Frayed Knot

"[it's] bittersweet ... I'm so close to Cliff, it won't feel right without him. He and I have text-messaged a few times. Not about baseball. I guess he had an idea this could happen. That doesn't make it easy. We have such a special bond. I hate to see him go." "Bringing in Moises is great for the team. He's such a good hitter and clutch player. He's a class act. And I know we struggled against left-handed pitching at times, so he's just what we needed. I just wish there was room for him and Cliff." -- D. Wright "I have always understood the business, and when you understand the busineess, it's easier to digest things like this," said Floyd. "I understand. I am very happy they got what they wanted. I'll move on like they'll move on. But I'll miss the people. I'll miss D-Wright." -- C. Floyd

I remember an article on Felipe (I think it was in SI a bunch of years back) which featured an Alou family tree as a sidebar. As I recall it was pretty convoluted, complicated by the fact that papa Felipe was married about 3 times and produced offspring both within and outside those marriages. So yeah, Mel is a cousin, I'm just not so sure it's as simple as your usual first-cousins who share a single set of grandparents type.

I had almost forgotten that Moises will be the 2nd in his family to be a Met -- 3rd actually cuz there's some sort of convoluted relation between him and ... Mel Rojas. In any case, he doesn't have to do too much to out-perform either "cousin" Mel or uncle Jesus

If they don't re-sign Glavine I doubt they'll offer him arbitration either.

Coupla nuggets from a Chcago Tribune piece: When the Cubs celebrate the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field in 2014, Alfonso Soriano should be entering the final year of his $136 million contract. Yes, but what are the odds that he'll still be in a Cubs uniform at that point? ... 30% ... 20% ... ?? ... as the Cubs leapfrogged the Angels, Phillies and Astros before a major bidding war erupted. Oh good thing that war was averted, otherwise the numbers might have gotten like real high and stuff

The new agreement; - eliminates 'Type C' FAs so there's no compensation due there - limits the amount of 'Type A' & 'Type B' FAs by tweaking the pcts to qualify. - changes the compensation for 'Type B' players signed Type A used to mean in the top 30% at a position but now is for those in the top 20%. The compensation doesn't change: 1st (or 2nd) round draft pick plus a supplemental Type B moves from the 31-50% range to 21-40% and now nets only a supplemental pick, no direct picks from the signing team P.S. The classification changes start next year, while the compensation changes begin with this off-season.

Well they - both the MTA & the LIRR - can't very well call it the Shea Stadium stop anymore. So they'll either have to start referring to it as 'Citi Field' (and they don't want to do that for free) or they'll have to revert to calling it just the 'Willets Point' station (at which point some guy here tries to finagle a kickback out of it). Then maybe Billie Jean King and the estates of Arthur Ashe & Louie Armstrong try to get in on the action.

7 years/$92mil for Alou? My paper had slightly different details

Stanton to the Reds for 2 years! Pierre to the Dodgers for FIVE?!?!? Two sayings come to mind when I hear this kind of stuff: - one from Bill James about how too many teams overpay for talent because they fail to recognize that it isn't as scarce as they think it is - and the other from 'Moneyball' quoting Beane as saying that it's always easier to recover from the player you don't sign than it is to recover from the one you sign at the wrong price (or, I'll add, for the wrong length).

I'm OK with this now that they're not committed to a 2nd year. 'Mets set to sign Alou to 2 yrs and $16mil' were the last words I heard as I drifted off to sleep Sunday night ... except for the "NOOOOOOOO!!!" I screamed after it. The details and the sober light of Monday made it better. Alou is one of the great "hands" hitters around. He'll hit some seemingly impossible pitches by pulling his hands in on an inside pitch that would splinter the bat of almost anyone else. Russo (the Giant fan) claims he's not all that bad a fielder (I disagree) and will be helped by moving from PacBell's spacious RF to Shea's smaller LF (I agree). Admits he's an atrocious baserunner though. One year also means that any potential deal for Milledge should stand on it's own merits rather than being neccesitated by this signing. And, while we're at it, let's remember that Lastings was the youngest position player in MLB last season before we start in on the 'his stock has dropped' stuff or start declaring that he's been surpassed by Single-A teenagers and others who have yet to get to where LM is already at. The one thing I question is the timing of it all. Alou is a 'Type-A' FA and - because he was signed so early - the Giants get to "offer" him arbitration risk-free and snag our 1st round draft pick out of it. Would have liked to save that pick (even though it's 29th overall) or at least save it for a real big FA signing. Oh well.

Per FAN: Done Deal Alou 1 year plus an option; $7.5mil plus some buyout for year 2 so probably around $8 total

]Wasn't Todd Helton signed to something like 10 years by the Rox? Helton is mentioned in the top post as a contract still in progress ]Who's attgig? A knowledgeable new addition to our site, or an oldtimer under a new name? Same name, long ago memeber of a previous forum and maybe also the earliest days of the CPF

metirish wrote: Ok,dumb question,how is Soriano's 1 third place vote worth more than Reyes's 1 third place vote? Scoring: 14 points for first place, nine for second, eight for third and on down to one for 10th. IOW, there are other votes not shown on that chart This is the one award where voters list their top 10 choices, not just 1st, 2nd, 3rd

Pujols 2nd Berkman 3rd Beltran 4th still looking for the complete voting

Burnett 5 years 55 Millwood 5 years 60 * Both are just one year in so far Beltre 5 years 64 Maggs 5 years 75 * Like Beltran, have completed two years and are still where they signed Park 5 years 65 Tejada 6 years 65 Vlad 5 years 70 Giambi 7 years 120 Griff 9 years 116 * Park was gone before the deal was finished * Of the rest, all are still w/the signing team although only Giambi & Griff have reached/passed the 5-year mark to date. Welcome (back?) attgig Name's a blast from the past

]... the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic I like how that group seperates themselves from those nasty pro-cancer coaches

The Soriano deal got me thinking about long-term deals, specifically about how many have ended up with the player finishing out the contract with the same team that signed him to it. I've always said that it's the length of these deals that scares he more than the dollar figures. Looking in at some long deals (5 or more years) either still in progress or recently ended: * ARod: 10yrs @ ~$25/per Nope. Dealt away after year 3 with the team paying a good chunk of the remainder * Thome: 6yrs? @ ~$17 Nope, and again the team had to pay to make him disappear * Hampton: 7yrs @ ~$17 Not even close. Sent away after year 2 at great expense to the team * Mo Vaughn: 6yrs @ ~$19? Sent away (also with a suitcase of cash) after 2 years of playing and one of sitting. He then missed almost 2 complete seasons of the remaining 3 Piazza: 7yrs @ ~$14 Yes, with reduced, though still adequate, results towards the end * Pedro (w/Boston): 5yrs @ ~$13 Yes, with 4 terrific years and one partial one * Mussina: 6yrs @ ~$17 Yes, and finished well enough where the team still wants him - though at a somewhat reduced rate * Manny: 8yrs @ $20 (plus 2 option years) Is still there 6 years into it - though the thought of dumping him has certainly crossed mgmt's mind. May or may not make it thru the final two years and the options certainly won't be picked up * Helton: 10 or 11yrs @ ~$18? Still there at around the mid-point of the deal - though I wouldn't bet on him finishing it in the same place * Jeter: 10yrs @ ~$19 Still there and playing well half-way through the deal. Will almost surely finish it out there whether any diminishing returns kick in or not. Not a promising track record, eh Lou? Others?

btw, the Cub's plan is apparently to play Soriano in CF! Maybe he could handle that but it's certainly up in the air at this point. Reportedly they're talking to Cliffy about LF, which would give them an outfield of Floyd, Soriano & Jaque Jones in RF - and give their pitchers a bunch of headaches.

]Alou is one of the most uninspired players Ive ever seen play the game I never got that impression from Moises. Mainly he's just old and immobile as a result of several major leg injuries in his career - one while in Houston and one from way back in his Montreal days - plus a host of less serious ones.

Six NYM position players qualified for 400+ PAs; how they fared against the position averages (bold = above avg): BAOBASLGOPSHRRBISBDelgado.265.361.548.909381140Reyes.300.354.487.841198164Wright.311.381.531.9122611620LoDuca.318.355.428.7835493Beltran.275.388.594.9824111618>Valentin.271.330.490.82018626

From a piece in the NYTimes today; they take note of the average season from each position this past year for those players who had at least 400 PAs Not suprisingly, 1Bmen lead in all categories (except steals) Pos.BAOBASLGOPSHRRBISB1B.290.371.508.879268932B.282.341.422.762126010SS.279.336.421.7571262173B.284.356.479.83522866C.287.345.434.78013653LF.285.359.476.835207711CF.272.342.441.783166118RF.285.357.465.82219806 The closest to average for each position turn out to be; 1B - Lyle Overbay (Mil) 2B - Tony Graffinino (KC/Mil) SS - Orlando Cabrera (LAA) 3B - Mile Lowell (Bos) C - AJ Piersynski (WhiW) LF - Emil Brown (KC) CF - Curtis Granderson (Det) RF - Casey Blake (Cle)

Better them than us. That's a good signing (at best IMO) for about 3 of those 8 years.

ESPN: "The deal, worth about $8 million to $9 million, would contain an option for 2009" Either that's a typo or it implies the deal is for two years with an option for a 3rd. Hard to tell. I'd be less upset with a 1-year deal.

Alou is - or at least can be - a terrific hitter who'll give us RH punch ... but I don't like this a bit. He's a lousy outfielder who's often injured and can no longer run very well. And how, exactly, do guys previously contemplating retirement suddenly rate two-year deals? I would have preferred Cliff for those terms. Hey Omar, what happened to 'younger, cheaper & more athletic'? If true, this also seems to throw Milledge head-long into the trade market.

I missed large portions of WS Game 1 in 2003 (Yanx v Marlins) for a poorly timed wedding (non baseball fan cousin) plus much of this year's Gm 1 on account of the folks anniversary party (stunning lack of foresight in Oct '56 for failing to imagine that the then-unborn Mets would be on the verge of a late-Oct WS a half-century hence). The one this year would have been interesting had the Mets, y'know .. been in it like they were supposed to be!!!! (not that I'm bitter or anything). None of my extended family are baseball fans; basically just myself, my brothers & dad (the sisters and spouses don't object but wouldn't follow on their own). But all of the cousins, aunts, uncles, etc who were at this party are non-NYers who didn't grow up with and don't follow baseball (only one exception). They are, however, aware of the NY chapter's baseball/NYM obsession and the party would have had an interesting division when game time rolled around -- nice to see you folks, thanks for coming all the way from SC, Cal, Hawaii, etc but there's a freakin game on!! Instead, we got greetings and condolences at the same time and weren't forced to turn suddenly rude at 8:00