Wednesday, December 30, 2009 |
Time Warner And Fox
Here's the amazing part. In the earlier story in the Times today, we have the following coupla grafs:
But the system capacity for new cable channels has been tapped out. At the same time, the broadcast networks, which have seen their audience erode and advertising growth slow, are desperate for new sources of revenue. They see the fees from cable and satellite operators as a way to rejuvenate their fortunes.Now, I'm a first-time landlord this year. Our new tenants are pretty young (one of them is Helen's trainer). I was at the property on the day they moved in, and overheard them debating how low they could cut the price of Internet service thanks to a friend who worked for Time-Warner — but cable TV was certainly an option they could live without, because all the interesting stuff was available online. Not to extrapolate too much from a sample size of about three, but I have read elsewhere that this is a significant trend. If so, Fox has just jumped from the Titanic to the Andrea Dorea."It really and truly is the future," said Tony Vinciquerra, chief executive of the Fox Networks Group. Without those fees, he warned, "the business won't survive."
Labels: tv
Blue Workhorse On The Angels' All-Decade Team
Labels: angels
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 |
Pickoff Moves
Jason Bay Goes To The Mets
Everybody knows by now that Jason Bay is headed to Citi Field on a deal whose preliminary specs are 4 years and $65M. He'd been mooted as a possible Angel, but I never put any stock in that talk; the Angels seemed fairly set in their outfield, and Bay has certainly put down some roots in the east coast.Diamondbacks Sign Bob Howry
On a one-year deal with a team option for 2011; the only question is why?Mark DeRosa A Giant
2 years and $12M. It's a good deal for San Francisco, who are probably overpaying a bit for his production. I'm kind of surprised the Cubs didn't take a pass at him.How To Photograph Baseball
Brad Mangin's how-to includes some outstanding photography of Angels, both from spring training 2009 and during the regular season. I stumbled across Brad's site after I joined the LA Canon digital SLR group on Yahoo. Mangin is a long-time freelancer whose work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, and who learned under Neil Liefer, whose collected works book I reviewed a year ago.I encountered Mangin's advice while reading a cursory test run he did recently with a pre-production Canon 1D Mark IV at a 49ers/Lions game at Candlestick, a piece of hardware I'm very interested in buying. As for the LACDG, I am absolutely humbled looking at these guys' photos; as just one tiny example, look at this month's challenge shoot, and in particular, this one from Jorge Vismara. Wow.
Labels: diamondbacks, giants, mets, transactions
Thursday, December 24, 2009 |
OT: Merry Christmas
Labels: offtopic
Kelvim Escobar Signs With The Mets
Labels: ex-angels, hot stove, mets, transactions
Wednesday, December 23, 2009 |
Jayson Stark: Angels, Fernando Rodney Come To Terms
The 32-year-old (he will be playing out his age 33 season next year) had a 4.40 ERA last year with a 7.3 K/9 rate, and a 1.49 K/BB ratio. His best days would seem to be behind him, as he's been close to average as measured by ERA+ since his last great year in 2006. This is a signing that looks for the world like Scot Shields insurance; if they were gonna give anybody a two-year deal, it should have been lefty Darren Oliver. A really puzzling move by Tony Reagins.
Labels: angels, hot stove, rumors, transactions
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 |
Frank McCourt Inadvertently Spawns An Entire Industry: TMZSports.com
Rangers, Darren Oliver Sign 1-Year Deal
Labels: ex-angels, hot stove, rangers, transactions
Pickoff Moves, Catching Up After A Hectic Weekend Edition
Mike Lowell Trade Off As The Third Baseman Gets His Thumb Worked On
Oops. Whether this negates the deal has yet to be seen, but Lowell himself isn't counting on being in a Red Sox uniform in 2010.Dodgers Media Network?
Wuzza? Plus Jeanne Zelasko.Javier Vazquez Back In The Bronx
Javier Vazquez is a Yankee again, acquired from the Braves for Melky Cabrera and a couple prospects. Shocking to me because the first go-round, Vazquez only lasted one year in the Bronx before getting shipped off to Arizona for the decreasingly valuable Randy Johnson.Update: Via David Pinto, the final details of the trade:
- Braves get: Melky Cabrera, Mike Dunn, and Arodys Vizcaino.
