.....and the Jays get Caesar Izturis??? Might as well just hand them the pennant.

Mark Buehrle spoke out against the Marlins saying management is full of liars considering he was promised the same stuff they told the taxpayers and then got tossed in favor of shredding the payroll as soon as possible.

The ironic thing was himself and his agent were well aware of the Marlins history of doing stuff like that since they refused to give him and everyone else a no-trade clause but signed anyways because of Guillen and all the promises.

Always liked Buerle, hope he doesn't whine it up and ask to be traded from the Jays

Red Sox and Mariners appear to be the only teams interested in Mike Napoli at the moment with Napoli wanting 4 years.

Mariners willing to offer the extra year and money while the Red Sox are hesitant on the 4th year but might add more money to make it up. He would be willing to play as a 1B or DH if he ends up signing with the Red Sox though.

Anyone who considers themselves a power hitter would be best to avoid Seattle. Killed Sexson and derailed Adrian Beltre for four years.

Believe the fences arebeing brought in in Seattle.

I knew they were discussing it in SD, didn't know about Seattle.

Why not Texas?

Does Texas have someone coming up from the minors?

They didn't offer him an extension or initial qualifying offer but still are somewhat interested considering they booked a meeting with him next week.

Rangers probably go after Russell Martin if they lose Napoli although no clue what they have for quality catching prospects. I know the Red Sox took Saltalamacchia from them a couple of years ago in a trade.

Fences are already being moved in here in SD. Im,excited.

I think Napoli is viewed as a 1b/C/DH hybrid more than full time catcher. I still dont get why Texas wouldnt give him the $13 mil qualifying offer. His batting average was down but he still had solid peripherals across the board.

Do you think the pitching in SD will still be as potent with the fences or a wash because the power numbers will improve for Headly and the rest?

Im glad to see a good baseball forum. Im a huge fan but none of my friends are.

I think PETCO will still be a pitchets park, just not as extreme as in years past. The reason it plays so big is due more to its location than size. Being right off the bay, the marine layer sets around game time and bogs down the air, which is why the ball dies during night games.

Thats not something one can control, but I expect the park to be a little more forgiving, especially to left handed hitters.

lol

read that KC is willing to give up their top prospect - considered the best in baseball - for a top pitcher

seems like KC might think now is their time to push for a playoff spot

not sure they have enough parts imo

Still don't buy the Royals. Too young, inexperienced and just not good enough. Their chief strength is the incompetence of their division foes like Cleveland, Minnesota, and ChiSox. Hell, if Detroit shits the bed for 130 games again maybe KC can capitalize, but I wouldn't count on it.

Whos the prospect? Myers?

Myers, yeah

Royals willing to part with top prospect to land frontline starting pitcher

<CITE class="byline vcard"><ABBR title=2012-11-24T01:54:56Z>Fri, 23 Nov, 2012 8:54 PM EST</ABBR></CITE>

The Kansas City Royals are pushing hard to contend in 2013, considering almost every option to upgrade their pitching staff. And that includes trading the best hitting prospect in baseball.

In their search for a top-of-the-rotation starter, the Royals have dangled outfielder Wil Myers, the consensus 2012 minor league player of the year, two sources told Yahoo! Sports.

While the Royals have designated Myers off-limits for anything other than pitching, teams with frontline starters understand Kansas City is desperate to add another pitcher after re-signing Jeremy Guthrie and trading for Ervin Santana. With the returns of Danny Duffy and Felipe Paulino from Tommy John surgery, plus the arrival of prospect Jake Odorizzi, an overhaul of the Royals' rotation could thrust them into contention in the AL Central – especially with a pitcher like Tampa Bay's James Shields, whom the Royals covet at the top of the rotation but are loath to trade for because only two years remain on his deal and he has thrown the second-most regular-season innings of any pitcher the last two seasons.

story continues: http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/roya...015456742.html

Probably better to just keep him another year to add more depth to their hitting and outfield considering both were either bad or young. Could get more a year later from a trade than just a pitcher now (assuming his value improves).

