Sunday, January 31, 2010 |
Robothal: Dodgers Making A Run At Reed Johnson
Rosenthal has a longer piece up at Fox Sports.
Update 2/1/10: The Dodgers have offered Johnson a one-year/$800,000 contract according to ESPN.
MSTI has more on why this likely spells the end of Jason Repko, and why it means Blake DeWitt is probably starting the season with AAA Albuquerque. It also means that, given Johnson's historic ability to hit lefties well, Andre Ethier will be run in a strict platoon this year.
Labels: cubs, dodgers, hot stove, rumors, transactions
Saturday, January 30, 2010 |
Random Stuff I Missed Lately
Angels Top 10 Prospects
Hank Conger still leads the list:1. Hank Conger, cThe large number of recent draftees should be a concern.
2. Peter Bourjos, of
3. Mike Trout, of
4. Trevor Reckling, lhp
5. Garrett Richards, rhp
6. Fabio Martinez, rhp
7. Randal Grichuk, of
8. Tyler Skaggs, lhp
9. Jordan Walden, rhp
10. Trevor Bell, rhp
Angels Sign Saunders
Joe Saunders signed with the Angels for 2010 on a $3.7M/1 year deal.Last Place, Again?
Quoth PECOTA, for the Angels in the AL West, with 77 wins. The Dodgers win the NL West with an 86-76 record.Mark Who?
Prior. Throwing off a mound. With a new agent not named Scott Boras (this time, John Boggs). Immensely sad.Eric Byrnes A Mariner
Does it matter the cost? Oh, it does? Major league minimum, at least for 2010, and to the M's; the Snakes will eat the rest of his deal.Labels: angels, transactions
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 |
Sell, Frank, Sell! Craig Calcaterra On The Swirling Dodger Sale Rumors
This isn't first person reportage or anything, but there is buzz coming from some insiders and writers close to the Los Angeles Dodgers that, while Frank McCourt is going to go to the mat to beat his wife Jamie for ownership of the team, he wants out sooner rather than later and will look to turn around and sell within a year or two of the conclusion of the litigation.
The divorce papers that were made public last fall showed just how leveraged the McCourts truly are. It's no wonder McCourt wants out. After battling his wife to the death and making the crushing debt service on his team, he's going to be broke. Or at least broke in that weird, relatively-insolvent-but-still-eating-out-at-fancy-restaurants-and-living-in-nice-houses kind of way rich people who call themselves broke can get from time to time.
The Four Best Words In The English Language
Labels: angels, spring training
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 |
Dayn Perry: Mariners Win 2010 AL West Pennant
Padres Sign Jon Garland
Labels: ex-dodgers, hot stove, padres, transactions
Dodgers Re-Sign Brad Ausmus
Buster Olney claims it's $1M for 2010, but that's likely with incentives.
Labels: dodgers, hot stove, transactions
Ronnie Belliard Signs With The Dodgers
Update: Dylan Hernandez reports the contract is not guaranteed. Okayyy...
Update 2: ... but the Dodgers have requested he show up to camp at 209 lbs or less despite a rumor that his contract would be guaranteed if he did.
Update 3, 1/27: Dylan Hernandez' story in the Times.
Labels: dodgers, transactions
Rangers Sold, And I Totally Missed It
Earlier: Group Headed By Nolan Ryan To Bid For Rangers
Update: Jon Heyman says the purchase price was a staggering $750M. If that's true, what are the Yankees worth? $1.5 billion? Typo — that should be $570M, which seems a lot more reasonable.
Oakland Signs Ben Sheets For 1 Year/$10M
Update: Ken Rosenthal says Sheets has incentives totaling to an additional $2M.
Labels: athletics, hot stove, transactions
Monday, January 25, 2010 |
Angels Sign Izturis For 3 Years/$10M
Labels: angels, hot stove, transactions
Mark Loretta Retires
Labels: dodgers, ex-dodgers, retirements
Shady Operator? Or Shadiest Operator? Jalil-Abdul, Lyman Bostock's Agent, Involved In Haiti Charity Scam
- I could find no evidence of such a foundation at the Foundation Center's 990 finder, a search form that lets you look for the IRS 990 form for 501(c)(3) charities.
- Nowhere on the purported "foundation's" website do they ever claim to be a 501(c)(3) charity.
- Nor for that matter do they claim to have any experience at disaster relief. See also the Wyclef Jean Yéle Haiti foundation, which has similar problems and was, previously, principally a cultural and arts foundation.
- Finally, they are connected — at the hip, it seems, as the whois record for the trust points to the same man — to one Abdul-Jalil, perhaps best known as the man who gave Lyman Bostock catastrophically bad financial advice (Bostock had no life insurance), in addition to making himself persona non grata throughout baseball for the shameful way in which he deported himself in the wake of Bostock's tragic, sudden death, asking for money from the Angels organization above and beyond his agent's commission. If he has ever worked as an agent for any other major league baseball player, I have yet to hear of it.
Friday, January 22, 2010 |
Reds Sign Arredondo To Minor League Deal
Labels: ex-angels, hot stove, reds, transactions
Angels Unload Gary Matthews, Jr. On Mets
This is one of those "great trade, who'd we get?" deals; anything to clear the deck of this very expensive fourth outfielder is a good idea. The return is Brian Stokes, an at-best league average middle reliever who will probably get eaten alive in the AL. Unfortunately, he also is arbitration eligible, and from what I can tell, the Mets haven't gone there with him.
The Angels managed to save a couple million on salary while getting an expendable commodity, middle relief. This was a deal everyone knew was coming, so yay, I guess.
