'08/'09 Hot Stove

http://ballsiest.com/sportsblog/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/cc-sabathia.jpg

Royals obtain 1B Jacobs from Marlins for Leo "Needs a" Nuñez "Pair of Shoes"

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/royals/story/866594.html

Do they even need Mike Jacobs? Weird.

Does anyone need Mike Jacobs?

can he still catch? (i'm guessing no)

HOT STOVE!

CATCH IT

Jacobs is a decent bat.

Not for a 1B.

And no he can't catch apparently.

he was #15 in the NL in slugging... with a <.300 OBP. ouch.

maybe KC isn't planning on him being a fulltime 1b. He could be a chip for the next move.

Again does anyone need Mike Jacobs?

yeah, kc has shealy, teahen, kila, jacobs and billy butler that all can play first base.

apparently, moore doesn't care for billy butler.

Not that this is going to happen, but what if Tampa Bay picked up Manny? Wouldn't that make a ton of sense?

Except for the price tag, it might.

They've got a lot of new fans, and signing a high profile free agent would be a good way of maintaining that.

while at the same time destroying all that was great about them.

Manny makes everything better, though.

long ass FA list

Surprised Smoltz is only type B. Did he miss a lot of time?

Haha okay like 90% of the season. I'll shut up now.

if the cardinals pick up Mark Prior I may eat a bullet.

If they pick up Mark Prior they are going to pay him in bratwurst most likely.

The Chicago Cubs' humiliating postseason collapse was not the result of shaky pitching, nonexistent hitting or an infield as porous as Missouri limestone.

Rather, the club's demise was preordained at a Tennessee tattoo parlor some 600 miles from Wrigley Field. That's where lifelong fan Jimmy Burroughs got the Cubs logo etched onto his right shoulder blade. But that's not all he got. Carved ever-so-lightly within the Cubbie "C" he found the words, "Go Cards."

"I pretty much blame the tattoo for the Cubs losing," said Burroughs, 26, a child therapist from Bloomington, Ind. "It kills me to have a tattoo that says 'Go Cards.'"

In July, the Cubbies were on track to win the National League Central and Burroughs felt confident the team would go all the way. So during a family vacation to Gatlinburg, Tenn., Burroughs stopped at American Rebel Tattoo Studios in nearby Pigeon Forge. There, he and tattoo artist Deke Rivers engaged in some good-humored ribbing about the Cubs' longtime rivalry with the St. Louis Cardinals. Rivers says he is not a Cardinals fan, but wrote "Go Cards" on the tattoo as a joke.

"We laughed about it," Burroughs recalled. "I told him, 'Color it in now.'"

Rivers filled in the "C" with red ink but as the tattoo dried, the message resurfaced. Rivers was shocked.

Rivers refunded Burroughs' $190, but Burroughs decided not to fix his flesh-and-blood endorsement of the Cards.

"This was the weird thing — after I got the tattoo, the Cardinals actually started losing and the Cubs took off," Burroughs said.

"We are very superstitious," said Burroughs' sister, Amanda Burroughs, a Cubs fan living in O'Fallon, Ill. "We're the kind of family where you have to sit in the exact same spot you did last time the Cubs won. So when I heard about the tattoo, I was like, 'Oh my gosh.' But then the Cardinals weren't doing so well, so my family was fine with it. Well, we all know how that turned out."

Yes, we do.

http://i36.tinypic.com/kb258l.jpg

my prediction for the two total garbage free agents the twins sign (they do it every year) -

rich aurilia and mark loretta

My friend in the Padres clubhouse says the only thing Khalil Greene eats is crackers with tuna pretty much. Seems odd, and probably why he gets hurt a lot...

I'm not sure why I posted that, thought I'd share...

lowe back to dirty water?

I think the man's decision to sign will be based mostly on where he can get the most free drinks. So yeah probably.

I don't know if he is available, but I'd like to see if the Reds could maybe get Nick Swisher out of the White Sox. Swisher had a bad year, but he is a switch hitter, is a year or maybe two from free agency and kind of fits into the Reds kind of budget. Swisher is also from Ohio, so he might actually be interested in playing for Cinci. The Reds need to get someone with some power who can hit from the right side to put in left field and bat between Joey Votto and Jay Bruce. I've got a feeling though that the Reds might try to sign Pat Burrell.