- Yankees get: Javier Vazquez and lefty reliever Boone Logan.
Yankees Pay $25.7M Luxury Tax
And here I thought they were exempt.Labels: braves, dodgers, hot stove, rangers, red sox, trades, transactions, yankees
Friday, December 18, 2009 |
Jon Weisman, Tony Jackson, Mark Saxon Among Staff Headlining ESPNLA.com
Mariners Trade For Milton Bradley
Silva has two years and $23M left of his 4-year, $48M contract (with a $12M mutual option for 2012, or a $2M buyout), while Bradley has two years and $21M left on his three year deal with the Cubs. I'm not so sanguine about the deal for either side; it's a trade of injury-prone players with expensive contracts, so if either side can get anything useful out of it, that's gravy.
Update: Jon Heyman at Sports Illustrated says the Mariners are sending $6M with Silva to Chicago.
Update 12/21/09: Corrected who's sending the money.
Labels: cubs, ex-dodgers, hot stove, mariners, trades, transactions
Wednesday, December 16, 2009 |
4-Team Deal For Lee, Halladay Completed
- Seattle gets LHP Cliff Lee (from Philadelphia)
- Philadelphia gets RHP Philippe Aumont, OF Tyson Gillies, and RHP Juan Ramirez from Seattle; RHP Roy Halladay and $6M cash from Toronto.
- Toronto gets C Travis D'Arnaud, RHP Kyle Drabek, and OF Michael Taylor; but then shipped Taylor to Oakland for 3B Brett Wallace.
- Oakland gets OF Michael Taylor.
Labels: athletics, blue jays, hot stove, mariners, phillies, trades, transactions
Robothal: Dodgers, Jamie Carroll Agree To 2-Year, $3.85M Deal
Tuesday, December 15, 2009 |
Group Headed By Nolan Ryan To Bid For Rangers
Labels: front office, rangers
Angels Extend Orem As Pioneer League Affiliate Through 2014
The Orem Owlz Thursday announced an extension of the team’s Player Development Contract with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim through 2014. The announcement was made jointly by the Angels’ Director of Player Development Abe Flores and Aaron Wells, General Manager of the Orem Owlz. The previous agreement was set to expire after the 2012 season.“We are pleased to reach this long-term extension and that the Orem Owlz Baseball Club will be an Angels’ affiliate through the 2014 season,” said Flores. “The Angels believe the Orem franchise is the ‘crown jewel’ of the Pioneer League, and we value our strong relationship with the Owlz’ ownership, front office and their special group of supportive fans. The Angels look forward to more success in Orem, both on and off the field, in the years to come.”
As the Angels’ Pioneer League affiliate since 2001, the Owlz have won four league titles, seven divisional titles and qualified for the playoffs every year, while under the direction of manager Tom Kotchman.
“We are excited about continuing our relationship with the Angels,” said Wells. “Our partnership has resulted in one of most successful decades in the history of Minor League Baseball. They continually prove to be an organization committed to quality players and quality individuals. That commitment has resulted in success at the Major League level and we are pleased that success starts here in Orem.”
The Owlz will defend their Pioneer League championship starting June 21, 2010. Season tickets are on sale with special holiday gift packs currently available. For more information please call (801) 377- BALL (2255) or visit owlzbaseball.com.
Mike Scioscia, Joe Torre On Committee To Consider Expanded In-Game Video Use, Other Rules Changes
"This is not a reaction to some of the things that happened during the playoffs," Selig said. "I'm not saying that it didn't keep moving me along in this direction because it did, but frankly I had this in mind for a long time."Via David Pinto.The group will examine scheduling, umpiring, the strike zone and pace of game, which again became an issue when Yankees catcher Jorge Posada made frequent trips to the mound during the postseason.
