Frayed Knot

One has nothing to do with the other.

Cubbies are apparently going for the 'Steve Phillips' award, the one given annually to the team that dispenses the most multi-year deals to middle relievers. First Eyre, now Howry

Also makes you think twice before just assuming the success of the always popular 'trade em all for prospects' method of team building. Not only did most of those trades receive little in return but -- unlike most "dump 'em" strategies -- many of the players traded were dealt at or near the height of their careers and presumably their fetching power: Brown, Alou, Sheffield/Piazza, Nen.

Omar seems to want to move quickly and the BoSox are in no hurry concerning Manny. Waiting for Boston to find a GM and wondering if Manny's mood-du-jour would accept a deal to NYC could potentially have caused a lot of missed moves - like previously unexpected fire sales f'rinstance. Of course now the Cammy/Nady swap makes less sense. Nady just lost at least half a job.

Except that Rowand's '05 wasn't nearly as good:.270, 30, 13, 69 He's a heckuva CFer though; something the Phils haven't had for a while. Could be a good deal for both sides. I guess this officially closes the Frank Thomas ChiSox career as Thome essentially slots into his spot. Not sure how well Posednik can handle CF; there's been intermittant talk about Griff Jr. joining the Pale Hose since last summer.

]I'm not sure what it will cost him, but didn't Javy Vazquez just recently excercise his "demand a trade" right? Yes, and numerous players over the years have used the right granted in the basic agreement to players dealt during a long-term contract and filed a demand to be traded. Some of those demands have resulted in a trade. However (Yancy's point) every single player who was NOT dealt eventually withdrew their demand rather then losing out on the remainder of their current deal and risking FA-gency I also heard Buck Martinez gush about Petit - and his opinion was MUCH more positive than anything I had heard/read anywhere. He basically compared him to Felix Hernandez (Seattle's call-up from last summer) a comparison that seems almost foreign. Petit was lauded for his control and guile more than his "stuff" while scouts yakking about Hernandez couldn't get enough of how "nasty" his stuff was in addition to his control & pitching smarts. And, he was doing it at more advanced levels at a younger age than Petit. I think most evaluators would scoff at Buck's comparison. He also didn't help his credibility on the subject by describing Petit as a hard thrower, something he's definitely not.

Elster88 wrote: I'm currently driving the BJ Ryan bandwagon. Would anyone else like to climb aboard? Fine with me but I suspect that BJR is content to wait until Wagner sets the benchmark with his deal. If Wags can wrangle $12/per then Ryan can ask for $10, if Billy gets $10 then he knows he's shooting for $8, etc. I think Omar prefers to strike early rather than to bypass Wagner only to wait around for Ryan only to find him almost as expensive and probably with more suitors.

I thought I'd update this to reflect a Manny vs Carlos comparison of the last 3 years. The numbers shown represent each player's most recent 3-year average. Delgado and Ramirez are the same age (Carlos = 3 weeks younger) so their last 3 seasons can be looked at as equivelents. ABH2BHRRBIBBKBAOBASLGMANNY564174374212685112309399598CARLOS516151353612083124292390575 So why do I like this one where I was mostly against a Manny deal? - the perception at least that the price for Manny would be higher in terms of players: ie. Milledge plus others - they're taking on some 30% less money: savings of $17 mil over 3 years - while neither is a defensive prize, I'll take a below average 1st baseman over a train-wreck of an outfielder, particularly an aging one. - Delgado fills a more obvious hole. As much as we want Jake to flourish at 1st, it's still mostly just a wish. We've already got a decent OF and acquiring Manny would push either him or Cliff into RF; hardly ideal. And then we'd still have to fill 1st, C & closer. - Manny's "baggage": ie bad baserunning, loafing, "space-outs", taking games off, etc.

Fact: Omar is not paying Delgado's salary. Fact: Omar doesn't pay ANYONE'S salary. I guess this means Jeff masterminds all trades. "Fact: We traded for a player who turned down a generous offer and chose not to play for us." And this has what to do with Jeff?

12:52 Yancy Street Gang wrote: You're also entitled to blame Oprah Winfrey, but that wouldn't make sense either. 12:55 ="Frayed Knot"]And I'm entitled to blame it on Oprah Winfrey if I want ... but that doesn't make it worth the breath it takes to say it OK, now THAT'S scary.

"The deal makes sense, but I do not like it" No one says you have to like it. Stating an opinion of things is what we do around here. "and I am entitled to point my finger at Jeff Wilpon if I want t." And I'm entitled to blame it on Oprah Winfrey if I want ... but that doesn't make it worth the breath it takes to say it. Some people find picking on the rich kid to be as fun as it is easy, but it also comes off as childish whining if it's not accurate. Here's your chance to tell us why you think it's accurate.

"Jeffy Wilpon at it again." And Jeff had what to do with this deal exactly? - Is there a particular "type" of deal that has a JW stamp on it, or do we have specific info here? - Or are we just taking a shot at the convienient target because we don't like it?

"Jake-Monster could become the next Jeff Bagwell" Very, very, VERY unlikely. And did I mention that it's very unlikely? "and Petit is as sure-fire a prospect as they come" No he isn't. I'm betting that there'll be at least a dozen or more pitchers rated more highly on the lists that'll come out this winter. One of the problems I believe fans (and others) have with deciding to deal or keep prospects is that they fail to distinguish amongst prospects. M&MD were knocking Milledge yesterday, for instance, by citing past minor leaguers who haven't made it without any sense of perspective about him in particular. It's as if every player with the letters 'P-R-O-S-P-E-C-T' stamped on his forehead is created equal and which ones to bet on or not is something that's a total crapshoot (shirley something they wouldn't say about college football draftees btw). Both Petit & Jacobs could turn out to be good players, but the above claims are unlike you'll see anyone with knowledge of their careers to date make. Not even close.

