The Winter Meetings Thread

[Rob]

Last I remember, the CBA wouldn't allow for arbitration awards to cut salaries by more than 20%. I don't know if that's still in effect or not, but K-Rod got paid 11.5 mil last season. So they'd be looking at paying at least 9.2 mil if K-Rod can't argue that even higher.

 

Let's hope the old CBA is still in effect a while longer.

[Banedon]

jonmorosi: #Astros will eat some salary to move Carlos Lee, who is better at 1B than OF. #Indians a fit but wary of cost.

 

If for some reason we don't end up with Pujols or Fielder, any interest in Lee at 1B? He's always hit really well at Wrigley. He's only under contract through 2012 and is owed $18.5mil.

meh, had you suggested this 4-5 years ago i'd say hell yeah! not so much now

 

Definitely getting old, but he was 4.6 WAR last season per B-R. Just another option that's out there.

 

Wasn't much of that WAR from his hilarious defensive ratings?

 

Yes. About half of it. He was 2.5 oWAR.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Francisco Rodriguez accepts arbitration from the Brewers. They really didn't want that to happen.

 

Sounds bad for everyone involved. For Melvin, he now looks bad for taking the chance of offering arb to begin with and it probably puts the nail in the coffin of their chances at resigning Fielder, and maybe even Ramirez. For K Rod, while it's a higher dollar amount than he would have gotten from a multiyear, he's going to be a set up man unless Axford turns into Dan Kolb or Derrick Turnbow and that could lower his value when he hits the market next year.

[SouthSideRyan]

Rodriguez obviously didn't think it was bad for him.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

So, the winter meetings are basically over. Theo got a new house and we lost net talent in the Rule 5.

 

Rank the following:

 

Kevin Orie

The last season of Lost

M. Night Shaymalan (sp?)'s filmography after the Sixth Sense

This year's Winter Meetings

The 2008 NLCS

[Guest]

At a minimum, they burn something like $2 million cutting him after his arbitration award. More likely, they just get stuck with him for one year at like $12 million that they had planned on spending elsewhere.

 

They can't do that without a baseball reason to do so.

 

If I remember correctly, the Padres cut Todd Walker once his arbitration case was heard and ruled. I think it cost the Padres half of the awarded amount to cut him.

[CubColtPacer]

At a minimum, they burn something like $2 million cutting him after his arbitration award. More likely, they just get stuck with him for one year at like $12 million that they had planned on spending elsewhere.

 

They can't do that without a baseball reason to do so.

 

If I remember correctly, the Padres cut Todd Walker once his arbitration case was heard and ruled. I think it cost the Padres half of the awarded amount to cut him.

 

1/5, but the Padres were able to argue that it was reasonable that Walker wasn't good enough to make their 25 man roster anymore. If Walker had contested that and had a ruling that it wasn't reasonable for the Padres to think that, he would have been awarded the full amount. That's why it would be almost impossible to do with K-Rod.

[Guest]

At a minimum, they burn something like $2 million cutting him after his arbitration award. More likely, they just get stuck with him for one year at like $12 million that they had planned on spending elsewhere.

 

They can't do that without a baseball reason to do so.

 

If I remember correctly, the Padres cut Todd Walker once his arbitration case was heard and ruled. I think it cost the Padres half of the awarded amount to cut him.

 

1/5, but the Padres were able to argue that it was reasonable that Walker wasn't good enough to make their 25 man roster anymore. If Walker had contested that and had a ruling that it wasn't reasonable for the Padres to think that, he would have been awarded the full amount. That's why it would be almost impossible to do with K-Rod.

 

Ahh. Why wouldn't Walker have contested that, though? If the Padres offered arbitration, they must have felt he was worth enough to get compensation if someone else signed him, yet he wasn't good enough to make their 25 man roster? Sounds like a an easy win in the courtroom to me.

[XZero771679666304]

Alex Gonzalez to the Brewers. Not flashy, but an upgrade to be sure.

[El Duderino]

Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com reports that the Brewers will sign shortstop Alex Gonzalez.

Terms of the contract aren't yet known. Gonzalez, 34, batted .241/.270/.372 with 15 home runs and 56 RBI over 593 plate appearances this past season for the Braves. While he's a much better fielder than Yuniesky Betancourt, they are pretty much a wash offensively.

 

ninja'd

[XZero771679666304]

Like many others I'm a bit disappointed nothing came to fruition for us at the winter meetings, but we can't forget that aside from the Angels and Marlins, no one else did much of anything either.

 

We'll see in the next 5-7 days what groundwork was laid. And after the non-tender deadline things should pick up considerably.

[ctcf]

So what have we learned so far this offseason? So far I have: if you want decent players you better be willing to pay them insanely enormous amounts of money unless you are in Southern California and then only sometimes.

[THISisTHEyear09]

Cubs trade for Stewart and Casey Weather. Trade away Lemahieu and Colvin.

 

Like the trade. LeMahieu was Overrated

[huff]

well...a little disappointed in the meetings from our side but i have to trust the best FO in baseball. i do think that the "mystery team" in on pujols was us and the reason for the secrecy is if we wiffed on Pujols then we would be in on fielder. If it was known we were willing to throw around 225M at pujols then boras would use that against us. i say we get fielder at 6yrs 140-150m..maybe some club options that could stretch it to 8yrs. i just dont see anyone giving prince 10 years at his weight and physique. just a thought