Labels: angels, cardinals, dodgers, managers, rules, tigers
Buster Olney: Tying Up Loose Ends To Yesterday's 3-Way, Jays, A's To Trade Michael Taylor For Brett Wallace
Brett Wallace was the third baseman sent to Oakland as a result of the Matt Holliday trade. Previously the heir apparent at third to seal a woeful decade with the perpetually injured Eric Chavez, the 22-year-old posted outstanding numbers for AAA Sacramento (.302/.365/.505 in a half season). What Oakland plans on doing at third remains something of a mystery, which is why I really don't understand this deal from that standpoint.
Since the 3-way deal hasn't been consummated yet, my usual favorite read on these matters — BPro's Christina Kahrl — isn't yet posting anything on this. However, Joe Sheehan notes that yesterday's signing of John Lackey by Boston could mean bigger things to come by way of more trades, and in particular, Josh Beckett:
... [W]hat I'm thinking is that we've already seen two big three-team trades in the last week, and the Red Sox signing of John Lackey creates a path to a third, where the Red Sox get Adrian Gonzalez in exchange for Beckett and prospects, and a third team takes Beckett and provides additional prospects to the Padres. This re-creates the information gap that doesn't exist between the Sox and Padres by introducing a third organization. It allows the Sox to leverage their strength, starting pitching, to fix their weakness, which right now is the middle of the lineup. The third team will be getting what they'll see as a number-one starter (probably a good number two) with postseason pedigree that they can sell to their fan base. Because Beckett doesn't have the no-trade clause that Roy Halladay (and before him, Johan Santana) had, he doesn't have to be extended as part of a trade, making dealing him easier. The Padres would get the kind of franchise restart that they didn't get in the Jake Peavy deal, which is the only way they're going to deal Gonzalez. It's the kind of trade that can work for all the teams involved.Update: Buster Olney says the Halladay extension has been consummated with $75.75M over the next four years, with a $20M vesting option in 2014; the vesting is predicated on his ability to stay healthy.
Also, Lackey's deal with the Sox has no performance bonuses.
Labels: athletics, blue jays, hot stove, rumors, trades, transactions
Commissioner's Office To McCourts: Hurry It Up
Labels: dodgers, front office, mccourts, stupid ideas
Four Horsemen Seen, Dodgers Trade Juan Pierre To Chisox
Update: Commentary on this at Southside Sox is surprisingly mixed. I'd think, given his ex-Cubbitude, general lack of OBP, SLG, or throwing skills, that he'd be anathema. A story on that same site names the PTBNLs as relatively undistinguished righties John Ely (a starter) and Jon Link (a reliever). Neither are hard throwers, which essentially makes this a salary dump.
Labels: dodgers, hot stove, trades, transactions, white sox, woo hoo
Monday, December 14, 2009 |
Jon Heyman: Mariners Getting Cliff Lee In 3-Way Blockbuster
Update: Presumably Heyman's Sports Illustrated blurb will be expanded as the day wears on.
Update 2: Robothal says it's Canadian minor league prospect RHP Philippe Aumont and OF prospect Michael Taylor.
Labels: blue jays, hot stove, mariners, phillies, rumors, trades, transactions
Stephen Smith Jumps The Shark
Stick to your minor league analysis, Stephen.
Labels: blogs, stupid ideas
Angels, Hideki Matsui In Talks; UPDATE: Deal Done
Update: The New York Times reports the deal as done with the parameters above, pending a physical.
Labels: angels, hot stove, rumors
Kelvim Escobar To The Mets On A Minor League Deal
Dodgers Offer Contracts To All Nine Eligible
Labels: dodgers, transactions
Angels Non-Tender Jose Arredondo, Moseley, Matt Brown
Labels: angels, transactions
Rosenthal: Red Sox Give Lackey A Physical
Update: Jon Heyman says it's a done deal, $85M/5 years. Rotoworld likes the deal, "a market-value contract while snatching him from a fellow American League contender".
Update: The Angels will get the Red Sox' #29 first-round compensation pick.
Labels: angels, red sox, rumors, transactions
Thursday, December 10, 2009 |
Angels, Dodgers Lose Players In Rule 5 Draft
The Angels selected no players, while the Dodgers took RHP Raul Burgos from the Giants in the AA round.