Update: SOSG observes that the Dodgers got millions more for Juan Pierre, but then, Pierre still had some Beast Mode left in him.
Labels: angels, mets, trades, transactions
Thursday, January 21, 2010 |
Dodgers Re-Sign Padilla
Labels: dodgers, hot stove, transactions
Dodgers Sign Deal With Ethier, Other Transactions
- The Dodgers signed a 2-year/$15.25M deal with Andre Ethier as part of a wider series of contracts that took arbitration off the table for all eligible players, including Matt Kemp, Jonathan Broxton, and Russell Martin.
James Loney, Russell Martin, George Sherrill, and Hong-Chih Kuo have all agreed to one-year deals with the Dodgers.
All four players were eligible for salary arbitration. Martin's contract is for $5.05 million, Loney will make $3.1 million, Sherrill gets $4.5 million and Kuo will earn $950,000.
- Mike Napoli, Jered Weaver, Howie Kendrick, and Reggie Willits all agreed with the Angels on one-year deals to avoid arbitration. Weaver will make $4.265M, Napoli will get $3.6M with $50,000 each for games caught past 100 and 120, Kendrick $1.75M, and Willits $625,000 with plate appearance incentives. Joe Saunders, Jeff Mathis, Erick Aybar, and Maicer Izturis all remain without contracts and are arbitration eligible.
- Jim Thome wisely is talking about a possible return to the Chisox — where he can DH.
- Tim Lincecum has requested $13M in arbitration. I sure wouldn't want to be Sabean trying to negotiate that deal.
- Bengie Molina will be a Giant for another year on a $4.5M deal.
- Felix Hernandez and the Mariners are working on a $78M/5-year deal that would buy out his remaining arbitration years and long-term him at a reasonable price.
- Kevin Kouzmanoff agreed to a one-year deal with Oakland only days after being traded by the Padres for outfielders Scott Hairston and Aaron Cunningham.
Labels: angels, athletics, dodgers, ex-dodgers, giants, hot stove, padres, transactions
The Angels' No-Good, Very Bad, Horrible Offseason Continues With A Joel Pinero Signing
Labels: angels, hot stove, transactions
Wednesday, January 13, 2010 |
Report: Dodgers Pursuing Joel Pinero
Labels: dodgers, hot stove, rumors
Diane, It's Terry Smith. Trust Me.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 |
Rory Markus' Funeral Scheduled For Thursday
Monday, January 11, 2010 |
Pickoff Moves
Mark McGwire Admits to Steroid Use
Via David Pinto, Mark McGwire admits to steroid use; and then someone close to him claims he was using human growth hormone, too. Okay.It's Final: Vlad Signs Deal With The Rangers
And as mentioned earlier, it's a $7M/1-year deal with a mutual option for 2011.Khalil Greene In Texas
Also in the above story: former Padres starting shortstop Khalil Green will be the Rangers' utility infielder, pending a physical.INF Nick Green Signs With The Dodgers
To be the team's primary backup behind Rafael Furcal; he's slightly behind schedule due to back surgery.Labels: drugs, hot stove, rangers, transactions
Thursday, January 07, 2010 |
Rumor: Rangers Offer Vlad $7M/1 Year
Labels: ex-angels, hot stove, rangers, rumors
Rangers Sign Ex-Angel Minor Leaguer Matt Brown
Labels: ex-angels, rangers, transactions
Wednesday, January 06, 2010 |
Andre Dawson Sole Cooperstown Inductee; Blyleven Falls Five Votes Short
Jay Jaffe, my personal gold standard of Hall eligibility, calls Andre Dawson "not ... worthy of a Hall of Fame vote", largely because of the brief duration of his career peak and the overall low OBP: "his walk totals certainly don't reflect the notion that he was a feared hitter".
Labels: hall of fame
Tuesday, January 05, 2010 |
Boston To Trade Casey Kotchman To Seattle; M's Ink Gutierrez To 4-Year/$20.5M Deal
Related: The Mariners long-termed center fielder Franklin Gutierrez on a 4-year/$20.5M deal. This buys out his remaining arbitration year and gives him security in the early, productive part of his career at a below market price.
Update: Ken Rosenthal says the return on the Kotchman trade is Bill Hall.
Labels: ex-angels, hot stove, mariners, red sox, trades, transactions
Randy Johnson To Retire
Update: Craig Calcaterra has a fine encomium of Johnson's career.
Johnson slowly began to improve after the trade to Seattle, to the point where he was a genuinely average to slightly above average pitcher by 1992, though one who walked way, way too many guys. He was 28 by then. I figured that he would peter out soon enough and would be remembered as a slightly better, left handed Bobby Witt.Then something clicked, and after it clicked no one had a chance off of the guy for the next dozen years.
Labels: retirements
Rory Markas Passes Away
Update: The Times' Fabulous Forum reminds us that Markas had a blood clot in his brain on November 1, 2008. You've just gotta wonder if that wasn't the proximate cause of his death. As Vinny says, if you want to make God smile, tell Him your plans.
Update, 1/6: Oh Lord, I've misspelled his name in the mast and elsewhere here. Fixed, too.
Also, Jon points to a Daily News piece by Tom Hoffarth about Vinny remembering Rory:
[At] the Golden Mike ceremony [where Markas introduced Scully] two years ago, Scully said he remembered that Markas was "more than generous and I was very touched. It was so typical of him to be so warm and giving. That's the way I'll always think of him."
Labels: angels, deaths, obituaries, radio, tv
Monday, January 04, 2010 |
Adrian Beltre Joins The Red Sox
Labels: ex-dodgers, hot stove, red sox, transactions
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