Frayed Knot

btw, obviously a roster move will need to be made .... I assume it'll be a Beltran DL-ing. I don't think he even made the trip to Wisconson.

Rumor has the Yanx sending Scott Proctor to the Dodgers for Wilson Betemit. Yanx originally got Proctor from LA (by dealing Ventura IIRC) and this move clearly signals that they've got some other relief deal up their sleeves; either a MLer or they've committed to bringing up their minor leaguer Chamberlain to fill the hole. Not sure what exactly they'll do with Betemit; stregthen their bench I guess. He was once everyone's favorite SS prospect before Reyes started moving up, but eventually outgrew that position and never really hit enough to snag a full-time job. Another one of those Brave prospects they dealt while he was hot.

LoDuca on Castillo (who he played with in Florida): "One of my favorite teammates ever ... New York's gonna love him" Of course if he really hated his guts I'm sure he'd readily volulteer that info on a 50K-watt radio station

A few other thoughts: * He (theoreticaly at least) improves our 2nd base hitting against LHPs (his L/R stats are virtually identical) although one could argue that a platoon of Easley could have done that too * You hope his slappy-type of hitting was NOT a product of turf fields - although there didn't seem to be much of a change when moving from Fla to Minn

metirish wrote: Do the prospects that Shurholtz trades away ever become the big stars that many tout them to become?. Sometimes, but not as often as their trading partners predict. The strength of the Braves has been not only seeming to find an almost endless supply of young players, but also is usually making the right choices as to which ones to keep and which to deal for more immediate help. - They did give up on a young Jason Schmidt; and dealt Bret Boone too soon for players who were only somewhat useful. But a lot of their prized guys haven't panned out elsewhere: - when Billy Beane dealt away his two big pitchers a couple years back, he got a king's ransom for sending Mulder to StL (Haren and one of the best hitters in the minors) but the booty from Atlanta (6' 6" LHP Dan Meyer) seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. The joke around has been that if Schurholz calls you offering pitching ... HANG UP!

]Question: Would the Braves have been better off trading their top 3 rated prospects for Teixeira, or keeping them and transitioning either McCann or Saltalamacchia to first base? The value of Salatalamacchia is that he's a catcher (some claim his 'D' will never be all that good back there, but that's up to debate I suppose). It's tough to make the case that his bat will EVER be as good as what Teixeira is already. Salty was already playing some 1st (although I wonder why not more often) but with catching blocked in Atlanta - they've already signed McCann to a long-term deal - he becomes more valuable as a trading chip than in keeping him. The SS Andrus is one of those prospects that scouts love for his athleticism and potential, but he's still real raw and young and a ways off even under good circumstances. I don't know anything aobut the two minor league pitchers Atlanta gave up. Remember also that they got a LHP they can use now in return.

I'm on board with this deal despite being against signing him when he was the popular choice among many as a FA 4 years back -- although considering that the alternative was Matsui is wwould have turned out better than the choice we made. Back then I wasn't sold on his lack of power (amazing how many fans like to put down power when evaluating players), his over-rated base-stealing skills, and his general slap-happy hitting style. But getting him then meant committing for 3-4 years and a decent amount of money. Now, it's for 57 games and at the cost of just two semi-prospects. He also fills two holes we currently have: - solid OBP guy in the 2nd hole (.350 - .390 in each of the last 6 seasons) - and a good defensive 2nd sacker The biggest complaint is going to be how Gotay is getting tossed aside after having a great month or more but, even beyond the glove questions, there are signs that the offense isn't going to continue. First there's the non-existant walk rate: 7 in 130+ PAs; and (as someone pointed out somewhere) the almost insane BABiP numbers he's putting up. Not that he's not stinging the ball now and then, but even those who don't fully buy into that theory should be noticing from just casual observation that virtually every ground ball this guy hits has been finding a hole. Eventually that worm's gotta turn, and now Gotay can become a decent threat off the bench and remains a possible option ofr the future. Not turning cartwheels here, but I think we're a better team today than yesterday and the future wasn't damaged to get there.

]I hope I'm wrong, but I suspect that Pedro's dominant days are now a distant memory. Dominant as in Pedro circa 1998-2001? No, we're not going to see that. But, then again, stretches like that come along a handful of times per century. But that doesn't mean he still can't be good - although we may see more of that next season than the remainder of this one.

The Mets already had Torii Hunter, we just called him Mike Cameron at the time.

Day game Thursday

Of course it can also be shorter.

The Rangers' clubhouse man is petitioning the commisioner's office for a reversal of the trade for Saltalamacchia on the grounds that he doesn't have enough A's for the uniform. He is, however, reporting a sudden surplus of E's and I's and is willing to bargain. * Red Rain falling down on me, I'm Wayne Garrett!

Pedro is scheduled to make his first official rehab start at Pt St Lucie on Wednesday. Because this is a real league game it's begins the max allowable 30-day rehab period. So it's T - minus 30 until he'll have to be re-activated.

