Frayed Knot

FOX is reporting that Hanley Ramirez is headed to Boston on a five year deal. If so it's back to where he started - Nine years to the day after he was sent away. Originally signed by Boston as a teenager in 2000, he got 2 ABs for the Sox before being dealt to Florida in the Josh Beckett* deal on Nov 24, 2005. * Beckett plus Mike Lowell and Guillermo Moto, for Ramirez, Jesus Delgado, Harvey Garcia, and Anibal Sanchez. Pretty nice deal for both sides.

In double ex-Met news, the Pirates have traded Ike Davis to Oakland in exchange for some swapping of international bonus money. And to make room for Ike on their roster they released the just picked-up Andrew Brown.

Which would certainly give them the freedom to move one of their current hurlers in order to restock elsewhere. In fact, if they sign him (or Lester) they'd pretty much have to deal one of their incumbents.

On the Nats and the recent departure of LaRoche: that team is the subject of an increasing amount of rumors and they could wind up being surprisingly active this winter for a front-running squad that seemingly has most of their lineup set. Their biggest problem is that they�re looking at a bunch of FAs after 2015, namely the pitching half of their Zimmermann twins, plus starter Doug Fister, reliever Tyler Clippard, SS Ian Desmond, and CF Denard Span. Zimmermann in particular is the subject of a lot of talk and it seems increasingly possible that they'll start the season without either him or Fister and that they�ll listen to offers on Desmond as well. Now one would assume that they�ll need to be blown away on any of these guys and aren�t simply in dump mode. But it is kind of an acknowledgement by them that, after 280 wins over the last three seasons yet not a single playoff round victory to show for it, the window is starting to close on this group (Strasburg & catcher Ramos can go FA the year after next). So they figure that, rather than seeing them turn, Philly-like, into an old-timers convention all at once, it�s better to start re-tooling on the fly even if it means getting rid of players still in their prime while the team is in the midst of riding high. As for what they�d be looking for: a middle infielder (more than one if Desmond goes) ML-ready pitching to replace whatever they�re giving up, plus young catchers and/or OFs for the future.

I don't know if it's a case of [u:1axecs3x]want to[/u:1axecs3x] as much as he's a logical choice to shop so as to shore up things elsewhere, because ... - he's just a year away from FA-gency at which point they'll have the decision to long-term him or let him walk (and at age 31 I don't think he's in their L-T plans) - he hits for average but without a lot of walks and with little HR power - he plays a middle of the field position but doesn't do so very well - his speed isn't bad but he gets dopey running the bases at times - he, more than any other player on the roster, has logical replacements already under contract and either ready to go or at least close to being so: Herrera, Flores, LJ Mazzilli, Eric Young, Matt Reynolds

I wish I could say I had faith in Satin's talent but I never really did. Too many Ks with not enough power and not nearly enough secondary skills to make him worth waiting out - as does the fact that he'll turn 30 in a few weeks.

The Puma is talking about the Mets looking to land a lefty reliever to go along with incumbent Edgin. It may be by trade or via FA but, unlike the SS market which they seem willing to wait out, they'd like to land a reliever quickly like before the end of the winter meetings in early December. His sources eliminate the possibility of Andrew Miller -- who will command multiple years and multiple millions -- but talks about names such as: Phil Coke, Joe Beimel, or Craig Breslow, as well as the possibility of Dana Eveland Version 2.0.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I'll buy you a coke if that MFYs don't sign Ike. On the one hand they already have Teixeira at 1B plus about seven DHs On the other he's not likely to have his pick of starters jobs elsewhere and, given 150 ABs in YSIII, he could mis-hit about 20 balls into HRs

The Chicago White Sox: where Washington Nationals 1st baseman go to grow old. LaRoche, who replaced Adam Dunn in Washington, now succeeds him on the Windy City's south side (although Dunn mostly DH'd). For the ChiSox sake you hope he fares a bit better than Dunn's 3-1/2 seasons worth of: .201/.321/.410 The good news is that, unlike Dunn, at least LaRoche can field. The bad news is that, despite the fact that the one is retiring while the other is still going strong, the two are almost exactly the same age (born just three days apart) meaning that LaRoche will be a full four years older at the time of his first game for Chicago. Zimmerman sliding over to 1B has been the Nats plan all along and now that his injuries & throwing problems have coincided with the rapid emergence of Rendon it all fell into place. It's why they only gave LaRoche a two-year deal plus an option the last time he was up for FA and why they didn't pick up the fairly reasonable option even though he was still playing well. He would have stayed there but the Nats made no effort.

