The 2010 Baseball Thread

Yeah I suppose the default position is what DARE taught us...

JUST SAY NO.

So publicly many might say yes, though vote differently. The proponents and opponents for this have been amazing to watch...such a big group of people from all corners of politics and social leanings.
 
I'm most fascinating by the pro-pot people who are AGAINST prop 19. Medicinal advocates say it isn't helping the fight to allow patients access to medicinal marijuana, some smokers think this could make the available marijuana weaker and more expensive. They both probably are in the minority opinion of that particular constituency, but it's interesting nonetheless.

I'm voting for prop 19, not out of any desire to smoke marijuana, I just think the state could find better ways to spend money than on incarcerating pot smokers.
 
So Mariano Rivera wants $18 million with 2 years and Jeter is 'baffled' by the Yankee's initial offer of $45 million/3 years. They will both sign but at what cost to the long term.

Joey Votto is the NL MVP too which is pretty cool.
 
Rivera is still worth the big money, Jeter not so much. The Yanks have leverage on Jeter as no other club is going to offer more than three years or $10m per. Granted, Jeter's agent will make claims of "four/five year offers from other clubs" but it's a smokescreen. The only leverage Jeter has is the fans, which is probably a bigger hand than the stack of cards the Yanks hold. Shame, but this shows Jeter wants the big payday and so much for loyalty on his side (the same card played by the Jeter camp and his fans to the Yanks management).

If it were my club, I'd say, "Here's 3 years, $36m, take it or leave it. we do love you and you're a great leader. An asset any club would appreciate. Show us how much you love being a Yankee."

When his camp counters, I say, "You're 37, declining, don't have the range in the hole, arm strength is dropping, and you're hitting was abysmal last year. But you claim to be a lifelong Yankee and that you want to finish your career here. Prove it. No other club has offered $12m per guaranteed."
 
Id absolutely agree with that. For one I don't think Jeter quite has the leverage he thinks with the fans judging by the general response to his agents initial "baffled" comments, they arn't stupid and even they can see he declined alot last season and is only getting older. I would love to see him hit 3000 in Yankee Stadium but not at a cost that handicaps the team long term, we already have that with A-Rod.

I think Rivera will settle at something around 2years/$16 million and he is still well worth that but its also interesting that the Yankees have offered Kerry Wood arbitration, perhaps a backup move. They also offered Javi Vazquez arbitration which was suprising but he has agreed to decline it so the Yankees didn't quite get the 2 draft picks they thought when trading for him but atleast he doesn't walk away for nothing.

Pettitte leaning towards returning which is great and Cliff Lee with a rumoured 6 years/$140 million offer which he will be waiting a long time to be matched, rotation looks good if Burnett gets fixed by Rothschild.
 
Leg-End said:
I think Rivera will settle at something around 2years/$16 million and he is still well worth that but its also interesting that the Yankees have offered Kerry Wood arbitration, perhaps a backup move.
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I strongly doubt Wood will accept. He knows better than most that closing is a "now you've got it, now you don't" affair. He needs to parlay his good half-season in New York into a multi-year deal while he still can. Since the team that offers the most will probably do so expecting him to close, I doubt that's the Yankees. The Yankees likely know all that, and just offered him arbitration for the comp pick.
 
True enough, they wern't expected to offer him arbitration but you are right there is little doubt he will decline it to test the market for closer money. Just suprising Cashman has decided to the play the arbitration game abit more aggresively than previous seasons, probably trying to get some picks for the so called "deep" 2011 draft class, especially since signing Lee loses the first round pick.
 
With the Yankees' payroll being what it is, Cashman has less to lose from being aggressive in offering arby. If someone calls his bluff and he ends up paying $10M for Wood, that's a much smaller chunk out of his budget than any other team's.
 
I just read that they arn't offering arb now, kinda makes sense either way really.
 
"We understand his contributions to the franchise and our offer has taken them into account," Cashman told ESPNNewYork.com. "We've encouraged him to test the market and see if there's something he would prefer other than this. If he can, fine. That's the way it works."
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"As much as we want to keep everybody, we've already made these guys very, very rich, and I don't feel we owe anybody anything monetarily," the Yankees co-chairman said in a phone interview with The Associated Press Tuesday. "Some of these players are wealthier than their bosses."

"We've made an offer and we hope they strongly consider it," Cashman said. "[But] there are things we have concerns with -- his recent performance over the last few years, and his age. And that has to be factored into this negotiation."
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Close did not respond to requests for comment but sources told ESPNNewYork.com last week that Jeter is seeking a minimum of four more years and perhaps as much as six more, at approximately $20 million per season.