Labels: hot stove, minors, transactions
Reports: Mike Lowell To Texas
The Rangers are also getting $9M in compensation against Lowell's $12M remaining salary, the final year of his current deal.
Labels: hot stove, rangers, red sox, trades, transactions
Wednesday, December 09, 2009 |
Report: Angels Bid Aybar, Saunders, And Bourjos For Roy Halladay
MLB Hot Stove adds that Halladay will be a free agent at the end of 2010.
Labels: angels, blue jays, hot stove, rumors, trades
Jose Arredondo On The Edge Of Leaving Anaheim
"I don't have any concern about the player. I know the player very well," [Angels GM Tony] Reagins said. "There are scenarios where he does (fit in to the 2010 plan). There are scenarios where he doesn't. There is some interest from other teams. His name has come up."You see situations where a guy has a good first season but then struggles his next season before following that up with another good year. I hope that's the case with Jose. ... I think you have to have patience with young players. You have to let them go through that learning process."
Labels: angels, injuries, transactions
Dodgers Interested In Re-Signing Jeff Weaver
Rangers Acquire Free Agent Rich Harden
Labels: rangers, transactions
Rangers Send Kevin Millwood To Baltimore
Via BTF.
The Baltimore Sun reports the deal must be approved by the Commissioner's office because more than $1M is changing hands.
Update: Ken Rosenthal says the amount of salary following Millwood to the Charm City is $3M.
Labels: orioles, rangers, trades
M's, Figgins Finalize 4-Year/$36M Deal
U.S.S. Mariner was pretty sanguine about the deal; I tend to agree, though I don't like the back end risk on this deal, given how much of his game relies on speed.
Update: Via Halos Heaven, the B-Ref blog has a rather scathing (if somewhat conventional) analysis of Figgins' abilities that says absolutely jack about his runs scored totals.
Labels: ex-angels, hot stove, mariners, transactions
Randy Wolf Signs With Brewers
Labels: brewers, dodgers, ex-dodgers, transactions
Pickoff Moves
Dodger Front Office Maneuvers In The Dark (Of The McCourt Divorce)
- Dennis Mannion will become Ned Colletti's boss. This impresses me as an admission that Frank won't be able to handle day-to-day operations issues in the face of his impending divorce.
I should be very clear right away: this is not how I want my baseball team run. I do not want player payroll to be highly correlated with the previous winter's season ticket sales. Why? Two reasons.
1. Investment in the organization should not be a year-to-year decision. ...
2. That 2010 payroll decisions are based on this winter's revenue forecasts suggests that the Dodgers are indeed running on perilously slim margins. ...
- The Dodgers named Vance Lovelace to be head of professional scouting; Eric Stephen noted Lovelace was the return on a trade that sent Ron Cey in his twilight years to the Cubs.
McCourts Amicably Resolve Spousal Support Issue
I'll believe it when I stop reading about it in TMZ.com.Despite a consistent refrain from Dodgers executives and Frank McCourt's lawyers that the club has been conducting "business as usual" despite the divorce proceedings, McCourt said in the filing that the "distraction is . . . creating a hardship for the Dodgers management."...
Jamie McCourt, who claims she is a co-owner, has asked the court to set a later trial date. Frank McCourt's lawyers called that "gamesmanship" in Tuesday's filing, charging that she is stalling "in order to exact a more favorable settlement."
Joe Torre In 2011?
It could happen.Snakes, Tigers, Yanks Near Big 3-Way Deal
A monster:- The Diamondbacks get Edwin Jackson from Detroit and Ian Kennedy from New York.
- The Tigers get pitching prospects Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth from Arizona, and Phil Coke and OF prospect Austin Jackson from the Yankees.
- The Yankees get Tigers' center fielder Curtis Granderson.
Granderson's performance collapsed against lefties (.183/.245/.239 in 2009) and during the final week his routes to the ball looked awful, but he's basically a plus defensively according to the major systems, and a relatively affordable player ($5.5/$8.25/$10 million in 2010-2012 with a $13 million club option and $2 million buyout for 2013). The Yankees' big-picture desire to decrease payroll from their 2009 level wound up costing them a decent prospect whose upside may be Grandersoneque in Jackson (#7 on Baseball America's list of top International League prospects).It's not a good move for Arizona, who loses their #2 pitching prospect along the way in Schlereth. Very puzzling indeed.
Update: AZ Snakepit has a good roundup of blogosphere and local opinion on this topic; Rob Neyer and his pals are very down on this deal ("All my friends seem to have this one the same: Great for Yanks, good for Tigers, terrible for Diamondbacks. My friends are usually right."); one interesting perspective for the other side is Arizona Republic sportswriter Nick Piecoro, who thinks the Snakes have given up on Scherzer, while liking what they saw in Arizona Fall League of Kennedy, who used the opportunity to fix some problems in his two-seamer (so he claims). Robothal observes that the Snakes turned a pair of relievers into a pair of starters. As the Dodgers' deal for Jae Wong Seo proved, those can blow up if the starter turns out to be pretty bad. Kennedy might have a resurgence in the NL, though.
Brad Penny A Cardinal, 1 Year/$7.5M
The ex-Dodger could make up to $1.5M more in performance incentives. I'm kind of surprised he went to St. Louis, but I suppose he wore out his welcome in San Francisco, too.Peter Gammons Leaving ESPN After Winter Meetings
He'll join MLB Network. There's less and less reason to watch ESPN for baseball, and you have to wonder whether their Sunday Night Baseball series will be worth a damn in a year or two.Labels: cardinals, diamondbacks, dodgers, ex-dodgers, front office, mccourts, tigers, trades, transactions, tv, yankees
Saturday, December 05, 2009 |
Robothal: Mariners Nearing $36M/4-Year Deal With Chone Figgins
Labels: mariners, rumors, transactions
Thursday, December 03, 2009 |
Peter O'Malley To Re-Purchase Dodgers?
Update: Bill Shaikin of the Times writes that this is a rumor of dubious provenance. I have to concur.
Labels: dodgers, owners, rumors
Late: Angels Offer Lackey, Figgins Arbitration
I'll suppress any snerks about how one should run a franchise; the Angels have made plenty of front office mistakes in my time watching them. But you'd think arbitration to Randy Wolf &c. would be a no-brainer.
Labels: angels, transactions
Jarrod Saltalamacchia Re-Injures Surgically Repaired Shoulder
Tuesday, December 01, 2009 |
Maybe Frank's Right About His Financial Situation: Dodgers Pass On All Arbitration Cases
It's definitely not the kind of announcement you like to see your team make. It's neither bold nor prudent. It's just kind of depressing, and it renews questions about the leadership at the very top of this organization, regardless of the success of the past two years.I have to wonder just how truthful Frank McCourt was in his divorce filing when he claimed he only had $125,000 in liquid assets and couldn't get more (from the partnership that owns the Dodgers) until possibly as late as March, 2010. Even as far back as the sale, it's possible that he is leveraged beyond reason, as Dodger Divorce speculates:
It's awfully easy to jump to some pretty aggressive conclusions here. The plan approved by Major League Baseball figured for $65-$75 million in payroll. The Dodgers could not pursue Vlad Guerrero, who would make $12.5 million for the Angels in 2004, because it would alter the financial projections so dramatically as to jeopardize the McCourt bid. After McCourt had sufficiently convinced the owners' group to approve his bid, and free of the strictures of the approval process, McCourt still authorized an opening day payroll $17-27 million higher than he believed Major League Baseball would approve.You could also read it as Bud Selig twisting the throat of the game's second- or third-most lucrative franchise. Either way, it's not good for the Dodgers.
Vin Scully To Call NL West Games In 2010
Scully, who turned 82 on Sunday, will continue with the same broadcasting workload -- calling virtually all home games, plus road games as far east as Colorado. He made no commitment beyond 2010."We have had two exciting seasons consecutively -- getting into the second round of the playoffs -- and when you get that close, you look to the next year as perhaps the one that you go all the way," Scully said. "I'm very excited and optimistic about 2010 and the direction we're heading and we'll take it year-to-year after that."
Scott Schoeneweis's Wife Died From Overdose
Schoeneweis is a free agent.
Labels: deaths, diamondbacks, ex-angels
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