Buzz Capra

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This appears to be Wine Garrote -- aka: Wayne Garrett Not sure how that previous one adds up to Darryl Strawberry

I understand what you are saying about the awards, especially ones voted on by writers. But what I was getting at was that the huge contracts of the past were handed to guys who had amassed considerable accomplishments -- Pujols, and even SkankRod. Stanton is an extraordinary masher, but do you put him at those levels yet? Stanton's makes more sense in a lot of ways than Pujols, or Cano, or ARod (second one anyway) because he's just hitting his prime (theoretically anyway). Doesn't mean it can't still backfire (see: Tulowitski, Troy) but the odds are better. The idea of the Marlins, which struggle to attract fans even in a beautiful new park, devoting $30 million a year to one player just seems odd, especially given the team's history. That's really the big question: whether the Marlins can now afford to put enough players around him to make it all worth while. It'll be easy now when they've got all those young (read: cheap) players [Fernandez, Yelich, Ozuna, etc.) and while Stanton's per/year numbers are still relatively low. Then there's the history where no team wins when one player is eating up more than X% of the total payroll and how high can the Marlins take that payroll? And finally there's doubt about whether the city of Miami will ever be a good pro sports town in this sport or any other.

Inflation in baseball seems to move in fits and starts, sometimes related to the economic world in general but at other times seemingly independent of it. My overall point was that when ARod signed that first deal w/Texas it was paying him ~$25/yr at a time when no one else was getting close to that (I think Manny at $20/per was the leader in the clubhouse at the time) and it took almost all of the first seven years of that deal for the top market to catch up to him to a point where it made opting-out a reasonable gamble; nice timing on Boras's part. Stanton's deal at its signing, though huge in aggregate, is only at a per/yr par with a number of current players rather than 20-some percent ahead of the pack the way Rodriguez's was. So while Ceetar's right in that the raw numbers of years 4-13 look a lot like ARod's initial deal, in a way they're not the same because he's starting out running more or less even with the front of the pack rather than a lap ahead of everyone.

Ceetar wrote: The back 10 is very like A-Rod's except for Stanton being 3 years older. Yeah, except that this contract was done some 13 years later (really more like 16 years since we're talking about the back ten) so you need to factor in the inflation over that time. And besides, it wasn't the original 10-year contract w/ARod that was the problem, it was the second 10-year deal at which point ARod was some seven years older at the time of the signing.

BA's take on the new six. Noah Syndergaard, RHP: A big, physical righty, Syndergaard easily spins mid-90s heat and controls it as well. He also offers a big curveball that can vary in its shape and size, from a mid-70s slurve to a power offering in the low-80s. He threw his mid-80s change more often this year, and scouts project it to be average in the future. He lacks deception, but has all the makings of a monster. Cory Mazzoni, RHP: With knee and lat injuries in the past, the Mets this year saw what they saw in 2011 when they made him a second-round pick. His fastball, which he can locate to both sides, sits between 92-95 mph and is complemented by a solid mid-80s slider and an average splitter. If he can repeat, he�ll fulfill his potential as a backend starter. Gabriel Ynoa, RHP: Binghamton�s Opening Day starter offers impeccable control first and foremost. He uses that to corral an arsenal that includes a 92-94 mph that can touch 96 and features riding life. He maintains his arm speed on a plus changeup and backs it up with a fringy slider. Akeel Morris, RHP: Morris annihilated the competition in the South Atlantic League this year, holding the opposition to a .103 average and fanning more than 14 hitters per nine innings. So, how�d he do it? A deceptive delivery and a lively 92-94 mph fastball are a good start, but the true weapon in is the low-80s changeup that he uses to get his Ks. Hansel Robles, RHP: A second-time addition to the 40-man roster, Robles is a reliever now, which allows his sinking fastball to bump to the mid-90s. He backs the pitch with a slider and changeup, both in the mid-80s and both average offerings at best. Jack Leathersich, LHP: A stocky lefthander, Leathersich brings a max-effort delivery which includes a vault over a stiff front leg and uses it to fire a fastball that sits low-90s and touches the mid-range. He uses a high-70s slider to get his punchouts.

