Winter Blues: 2012 Official Offseason Baseball Thread

[Special K]

R.A's 2.93 NL ERA is impressive the last 3 seasons however his 5.43 in the AL isn't. For the time and money it would cost to get him, I'm passing. I still think the play this off season would be signing Hamilton and trading Ellsbury for some pitching.

It's official, YOUK'S A YANK!! $12M/1year. Should be an interesting homecoming when he returns to THE greatest ballpark in all of baseball in pinstripes!!

 

[lgna69xxx]

True SK, but he has not had that knuckler that long and has worked hard to get it to where it is today. I would take a crack at him if i were the red sox, but at what cost? Agreed, you guys would be set up nicely with Hamilton in that lineup but again, at what cost and terms? Ellsbury for starting pitching makes sense.

YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok Rumpie, tell us all how no hole was filled today at 3b..... Ichiro will fill the said "hole" in RF soon.... whats left according to all things rumps? Catcher you say? I am totally fine with Cervelli or a platoon situation until Gary Sanchez is ready in 1-2 season. Once again.........

YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUK!

R.A's 2.93 NL ERA is impressive the last 3 seasons however his 5.43 in the AL isn't. For the time and money it would cost to get him, I'm passing. I still think the play this off season would be signing Hamilton and trading Ellsbury for some pitching.

It's official, YOUK'S A YANK!! $12M/1year.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Wow! All of a sudden, Shane Victorino doesn't look so bad. Victorino was worth $14.7 M last year after being worth $26.8 in 2011. As for the shard of Kevin Youkilis, he was worth $5.7 last year and $16.7 the year before.

Yes, the Yankees got a bat, but not a particularly good one. The problem is that they also got a lawn ornament for the left side of the diamond. You REALLY don't want two lawn ornaments on the left side of the infield. Youk had a UZR of -4.5 last year, pretty bad, but even worse when you consider that he spent, as usual, a quarter of the season on the DL. Add that to Derek "Past a Diving" Jeter's UZR of -15.2 and you have almost -20 between them. Poor Andy Pettitte.

The other problem with Youkilis is that he spends a generous portion of every season on the DL. He's missed 150 games over the last three years. Ouch. $12 Million? Really?

As for Mr.Buchholz, he actually hasn't even had a bad season. He's had a bad half season. His ERA the second half of the year was 3.76. As for his missing time, he's pitched full seasons every year but one.

I'm glad you know what Lackey is "these days" because no one else does, considering that he pitched 2011 hurt and 2012 not at all. He's been a number one, albeit a long time ago. My expectations aren't high and a number 3 or 4 is all he's being counted on.

And I'm glad to see you've finally acknowledged Fenway Park as the greatest ballpark in all of sports. It will be an interesting homecoming. Frankly, I think he'll get a warm reception.

Mr. K, you couldn't be more wrong. RA's record in the AL means ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOTHING. RA Dickey was a different pitcher then. I'd give him a 4 year deal tonight.

 

[lgna69xxx]

You would be wise to do so, that is AFTER giving up one or two top prospects to get him. Do you even have any? Dickey is the best option that "could" be available, not Loshe, not A Sanchez, DICKEY!

Horsecrap rumps, Lackey sucked before the injury and will suck this season. For what he is being paid he should be 16-5, log over 220 innings and have a era 3.75 or less, BUT wont come close to that, and yea, he is truly a #4 now, never really was a #1 or 2 with the red sox. Maybe the sox can entice Clemens back, he did look good in that indy league last august lol. Heck he would be a great #7 on the depth chart for most teams but likely a #3 on the 2013 red sox as things currently stand.

Mr. K, you couldn't be more wrong. RA's record in the AL means ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOTHING. RA Dickey was a different pitcher then.I'd give him a 4 year deal tonight.

 

[lgna69xxx]

Question? Now that the Dodger's and DONNIE BASEBALL are the highest paid team in the Major Leagues, who will rUpmles cry about now ......:lol:

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

AFTER giving up one or two top prospects to get him. Do you even have any?

Ah, blathering on in ignorance, as always. Do you actually read anything?

And as for whining about the Dodgers, you'll be the one whining when the Yankees, who have developed three players in the last 10 years, keep getting out bid by them and can no longer buy division. (I was going to say "championships", but the Yankees don't seem to be winning those.)

 

[lgna69xxx]

You mean like how the red sox tried "buying" championships the last 2 seasons before the fire sale? Like that?

There is no panic nor worries on my end in all things Yankee-World rumps, but please do keep on thinking so, it is a good read to see you so concerend about us on these slow news days lol.

And as for whining about the Dodgers, you'll be the one whining when the Yankees, who have developed three players in the last 10 years, keep getting out bid by them and can no longer buy division. (I was going to say "championships", but the Yankees don't seem to be winning those.)

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

There is no panic nor worries on my end in all things Yankee-World rumps.

