Baseball news and notes
By Darin H Posted in Baseball — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Quite a bit of happenings in the offseason so far, this is some of the news from the last couple of days:
A-Rod easily wins his Third AL MVP
Alex Rodriguez is headed back to the New York Yankees as the American League's Most Valuable Player. A-Rod won his third AL MVP award Monday, easily defeating Detroit's Magglio Ordonez after compiling an astounding season at the plate.
Rodriguez received 26 first-place votes and 382 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America,
*snip*
(He) hit .314 for the season and led the majors with 54 homers, 156 RBIs and 143 runs. He was the first player since New York's Roger Maris in 1961 to lead the majors in homers, RBIs and runs, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
This little award netted A-Rod a cool $1.5 million from his now opted out contract.
Sticking with the Yankees for a moment, someone who will be back in Pinstripes next year for big money is Mariano Rivera as I predicted,
Mariano Rivera told the New York Yankees he is accepting their $45 million, three-year offer and will remain with the only major league team he's ever pitched for.
Moving up the road to the lesser of two evil empires, Mike Lowell has apparently agreed to stay with the Red Sox.
World Series MVP Mike Lowell is staying with the Boston Red Sox, meaning the reigning champions will try to repeat with all their key players from 2007.
The Red Sox and their popular third baseman reached a preliminary agreement Monday on a three-year, $37.5 million contract, according to two people familiar with the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been finalized.
While the sides have reached the outline of the deal, there are still minor issues to be worked out and as of Monday evening there still was not a signed letter of agreement between the team and Lowell's agents.
So with Schilling and Lowell resigned as well as Tavarez and Wakefield coming back, the Red Sox will field basically the same team that won the World Series this year.
The Chicago White Sox have 2 high priced good shortstops now on their roster after trading starting pitcher Jon Garland for Orlando Cabrera:
Gold Glove shortstop Orlando Cabrera was traded by the Los Angeles Angels to the Chicago White Sox for pitcher Jon Garland on Monday in a surprising swap of dependable players.
The deal came 12 days after the White Sox re-signed shortstop Juan Uribe to a $4.5 million, one-year contract. Now, he could wind up on the bench or with another team.
"We saw an opportunity to acquire one of the best shortstops in the game and one of the smartest in the game. Somebody who can fit into the No. 2 spot in our lineup for 155 games," Chicago general manager Ken Williams said, adding the trade frees up money that could help the White Sox pull off another deal.
"We're not done yet. We're still trying to land a big fish," he said.
The 33-year-old Cabrera batted .301 with eight homers, 86 RBIs and a career-high 101 runs for the AL West champions this season. He also led AL shortstops in fielding percentage (.983) and won his second Gold Glove. The other came in 2001 with the Montreal Expos.
Garland, an 18-game winner in 2005 and 2006, was 10-13 with a 4.23 ERA in 32 starts this year. He joins a solid Angels rotation that includes John Lackey, Kelvim Escobar and Jered Weaver.
And finally, the most important baseball news of the day... Tommy Glavine is back where he belongs, in a Braves uniform.
Glavine returned to the Braves on Monday to finish a career that likely will send him to the Hall of Fame, though this isn't just a sentimental farewell. Atlanta believes the crafty left-hander, who will turn 42 before next season, can help them get back to the playoffs after a two-year hiatus.
"Starting pitching has been our Achilles' heel. We just didn't have the depth we had in past years, and we wanted to address that," new general manager Frank Wren said. "Tommy was our No. 1 target."
This was an easy one to hit.
*snip*
After turning down a $13 million option with the Mets for 2008, taking a $3 million buyout, he turned his attention toward the Braves. He gave Atlanta a hometown discount, agreeing to an $8 million, one-year deal that was the lowest he was willing to play for and wasn't available to anyone else.
The Braves jumped on it quickly, wrapping up the negotiations in less than a week. No one else — not even the Mets — were ever in the mix.
The Braves starting pitching struggled beyond Smoltz and Hudson last year (to put it kindly). Glavine was an innings eater and put up 23 quality starts - good enough for 5th best in the NL. He steps into the #3 role and should be good for around 200 innings next year. The $8 million is a steal thanks to the hometown discount. This pushes Chuck James from the 3 spot to 4 (or they could end up trading him, but I doubt that) and probably either Jurriens or Reyes in the 5th spot. That might be good enough to get the Braves back into the playoffs next year. Additionally, Tommy's a great mentor for the younger guys. The Mets fans blame Glavine for his 2 last disastrous starts keeping them out of the playoffs, but they wouldn't have even been in the hunt for a spot if it weren't for his previous 10 starts.
Mike Hampton
by Darin H
And he's apparently going to make his first start in the winter(?) league tomorrow. So we'll see how that goes.
Even without Hampton, the Braves rotation should be decent next year. Smotlz and Hudson are locked in at 1 & 2, looks like Glavine steps in at #3 and should produce 200 innings and 12-14 wins. Chuck James in at the 4, and that leaves the 5th starter either Hampton (depending on his rehab, but for $14 or so million, we'll try), Jurrjens (AAAA to MLB pitcher) or Reyes (ditto). I don't see them spending any more money on pitching this offseason. Center field is the only spot where they need to make a move (though Willie Harris batting 8th and playing good D in center is an ok proposition).
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Two thirds of the world is covered by water,
the other third is covered by Champ Bailey.
So last year the Angels go out and try to top the Dodgers (juan pierre) in terrible contracts by giving Sarge JR, what was it, 50 million over 5? And he repays em with a 15 hr, just terrible production for his contract and expectations.
So this year, they try to make us forget that awful contract by...giving out another stupid contract to another 32 year old CF who also isnt a great hitter. Huh? I like Torii, he's a good energy player, gold glove defence, but at 18 a year this signing is one of the worst contracts ever. Carlos Beltran makes 19. Hunter isnt fit to carry Beltrans jock strap.
Their GM even had the nerve to suggest Hunter was the missing piece in the lineup. He said now Big Daddy Vlady has some protection. Wha? Hunter is an out who happens to run into about 20 HR a year. This guy would be lucky to hit .265.
Im seriously perplexed. Mathews is 32, Hunter is 32, Vlad is 30 something too. In 3 years all 3 will be fielding in wheelchairs.
I think the Braves need more pitching. That lefthander they paid a gazillion dollars to not pitch for them is getting healthy, but nobody expects anything from him. I think they should take a chance on Colon.
The White Sox are positioned for some crazyness to take place. Uribe to the Jays for Glaus maybe? I think they are going to try to bring Jones in to play CF.
The Angels have pitching, pitching, and more pitching. That 3B from Florida would look mighty fine in an Angels uniform.