nilodnayr

But can you see the Cubs offering Kendal arbitration? He'd surely accept. hopefully someone signs him before. he probably wont be. its just something that could materialize. Nope, only one guy would do that and he already locked up Bengie Molina.

He paid a high price with Blevins. Beane saw Hendry looking to acquire a veteran catcher and sold him on Kendall while robbing us of a prospect, who while not spectacular likely could have been a successful reliever in the major leagues. THat was one of those comments that would have been followed with the eyeroll smiley if it weren't banned :D

Yeah, at least he didn't buy high. But Blevins is pretty dominating and seems to have turned a corner with his control this year. And hes definitely not a LOOGY. Hes faced three times as many righties as lefties this year and has destroyed them.

Blevins is the more important piece of that trade. Sadly, it will be reported as Bowen and minor leaguer.

Wow -- for Bowen and cash! Ugh -- hope he recovers his past ability to get on base. We better be getting cash.... ESPN just reported it on the broadcast NO BLEVINS!!!!!!

Rotoworld is reporting it Jason Kendall-C- Athletics Jul. 16 - 8:33 pm et The Cubs have acquired Jason Kendall from the A's, according to MLB.com. The A's have confirmed the deal. The initial report said Sean Marshall would go the other way, but that would be an awful trade for the Cubs. Now it looks like the A's are getting a minor league pitcher. The A's will go with Kurt Suzuki as their starting catcher. J.D. Closser could be called up to back him up. We don't think this means Mike Piazza will resume catching, at least within the next few weeks. Piazza remains a strong candidate to be traded. Related: Cubs

I can see them dealing him and then resigning him in the offseason. So long as they feel they are out of it at the deadline.

Cleveland? How does Lofton make sense with Sizemore?

Add that to Lee, Floyd, and Dempster http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/baseball/marlins/sfl-mikeb10jun10,0,148706.column This maybe why they are in favor of Cuban. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/players/04/25/inside.stuff0502/ I think they needed Cuban when Sammy was here. He's a little too behind the times for me ;-) To be fair, PS3 wouldnt come out for another 2 years.

Day to Day

Rebuilding?

Additionally, they rank Vitters at 60 if he were eligible. So he'd be our #1.

To pile onto the sabermetric view, I saw an interview Cuban had on Chris Matthews inwhich he also discussed all the statistics he was trying out and outside of the box thinking such as how many passes are optimal. He'll definitely bring an opposing philosophy to the current regime.

Per Rotowold Hu has been crazy on fire lately. Any interest? Maybe not for now, but for the future.

If this was a pure baseball decision, Pie should be out there everyday. But, I believe they are showcasing Jones in CF and hoping he gets hot to elevate his trade value. As of now, it seems like Jim hasn't been able to get a trade he accepts and putting Jones on the bench isn't going to help that.

I'd be hesitant to include Murton in a package for Griffey because we need insurance, should Griffey get injured. The braves won't give up Escobar or Salty for sure, and from quotes it sounds like they are really high on Reyes. They might be getting tired of Davies though and send him. He has a slightly more impressive minor league career than Marshall, but hasn't been able to hit the strike zone and has gotten hammered in 150 ML innings. I'm thinking Davies and Marshall have similar value given the fact that Davies has a bit of a better minor league career and is younger, but has had a bit of a rougher ML experience. You'd still have Pagan and Floyd...Murton isn't in the majors now, and you aren't giving up any outfielders that are currently in the majors...so if Griffey gets injured, you're not really worse off than you are now. Plus Derosa and Theriot can play in the outfield too. There's no shortage of possibilities. Just because Murton isnt in the majors now doesnt mean hes not the more valuable player to the cubs. And I'm not only thinking this year. Pagan is not an acceptable full time RF and I absolutely do not want to take the chance that Floyd gets enough PAs for Floyds option to kick in. While there are no shortage of possibilities to temporarily fill in, there is a shortage of guys who can play it in a full time roll should Griffey go down for 2/3rds of a season.

I'd be hesitant to include Murton in a package for Griffey because we need insurance, should Griffey get injured. The braves won't give up Escobar or Salty for sure, and from quotes it sounds like they are really high on Reyes. They might be getting tired of Davies though and send him. He has a slightly more impressive minor league career than Marshall, but hasn't been able to hit the strike zone and has gotten hammered in 150 ML innings. I'm thinking Davies and Marshall have similar value given the fact that Davies has a bit of a better minor league career and is younger, but has had a bit of a rougher ML experience.

power and OBP. As for adding Marshall, I guess the question is whether you think he's likely to maintain his current pace. As a guy with his own injury history and no real record of prolonged dominance at any level, perhaps his value is at its highest right now. Is he really irreplacable for the Cubs? I don't think so. I guess you could call it opening a hole, but I think there are a could guys that could step in and provide similar effectiveness. Probably not the same level of performance that Marshall has been at year-to-date, but the level of performance we might be getting from him going forward. Griffey's getting on base a bit more often than Floyd/DeRosa, but not significantly so. Admittedly Griffey had a higher OBP than I thought. As for Marshall, I don't see anyone who could come in and replace what he will potentially give. Guzman and Mateo aren't healthy and have questions about effectiveness even if they are. Gallagher has about 10 AAA innings and has gotten rocked in his brief MLB time. Veal is struggling at AA, Atkins isn't far enough along yet, and no one wants to see Walrond or Wade Miller again. I don't mind the idea of selling high with Marshall, but who do you think steps in and produces as well as Marshall will produce in the second half? Not that I'm advocating this, but based on quotes and actions by the cubs, I'm thinking they believe the answer to your question is Dempster.

