2007-2008 MLB Hot Stove (1 Viewer)

[Chris]

Even before the World Series, Hot Stove is cooking like mad.

A few to cover:

* Boras says that they want around $30M a year for A-Rod, he wants short, and now, Anaheim is at the very top of the perspective buyers.

* Joe Torre is out at NYY. Now, word is that they are doing interviews.. humorously Jose Pena is amongst the interviewees. if that happens, I will laugh my a*(& off.

* Kansas City picks up Trey Hillman, formerly of the NYY minor leagues, and who had been a filter for the MLB on Japanese prospects, his Nippon Ham Fighters are in the Japanese World Series second year in a row.. now the trick will be if KC is at all serious about trying to get into the foreign players market.

* Dusty Baker takes over in Cincy

* Corey Koskie is now a free agent, after Milwaukee declines offer, likely ending his career. Koskie sat out the season with a concussion, but collected a year pay on hold (6.5M) so was a nice send off from his team in a way.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Reports I've seen include Yankee first base coach Tony Pena--who has been a huge help coaching Posada the past couple of years--as among those being interviewed (including Mattingly & Girardi)...not Jose Pena.

=============================

A Red Sox priority this off-season should be to re-sign Mike Lowell at third base.

 

[Chris]

Thanks, I was listening to ESPN most of the day and twice they made the mistake. I about coughed my stomach up. But by late afternoon they had it right

 

[Shane Martin]

A Rod is now a free agent
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3084583

 

[Jason Seaver]

I don't think A-Rod can officially opt out until after the World Series is over, but things just got very interesting. There are going to be a lot of teams that are all over this.

If I were the Toronto Blue Jays, I'd be on the phone with Scott Boras approximately twelve seconds after Papelbon nails the game down. Strong Canadian dollar, they spent much of the season allowing anyone in the stands who asked to play shortstop, and this could easily allow them to benefit from one of their divisional rivals getting weaker (or two, if it leads to New York signing Mike Lowell).

 

[Mike Frezon]

In the postgame interviews tonight (after winning the WS MVP--which probably drives his price up even more) Mike Lowell said lots of nice things about playing in Boston!

I hope (upon hope) they can re-sign him.

 

[EricW]

there's no way in hell the Jays would sign ARod and i'm pretty sure ARod wouldn't want to play here.

anyways this could all be just a negotiating tactic. i mean, with Texas' $30 (?) million extra subsidy, there's no reason why the Yankees couldn't give $30 mill more than the next competitor right now

from SI.com:
Rodriguez technically had until 10 days after the World Series ended to exercise his opt-out rights, which were provided in his $252 million Texas deal. However, Boras said in an interview with SI.com Sunday that Rodriguez couldn't even consider any pre-opt-out deadline offers from the Yankees until they settled several situations, specifically mentioning the impending free agency of Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada and uncertainty surrounding Andy Pettitte. Boras specifically mentioned Yankees partner Hank Steinbrenner's comment the Yankees are in a "transitional'' phase as a concern.

... i don't know much about inner baseball but that sounds like crap. the Yankees, more than any other team, can correct any mistakes they make with $$$. they could have one bad year and open their purse strings and get the best free agent for any position needed. the Yankees, more than any other team, could also surround him with high price free agents. if he goes to other teams, those teams would suffer payroll-wise (like Texas and their lack of pitching when he was there).

 

[Jason Seaver]

Not this year, though - the only really attractive free agents this year are center fielders, and the Yankees already have one or two of those.

To a certain extent, I don't know why A-Rod opts out now unless he just really wants out of New York. Which, as a Red Sox fan, I am totally okay with. I'dbe even more okay with it if he winds up landing with a National League team (Cubs, Giants, and Dodgers all look like pretty good fits).