The division next year is still the Tigers to lose while the Wild Card might be a bit out of their reach even with a trade now unless they pull an "A's" type season next year.

I knew letting Jo Jo Reyes go was gonna cost us :(

Rays extend Evan Longoria. 6-years, $100 mil. with a club option at the end.

He's now in Tampa Bay until 2022 earning a grand total of $136 mil.

if he ever figuerd out how to stay healthy again, watch out

Thats good money, and it's cool to see him not be a greedy bastard like A-Rod. That definitely a good signing for the team.

Wonder if Longoria leaves Tampa first or the Rays do?

Red Sox and Marlins were rumored to be involved in a potential deal over Giancarlo Stanton but got squashed once it was found out both Selig and the Players Union are monitoring the Marlins for the rest of the offseason.

The Marlins are right around the limit of what they can get away with money pinching before getting hit with a grievance complaint by the union while any future trades means the team needs to take in more money in order for Selig to approve.

There's a pretty good article about how if the Marlins are serious about re-building, they should be trading Stanton for a bushel of prospects.

Do you have a link to that rumour, I'd love to read it.

Link I got was from ESPN but it didn't mention anything about the Marlins rebuilding.

http://www.masslive.com/redsox/index...mors_20_1.html

I doubt the Red Sox would offer more than maybe 1-2 top prospects for him considering they want to rebuild their minor league system. Only reason the other teams (Yanks, Os, Phillies, Cubs) would be willing is to overload the offer just to make Selig happy than it being due to Stanton's actual value.

I don't think teams offering a ton of prospects has anything to do with making Selig happy and all to do with Stanton's actual value. I just think Stanton's value is actually that high. Especially considering he is probably only a couple years older than a lot of top prospects anyway.

Jeff Keppinger broke fell down a flight of stairs at his home and broke his fibula.

Yankees were interested in him, as were a few other teams. NOT ANYMORE!

If I'm the Rays, and KC was offering Myers for Shields straight up, I'd jump all over it. They'd get a young 20s corner outfielder who could 30+ HR/year for the next seven years for a guy who will surely walk when his contract is up.

On the other end of that, are the Royals really close enough to trade arguably the best hitting prospect inbaseball? I'm not so sure. Shields would definitely give them a huge boost, but I don't think he makes them more than an 80 win team.

No, the Royals aren't good enough for that trade to do much.

That's what I was thinking. The Rays should press hard. They need a bat to back up Longo, and their pitching depth is more than capable of replacing Shields over time.

http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/11/26/3...red-sox-royals

That link above is to a rumour of Lester to KC for Myers

Mets offered David Wright a 6-year, $100 mil. contract extension yesterday. Wright wants 7 years and he's expected to decline this.

We go live to Vito Cruz for his thoughts on this.

Wonder if the royals would be a landing spot for Matt garza. Dosent match up on paper since he's a free agent after the season and his injury thing. Just throwing it out there.

The entire Royals pitching staff last year was a mixed bag. Bruce Chen is schizophrenic, Luke Hochevar is a #1 pick bust, I just don't know if this is the year they go for a big pitching contract with somebody. For some reason I keep thinking about the money they threw at Gil Meche. I like him, he was good, but not #1 starter for $55 million good. Those are the types of things that kill the Royals.

Every report I've read since the season ended has said that Wright wants 7 years and close to $20 million per year. I knew the Mets would be stingy and haggle over the 7th year.

At this point, just give him the damn 7th year. He'll retire as the most prolific hitter in team history.

Knowing the Mets though, they'll start the season with no extension done and Wright will walk away with the Mets getting nothing.

I legitimately may quit the Mets if they botch these negotiations with Wright.

At the end of that contract Wright will be 37, which is younger than A-Rod, Pujols, Braun, Hamilton (if he gets a long term deal), and Torii Hunter at the end of their current deals, and he will be the same age as Longoria at the end of his. It's not a bad deal for the Mets especially if they can put most of the money in the front of the contract.

