Mephistopheles

Was that three player offer for Tejada or Ramirez?

I wouldn't mind Kemp either, though I'd bet on it it being Delwyn Young. Maddux's value simply isn't high.

That's about right. A year ago he was topping out around 93 at his best sitting in the upper 80s. However in 2005 he was pitching AND doing spring football practice at the same time. His legs were dead. This year Wies said he didn't have to go, poof his legs were back and his velocity shot up. It's no surprise.

If Jim Hendry feels that there is a better than say a 66% chance that Aramis opts out of his contract, he ought to trade him. Secondly I highly doubt it was Santana and Aybar. There is no way they got the same offer that they gave Tejada.

The Yankees are obviously getting better. You don't add a guy with a .400 on-base percentage and not get better.

My mistake on Lee. I dunno Seibu is in bad shape right now. They need the money bad and 2007 would be Matsuzaka's last year, I believe. It seems to widely believed he's going to be out there. Yeah he'll be expensive, but I wonder if Steinbrenner will tempt his expectations after what happened to the Fat Toad.

Keep in mind that the WBC was only 3-8 games max for each player. It's hard to look at the statline. Shinnosuke Watanabe dominated in the WBC but has faltered this season in Japan. Hitoshi Tamura dominated for Japan and isn't great in Japan. etc.

Odd deal. Colleti loves his middle infielders, sounds a lot like Dusty. Betemit strikes out way too much to ever be good.

Erik Geoddel and John Tolisano have fallen off a bit. I guess Tolisano is now the number three HS SS. Neil Ramirez has really been electric of late and Justin Jackson was off the charts at PGN. Robert Stock has slipped a bit, and one scout at one message board liked Danny Rams more as a HS catcher (much better recieving skills and intangibles). Nuggets on 2-10: Jackson - toolsy SS Harvey - RHP who excelled at PGN low 90s FB with potential for more and impressive secondary pitches Burgess - Power hitter with a gorgeous swing Noonan - Flashy SS, but not complete like Jackson Heyward - Power hitter Ramirez - 90-94 FB with an advanced feel for pitching Stock - Big Arm, Big Bat Robles - 90 FB with a good curve and projectability. He and SS Garrett Nash might go ahead of where Pawly went from Utah. Parker - Low 90s FB and that's about all I know.

Eduardo Paret would have been a great sign a decade ago or so, but now he is 33 and turns 34 this October. He used to be a stud at the top of the lineup and in the middle of the field. I guess he could be a decent one season stopgap at short or second if the Cubs need one, but that's doubtful. Gourriel would be a nice sign on the other hand. His EqA translations the last three years range around .285 and he is young. Dunno how well he will actually translate. He'd be a bad fit for the Cubs. He's a hacker who cannot walk to save Castro's life. That slugger in the WBC was Seung-Yeop Lee. He's currently hitting .325/.387/.644 for Yomiuri in the CL. Keep in mind that the Tokyo Dome is a 1100+ PF park most of the time. He's got 30 dingers in 93 games but has a terrible 82:23 SO:BB. He's a free agent after this season so he can come stateside if he wants too, but eh I'll pass. The low discipline will hurt his translation to the American game, I think. I will be fair, he was pretty weak in Japan last season and broke out this season - the second year in the League. Not only that he is the only player in Japan with more than twenty-two home runs. If the Cubs want to make a foreign splash, they gotta bid high and often on Daisuke Matsuzaka. Dai-san is not a free agent after the season, but Seibu Railways is floundering as a company and will more than likely post Matsuzaka after the season. Matsuzaka is a work horse pitcher and is if he is on the market it's likely he'd be the number one pitcher - ahead of Zito. Currently he's sitting 11-3 with a 1.92 ERA and a 125:23 K:BB. He sits around 93 MPH with his fastball, touching mid to upper 90s and was the first Japan born player to hit 100 MPH which he did so in the Athens Olympics. He throws a slider/cutter 80-85 which grades as a well above average pitch. He throws a big overhand curve in the mid 70s which is an above average pitch and he throws a forkballs which is also an above average pitch. At the WBC against Mexico he sat 92-96 and liived off his fastball. He reminded me a lot of Prior in 2003 with his pinpoint 94 MPH FB with lots of life. As you can probably tell, I like Matsuzaka a lot. EDIT: http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID={4642681D-0A3A-41EF-80DF-6D783F667500}&language=EN Ooh conflicting reports! Castro could have easily shot that smoke from his bum.

Yeah so how in the world is Garza so low?

Just a side note: The A's are last in the AL in OBP. Kinda interesting. Actually, Beane's researchers have discovered that OBP is actually overvalued in the market today and that speed and young pithing is undervalued.

Fastball sits 92-96. He sat at 94 in the WBC, he hit 100 at the Olympics in Athens. He has a good slider, good chance and good fork. He's got excellent control and stamina. He's got a big fastball with three above average secondary pitches. He also throws a curve which is an average pitch at worst.

Why not take a flier on Matsuzaka? He'd probably be a bit cheaper than Zito or Schmidt. He's not 34+ like Schmidt and he's been durable most of his career.

Ernesto Frieri and Cesar Ramos? Just a guess.

I didn't know the rule myself, but I read it here awhile ago.

Nope. He will be granted a fourth year of options due to the time missed to injuries.

Guys, ESPN isn't the best place to go...neither is prosportsdaily. Wow. You can get an elbow injury from his post? It's from a few things. The last couple of seasons he has had a forearm injury a lot. Forearm injurys often hide elbow problems. The pain from the forearm creeps up. TJ is caused when the UCL is gradually weakened. Then on one pitch, usually a fastball, it is snapped. With the way he was dominating it seems to make sense because he had to have quick arm action. As mentioned blisters is another likely scenario. I love Angel so I certainly don't want this to be serious.

The way you make it sounds it seems like it could be an elbow injury and I wouldn't be at all shocked if he goes back under the knife.

Most important number in that stat line... nobody ever doubted his ability to hit home runs, but he'll never be a good hitter with his horrendous K/BB ratios. Well he only struck out 3 times in 29 PAs.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060714/clf032.html?.v=51 Aflac announced their All American rosters for the classic. It's pretty much a who's who of 07 HS Draft prospects. Notable exclusions are Hunter Ovens, Cody Allen and Nathan Vineyard. Also in his latest start David Price sat 90-94 with his fastball. His slider was 86-88 and his change was above average. Daniel Moskos a lefty reliever out of Clemson sat 93-97 with a good slider.

nice to see Rundle taking walks for a guy with the reputation of being a hacker. Seven in seven games now. He's not hitting but this is like the Anti-Cub. Also Ryan Harvey was one of the ten mentioned in BP's Future Shock Monday Morning Ten-Pack. He was also mentioned in BA's Prospect Hot Sheet. He's got two more hits tonight.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/chat/chat.php?chatId=214

Marmol's much more suitable for the role than Guzman.

EqA stands for Equivalent Average. EqA essentially measures the efficiency of outs used. An in-depth article can be found here. EqR is Equivalent Runs. It's like a counting form of EqA kind of like the relationship between H and AVG. EqR = Outs * 5 * (EqA^2.5) NERA is ERA normalized to a league with a league average of 4.50 ERA. PERA takes the next step forward and normalizes the leagues BB/9, H/9 etc. This is very important when evaluating a league like the California League where the run environment is much more electric than the Southern or Eastern Leagues. Delta H is a plus or minus number of how many hits the pitcher should have given up. If it's negative, he's been a bit lucky. Positive would then be unlucky. Stuff score is a measure of dominance. It uses IP/G, K, BB, HR and runs allowed. NODIF means that everything is normalized to league. EqA is made so the .260 is average for the league. On that sheet Mike Fontenot's .301 EqA is relative to the PCL. Peak is an estimate of what they should do three years down the road. I don't really pay attention to that sheet myself.