Well, those picks will depend on what "Class" of FA he qualifies for after the season and whether or not we choose to offer him arbitration.

Wow, a new thread for breaking news ... what a concept!! Castillo is on the final year - an added on option year actually - of a contract that started in 2004. We'd only be responsible for a portion (~35%) of his 2007 salary with no apparent buy-outs or bonuses added on. He'd then be a FA after the season. Recent salary history: 3 years/$16M (2004-06), plus $5.75M 2007 option 2007 option vested 8/06 $2M signing bonus 04:$4M, 05:$4.5M, 06:$5M, 07:$5.75M club option ($0.5M buyout) 2007 option becomes guaranteed with 501 Plate Appearances in 2006 re-signed as a free agent 12/03 1 year/$4.85M (2003), re-signed 12/02 $50,000 incentive for 550 PAs 1 year/$3.325M (2002), avoided arbitration 1 /02 1 year/$2.2M (2001), avoided arbitration agents: Levinson brothers ML service: 9.055 That last figure means he had 9 years + 55 days in the major leagues at the start of this current season.

metirish wrote: The Braves have not had a 1st baseman like this in years,have they? They've really been going with a patch-work at 1st for years now. A mixture of part-timers, platoons, young rookies, and hanging-on vets; many of them not really 1st-basemen by trade: (Franco, Bonilla, Saltalamacchia, Helms) Teixeira def gives them a jolt - for both this year and next - although it's not like he's hitting THAT much better than the guy he was traded for. One interesting side-note about the 21 y/o Salatalamacchia I picked up from the last few days: his 37 year old wife is about to give birth to their 2nd child. She was previously his HS teacher who started a relationship with him when he was 18 .... or so they say.

Maine - 3.0 Reyes - 1.8 Castro - 2.0 Wright - 1.8 Milledge - 0.7 Easley - 0.7

]Derek Jeter is going to get the Rose record Jeter is also ahead of where Rose was at age 33 (Jeter turned 33 a month ago) but so were a lot of players. Rose wasn't even among the top 10 in career hits at that age. What Rose did do was get more hits after turning 32 than anyone is the history of the game, meaning that virtually everyone is going to lose ground as they go on.

Williams has always been a total non-baseball fan and generally shows up to these things strictly for publicity purposes. He once confessed that the significance of that scene he did for 'Good Will Hunting' - the one where his character describes being torn between meeting his date (later his since deceased wife) and attending the Fisk HR game (Gm 6, '75 WS) - had to be explained to him as he had no clue about the event going in or the kind of meaning it would have for a Boston-raised youth. I did hear him say recently that he's starting to get into the sport thru his hometown Giants as he and Crystal were seen at all 3 games when the Yanx were out in San Fran last month.

cooby wrote: If I were Barry, I'd play as long as I could to ward off the inevitable as long as possible. Of course wanting to play and having someone offer to pay you huge amounts of greenbacks to play are two different things. Signs point to the Giants cutting ties after this year and other teams - even one that decides they could use him - aren't as likely to offer him the virtual 'Here Barry, you fill in the amount' type of contract the Giants gave him this past year. It'll be interesting to see if Barry stoops to accept a role-player's deal like Piazza got from Oakland: 1-year/~$4mil, take it or leave it; or is so used to being catered to that he thinks of himself as above stuff like that and opts to stay home.

]Suzyn Waldman ... saw [Jason Tyner] as a Bret Butler type of player. Butler was the best example of what you hoped Tyner could become. Problem was that if he was gong to be successful as a slap-hitting speedster he needed to both get his OBP high and become a good ball-hawking CFer and Tyner never evolved into either. That kind of package w/only mediocre on-base skills won't cut it in a corner position. And what it really points out is that there's a big gap between projecting what kind of player a prospect could become if his development goes well and acting as if getting there is merely a matter of when, not if. Fans often fail to take that into consideration when valuing young players and then act as if they were lied to if and when he doesn't become what they themselves dreamed he'd be.

Cause of death unknown at this time. He was 64 - and had been working as a minor league hitting instructor for the Dodgers.

That sounds about right: 40 per/yr x 7 yrs = 280 and he's ~ 250 away, so depending on how many Barry winds up with. Barry claims he's playing next year but that may not be his choice. Of course ARod has to stay healthy which isn't a given (ask Griffey). He's also ahead of where Pete Rose was for hits at age 32 - but that's mainly because he got an earlier start. He gets fewer hits/yr than Pete so he'll eventually start falling behind the pace on that one.

El Dictator en fuego

Johnny Dickshot wrote: We get caught stealing as a team WAY too much. Still over 80% successful (123 of 153) ... but it does seem like those CSs have been rising lately. Plus pickoffs should really be considered too, but I never see a tally of those. OK, now it's 124 of 154. on edit: make that 125 of 155