No, of course not, but had you a more intimate relationship with the real world, oh, how different things would be. Here's a guy from Fox Sports who pretty much nails the Yankee winter:

Yankees 1-year deals dont help team
FoxSports.com
Rarely has a team spent so much to improve so little.

Over the past month, the New York Yankees have invested $49 million in one-year contracts for four free agents: Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and most recently Kevin Youkilis. That is close to what the Oakland Athletics spent on an entire division-winning roster this year. But even after handing out that sum of money, the Yankees can’t argue that they are better now than they were when the Detroit Tigers swept them out of the American League Championship Series.

Pettitte turns 41 in June. Kuroda will be 38 by the time spring training begins. The Yankees hope each is as good in 2013 as he was this year.

Rivera is coming off a catastrophic knee injury. He’s the greatest closer of all time. He’s also 43 years old. It’s hard to imagine the 2013 Rivera will be better than the 2012 Rafael Soriano, who recorded 42 saves with a 2.26 ERA and is now a free agent.

Youkilis? He is the early-season — and maybe full-season — replacement for Alex Rodriguez at third base. Prior to his farcical postseason, A-Rod had an above-average 2012 by the diminishing standards of major league third basemen. His OPS was .783. The mean was .753.

Youkilis’ was .745.

So, again, let’s ask the question: How have the Yankees improved this winter?

The answer is they haven’t.

For Yankees fans, the near- and medium-term outlooks are unsettling. The team’s next move will probably be re-signing Ichiro Suzuki to play right field. Ichiro performed well in New York — a .794 OPS — after coming over from Seattle in a July trade. But he’s no longer a difference-maker at age 39.

Ichiro is expected to sign a one-year contract. Notice a trend?

The Yankees are headed for the Bronx version of the Fiscal Cliff. Hal Steinbrenner has made public his intent to keep the payroll below the $189 million luxury tax threshold beginning in 2014. This is the transition year, as the Yankees are trying to shoehorn their extravagant past and austere present within the confines of a 25-man roster. The result is a tighter fit than a Manhattan studio apartment.

The strategy of general manager Brian Cashman has been to slightly overpay free agents on one-year contracts in order to keep them off the books for 2014. That has prevented the Yankees from signing high-dollar, multiyear free agents — so far. (We must leave open the possibility that the Old Yankees return, delivering Josh Hamilton and Anibal Sanchez on the very same day.)

The Yankees, coming off a season in which they led the American League with 95 wins, will compete for the division title in 2013. They are going to carry a payroll of around $200 million — once more, for old time’s sake — and should benefit from salary drives for free-agents-to-be Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson. But it appears they won’t fulfill the longtime Steinbrenner mandate: dominate the offseason back pages and drink champagne in October.

The problem, such as it is, will be exacerbated at this time next year. To build a championship team around the enormous contracts of Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and Derek Jeter, Cashman will need homegrown players on reasonable salaries — players like Austin Jackson, Ian Kennedy and Phil Coke, who were traded for Granderson three years ago.

It’s not that Cashman made a mistake by acquiring Granderson. He finished fourth in the AL MVP balloting last year and has hit the most home runs in baseball over the past two seasons. But Granderson was the archetype for the Yankees’ old model; if they missed Jackson, Kennedy and Coke, well, they could blow up the budget and buy replacements.

No more, Hal says. So, what was the correct decision under the old rules could be scored an E-Cashman one year from now.

There’s a failsafe solution to most roster-related quandaries in baseball, as we learned again this week: If your farm system is rich enough — see Kansas City and Cincinnati — then the player you covet can be one trade away. The Tampa Bay Rays weren’t going to help the division-rival Yankees by sending James Shields to the Bronx. But you can bet the Cleveland Indians would have traded Shin-Soo Choo to the Yankees if they put together the right prospect package.

Apparently, they couldn’t. Today, Choo — a more dynamic outfielder than Ichiro or Brett Gardner — is a Cincinnati Red.

The trade market is telling that way. Forget the prospect rankings and oft-repeated opinions of anonymous scouts. If you have legitimate young talent, other GMs will want to trade with you in November, December and January. And in that respect, Cashman has had a quiet winter. With Nick Swisher a free agent, the Yankees need a power bat for the outfield. Justin Upton, Jason Kubel and Mike Morse are available. Why hasn’t Cashman acquired one of them?

Well, some top prospects have been traded (Jesus Montero) and others (Dellin Betances, Manny Banuelos) have suffered injuries or underperformed. And the timing couldn’t be worse. If one acknowledges that Rodriguez will earn $26 million and make a negligible contribution in 2014 — to say nothing of the coming season — then the Yankees will (purportedly) operate that year with a nominal $163 million payroll.

Hardly destitute, I know. But it’s much more in line with the rest of the sport’s wealthy franchises. For years, a large part of the Yankees’ identity has been the notion that they spend more money than every other team in baseball. When superstar free agents become available, they pick up the check. It’s a point of pride. It’s also good business, when considering their robust revenues and the record 17 postseason appearances in 18 years.

Now, the mighty Yankees are using their pinstriped checkbook for one-year contracts — a subtle acknowledgement that the empire’s most opulent days are gone.

