Frayed Knot

Yeah, but not this year and that's the only year they're guaranteed of having Soriano - and an expensive ($10mil?) year at that.

I don't think that deal - Cano for Hunter - was ever anything other than fan speculation to begin with. Usually it would go something like this: Yanqui Fan: "So how do we land Torii Hunter" Host: "Well, it'll cost you Robinson Cano just for starters" YF: "Oh well forget it then ... unless they'll take Jaret Wright instead" And now that the Twinkies have traded for Castillo they've got even less use for Cano.

A grand total of TWELVE players were taken during the major legue portion of the Rule 5 draft, including .... ... the Mets grabbing SF Giant RHP [u:e63cf12a94]Mitch Wylie[/u:e63cf12a94] Mets did not lose any players in the process Full List: Selected by: Player/position : Orig Team Royals - Fabio Castro, lhp, White Sox Rockies - Luis Gonzalez, lhp, Dodgers Devil Rays - Steven Andrade, rhp, Blue Jays Pirates - Victor Santos, rhp, Royals Tigers - Chris Booker, rhp, Nationals Padres - Seth Etherton, rhp, Royals Mets - Mitch Wylie, rhp, Giants Marlins - Dan Uggla, 2b, Diamondbacks Twins - Jason Pridie, of, Devil Rays Red Sox - James Vermilyea, rhp, Blue Jays Cardinals - Juan Mateo, rhp, Cubs (2nd round) Marlins - Mike McGrew, lhp, Dodgers

Ringolsby was also one of the writers leading the charge in trashing 'Moneyball' when it first came out because of the thought that it was "anti-scout".

Yanx & Bernie did that 'We'll offer only if you promise to decline' stunt. It allows Bernie to keep the MFYs as an option for another month or so but also reduces his market value a bit since now any other team signing him will be required to cough up draft picks.

Piazza certainly isn't a surprise. For the team it doesn't work because it locks them into at least a $10mil deal for next year (no more than 20% cut). For Piazza it would make him a 3rd catcher/PH (even if a rich one) when he probably feels he can get a 2-yr deal somewhere else and play at least semi-regularly. I was thinking they might offer to Looper, but again, maybe they're afraid he might accept. Not sure what the thinking is on Roberto. Elsewhere in the meantime; - Houston is cutting ties w/Asshead. He won't be offered arb so those 2 parties can't talk until May 1. Now it's possible that Rajah - who claims he's still debating whether he even wants to play - could join the team a month into next season to avoid wearing down like he seemed to this past September, but Houston might not have enough money for him then. - And the Yanx are facing a midnight deadline with Bernie Williams. He's also gone unless offered arb by the team which, like Piazza, would lock them into having an expensive bench player.

]I did read he had Grady Sizemore up north and practically gave him away. Sizemore was dealt (with others) for Bartolo Colon so it's tough to argue that he was "given away". You can certainly question the wisdom and timing of that trade plus the subsequent one that sent Colon away after a short stint in Montreal, but Omar and the 'Spos were certainly operating under a different set of circumstances.

The 'Blame the rich owner's son' route is always easy and seemed just a bit too convenient for my taste. I think a lot of fans (and media) simply decided to hate or blame "Jeffy" first and not even bother with asking the questions as to whether he actually deserved it or not. And I've said this before, but I hope either Willie's telling the truth about his feelings about Matsui, or at least that keeping him is being cosidered as an option. Obviously he hasn't lived up to advance billing and if someone will take the contract you'd do it, but the second you say you HAVE TO get rid of a player (or obtain one for that matter) you open yourself up to a really bad deal.

With the steroid boys - Sammy & Raffy - gone, I think Javy will be a DH more often than not from here on out.

]Ken Rosenthal sez: Braves get D-baggs relievers Cormier and Villareal for C Johnny Estrada. Interesting. Risky for DBacks because Estrada was really messed up by that collision at the plate w/Erstad (they hit so hard their shirts switched names) and wasn't the same after. Supposedly he's on the mend. Braves pen was a real problem last year. They drafted a college closer (Foster) who they were breaking in in September, plus they have the kid catcher (McCann) plus another they like even better (Saltalamacchia -- can they fit that name on a shirt?) rushing through the minors. One more market closes for the 2 FA catchers. ]Pads get Ray P Dewon Brazelton for Burrroughs: A couple of disappointments swapped for each other.

="MFS62"]M&MD just reported that the A's have allowed the Mets to talk to Zito about a contract extension. I was listening and didn't hear them say that. They said "there are reports" that it may be the case, and that the team would want to talk to him before any deal since you'd only be trading for 1 season but, rumors aside, they didn't say the process was already ongoing. ]If the Mets have really been granted permission, we'll hear about it. The commissioner's office has to approve of that permission. Egg-Zactly! Also, fans also seem to think this is a lot more common than it actually is. I can't remember the last time a player - at least one w/o veto power over a trade like Unit or Schilling - willingly gave up his FA rights to pre-negotiate a deal before a trade.

I do remember, during the Olerud FA period, that there was a reported faction within the "Met front office types" that thought Olerud a bit too passive in his ABs and they wanted more punch for their money. IOW, if true, there were those paying too much attention to RBIs and not enough to OBA. Where wer those damn Sabrematricians when we needed them? Who knows if that was accurate though? JO is the CPF ranking project leader among 3-year Mets; higher, in fact, than all the 4 season guys too. Definitely the best of the short-timers.

By "just" he means a year ago. A team isn't allowed to trade a FA they just signed for at least a half season.

Centerfield wrote: Rumors from another board are that those pitchers may be part of a package for Zito. Rumors no doubt started either from inside their own heads or relayed to them from household pets.

