Winter Meetings: Late Night Snack
Things are still rumbling out there in the desert, and I don't just mean the... uh... whatever might normally be rumbling in the desert.Andrew Tim Brown of Yahoo! says that the Jays are about to use the money earmarked for AJ on Rafael Furcal. Oh really? The same Furcal who turned down the A's offer of four years and $35-$40M? The same Furcal who... well... OK, he had a really good year in very limited (143 AB) time last year. And actually, I guess he's had a decent career. But I'm pretty sure his best years are clearly behind him-- didn't JP say something about focusing their evaluations on the more recent past this time around?-- and I'm just not sure how this makes sense as anything but desperation. I know the Jays can use a hitting upgrade just about anywhere they can find it, but... really? Furcal? Is he seriously $9M better than Marco Scutaro? I just don't quite get this one-- but it's at least a little heartening to have someone suggest that the Jays really aren't intent on putting the AJ money in their pockets and then going out and sucking this year.
Jason Giambi, long rumoured to be a Jays target-- if they can get him on the cheap-- "expects to sign with the A's" according to Ken Rosenthal. He's not much of a priority for the A's, though, so maybe this means nothing as far as the Jays are concerned, and they can still scoop him at some point, but... well... it kind of says that he expects to sign with the A's, so, y'know, maybe not. I'd love to see him in a Jays uniform, though. Even with "diminishing skills" (as they once said about Bernie Kosar-- but you showed them in Dallas, didn't you, Bern!) his OPS+ last year was 128, while the best Jays could only muster 122 (Wells) and 111 (Rios). Ugh. Huge possibility of Frank Thomas redux here-- but he's white, so I'm sure JP will have more patience for him... just... maybe lay off the vesting option, eh? And, I mean... fuck. Package Lind for a back of the rotation guy, sign Giambi and play Snider in left full-time. How does that not make this team a whole lot better? I think Giambi believes he can still get three years though, which is insanity.
Jordan Bastian reports that the Jays have been talking to Carl Pavano's agent. Seriously, do this! For cheap, that is. He's a guy who was working with Arnsberg when he was at his best, and shouldn't cost much. Lots of teams will be scared away by the injury history, but fuck it, the Jays are due a little luck when it comes to injuries, and they'd be better off taking a gamble on a guy like this than doing nothing... am I wrong?
On the AJ front, Jerry Crasnick and Jayson Stark think the Yankees are willing to guarantee more money than the 4/$60M plus a vesting option that the Braves are reportedly offering. Jon Heyman thinks it's 4/$64M, to be specific. This, of course, would suck balls for the pick that the Jays would get-- provided, as expected, the Yankees land one of CC Sabathia or Mark Teixeira. Though that's not exactly a slam dunk at this point, so maybe we shouldn't give a shit. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I can not fucking wait to see Pete Puma try to handle himself under the New York spotlight. Can Not Fucking Wait. The Red Sox, Crasnick now says, are right there with the Yankees and Braves. Why? To drive up the price, I can only assume.
McLeod at the Globe is also at the meetings, so you can follow along with him as well.
According to Bastian, the Jays aren't interested in trading the Beej, and they were not talking to the Mets about him, as reported earlier. This, of course, kind of makes them fucking idiots.
Sandler confirms the stuff about the Beej, and adds a couple of gems from Ricciardi that I tend to actually kind of believe. "Anybody we add, we're going to have to subtract," he says, regarding payroll. Later he says, "As it plays out and maybe some guys don't get what they're looking for, if they don't get what they're looking for, we might be able to have a little bit more money if we stay on the sidelines now." Ricciardi also says that the money earmarked for AJ is not going to be available to be used elsewhere-- rendering the shit about Furcal, Giambi and Pavano pretty much useless, if you actually believe him. But why should you?
Oh good god. Lastly, in a different piece, Sandler says that JP suggested they could move Downs or Tallet into the rotation until McGowan is back. Or Tallet. [Shudder]
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28 rational and reasonable comments:
Stop shitting on Tallet!!!!!!!!!!1
Y the fuck are we shitting on Furcal? Sure, he's injury prone - but he's a top 5 offensive SS when healthy - and maybe it's just me, but I'd rather spend money on an injury prone hitter than an injury prone pitcher like Burnett. He is what we need - by 2010 Burnett may be redundant, what with a rotation of Halladay, McGowan, Cecil, Litsch, Marcum, Purcey, Romero, Mills...holy shit...