"We believe that Derek Jeter is the best person to play shortstop for this franchise moving forward," Cashman said. "Do we want to lose Derek Jeter? No. Do we want to treat Derek Jeter fair? Absolutely. Do we want to be treated fair at the same time? No question about it.''

"We're going to do everything we possibly can to put the best winning team on the field," Cashman added. "We feel Derek Jeter gives us the best chance to win. But we're not dealing with Derek alone. We're dealing with our closer, we're trying to add to our club, and if putting all our eggs into one basket takes away from our ability to add to our club, I ain't gonna do it."
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$45mil for 3 years not enough.

He wants, $80mil over 4 years at a minimum.

Jeter needs to piss off...he's 36 now, not 26, and he was pretty crap last season.
 
Jeter signs 3 years/$51 million with a 4th year player option at $8 million, quite a come down from his original ask and I can just about live with that deal. Couple that with Rivera close to signing for 2 years at somewhere around $15 million, thats the path cleared for Cliff Lee.

Red Sox are getting Adrian Gonzalez for prospects, good deal for them.
 
Yeah no surprise Rivera and Jeter stayed, you cant let two servants of the club and club legends like them just go sign for the Red Sox
 
Gonzalez deal fell through as Sox couldnt get a contract done but still might happen though and just heard Werth is about to sign for the Nationals. Not a great day for the Red Sox.
 
Werth does sign for the Nats, 7 years/$126 million which is truly mental. Can't imagine what Crawford will get now, hell thats gonna drive the whole market up.

And it now looks like the Red Sox do have Agon but are holding the extension back until after opening day in order to save millions in luxury tax.
 
MLB has to do something about all this crap. There's only a handful of teams that can sign the top class free agents - and they continue to outbid others and even themselves. The Yankees just added another year to Lee's offer. FFS. It's ridiculous, especially given the current economic climate.
 
Well the Yankee's haven't actually signed anyone yet, if they lose out on Lee its gonna piss me off though as you just know they will go hard after Russell Martin and then trade Montero, I really want to see that kid play for us in the bigs.

Red Sox have gotten stronger, but not as strong as the media would suggest.
 
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Cliff Lee a great man for trolling the yankees.
 
5 years, $120m - $24m per. Yikes. The Yanks and stRangers annual salary was less but they offered 1-2 more years and thus more money. So Lee's camp is now claiming he took "less" money. :rolleyes: Spin it however you want.

But it is good to see he chose a club he really enjoyed, the club he never wanted to leave. But I highly doubt he'd have returned if they offered 5 years, $80m so let's be real here - the money definitely talked.

Yanks offer was 7 years, $154m all guaranteed.

Rangers offer (according to locals in DFW area) was 6 years around $130m plus an opion for a 7th year around $25m.

According to Ryen Russillo on the Scott Van Pelt show, who also happens to agree with my dismissing of the "took less money" shit, said there is a clause in the Phillies offer for a sixth year. It's based on Lee pitching 200 innings in either the 4th or 5th year, or 400 combined innings in both years, and it kicks in an automatic 6th year at $27.5m. Yikes!

Here's betting Lee has a monster 2014 and/or 2015. ;)
 
In the end it is better that NYY didnt get him, the numbers on pitchers over 30 who sign 7 years $100 million contracts dont look so good once they start the third year of the contract on
 
7 years 150mil+ was silly for a 32 year old who has had back problems and 3 or 4 years ago he was so bad had to be put in AAA at some point.
 
It wasn't that silly, its just the price of getting decent starting pitching in a small market. The way I look at it is Cliff Lee is all about control and most pitchers of his caliber maintain that with age so he was worth the years, ofcourse if that drops off then the Phillies are saddled with him for years but I reckon they will get at least 5 effective years out of him.

Yankees look to have picked up Russell Martin which means we now have a catcher that can actually throw out runners and either provides insurance if Montero isn't ready or is moved along for another starter. Just also read that they have picked up Mark Prior on a minor league deal which is pretty awesome, no risk and a steal if we get even a few decent innings out of him but I'm a fan regardless.
 
Anything over 5 was was silly for me but its my opinion. I gonna be intresting to see what the Yankees do made make a trade for Greinke or Buehrle as the WhiteSox might shop him or take a risk with signing Webb.
 
I don't think they will chance Greinke but Buehrle is definatly an option. Last I heard of Webb is he was throwing mid-80's in instructional league.
 
None of what the Brewers gave up are top class, I would have wanted at least an A grade prospect or upperclass major leaguer for Greinke, all they got was some potentially high upside guys and saddled with Betancourt. They could have gotten a whole lot more for him to say the least.
 
So why did the Rangers withdraw if the Royals only asked for low-grade prospects? They could easily have afforded that. Perhaps one or two of those players are very good.
 
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