Matt Holliday appears headed to the Oakland Athletics in a deal with the Colorado Rockies, baseball sources have told ESPN's Jerry Crasnick and Buster Olney.

Final details are being finalized, though the teams have agreed to terms, a baseball source told Olney.

The deal isalso pending completion of physical exams.

Although the package coming back to Colorado has yet to be determined, it's believed that pitcher Greg Smith was one of the players under discussion.

have fun at sea level, big man

what does Beane know?

Not pleased if Brett Anderson is really part of this deal.

Street and Carlos Gonzalez OTOH is okay by me.

this comes as a surprise.

I think this may make both teams worse

Carlos Gonzalez will win the triple crown in Coors. just watch.

I can't see how this could possibly make the A's worse (I don't think there is any position player on the A's who is better than even road version-Holliday and all the A's pitchers are replaceable commidities.)

The Rockies being worse I can see.

A's LF '08 (nine players): .240/.343/.404

It's a good thing they didn't go after Bonds in 2008.

/bitter

I can't blame them for that though. I'm sure if they thought they could do it without incurring the wrath of Sir Bud they would have.

Rumor has it Holliday for Gonzalez/Smith/Street.

Nats deal Bonifacio, minor leaguers for Marlins' Willingham, Olsen

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3694827

interesting...

so the marlins are apparently serious about shifting away from last year's strategy of bludgeoning both themselves and their opponent by only hitting home runs

well, how can you start rallies if you've got guys hitting rally-killing home runs?

That shit never gets old.

Send more problem children to Washington, please.

i hear billu butler's in the doghouse and the royals are trying to field a team entirely of first basemen. we could have a match!

lmbo!

was he having a particularly shitty spring or did he open his yap again?

shitty spring, old, expensive

pretty crazy, he totally nosedived after his first half in '07:

21 HR, 58 RBI, 78 R, 52 BB, .303/.410/.560 in 82 games

second half:

4 HR, 17 RBI, 29 R, 32 BB, .203/.324/.299

morgan ensberg r.i.p.

slow internet connection means I thought Morgan Ensberg was dead for about 10 seconds there

Hot stove = transactions and cremations

Rays making the move for the sake of Sheffield, obv.

Geoff Jenkins also DFA'd.

Hm.

Newark's gonna have one hell of a team this year.

"Most versatile player to play this game... unfortunately I wasn't given the opportunity to do that there." -- Sheffield on MLB Network

Yes, Gary, you accommodated the Tigers after you hurt your shoulder playing the outfield and couldn't do anything but attempt to get healthy by accepting the DH role.

Sheffield can go ahead and hit his 500th, but I bet the Hall will keep him waiting for a good long time. The dude has been acting like a putz on and off since he was 19.

plus the roidin'

he's an obv a deserving first-ballot HOFer, but then so is Bonds.

Morbs, defender of roids.

Mark, sponge of conventional "wisdom"

he's an obv a deserving first-ballot HOFer

uh ...

He's currently 21st in OPS among active players, behind at least a dozen sure-fire HOF'er who are clearly in a different league than Sheffield. He never won an MVP, rarely led the league in anything (he scores pitifully low on Bill James' black ink test), and none of the intangibles are in his favour (steroids, asshole).

hmmmmmmmmmmm. you mean Tim Kurkjian was wrong? I may have been hasty.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sheffga01.shtml

His top 10 comps are all HOFers save McGriff, who might get in, alas.

None of them are particularly strong comps, although the McGriff comp does deserve to be at the top of the list (and McGriff is no HOFer). And of course, 500 HR isn't what it used to be. I count maybe five or six great seasons in his career that look like part of a HOF career, but even those seasons are nothing special compared to the numbers that plenty of other guys were putting up at the same time.

but his HOF 'Standards' and 'Monitor' are 61.2 and 146, comparable to Jeff Bagwell's 59 and 149.5.

I think it depends on how long the writers are going to punish hitters of this "era." When Kahrl, Neyer and Law vote (10 years?), I'd guess they all vote for him.