Update:

Mets reportedly boost their offer to David Wright. 7-years, over $100 mil.

In context, Wright has never been as good as Pujols, Rodriguez, and arguably Hamilton. Longo and Zimmerman got the same contact the Mets are offering. I don't think Wright would get much better in free agency. Beltre makes about the same. Is Wright really that much better, if at all, than those guys?

This.

According to trade rumors, the Mets are offering a 7 year deal in thee range of $125-$150 mil. Ind be absolutely shocked if he turned that down. Market value dollars for a contract that takes him into his late 30s.

David's been clear that he wants this next contract to be the last of his career...so 7 years should get it done. I know a lot of Mets fans will bitch about how it will cripple the team in the back end of the deal, but I don't care. This guy has been in the league for 9 seasons and is clearly the best everyday player they've had in their history.

Hopefully in 6-7 years once his production rails off, the Wilponzis will be out of shit's creek. A big market team can afford one bad contract.

$16 mil per isn't really that bad. When I think crippling, I think $20-$25 mil.

That's the point, not so much talent and $$, but age is a big factor to consider with these contracts. Wright will probably begin to fall off in 4-5 years and the contract will almost be up by then. By that standard it's not a terrible deal as opposed to having other guys at 39 or into their 40's. the deal makes sense for everyone.

Carlos Ruiz suspended for 25 games due to amphetamines.


CHHHHOOOOOOOOOCCCCHHHHHH

Wright will realistically start falling off about two to three years into the new contract. Doesn't mean he'll stink, but, like most players, his prime is probably in it's tail end and the numbers will likely start to decline.

With that said, it's a good deal for both sides, I agree. Wright should jump on this.

Is the 7th year an option year or is the whole deal guaranteed money and years?

Wasn't an option to being with. Now it's an extra year.

But according to David Wright himself today, the reports are false.

In other news, Yankees should have Pettitte and Rivera back by the end of the week. All that's left is the big hole in RF.

Pettitte and Mo are still good, Pettitte especially last year surprised the hell out of me. He's accurate and you can't teach that.

<font color=goldenrod>From the sounds of things, Wright is genuinely pissed off that terms of his contract offer were leaked, and he specifically requested that the Mets keep negotiations private. Speculation now is that he may not sign any extension and will simply head to free agency after 2013.

Fuck this team. Even teams like the Rays managed to sign their franchise player to a long extension without fucking things up so royally.</font>

<font color=goldenrod>BRB gonna go spit on Jeff Wilpon and spell YANKEES in the air with my finger.</font>

<font color=goldenrod>Nah who am I kidding...I could never root for those bastards either. :( Looks like it's watching random games on MLB.TV for me.</font>

Wright's being a baby. The reason Longo's extension wasn't leaked was because he plays in a shit market, he was already under contract, and he probably didn't have specific parameters that needed to be met before signing.

In a world where social media has literally taken over, out should be no surprise shit gets leaked. He should get over it and sign his deal and all will be well.

Reportedly the only people involved in negotiations have been Wright, his agent, Sandy Alderson, and Jeff Wilpon. I don't care what market it is...it shouldn't be that hard for Alderson and Wilpon to keep their mouths shut when it's clear that there are moles across major league offices who will gladly spread the news to reporters. If Wright's main request was confidentiality, he has every right to be pissed off.

Or maybe that slightly better than average 3B can stop buying into his own hype, shut the fuck up and stop whining about his "CONTRACT DETAILS BEING LEAKED" (OH THE HORRORS) and get a deal done. What a fucking prima donna.

Meh. I'm sure there are more people involved, like assistants and advisors. Regardless, it's nothing to get upset about. He's not being painted in bad light or anything. This won't be remembered when it's all said and done. I'd be surprised if they don't sign him.

Playing in NY has gone to Wrights head.

Why would he care? Fucking make 100 jillion dollars and he's complaining about that? Fuck how hard life must be.