As they should. If he doesnt mind staying in NY then he will stay there. Since the Rangers are on the hook for 33M of his current contract, the yanks are able to offer an extention that is 33M greater than any other team can offer if he opts out of his contract, while still only paying the same amount as any other team. I bet the Rangers are praying to Vishnu that ARod opts out...wonder if they'll be able to afford Tex if he does?

Its pretty comparable to Papi's deal, which is thought of as a steal. Additionally, its actually less than his MORP, which rarely happens. Definitely its a discount that he can't play the field, but his first three full seasons hes put up OPS+ of 158, 170, 183 (ranking 1st in the AL EACH year). The upward trend won't continue due to his poor first half, but even with that hes putting up 128 OPS+.

What's really hilarious is that you don't have a basic understanding of the bottom-line nature of business and the importance of unique assets. I think this was discussed a lot in the Dice-K threads over the winter, but isn't the $ made internationally divided equally among all teams, regardless of the license? I believer the discussion went something like that, although I don't think anyone was particularly certain. Obviously, he is going to have a business impact more than the normal player in terms of attendance and US licensing, but based on those dicussions over the winter, it isn't the bonanza that it could be. Someone also mentioned the fact that he is already on the Mariners and therefore a lot of his marketing value has already been realized. Its a simple diminishing marginal returns concept that shouldn't be overlooked. Like the poster said, its more of a PR value than marketing. People already have Ichiro jerseys, they aren't going to run out and buy new ones because he agrees to an extention with the same team.

Don't forget the NSBB's term, RGI's. Or stupid media coin phrases like Tatters. What the hell it sounds delicious whatever it is. But they only say it when a guy hit's a homer. D'oh! If only Lou played Izturis, he'd lead the league in RGI's. We need Lou to post here.

ARod without question, but I believe those figures are off. As I said above, I see Arod going for 5/150. Z is probably inline. The cubs could have gotten him for 5/85 early on, but I don't know anymore. That'd be a savings of 13M a year, but unfortunately, there really isn't any other shortstop out there on the FA market.

If you look at BP and Baseball-Reference you will find that Ichiro is a fairly incomparable player. After searching through the lists, the majority of the players were around during the WWs or even before. Those on the BR list who were in the more recent era and showed up multiple times are Ralph Garr, Bake McBride, Ron LeFore, and Griffey Sr. All of those guys showed up multiple times. And all but Griffey was out of the league by 34.

The union might have something to say about that too. I don't think the union would have the right to complain. If he chooses to opt out he's voiding the remainder of his current contract and whatever he negotiates with the Cubs (or any other team) would be a completely new contract, not a renegotiation of an existing contract. Regardless of his current contract, the union is in the business of not letting players sign contracts for significantly less than they are worth because it negatively affects other players in their contract discussions. I agree with you to a degree. However, look at Aramis. He left a lot of money on the table to return to the Cubs. I never said that the Cubs should lowball him. If somehow the Cubs could come up with a competitive offer. Maybe slightly below the lowest contract offered. If he accepts, then that is his choice, the Union can't say squat. :wink: It all depends on what "pay you what we can" means. He's to be owed 81M over the next three years. While ARAM did most likely leave money on the table there are definitely differences. ARAM opted out of his contract with 2 years 22.5M left with an 11M mutual option (which definitely would have kicked in based on games played). So basically, ARAM had 3 years and 33.5M left. He opted out for MORE money and a LONGER contract. His next three years which would have been 33.5 are now 37.65 with another year at 15.75 and a player and mutual option. Translate that to AROD and we are talking 3 years 90M, plus another year at over 30M and option years. ARAM was only rumored to have other offers, ARod definitely will if he hits the open market. Offers which have to be sent to the commissioners office. Also ARod is the most visible athlete in baseball. The ARAM's Schmidts and Wolfs don't get the attention (scrutiny) that an ARod discount would get. If by "pay you what we can" means 5 years 150M, then I think a deal could be struck. MORP has him being worth 83M 07-11, but I'm guessing that will change if he keeps outpacing his projected OPS by 160 points this year. Additionally, moving from 3B to SS (as long as he can play it competently) would increase his MORP significantly as well. Given the way the market may be going with Ichiro, I don't think 5/150 would be a bad deal for ARod.