Yeah, but Bagwell had an amazing peak and piled up those numbers in fewer seasons, and IMO Bagwell destroys Sheffield in the Keltner test (not sure how much stock you put in that "test" however).

i'm ignorant of it.

anyway, Rangers cut Catalonotto, keep Andruw.

& give Kris Benson a spot in the rotation!

Mark, sponge of conventional "wisdom"

Morbs, I'm a cyclist, I follow very closely the whole drugs controversy in that sport and would flatter myself I have a fairly good understanding of it. My understanding of drugs in baseball is way less profound, but "drugs are bad" is not a difficult message to understand. There are no ifs and buts.

What joy do you get in being an apologist for those who are destroying the sport? Is it some kind of challenge, or just the inevitable result of your contrarianism?

(A)
(B)
(Both A and B)

"drugs are bad" is not a difficult message to understand, but its basically a retarded message, that most middle schoolers see right through

also: 1) baseball is not being "destroyed" by anyone and 2) if it is being "destroyed" its sure as hell not by the players

I also follow cycling, and baseball could learn a hell of a lot from cycling when it comes to putting players' legacies in perspective (i.e. not to shitcan entire eras because of what drugs may or may not have been used and which athletes may or may not have used them).

there is a forum for gaywads on bikes already

Rolling Steroids Thread 2009

y'know, if we want to do this again

My understanding of drugs in baseball is way less profound, but "drugs are bad" is not a difficult message to understand. There are no ifs and buts.

If drugs are bad, then why do I love them so much?

Not gonna do this again, but boy the NFL sure hasn't been "destroyed."

Mets shd pick up Catalonotto for PH/OF.

good call--little cat can still hit no doubt.

i have less-than-fond memories of his jays years when he seemed to regularly shiv the sox.

Neyer wonders why the Phils wd be interested in Sheffield:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4036317&name=Neyer_Rob

an outfield with shef in right and ibanez in left would be pretty epic

they'd need to call Garry Maddox outta retirement for CF and bionicize him

I'd settle for Bake McBride

As far as Sheffield is concerned, I figure they can use him to spell Howard, Ibanez, and Werth, and use him as a pinch hitter. He is only one season removed from a .265/.378./.462 season in a pitcher's park in a league with tougher pitching. If he's washed up it costs them nothing since he's still on Detroit's payroll, and they can simply release him if he acts up. He is more likely to have a productive season than Geoff Jenkins, imo. Total no-brainer unless he's taking at-bats away from some AAA kid I don't know about.

I tag on Sheffield but it looks like he might end up a Red. I guess it all flows down the Ohio river. Sheffield was a really good right handed hitter. The dude has just been a dope on and off through out his career. Playing in NY and LA did him no favors, but Sheff seemed to fit in OK when he was in Atlanta and Miami.

I think of the 40+ year old hitting brigade, Bonds excluded as no one will give him a shot, Moises Alou can still swing the bat. Alou breaks down a bit every time he plays, but the old guy can still hit.

Kris Benson -- there is a name I have not heard in awhile...I wonder how the stripper is doing?

12:08pm: Sherman adds that Mets GM Omar Minaya spoke to Sheffield directly recently to explain how he'd fit with the team. Meanwhile, several Phillies players have contacted Sheffield to lobby him to sign.

11:23am: According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Mets are close to signing Gary Sheffield. The Mets plan to give him significant playing time. They'd only have to pay $400K and would consider Sheffield an option in both outfield corners. Sherman's source said:

"Unless something drastic happens, he is a Met. Someone would have to offer him a second year, and I just don't see that happening."

He could have one great month fueled by the newly polished chip on his shoulder.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhmar. What shit.

were the Phillies players lobbying him to sign with the Mets?

Haha that's what I was wondering.

Uncle Dwight would be happy.

The Mets do need a DH.

Douchebag Hasbeen?

this is the only upside for the mets
The addition of Sheffield could mean Marlon Anderson’s days with the Mets are numbered. A pinch-hitting specialist, he batted .210 with a homer and 10 RBIs last year.

"A pinch-hitting specialist"

;_;