molina or Hernandez accept the Mets' offer, the club would be pleased. But the more likely and preferred scenario is to trade for a catcher who will share the assignment with Ramon Castro and put the money not spent on a new backstop toward importing a free agent reliever. The Mets have their eye on Toby Hall of the Devil Rays to share the work with Castro, but the Rays are hesitant about dealing unless Heilman is involved. The value Heilman has to the Mets could decrease if a left-handed reliever were obtained, but probably not to the degree at which the Mets would feel comfortable dealing him. At this point, he is their most effective setup reliever against left-handed hitters. And with Heilman increasing his arm strength as a starter in winter ball, he is, more than ever, the one setup reliever manager Willie Randolph can use in challenging situations without regard for left-handed or right-handed hitting. That would mean fewer pitching changes and less need for relievers to warm up.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I don't think the Mets will deal Milledge either. I mean, I like to think that, but even assuming Omar is a retarded child attracted to big shiny things, which is how most mediots tend to discuss him, he'd have to be especially retarded to move Milledge in a Manny deal now, considering how positive the reports are, how willing the Bosox appear to be, and importantly, how the hell he's ever going to sustain the team financially in the event they do all that and still need something else, which they will.

Not only are Milledge (and Heilman) good and good bets get better, but they're assured of being good and cheap. Trading either now is dumb with a capital J.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

MLB.com: Rangers have offer ready for Dotel

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051201&content_id=1274820&vkey=hotstove2005&fext=.jsp

]The Rangers have an offer out to reliever Octavio Dotel. Dotel was the Oakland A's closer in 2004 and he held that position until he had season-ending Tommy John surgery earlier this year. Dotel was with Houston before Oakland and had developed into one of the game's premier setup men, a role the Rangers would like for him to reprise in 2006 ahead of closer Francisco Cordero. Don Horwits, the agent for Dotel, told the Dallas Morning News that his client is looking for a one-year, incentive-laden deal that would allow Dotel an opportunity to prove himself coming off surgery.

[Centerfield]

Combining a couple of ideas in other threads....

Right now, our 6 through 9 looks like this:

6. Nady
7. LoDuca
8. Matsui
9. Pitcher

Pretty shitty. Assuming LoDuca isn't flipped for Vazquez, he's more or less locked in at catcher. With Castillo now off the table, I'm not sure there's much out there that would significantly improve us over Matsui (plus we'd have to eat his contract anyway). That leaves only RF as a viable option for an offensive upgrade.

I'm not sure this has been discussed yet, but if Philly is looking to deal Abreu (and it's unlikely he'll get traded for Manny), why not talk to them and see who they'd need? I realize it's in the division, and they're actually looking to compete next year unlike Florida, but it would seem the two sides match up fairly decently.

We could offer pitching, such as Benson, and they could take their pick of Diaz or Nady.

[Valadius]

Taking Abreu would probably end up shifting our lineup this way:

1. Reyes
2. Abreu
3. Beltran
4. Delgado
5. Wright
6. Floyd
7. Lo Duca
8. Matsui
9. (Pitcher)

[smg58]

I'd be shocked if the Phillies offer us Abreu, but I'd certainly ask about him.

[Valadius]

Apparently he's being shopped rather vigorously.

[Guest Rotblatt]

I don't mind that 6-8. Nady/Diaz should be good for .800 OPS or over, and Lo Duca should be better than .700. Matsui might suck, but we can carry one black hole in our lineup.

And consider, we had a killer #6-8 last year, mostly because Willie was slow in advancing Wright. Mientkiewicz (.970 OPS), Woody (.875 OPS), Diaz (.884 ops) & Jake (1.248 ops) all beat the shit out of the #7 spot as well:

6. .779 OPS
7. .843 OPS
8. .766 OPS

Our problem was our 1-3, which we've significantly upgraded:

1. .671 OPS
2. .658 OPS
3. .774 OPS

Replacing Cairo with Beltran improves us dramatically, as does replacing Beltran with any of Wright, Floyd or Delgado.

[seawolf17]

]Sosa claims several teams want to sign him SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- Outfielder Sammy Sosa said he's talking with several teams interested in signing him for next season. The Baltimore Orioles said last month they wouldn't bring back Sosa or fellow slugger Rafael Palmeiro, both of whom struggled this past season. Sosa declined to say which teams he's talking to, but said he'll make an announcement about where he'll play sometime after the annual winter baseball meetings, which begin Monday. "We're negotiating with several teams," Sosa said in comments published Sunday in the daily newspaper HOY, in his native Dominican Republic. "We're going to make it a surprise." Some have speculated that Sosa could join the New York Mets, whose general manager, Omar Minaya, signed Sosa to his first professional contract in the 1980s when Minaya was a scout for the Texas Rangers. "Sammy only needs an opportunity to play and show that he's recovered" from nagging injuries that hurt his play this year, Minaya was quoted as saying in the Sunday edition of El Nacional, another Dominican daily. The 37-year-old Sosa came to the Orioles in a February trade with the Chicago Cubs for second baseman Jerry Hairston and two minor leaguers. Sosa was expected to provide the Orioles with a powerful bat in the cleanup spot, but ended up hitting only .221 with 14 homers and 45 RBI in 102 games during an injury-shortened season. Sosa said he's confident of signing with another team and playing well. "I'm at peace because I trust in what I've done in the past. I'm Sammy Sosa and everyone remembers it," Sosa was quoted as saying in HOY.

Yikes.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I think he may have broken Roger Clemens record for the Hall of Famer who generated the most ill will upon leaving the team he's most associated with.

For entries before that, we have to go back to what --- the twenties with Rogers Hornsby? Did bad feelings over his departure linger?

It'll be interesting to see him try and rehab his reputation before his induction speech in 2012 or so.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

Blue Jays closing on Burnett to the tune of 5 years, 55 million
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2248966
Reminding us all that they have a baseball team still. They even won 2 W.S. In a row!

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

When a team in the AL East decides to go for it, I'm happy.

[Centerfield]

As business hours come to a close on Day 2, I have to say, the Mets whirlwind of activity isn't quite as whirlwindy as they said it was going to be...

[Elster88]

Gammons:

]Mets GM Omar Minaya asked Beane about Zito on Tuesday. "He told me he's not moving him," said Minaya.

[MFS62]

M&MD just reported that the A's have allowed the Mets to talk to Zito about a contract extension.

Later

[soupcan]

But Minaya says Beane's not moving him!

Who the crap do you believe?

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

If the Mets have really been granted permission, we'll hear about it. The commissioner's office has to approve of that permission.