If you care about your team, teammates, and the fans then you should sign the fucking contract. Get it done no matter what and be ecstatic when it happens. Its not like they are low balling him or something.

David Wright is far better than "slightly" above average. Just ask the Angels, Cubs,.White Sox, Dbacks, A's, Pirates, Phillies, Indians, etc.

Wright is better than average and still only 29

I dont buy into him as a top money player. He gets hurt alot. He had a good year, not great for 20+ million a year. He could go back to hitting 275 again next year.

Hes coming off a year with a 300 average, 20 home runs and 80 RBI. He is 29.

I can find a dozen players who arent strong arming their team to overpay them who had that same production.

Wright is excellent. However, he's always come across as a bit of a private, low key guy. He realizes that full details of his contract will come out...he just doesn't want to have everything leaked out while negotiations are still ongoing. He's come out and said that the reports so far have been inaccurate. So for all we know he hasn't actually been offered as much as has been reported.

Look at Reyes last year. Mets fans went ballistic because he didn't accept the offer the Mets reportedly made to him. Traitor, greedy, etc. problem was...the Mets never even made an offer. But since "sources" got it wrong, as they often do, a whole lot of false claims showed up in print. The NY media is bullshit, and always has been.

Still I expect Wright will end up signing. He's said since the start of his career that he wants to be a Met for life. It's the team he grew up rooting for. It's just up to the front office to not cock it up.

David Freese had just a slightly worse year than Wright did, for 1/8th the money.

Wright is not EXCELLENT.

Allen Craig had a better year that Wright, who had two weak years before this.

Should he get 20+ million.

If David Wright played in Kansas City no one would care who he is, want to pay him top money, or thing he is EXCELLENT.

Hes the best player on a shitty team in a large market. That doesnt = Excellent.

Also saying Wright gets hurt a lot is ridiculous. His only significant injury was in 2011. The only other time he missed any significant time was when he got beaned in the head by Matt Cain in 2009. Hardly his fault.

I can probably find 10 3B I would take over Wright. And 50 players.

EXCELLENT

Correct me if my memory is wrong, but its not the time missed. 2009 his numbers dropped big time due to nagging injuries as well as getting beaned. Same with 2011.

2011 was the nagging injuries year. Just a crap year, no doubt. 2009 his power stroke disappeared and it was a pretty clear aberration - largely attributed to it being the first year at Citi Field. Nobody on the team hit for power that season. But his other peripherals were still there.

In general Wright shows why RBIs are a terrible statistic to use to measure the value of a player. He's had to play in some horrific lineups. When guys like Reyes and Pagan were hurt, Wright rarely had anybody to drive in. This year he had frickin Andres Torres hitting ahead of him...of course the RBIs are gonna go down.

Wright not only can hit and provide 25-30 dingers, but he plays a Gold Glove caliber 3B and also will get you around 15-20 SBs. Along with that he's praised as a clubhouse leader and really is the heart and soul of the franchise. That was why I would not at all be opposed to givin him the contract he is seeking. You take away David Wright, you take away the biggest reason Mets fans have to come to the ballpark.

Heart and Soul of a losing team.

its the Shareef Abdur Rahim effect. Best player for a starved Franchise.

Im not saying he is bad, but he is very over rated as a superstar because of the team he plays for.

Seriously. 300 even, 25 HRs, good defense.

Meet Scott Rolen

I want to see your 10.

I can think of two third basemen I'd take over David Wright and one of them would not be allowed near third base on my fictional team

I'd put Wright as the fourth best third baseman. I'd take Cabrera, Longoria and Beltre over him, then put Wright behind them along with Headley, Zimmerman, Sandoval, and Freese.

He's not top 5, but Aramis Ramirez is a very solid 3B, real good numbers, especially as Braun's "protection" this year. As for Wright's numbers, I think the psychological effect of Citi field screwed with him for a year or two as well. Thats certainly no excuse, but maybe an explanation that Steve Phillips would throw out between rounds with a hooker.

I would add Will Middlebrooks, Edwin Encarnacion (though I think he is playing more 1B at this point), Hanley Ramirez and Martin Prado as guys right up there. Different flavors of players but just as productive as Wright in ways.

I would say Aramis on on par with David Wright as well.

I wont keep railing on this, so long as the Mets dont continue to make this a non story.

But of all the names listed on this page, swap them with Wright and the Mets probably finish with the same record. Put wright on those other teams, maybe he pulls an extra couple wins, maybe not.

Hes not a superstar on par with what he is about to be paid. Hes not going to be overpaid on a Jayson Werth like level, but hes going to be making superstar money to perform like a B player.

Thats a bit misleading. Some of those 10 are young players not yet at Wrights level, but If I were a GM I would take them first.

Ill put this at 6. At least 6 guys I would rather have than Wright at this point in his career.

Cabrera
Longoria
Beltre
Headley
Sandoval
Freese

I forgot Longo

btw I read this morning that the Rockies were going to take Evan Longoria but ownership overruled the personal people and I wanted to kill myself

You mean Greg Reynolds wasn't worth the #2 pick?

My thoughts exactly. Wright is easily a top 5 3B. Well worth the investment, so hopefully the deal gets done so the Mets can go ahead and work on the Dickey situation next.

Also...passing up Longo for Greg Reynolds would make me kill myself, too.

Longoria, Kershaw, Morrow, Lincecum, Ian Kennedy, and Chris Perez all taken after Greg Reynolds. :'(

IT WAS ALL OF THE ARM INJURIES :'(

To be fair, 75 percent of the firsts that year completely busted.

Just heard that the LAAA may not be interested in signing Greinke, and that the Dodgers and Rangers would be the top two takers if that happens. I understand that Greinke is a basketcase mentally, but he does have talent. I think the Angels ought to re-up him if it's at all possible

* Reds sign Jonathan Broxton to a 3 year $21 million deal with the idea of making him the potential closer and moving Aroldis Chapman to a starting role.

* R.A. Dickey has already told the Mets he wants a new deal done this winter or else he won't bother with any offers from the Mets during the season.

* According to ESPN, this year's Hall of Fame voting is going to be the real test of how strict the voters will be towards the Roids Era now that bigger names are arriving in groups. Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa are all first year candidates.

ESPN thinks Craig Biggio, Mike Piazza and Curt Schilling have the best shots as first year candidates while Jack Morris, Jeff Bagwell and Tim Raines have the best chance from previous years candidates.

David Wright's career numbers sit at .301/.381/.506. Thats elite production at a premier position thin on talent. Add the fact that he's a superior defensive player and has above average speed and you have a legitimate 5 tool player. Zimmerman, Longo, Beltre, and other like players cannot claim that. He's worth $16 mil in my book.

Personally, Morris, Biggio and Piazza (maybe Bagwell) are all I would vote for. Schilling was good, but not HOF good, and anyone who thinks he is is probably a Red Sux whore. Piazza= 3rd greatest offensive catcher ever behind Bench and Berra, Biggio won Silver Sluggers at catcher and 2nd base, as well as transitioning to be a capable CF with 3,000 hits and a prolific leadoff hitter, and Morris was the best pitcher of the 80's. The others are tainted, I feel.

I wouldn't vote Morris in. He's a guy I view as a good player, but not HOF worthy.Same for Schilling. Piazza, Biggio, Bagwell, and Raines are in for me.

LOL. Come the fuck on. You say Morris is not HOF worthy but RAINES is? Come on now. Same boat.

If Morris makes it then Schilling will eventually.

You and I have very different definitions of ELITE. I ate a 5 dollar turkey sandwich for lunch. I thought it was OK but you probably would think it was elite.

come on

Love me some Curt Schilling. One of the main reasons I went to so many Phillies games when they were super awful.

Not a single guy I mentioned dont have near comparable numbers to Wright offensively, and Wright's defense isnt as good as it was 3 years ago.

Completely fair.