The thing is, I highly doubt any money is actually earmarked for Burnett. Unless by earmark you mean imaginary.
Hey Coverage Nazi, I was also wondering if you wouldn't mind saving a story for me to talk about, you column hogging blog hoarder.
Just because I've never said it: Fuck off, Parkes.
Great work so far on the Winter Meetings guy!
Keep it up, the new MLBTR (for Jays anyways.)
Stoeten, I know how cool you have become what with your new job at The Score and the ad revenue here, but seriously - is it so hard to get these reporters names right? Or did you purposely plant "Andrew" Brown in tonight's article so you can look amusing tomorrow morning when you seem indifferent about getting his name wrong? I mean after all, how can any Italian NOT be named Tony?!
I don't think the team will be able to get much for Lind after the last two months of 2008. Anyways, if we sign a DH and trade away Lind then we have no more margin for injury/suckage than before. If Snider has growing pains or someone pulls a hamstring, what do we do, plant Inglett in left?
Pavano has basically only had one good season in his career (and even that was pretty lucky). Isn't there anybody better they could sign on a low risk-high reward deal?
And Furcal? He's 31 years old, he's only got a career .764 OPS and he's coming off choking the playoffs away for the Dodgers with his play in Game 5. I'd much rather use whatever money they have on Milton Bradley or Jason Giambi.
First the Dayton Daily News, then Bernie Kosar....wow. An awful lot of Ohio content these days.... Thanks guy -sniff- -sniff- -tear-
Kris Benson says the Jays have expressed interest in him.
I seem to remember him being a Blue Jay killer during his one year with Baltimore, and sure enough these were his numbers in 2006 agaisnt Toronto: 5 starts,4 wins, 32.2 IP, 3.03 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, .210.
He was one of the few pitchers that year that was able to shut down the Blue Jays offense (which was one of the best in the league) with any consistency. I wonder if he has anything left.
Stoeten, I know how cool you have become what with your new job at The Score and the ad revenue here, but seriously - is it so hard to get these reporters names right? Or did you purposely plant "Andrew" Brown in tonight's article so you can look amusing tomorrow morning when you seem indifferent about getting his name wrong? I mean after all, how can any Italian NOT be named Tony?!
I spent a good 12 hours in front of a computer screen yesterday, so, yeah, fucked that one up. I also completely blew a chance to make a Tremors reference. FUCK!
... It's true, Stoeten's waist grew another 1/16 of an inch yesterday.
Parkes, you had your window during the Leafs game. Send me an email if you're on top of some shit, but I'm trying to keep current. No good?
Ehhh @ the Jays interest in Kris Benson. I dont care much for him. He has a pretty hot wife though.
Missing an opportunity for a Tremors reference is easily the most damnable offense (or offence) this site has committed in my 12 months as a visitor.
More Coalition in-fighting, I see.
Stoten: I sit infront of a computer for 12 hours a time for my job and there is zero room to make any errors. Please don't make excuses. You were being lazy and didn't double check an aspect of your post. Own up to it.
he should also own up for that incredible picture. That fridge is HOT.
Stoten: I sit infront of a computer for 12 hours a time for my job and there is zero room to make any errors. Please don't make excuses. You were being lazy and didn't double check an aspect of your post. Own up to it.
I did own up to it! But yeah, by the end of the day, I wasn't going over the details.
Fuck off Parkes
How does typo dude get to shit on someone for making errors? just happens.
He's got a shitty job and is bitter about it, I guess.
Go look at what power trader's do (and make)... I love this job and wouldn't trade it for many others. FYI, I think this site is fantastic and Stoeten is definitely the captain of the ship, I'd just rather see someone not make an excuse that is "i was infront of my computer for 12 hours" when a simple "my bad, you're right" would do.
Cheap Pavano would be a good move. He has an upside, had one really good year with the Marlins, but other then that is an injury-prone .500-type pitcher.
... Wait a minute? Who does that sound like??
Fair enough. Except, I WAS in front of the computer for that long, and that's why I wasn't being vigilant about little details like that. I'm owning up to it, I'm just saying. . .
You have - thank you. I respect that, my respect probably means nothing to you, but I respect anyone who can own up. Respect.
Now, get in contact with the Jays brass and get them to start talking with the Mets about a Murphey for Ryan swap. Or a Ryan for a shiny pen talk, so we can spend that $10,000,000 on something more worthwhile.
She has a really nice bum.
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