That's six new names. Assuming the BB-Ref list is correct it means that someone has to get dropped.

Just a bit of backloading (more like middle-loading) on Stanton's deal 2015:$6.5M, 2016:$9M, 2017:$14.5M 2018:$25M 2019:$26M 2020:$26M 2021:$29M 2022:$29M 2023:$32M 2024:$32M 2025:$32M 2026:$29M 2027:$25M 2028:$25M club option ($10M buyout)

Midnight tonight is the deadline to add players to the 40-man roster in order to protect them from being drafted in the Rule 5 Draft on Dec. 11. Players 18 or younger when they signed their first pro contracts in 2010, or 19 or older when they signed their pro contracts in 2011 are eligible for this year�s Rule 5 Draft. We're currently sitting at 35 acc to BB-Ref. Basically it's anyone who played on the team last season (including such short-term guys as Dario Alvarez, Wilfredo Tovar, & Eric Goeddel) plus Cesar Puello & Stephen Matz I could probably figure out, given the above conditions, who's in need of being added ... but that sounds like too much work and thinking so I think I'll just watch the day's transactions. Baseball America is following the day's updates

Yeah, good luck with that. Celebrating a tainted achievement for a player that both team mgmt and the fan base hates over a record no one really cares much about is a pretty tall order.

Centerfield wrote: I think he will ultimately unload Colon, but given his salary, we will not get much back. On a one-year deal coming off an, at worst, league average season where he made every start, Colon at $11mil isn't all that overpaid. Yeah he's fat and will soon be 42, but it's a short-term commitment and pitchers who averaged 28 starts and 177 IP per/season with a 3.54 ERA; 1.22 WHiP, 4/1 K/BB ratios over the last four years aren't dime-a-dozen pick-ups on the open market. Even getting 'stuck' with that type of production isn't the worst idea in the world.

Ceetar wrote: I wonder how they treat A-Rod passing Mays? Well, to start with they'll cut him a check for Six Million Dollars - cuz it's in the contract that they have to. Not sure that they'll be much in a celebratory mood after that.

From the previous thread: JCL: MFYs traded Frankie Fistpump (Francisco Cervelli) to the Pirates for LHRP Justin Wilson Gotta like MFY Prez Randy Levine's recitation of "Thank God. Thank God. Thank God" [acc to today's NY Post] in reaction to ARod's deal no longer being the highest in dollar amount in the wake of Giancarlo Stanton's contract with Miami. - Yeah, like that gets you and your guys off the hook for the deal you agreed to with the soon-to-be 40 y/o. - Like the Marlins somehow out-stupid'ed you even though the Stanton deal will end before he hits the age that ARod is already with a contract that still has three years to run. - Like Stanton's signing at age 25 more or less matches matches on a per year basis the one ARod first signed 13 years ago (when MLB revenue's were, what, half what they are now?) and that YOU then doubled-down on Seven Years later somehow indicates an equivalency or even a trumping. - That the multi-million dollar bonuses "for promotional purposes" that you've already paid several times and will have to pay at least one more of in the future for passing various career HR milestones based on the concept that this guy was set to be the new "clean" HR champ who would return the HR record to its 'rightful place' in pinstripes is somehow now less of a bad idea because of the Stanton signing? - And how are those milestone celebrations going anyway, and just what were you thinking while making those deals?: That he really was the clean player in a dirty era simply because he told you so (doubtful since you guys skimmed that topic on Giambi pretty nearly), or did you really buy the story that he did do junk but only right up until the moment he signed with you at which point he gave it up? No, Randy, there's nothing about this Stanton signing that puts you and your gang in an even slightly better light.

Adam LaRoche [35 y/o; .259/.362/.455 in 2014] may be swapping NL East locations as the Marlins appear to be targeting him as their first upgrade in the Stanton-contract era. 33 y/o Garret Jones [.246/.309/.411] did most of the heavy lifting at 1B for Miami this past year.