Lurk less, post more.

And one more thing ... can the media folks who are adamantly against this actually take the time to learn at least a little bit about it before declaring it to be an impending disaster? I've heard several, just in the last day or two, saying some version of; "This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of ... and, by the way, who's going to be in it and what format are they using?"

I'm certainly not going to get all hyped up over it and I suspect few are. On the whole this is going to be a much bigger deal for the smaller countries involved. If China, Austrailia or Venezuela can win a game or 2 against their deeper regional competition it'll be a shot in the arm for them. But I also think some are going a bit overboard in denouncing this. It's designed to promote the game and will be something that'll spice up the monotony of spring training once every couple of years. The rosters should be big enough, the precautions thought out enough, and the whole tourney short enough (I think the teams going to the final will play no more than 6-8 games) so that the it shouldn't be the major disruption that many are predicting. Various talkies are already laying the groundwork to blame every potential injury (during ST & the reg season too) on the tourney itself as if these players would be sunning themselves on the beach if not for this "travesty". Look, players get hurt during ST all the time (Benson last year, Chipper missed what would have been his rookie year on the last day of ST) so it's not like this year should be any different, tourney or no. I've even heard about how this season will feature reduced fundamentals due to missed practice drills. Yeah, right!

"LoDuca, by the way, would be only the fifth Paul to play for the Mets." And it won't take much for LoDuca to become the Mets' all-time best Paul according to the world famous CPF ranking project. * As of now we've got Siebert as the introductory Met at #500 (he's right after JtMHBB -- will drop out of the rotation entirely once 2005 is factored in) * Byrd - he of the $7mil/yr contract - comes in at #469 * Wilson clocks in at #390 * and the leading Paul of all time is Gibson at the lofty rank of #327 One mediocre or better year in '06 and LoDuca leaves em all in the dust.

"Don't keep us in suspense. Who is the second player?" The Mets are finally acknowledging the deal but have only said it's for 2 players to be named. They've yet to admit that Gaby is one of them much less who the 2nd is. LoDuca has batted 2nd in the past. It's not surprising to see him mentioned there. As mentioned before, he's not slow and if he gets on base at a decent clip he'd be OK there. I also don't have a problem moving Beltran to 2nd, but it seems like a sizable contingent of Met fans have gotten it into their heads that the #2 slot is destined to be some sort of panacea for Beltran - as if the batting slot should dictate his hitting rather than the other way around - and the idea seems to have sprung from his time in Houston. Thing is, until post-season rolled around, he really didn't hit a ton in the Astros lineup and he was only slotted there because Bagwell & Berkman were already established as the 3 & 4 guys.

"What is the rule on losing draft picks when obtaining free agents?" The team that signs a player loses a draft pick to the team that loses him conditional on: - the team needs to offer arbitration to the player in order to gain the picks ... the idea being that you shouldn't get credit for a guy you don't demonstrate any interest in keeping. Hence we almost certainly will NOT get picks for Piazza leaving because the team doesn't want to expose themselves to a huge 1-year salary by offering him arbitration. We might, however, go that route with Looper. - the "Type" of player being lost. Players are ranked as type 'A', 'B', or 'C' players depending on their stats over the previous 2 seasons. The higher the type, the better the pick you get. FA compensation rules and lists: http://cybermessageboard.ehost.com/getalife/viewtopic.php?t=1768

Reyes after '06. Wright most likely not until after '07

Sweeny Murti - appearing on Francesa's 'Mike'd Up' show from the site of the Winter Meetings in Dallas - suggested that there may also be money changing hands on this one. If true, it could be why there's no official announcement of it from either of the involved parties since commissioner approval is needed if the dollar figure is over a certain amount. Depending on the amount it might help ease the sting a bit, plus push the price tag well below that of the two FAs.

"And Izturis had Tommy John" NTTAWWT

- Jeez Omar are you going leave ANYONE in the farm system? That's #s 2, 3, & 4 gone from the BA list that's only 2 weeks old! I think our 2nd best prospect is now that 12 y/o (or maybe he's 16) kid we just signed in the DR. After that comes me. - As I said in the other thread, I'm not too high on the guy. He'd be OK as a half-time catcher but is being paid like a full-timer, and a good one at that. He strikes me as better athletically than most catchers - ie; he can run a bit, bunt fairly well, plus play a few other positions if needed - but never hit as well as that first year and isn't all that great defensively. - I remember the "clubhouse presence" card being played in just about every article following the big Marlin/Dodger trade involving Lo Duca a few years back (as Madden does in this piece) ... and I also remember at least as many pieces from 'Baseball Prospectus' making fun of that angle. - I think the states of NY & Fla have worked out some sort of deal: we give them our retirees every January and our drunk college students every March, and in exchange every couple of years they send us a few of their overpriced ballplayers; Piazza, Leiter, Lo Duca, Delgado, Zeile

The Cards already inked Pujols to a multi-year deal - for 6 years I think - one that will take him through his remaining arb-eligible years plus the first few FA seasons. And they're probably happy they did so in the relatively "cheap" span between the free spending dot-com era leading up to about 2000 and the one MLB seems to be diving headlong into since last year. Revenues for teams as a whole are way up right now. Rev-sharing and lux-tax money have spread the money out to more teams, satellite radio cash is starting to pour in, and the clubs are either smelling - or in some case maybe already spending - the loot from the impending sale of the Nationals who they've all been subsidizing for the last 5 years. When you consider that Furcal - assuming that those numbers are accurate - is getting almost as much on a per/year basis as Vlad did just 2 winters ago, it's safe to say that there's money to be spent out there now.