My initial reactions: 1) WOW!!! Just fucking WOW! 2) Funny how it's the deals that aren't talked about come out of nowhere. It's part of what drives me nuts about this time of year. 3) I think it's great. Delgado is on board for (comparative) reasonable money (approx 3 yrs @ less than $14mil/per - or nearly $5mil/per less than Manny). It's the cleanup hitter the lineup needs. He's not a great 1st baseman but so what Jacobs was fun to root for but probably limited in the long run Petit was intriguing but who knows what the long-term outlook would be 4) Forget the pitcher's park nonsense. Delgado's shots go out of any park including Yellowstone. 5) I didn't care about the Nat Anthem issue when it happened and care even less now. Ditto with the supposed "diss" from last year's negotiations.

That (an offer) was pretty much the plan following his 2-day tour of NYC. Now he likely goes back to Philly to hear a counter-offer. What he wants, of course, is to have one or the other blink and guarantee him a 4th year. I'm betting the initial offers don't have it but Wagner shirley knows that the Mets went there for Pedro. Bottom line on the Armando/Wagner comparison is that their stats (ERA, K/9, WHiP, BAA, Sv Pct, etc.) put them as close to identical twins as 2 closers can get after 6 or so years on the job -- or at least as close as a large, black, Dominican righty and a small, white, West Virginian lefty can get. So if the fan believes that Billy boy's hits given up and blown saves (which, virtually by definition, are going to pop up as often as Armando's did) are somehow going come at times where the fan won't mind then said fan is kidding himself.

Anyone have the group shot(s) outside that BBQ joint in midtown from last winter? Much of the same crowd as the 'Blue Tarp Lounge' pic but a few different ones as well.

You'll have a tough time proving the part about how he was better in "non-clutch" situations. As much as Met fans tend to believe otherwise, Armando's bad outings during his stint here were randonly distributed thoughout the year and against a variety of teams rather than being predictable in advance.

Yeah, Perez was mentioned by some of the papers as a possible Minaya target - but that was all pre-Nady.

]i always thought that was Benitez's problem, he had 2 or 3 good pitches but when he got into a "clutch" situation he didn't believe in anything but his heater, hitters eventually catch up to fastballs when they know that its coming. [deadhorse] Well, seeing as how the stats from Benitez & Wagner are about as identical as 2 closers can be over a 5-6 year period, then it would stand to reason that either Wagner is "choking" in about the same rate as Armando, or that you believe Armando to be so dramatically superior that his stats should be even better did he not have this "problem".[/deadhorse] OK, I give up ... why "Nightcrawler"?

]With that statistic in mind, knowing that everybody except Hodges who's crossed that threshold has made it in, should the BBWAA and the Hall of Fame amend the threshold to 60%? If they're just going to make it in anyway, why not spare these players the anguish of waiting another year or two? And then all the talk would be about those who were the only 50%+ yet not in guys, and then 40%+, ... Point is, there's always going to be someone who has the most votes yet is short of induction. Wherever the line is it should be adhered to or the honor becomes meaningless. The reaction to the election of the Phil Rizzuttos of the world should be not to let it happen again, rather than to also let in all the other Rizzutto level players in some sort of attempt to 'make things fair'. And if that keeps Hodges out than so be it. Non-election is not the same thing as being "dissed".

Of course they already have a Vet's committee to review the past. This sounds like they don't like the results of that board so they concoct a system that's more likely to produce the results that'll net them some good pub by making it eaiser to elect a pair of charming and popular older players while at the same time claiming that they didn't rig the process to do it. Bah.

So just what were the Americas like just before that Columbus guy bumped into the Dominican Republic on his way to somewhere else? (he was probably the last guy there for gold love rather than gold gloves)More speculation than cold hard facts, the author tries making the case that the new world was more populated and more advanced than widely suspected.

I suspect that cuttin-n-pastin full articles from commercial sites to somewhere else is on shaky ground in any case whether it originates from a pay site or not, and it's probably something we should do sparingly just in case. I doubt anyone is going to come after this little site's assets (like we have any) but reporting articles with just a few relevant excerpts reproduced and then links that could be followed for the full text is probably the best idea just to avoid inviting trouble.

I don't see the point in having a special vote just to vote on the guys who you've already voted down. It reeks of: the process has already decided that these guys don't really deserve it, but since they're nice old guys who we like let's concoct a different method that could get them in because it's less crass than rigging the original process. "62 cracks the 5,000 post barrier" Half way to the top in posts but already through 80% of the names on the list.

Except that - unless they go the expensive FA route for a #1 guy like Hernandez or Molina - it would be one of those guys in addition to Castro, not instead of. I'm not in love w/either guy either (and didn't realize that LoDuca was nearly 34 already) but Andy Handy for either guy isn't so far fetched if we were to go the trade route. -- (I think I just set a record for using the word "either" in a single sentence) -- Essentially you'd be getting a starting catcher for at least half the games in exchange for someone who's destined for utility IF work according to most estimates. I agree about Seo.