Commentary: OT: The Baseball Offseason So Far | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Commentary: OT: The Baseball Offseason So Far

Why are you writing about baseball? That's my job! :wink:

Anyway, boy, Phil, you are a tough grader, except for the homer A you gave the Mets. Their shiny new acquisitions look great now, but they are not gonna like it in 2008/09 when Delgado, Wagner, Pedro, and Lo Duca (if they add more to his contract) are all getting up there in years and salary, and their entire farm system is wearing teal...or whatever colors that franchise will be wearing.
 
Good analysis on all the teams and an interesting read. I do however disagree with a few of the grades you gave some teams but I did enjoy reading it.
 
finswin56 said:
Awesome write up Phil!

How you ever have time to do your real job is beyond me.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Actually, I wrote this up on Saturday while my wife was finishing her Christmas shopping. (My weekly Dolphins article usually gets written Monday or Tuesday night.) I was going to watch the Bucs-Pats game, but that turned suck-tastic in a hurry. If I'm out shopping for more than about 2 hours, I start acting like a fussy 3 year old, so once I finished the shopping I had to do, I was sent home so my wife could buy perfume for my sister and other such things. I'm not proud of this, but we are what we are.
 
Great write up Phil!

PS

Between you and me, your grade is right on about the Mets!;)
 
RWhitney014 said:
Why are you writing about baseball? That's my job! :wink:

Anyway, boy, Phil, you are a tough grader, except for the homer A you gave the Mets. Their shiny new acquisitions look great now, but they are not gonna like it in 2008/09 when Delgado, Wagner, Pedro, and Lo Duca (if they add more to his contract) are all getting up there in years and salary, and their entire farm system is wearing teal...or whatever colors that franchise will be wearing.
Click to expand...

I tried not to be a homer. Maybe I failed. :goof:

As I noted with the Jays, the market basically dictates that you overpay for pitching, so obviously I took that into account. If you're going to overpay for quality, fine. If you're overpaying for Todd Jones and Kenny Rogers, you get marked down. I didn't give the Jays a B because I thought they overpaid drastically (they did), I gave them a B because I think that Burnett is going to be either a star or a Darren Dreifort-level flop, without much middle ground. And personally, I think 5 years for BJ Ryan is a lot dumber than 4 years for Wagner.

I totally agree that the 4th year of the Wagner and Martinez contracts will likely be a write-off. But then, I thought the same thing about the Glavine contract, and he looked better last year than he had in probably 4 years, so who knows? Delgado should be productive through the end of his contract, so that doesn't worry me. But if LoDuca gets a contract extension in May, when he's hitting .350, I'm taking hostages. You can be sure of that.

If I was going to mark the Mets down, say to a B+, it would have been because they gave up Petit in the deal for Delgado and because they only got Nady for Cameron. However, the Marlins later vets-for-prospects deals seemed to show that they would have been resolute in that demand, and at some point, someone would have stepped up to make a deal for Delgado. The White Sox, for example, had not yet acquired Thome, and are paying only slightly less for him now than the Mets will for Delgado, I believe. Since Delgado is almost certainly the better investment, the Sox might have been tempted to get in on that. So while they might have been able to hold firm and cut a better deal, it's iffy, and probably not worth risking missing out on a consistent 35 HR, 100 RBI man at first.

The Nady/Cameron deal does bug me some, though. With just one year left, Cam's deal was hardly unreasonable, and as a guy in a walk year, he stands a good chance to produce big. I like Nady as a 4 position type who can put up decent numbers, but Cam was worth more, even if they saved $5+ million. So I almost knocked them down on that basis.
 
phunwin said:
Thanks!

Actually, I wrote this up on Saturday while my wife was finishing her Christmas shopping. (My weekly Dolphins article usually gets written Monday or Tuesday night.) I was going to watch the Bucs-Pats game, but that turned suck-tastic in a hurry. If I'm out shopping for more than about 2 hours, I start acting like a fussy 3 year old, so once I finished the shopping I had to do, I was sent home so my wife could buy perfume for my sister and other such things. I'm not proud of this, but we are what we are.
Click to expand...
Sounds familiar :lol:

The Cameron deal is still stuck in my craw.
 
BTW, after the Garciaparra signing, and the underrated Kenny Lofton signing, I'd bump the Dodgers up to an B+ or even A-. I really like what they're doing in LA; right now, I think they're the best team in the West. Furcal, Mueller, Lofton and Garciaparra should boost the team's OBP by a good 40 points.
 
Best team in the NL West is like having the best-cooked steak at the tartare competition.
 
RWhitney014 said:
Best team in the NL West is like having the best-cooked steak at the tartare competition.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. 85 wins is almost certainly enough to take that division. But hey, better to be at the top of the trash heap than the bottom.
 
phunwin said:
BTW, after the Garciaparra signing, and the underrated Kenny Lofton signing, I'd bump the Dodgers up to an B+ or even A-. I really like what they're doing in LA; right now, I think they're the best team in the West. Furcal, Mueller, Lofton and Garciaparra should boost the team's OBP by a good 40 points.
Click to expand...

I agree with the B+/A- although the Dodgers still need starters. I think if everyone is healthy they'll win the west. They have the best line up on paper.
 
Ray Finkle said:
I agree with the B+/A- although the Dodgers still need starters. I think if everyone is healthy they'll win the west. They have the best line up on paper.
Click to expand...

Yikes, I like what the Dodgers have done but they need more pitching badly. D. Lowe or Penny are their #1/#2 and it doesn't get better from there Perez(still waiting), DJ Houlton(decent rookie last year), Edwin Jackson(looked pretty good and only 23).. Gagne is great, Sanchez good, Brazoban has potential, and the rest are a bunch of unproven young arms. They will hit much better this year, but I am afraid it won't matter if they can't keep guys from scoring. The D should be much, much better also with some guys that can actually play the field.
 
GreenMonster said:
Yikes, I like what the Dodgers have done but they need more pitching badly. D. Lowe or Penny are their #1/#2 and it doesn't get better from there Perez(still waiting), DJ Houlton(decent rookie last year), Edwin Jackson(looked pretty good and only 23).. Gagne is great, Sanchez good, Brazoban has potential, and the rest are a bunch of unproven young arms. They will hit much better this year, but I am afraid it won't matter if they can't keep guys from scoring. The D should be much, much better also with some guys that can actually play the field.
Click to expand...

The rest of the West needs pitching too. The Rockies aren't going to be good, but SF only has Schmidt, and SD only has Peavy. Granted both are legit #1 starters. LAD in my opinion has more depth pitching wise (I'm not saying I like their pitching it just shows a lack of pitching in the west).
 
I think you can bump the Rangers grade up a bit after getting Eaton and Otsuka today. They are improving there team and my Angels arent doing much, they need to make a move. I wish they'd given Byrd the 2 year deal he was looking for.

Good article though
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom