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BigbadB

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Everything posted by BigbadB

  1. BigbadB
    Fixed.
  2. BigbadB
    I think he'd have some reservations. But as others have said, he's a hometown kid who lives there in the offseason. His wife is from there (I believe) and that tends to influence a lot of guys' decisions about where to work (Andy Pettite). Florida has shown as much ability as any team to win over the last decade. The response to anybody who claims he obviously doesn't care about winning would be 1997 and 2003. If there is any hope for a new stadium, it would be known as the house that Alex built. If they are able to trade Willis and Miggy for big value, there's a very real chance that team could seriously contend within a year or two. It's not like Miami is Kansas City. I still think Florida would be a huge longshot. More people show up for a little league game than a Marlins game.
  3. BigbadB
    My own little cheat sheet doesn't have the Dodgers ruled out completely, but I don't see McCourt coughing up the dough to sign ARod. The only rumors I have found on the Dodgers so far has them looking at Andruw Jones or Torii Hunter. I think the potential suitors will be slim pickings. You have to believe a lot of teams will be gunshy if they consider what happened to Texas when they signed ARod. That's a lot of money to commit to just one player, even if that player is deemed worth that kind of money.
  4. BigbadB
    And please let us not forget that Barry Rozner will force Miguel Cabrera to run to first base, which in turn will help him keep his weight down :D .
  5. BigbadB
    Because mortgage interest is tax deductible and you can invest the rest making higher returns than the 6% mortgage rate. Fair enough. How unique is the name "Alex Rodriguez"? I don't know any other ARods. It's gotta be him.
  6. BigbadB
    Because mortgage interest is tax deductible and you can invest the rest making higher returns than the 6% mortgage rate. And maybe ARod wants to improve his credit rating. You can never have too good of a credit rating. :D
  7. BigbadB
    I just saw in Rotoworld that the Mets are going after Posada. In concur that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for ARod to switch sides of town. The heat factor could be pretty intense from Yankees fans. About the only team that makes any sense without any roadblocks is Anaheim. I think the Cubs only roadblock would be ownership. But, the winning bidder for Cubs ownership can probably afford the increased payroll.
  8. BigbadB
    I absolutely hate their rating system.
  9. BigbadB
    I'm in agreement with you there. I think it was the offseason of 2000 going into 2001 when we fans were debating whether the team could afford to go from a 60m payroll to 65m. It very well could have been 2001-2002. I don't remember the year now. 5-6 years later, payroll has jumped to almost double. Yeah, a few more seats have been added and ticket prices have been adjusted a few times, and rooftop owners are paying their share, but the stadium is still selling out. I don't know where the Cubs rank in terms of cost per ticket with other major league clubs (I hear Boston is #1), but I don't think they are much higher than other teams. They could afford to go up even more if they wanted to. The season ticket holders are the ones who would take the biggest hit. But, the percentage of season ticket holders seems pretty high compared to other teams. The mad scramble for tickets at the beginning of each season wouldn't lessen much, IMO, if ticket prices were increased once again in order to afford ARod.
  10. BigbadB
    The last time I checked, the offseason was just getting underway. You can feel free to disagree in the value of Edgar Renteria, but I must once again reiterate that he is a mammoth upgrade to the likes of Ramon Santiago, Neifi Perez and Omar Infante. The Detroit front office is the one saying Guillen can no longer play SS. Injuries are not only costing him playing time, but they are risking even more serious injuries by sending him back out there daily. Detroit needed a shortstop. They went out and got arguably the 3rd best SS available. Are they done shopping? I don't know. Maybe. But, I doubt it. Detroit very well could have sat around and waited for the other 29 teams in the league before starting negotiations for a SS. Instead, they beat the other teams to the punch. It was very well played on their part. Still not sure why the discussion on the merits of Dombrowski or Detroit would make you say something like "that's that problem with this board". Please explain.
  11. BigbadB
    One version is that Dolan offered him a raise and near term GM succession to keep him in Cleveland. I suppose that's possible. But, it would seem odd to me that a guy waits who knows how many years for a GM opening with Cleveland when he could land a GM job now.
  12. BigbadB
    No offense to Mr. Fukudome, he may turn out great. But I'd be fairly disappointed if the Cubs committed their entire payroll increase to a mystery man from Japan. I know numbers are good, but that is far from a guarantee as we have seen with others. I don't think DKWG is suggesting they spend $15m on Fukudome. I would imagine the rest would be spent upgrading pitching and or bench help.
  13. BigbadB
    If it is true that the Cubs have authority to up payroll by 15m, then someone with the power to make a decision like that is still currently in place. If that's the case, why only 15m? If the team is going to be sold, what difference would 15m or 25m really make in the overall scheme of things. If it chases off a buyer, I'm sure there will still be other buyers interested. In other words, I doubt if forking out the cash for someone like ARod would really deter someone from buying, so why stop at a 15m increase. And even if the Cubs did get so daring to spend 25m on ARod, the door would still be open to deal off guys like Jones, Dempster, Marquis to make ARod more affordable. If 15m means Andruw Jones or Torii Hunter, I'd much rather see them go after ARod for more money. Signing someone like ARod should make purchasing the Cubs even more entertaining to a potential buyer, IMO. ARod increases the value of the team, whereas I don't see any other free agent out there that does that. It's probably a pipe dream to wish for ARod, but I think it still has to be explored.
  14. BigbadB
    The Tigers traded from a strength to fill a weakness. Not only did they fill a weakness, they filled a weakness from a position that there will likely be more demand than product available. Argue whether we should be skeptical of Renteria's value in 2008 as much as you wish, but if Carlos Guillen isn't capable of playing a quality SS anymore, Renteria is a tremendous upgrade over the likes of Ramon Santiago, Neifi Perez and Omar Infante. The same argument can be made for the Cubs. One of the very few upgrades at SS is now off the market. Not only is there one less SS on the market, the market just got tougher for someone like Tejada. Supply and demand. Detroit struck quickly. Nice job on their part.
  15. BigbadB
    I have a riddle for you. Where do you play the best player in the game? Wherever he wants to play! ARod only switched to 3rd to prevent an uproar in Yankees nation by forcing Jeter to move. I'm guessing he'd love to move back to his old position. And I'm also guessing that the team that gets him is the team that lets him play SS again. I could be wrong, but......
  16. BigbadB
    Because Ramirez hates ARod? I don't understand why you think he's gone in that scenario. Ramirez gave the Cubs a discount to stay in Chicago, and I doubt he'd just waive his full NTC because ARod was coming.
  17. BigbadB
    The only thing Torre had going for him as manager of the Yankees was that he was good at managing egos. A monkey could fill out the line up card for the Yankees and make the playoffs every year. In that regard, Torre was certainly nothing special as manager. I like the guy, but his resume isn't really all that impressive considering.
  18. BigbadB
    We already have the 15m players (Soriano, Ramirez and Lee). Now we just need a 30m player and the offense will be in great shape.
  19. BigbadB
    Just a hunch, but I think the Brewers like the speed combination at the top of the order that Gwynn and Weeks would provide. It looked like Gwynn did a pretty good job of filling in when Hall was hurt. When Gwynn played more regularly (and granted, it's still a pretty small sample size), he provided a .350+ OBP. If they could get that (and OBP is definitely a major problem with the Brewers ballclub, they'd have some pretty good table setters for Braun, Fielder and Hart. Gwynn Weeks Braun Fielder Hart Hall Hardy Estrada
  20. BigbadB
    the talk is about Torii Hunter, not whoever you're thinking of Thanks. You just made me spit coffee all over my keyboard and monitor.
  21. BigbadB
    I don't see why they would pick up that option. Milwaukee has all kinds of cheaper options to stick in their outfield that make WAY less than Jenkins. Tony Gwynn Jr., Corey Hart, Bill Hall, Gabe Gross, Kevin Mench, Joe Dillon, Matt LaPorta and Laynce Nix are plenty of options to fill the void. I'm curious whether they'd like to go with Gwynn in CF and lead him off to move Weeks in to the 2nd spot in the order. Hall and Hart play the corners.
  22. BigbadB
    He might have, but I don't think it would complicate things anymore than attempting to trade him prior to him opting out of his contract.
  23. BigbadB
    That might have been an option prior to A-Rod opting out of his clause (assuming an extension could be worked out), but I think it's something that would have been way too complicated. A-Rod could just elect to opt out if he didn't like the team he was going to be traded to. In other words, A-Rod controls his destination by opting out. If the Yankees did find a suitor to A-Rod's liking, how difficult would it be to work out a trade between two teams that both teams would be happy with, and could an extension be worked out that would make A-Rod happy? For example, knowing A-Rod is pretty much leaving, what would be a fair offer to guarantee you get him? And would it satisfy the Yankees enough?
  24. BigbadB
    Unless they are going to move Johnson to center, escobar to 2b and play ARod at short OR move Chipper back to the OF again, it ain't happening. Both of those scenarios seem very unlikely to happen. They have options and young talent. They also are pretty creative when it comes to deals so this quick deal makes me wonder why they made this trade so early, unless they are going young I can't think of a reason why they would sell Renteria so quickly. Renteria could be on Mitchells list I suppose and this was a chance to sell high. You have to remember that Atlanta traded for Tex at the deadline last year, which increased payroll rather than reduced it like they've been wanting to do for years. They have Yunel Escobar and Brent Lillibridge to step in at SS. I don't see Atlanta making a play for A-Rod. They just don't want to hang on to players too long that they clearly want to move. Each player that they don't trade right away hampers their future offseason decisions.
  25. BigbadB
    It has absolutely nothing to do with the how the red sox finished their season. I know, but you know damn well if we signed Crisp you would start hearing the "he's a winner" crap. Kind of hard to call him a winner considering he got benched during the World Series in favor of a rookie with hardly any major league experience.
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