 

[Brian Perry]

An opening day dream for the Cubs in 2008 (the centennial celebration of their last title):

Lineup
Felix Pie (CF)
Derrek Lee (1B)
Alex Rodriguez (SS)
Aramis Ramirez (3B)
Alfonso Soriano (LF)
Mark DeRosa (RF)
Geovany Soto (C)
Ryan Theriot (2B)

Starting Rotation
Carlos Zambrano
Ted Lilly
Rich Hill
Kerry Wood
Mark Prior

Long Relief/Setup
Ryan Dempster
Bob Howry

Closer
Carlos Marmol

Which is the greater fantasy -- thinking the Cubs will sign ARod or believing Wood and Prior have any kind of decent future?

 

[Mike Frezon]

Amen, brother.

 

[Scott_J]

Aren't Wood and Prior both FAs this offseason? The Cubs have to finally cut ties with both of them. Neither is going to do much the rest of their careers. The Cubs would be better off using Piniella as both the 4 and 5 starters rather than Wood and Prior.

I heard on ESPN a few days ago that Dusty Baker was talking to Wood and Prior about going to Cincy. The Cubs should help negotiate their contracts with the team.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Interesting stats on A-Rod heard this morning in a discussion as to whether the Red Sox would go after him. For 25 Million the Yankees got:

8 for 59 in the playoffs, a whopping .135
Struck out 8 times in the post-season with runner(s) in scoring position.

And the most shocking of all:

Came to bat with a total of 37 players on base in the post-season, drove home exactly ZERO!!! The only man he's driven home is himself (typical).

Give me Mike Lowell for less than half the price any day of the week. Just his leadership and professionalism, never mind his glove and bat, has A-Rod beat by a mile. If the Sox sign A-Rod, I just may do the unthinkable and start rooting for someone else. That's how much I do not want that man here.

 

[LewB]

A-Rod will most likely have won 2 MVPs during his 4 years in pinstripes, as well as changed fielding positions when he got here.
Yet management (and a lot of fans) are quite willing to let him walk away.
Says a lot.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Just the reaction of his teammates after the "girlie slap" incident in the 2004 ALCS told me volumes. The silent lack of support from Jeter on down was . . . shall we say . . deafening.

 

[Chris]

Yeah, which says a lot because if it wasn't for A-Rod's year in the early part of the season, they would have been truly dismal. And, uh, Jeter's post season was nothing to write home about.


Well, he could always go across town and try to play for the Mets j/k!!

 

[Jeff_CusBlues]

I'm not to sure about Dusty Baker. His track record handling pitchers is not good, and Cincinnati needs any help they can get where pitching is concerned.


This is par for the course in Cincy. We have been a halfway house for broken down relievers and closers the past few years. I'm not sure Wood and Prior meet our requirements yet though. We usually like them in the 38 - 40 range before we sign them. LOL

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Don't you be talking trash about "Captain October".

 

[Jason Seaver]

And I, as a Red Sox fan, like what it's saying about Yankee management.

Seriously, that Hank Steinbrenner quote about how Rodriguez clearly doesn't appreciate what a privilege it is to play for the Yankees makes me wonder if he's inherited all of his father's crazy without any of his redeeming features (whatever those may be). I hope A-Rod enjoys California (in the National League, please!) or Detroit, and when he breaks Barry's record, he says it could have happened in NY, but that organization doesn't deserve it.

 

[Eric Peterson]

My thoughts are exactly the same, only substitute Cubs for Sox.

If the Cubs sign this perennial choke-artist, cheater, money-grubbing, clubhouse poison, egotistical maniac, then I'm done as a Cubs fan until he's gone, even if it means that I miss out on a World Series championship.

 

[Mike Frezon]

The phenomena that is A-Rod is truly a spectacle to behold.

Peter Gammons was unusually harsh during a piece after the WS on ESPN.

In the meantime, it looks like Girardi's the guy for the Yankees job. "Reports indicate..."

I wonder if MLB can levy any kind of fine against Boras or A-Rod for dropping the "opt out" story during Game 4 of the WS. I know there are strict rules about team's actions during the WS...