 

[lgna69xxx]

Rumor has it...........

Josh Hamilton has signed a 5 year $125 mil contract with the LA Angels....... another one bites the dust red sox fans lol.... meanwhile you are close to signing and overpaying as usual another #3/4 starter in Ryan Dempster. Hip hip HOORAY!!!!!

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

I'd hoped the Sox were going to go for Hamilton. I like the players they've signed, but I've wanted them to spend another $35 on a front line starter and a front line bat. The Sox are currently in the $140 range and I don't see them competing at that level. If they don't do something else, they're likely to be fighting the Yankees and Orioles for third place. The difference is that the Yankees are already over $200 M.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Dropping like flies. Another one I wanted Ben to sign. Anibal Sanchez to the Cubs for $75 over 5. Looks like the Sox will be fighting it out with the Yankees for the crumbs. Texas is better. LA is better. Toronto is better. Tampa Bay is better. Detroit is probably better.

 

[Joe.t]

Messages from Sox fans from a Sox board, and I quote-


-"And, for the record, as soon as they fired Francona and all the clubhouse dirt came out I knew their team was F'd for the forseeable future. I just didn't think they'd escalate things the way they did with Valentine. Dumping those bad contracts on the Dodgers was a chance to start over, but now they're just loading up on overpaid mediocrity".

-"Dempster goes to #Redsox, his career v. #Yankees: 5GS 0-4, 7.62 ERA.".


-"Man, what are they trying to accomplish here".

-"Seriously, Why would players want to play for Boston? Their management is sleezy".


The towel has been thrown in on the 2013 season.:yield:

 

[Special K]

The towel has been thrown in on the 2013 season.:yield:

You mean like the Yankees have thrown it in? Lol.

 

[lgna69xxx]

Now you are getting it, :thumb:

Was it not the idea after Benny-boy got rid of all those huge contracts he shipped off to the dodgers to basically "start over" and build a great team for next season and beyond? I mean thats all sox fans all over the place were saying and were so happy when they got rid of those horrible contracts. Whats he do? He gives out 13mil a year to avg at best players and lets the biggest fish in the sea (Greinke and Hamilton) get away. You are correct about one thing tho rumps, the red sox will be picking up the crumbs, their own, in the basement.

Hate to say i told you so about this offseason and the lack of great talent available in the free agent market, but i saw this coming the day they traded with the dodgers. Nah, i dont hate to say it

Dropping like flies. Another one I wanted Ben to sign.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Apparently, the Yankees signed Kevin Youkilis in an attempt to get younger.

Of the Yankees 13 most significant players, (the starting lineup, three front starters, closer), one (1) is under 30. Talk about inviting a train wreck.

 

[lgna69xxx]

RA Dickey, a Blue Jay?

http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=411675


If this does go through, Just give the Jays the AL East. Wow, it will be a fun summer at Rogers Center.

This move is good for baseball for 2 main reasons,

1. It helps along with all the other moves the Jays have done this offseason to put the great game of baseball back in the limelight in Canada, hopefully helping to get a team back in Montreal one day.

2. Eliminates the red sox from any hope of postseason play next season before Christmas 2012.

Now watch the red sox go out and give Kyle Loshe 25mil a yr for 5 years. Benny-boy is more and more looking just like that, a boy among men in the GM world.

 

[rumpleforeskiin]

Poor silly delusional, iggy. Life must be nice living in a fog.

The Yankees yesterday were hit with a luxury tax of $18.9 Million, bringing the total over the last 10 years to $224.2 million. What the Steinbrothers are aware of, much to Joe and iggy's future pain, is that the Yankees will be more profitable over the next 10 years by reducing payroll, even if it means spending 2013 and 2014 in the Eastern Division basement and, clearly, if you look at their aging, aching, and holey roster, that's where they're headed. Unfortunately, the Bronx team is facing a perfect storm: a desire to reduce payroll below the luxury tax threshold, while at the same time burdened with a whole slew of declining players with massive long term salaries and a farm system with little help on the way.

Not only have the Steinbrothers decided to punt 2013 and 2014, but they'll be weighted down in 2015 and 2016 with almost $70 million in commitments to the corpses of Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, and Mark Teixeira. Ouch. My guess is that it will be 2018 or 2019 before the Yankees again field a contending team.

 

[Joe.t]

Blue Jays win the East if they land Dickey(my prediction), in other news the Yankees are close to signing Suziki and the Red Sox are busy picking up the crumbs(players that nobody wants).

 

[lgna69xxx]

"good job red sox, you win for worst offseason signing so far"

:lol:

Hey Joe, did i not just tell you this last week? Skip to the 1:36 mark of the video

[video]http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1440537-worst-mlb-signings-of-the-offseason[/video]

(rumps will state the bleacher report not a credible source lol)

 

[Joe.t]

They call the Victorino signing the worst this year so far, I'm shocked to say the least iggy, I'm totally shocked!!!!: