Midweek Roundup
After using a lot of words in this space to speculate who the Twins will acquire in their efforts to upgrade (whenever I use that word I get that stupid Beyonce DirecTV commercial stuck in my head, damn you television!) the left side of the infield; I’ve decided to address some other noteworthy items from around baseball.
According to ESPN Rafael Furcal is not a Brave after all. The rumors have been all over the place with this guy. A few weeks back he was reportedly shopping for houses in the bay area, then we heard The Royals offered him the most money. So let me get this straight, at one point the two front runners for the top FA shortsopt were the A’s and the Royals!? Am I taking crazy pills or what? Then Atlanta swoops in and as of late Monday/early Tuesday he was a Brave….again. Now as of the time I am writing this, he isn’t officially a Brave, but now the Dodgers have stepped in. This is pretty crazy. Edn result: Braves
In other LA related news, Manny isn’t getting the 4 year offers from every pro team on the planet as Scott Boras claimed. I’m pretty sure he expected 52 contract offers of 4 years, 90 million or some nonsense for his enigmatic client. Newsflash, Scotty, ain’t gonna happen. One way or another, your guy is going to end up in LA. Or technically Anaheim, I guess. Your two usual fall-back teams, (that you can trick into signing your client when the LA/NY/Boston’s of the world don’t want him) Detroit and Texas, aren’t biting. We all know Manny isn’t headed back to beantown, and while I’ve heard a few members of the Yankee front office are interested, I don’t see him going there. As for the Mets, their owner just lost a ton of money in the Madoff scheme, plus they aren’t looking for more outfielders. That leaves LA. If the Angels lose out on Tex, they will come knocking. So really, the Dodgers are the only team that appears to be making Manny a priority. This gives the team the upper hand. Everyone knows what they are getting in Manny, he is a lose cannon who can hit the crap out of the ball. But also drag your team down over the course of 162+ games. Manny even went as far as to threaten retirement if he didn’t get more attention on the free agent market. He is a child. Throws a tantrum when the gorwn-ups are “ignoring” him. Good move Manny, I’m sure everyone wants you as a teammate now. Here is my offer, the Twins will offer you the exact same contract they offered Casey Blake. That is all I’m willing to offer you. If only to metaphorically slap you and Boras in the face. Didn’t Boras call the Dodgers first offer “insulting” or something of the sort. Next up: Boras instructs Manny to hold his breath until he gets the offer he feels he deserves. End result: Dodgers.
Even thouh he is a Scott Boras client, the Mark Teixeria saga has been shockingly normal. Does Boras tailor his negotiation strategy to fit the personality of his clients? Perhaps. I really hope Tex goes to the O’s or Nats. Hometown team. I have a few friends who live in the DC area, and they are excited about being able to go the Nationals Park and see an actual player on the home team. Not a bunch of suckers.
The AJ Burnett signing seems to be a bad one for the Yankees. While he could be good next year, and maybe the year after. You are probably looking at 2.5-3 years of badness at an average of 16.5 a year. That is unfortunate. If the Yankees still feel the need to add more pitching, they might go after one of Ben Sheets/ Derek Lowe. Which makes their entire rotation a house of cards.
Finally, does anyone think Barry Bonds will have a job this year? I do not. At least not with a MLB team. Maybe he can get a job at Dennys or something, but in this job market, I wouldn’t count on it Barry.
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Gardy and the Twins are set at shortstop. Manny is not a Twins-type player. The Twins aren’t the Yankees. Barry is not a slap-hitter.
Just trying to bring your post a little closer to Gardy and the Twins. :)
I’d be surprised if Texeira ends up with the Orioles or Nationals; in fact, I’m surprised they’re even in it. Bad teams don’t improve to where they need to be by signing a huge free agent (see: Texas Rangers and A-Rod). Orioles fans aren’t going to start going to games until the team is good again, and one guy isn’t going to do it for them when they don’t have a rotation. The Nationals don’t have fans. Those teams need to build from within.
I don’t think Bonds has a chance of landing an MLB job this year. It seems to me that teams showed last year that they aren’t interested in his shenanigans.
Although two years ago, when the Twins didn’t have anyone to play LF or DH, I would have been excited for the Twins to sign both Manny and Bonds and suddenly have a ridiculous lineup. Today, not so much.
I think this was a smart move by the Nats. They offer Tex a big contract, showing they are willing to spend on free agents. However, they don’t get roped into a bidding war, thus showing they know where the line is between spending that helps the team and spending that hurts the team. Good fan-building move by the gentlemen in the Nationals front office.
I would love to see Tex go to the Orioles. I think they are quietly building a team with some good players and could surprise a lot of people next year/a few years down the road. They’re just stuck in a brutal division.
The NY/LA/Chicago teams shouldn’t think they are automatically entitled to the best free agents. if it fits in their budget, the Os should keep after Tex.
$20 million a year? Man…
This is the same Orioles team who stopped paying Albert Belle like 3 years ago. I think they should focus on pitching first. They no longer have Bedard, and Dan Cabrera never panned out and they cut him. Tex would draw in fans initially, but wins is what keeps fans. They should focus on keeping Markakis and maybe trading Roberts for some pitching prospects. One big name FA, especially one who plays 1B isn’t all that helpful, since the O’s are more than one piece away.
I do like that the O’s made a credible offer and are sticking to it. Not getting swept up in a bidding war with LA, LA, and Boston. A 200 million dollar contract could cripple their franchise.
The Orioles need pitching more than anything. Texeira isn’t going to help them — he’s not going to outscore the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays all by himself.
Given that they have no pitching, cutting Daniel Cabrera makes no sense. Unless their pitching coach decided he can’t figure out how to screw Cabrera’s head on straight and recommended cutting the player rather than himself.
Frankly, I think the Twins should snap Cabrera up on a minor league contract and see if the Cliburns can fix him. He has great stuff and a huge upside.
But the Orioles are a lot further away from contention than a slugging first baseman. They need a starting rotation first and foremost. Blowing huge dollars at 1B without a rotation or a talent pipeline or even more huge dollars to spend doesn’t make sense and doesn’t help the team.
Cabrera would be a nice addition. I think it would take more than a minor league contract to get him though. I think a lot of teams will be after him.
If other teams are after him, we’re out of the running. We have enough starters who can throw strikes that we don’t need to add someone who can’t to the major league rotation.
I don’t understand why the Twins can’t make the pitch: “We teach guys how to become pitchers. After that, they go somewhere else and get a big contract. Look at Santana, Lohse, Silva, et f’ing cetera. So come spend a year in Rochester, then a couple years in Minnesota, and actually become a good pitcher. Or take a $6M deal now and crap out of the league within two years. Your choice, dumbass.”
Well, apparently I was wrong about Furcal.
I’m pretty stunned by this. Furcal and his agent really screwed this up.
They left $8M on the table (Oakland’s offer), and reneged on an agreement with the Braves to take the smallest offer from the Dodgers. And they shopped a signed term sheet to drive up the LA offer?
At times like this, I’m really glad the Twins don’t mess around with free agency. I’m glad we didn’t try to deal with Furcal.
Update: Nationals Sign Daniel Cabrera — one year, $2.6 million.
That’s a lot more than I would have signed him for, so I’m not at all annoyed that the Twins didn’t make that move.
Good for him … but I kind of doubt the Nationals will be able to turn him around.
Plus he has to hit now…